Dignified and serene

AN ATMOSPHERE of tranquility prevailed throughout the recital of Jayanthi Subramaniam who offered a sincere homage to the musical genius of the royal composer Maharaja Sri Swati Tirunal. The venue was Dr. Nalli Gana Vihar, the newly renovated auditorium of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, that added the right touch of serenity to the performance. It was a fitting dance tribute to Kerala's grand patron of fine arts.

Both Jayanthi, the dancer and Roja Kannan, who conducted the recital, belonging to the same tutelage, made their gurus Adyar K. Lakshman and Kalanidhi Narayanan proud by their individual skilful participation. While Jayanthi was dignity personified, Roja was full of confidence and composure.

Jayanthi's nritta and abhinaya aspects revealed enormous inner strength, dedication and perseverance. With her tranquil face, she could handle the nuances of the different emotions beautifully. Her nritta was a fine blend of grip and grace. One rarely gets to see some of the complicated adavus performed with so much ease and perfection as was seen in Jayanthi's performance. Jayanthi's recital proved to be a very impressive presentation on the whole.

Another factor that enhanced the quality of the recital was Jagadish Janardhanan's extraordinary mridangam accompaniment. Each one of the filling up, in between the sollus of each Jati sequence was a fine work of spontaneity and imagination of this skilful player. Roja kept up the rhythm very well at all these moments with alertness and understanding. It was a joy to watch and hear to the fine culmination of three-fold music. Nandini Anand deserves special mention as the main vocalist for her beautiful exploration, particularly of the Sanskrit Varnam in Atana. The Sanskrit lyrics of the Maharaja are gems embedded in the exquisite jewellery of poetry. Singing these with clarity and proper pronunciation add a special dimension to the dance rendition. Nandini rendered the varnam with soulful sketches of the raga.

However the pallavi and the anupallavi lines of the varnam could have been sung with more focus on the words for better enjoyment. The swaraakshara usage of the composer requires much more care and attention of the singer and Nandini managed these portions ably well. Seetarama Sarma gave a pleasant violin accompaniment throughout the recital.

The varnam Sarasijanabha addressing Lord Padmanabha whose indifference is questioned by the lady in love and who later extols the varied glories of the Lord, was a lively skilful presentation. Jayanthi handled the intricate details of the agony of the heroine for her beloved Lord with apt elaboration. However there could have been a depiction of the different stages of the suffering that the Nayika undergoes for the sahitya ``Smara Nisita'', explaining the torments from the bow and arrows of the cupid, instead of giving repeatedly the description of cupid's bow. After the initial expression of the main idea. Jayanthi could have moved over to the physical and mental disturbances connected with such a situation. There was also a temporary shift in Jayanthi's depiction from the sthayi which is a mixture of agony and anxiety during the muktayi swara sahitya where the lady awaits the union with the virtuous Lord. At this point Jayanthi had a pleasant expression which robbed the beauty of the lyrical passage.

The latter part of the varnam was the result of spirited team work concluding with crisp arudis and gripping rhythmical expositions of the charana swaras.

The main padam was ``Alarsaraparitapam'' in Surati. It would have brought in the right mood if Nandini had begun this with the customary practice of starting from the Anu pallavi ``Jalajabandhumiha'' which would have created more impact with regard to the development of abhinaya aspects, corresponding to the musical nuances. Also in ``Valarunnu'' in the Charanam, Jayanthi depicted the state of love of the heroine without much depth by concentrating on the external details rather than showing the deep infliction. Similarly the following line Talarunnu also suffered from lack of details. Jayanthi's rendering of this beautiful padam did not paint in full the acute agony of the lady who laments to her friend about her plight.

The lilting Behag Javali Saramaina Matalento that followed had some coloquial gestures with a tinge of dramatisation. An appropriate picture of the nayika who chides Lord Padmanabha for his mischievous words was not brought forth effectively.

Also vocalist Nandini commenced this piece with a strong touch of Hamir Kalyani creating a strange note. In fact the Raga Behag did not find its full identity, especially at the beginning.

The performance concluded with a lively tillana in Anandabhairavi where Jayanthi once again exhibited her skill for rhythmical complexities.

A graceful and pleasant portrayal of the Supreme Goddess in ``Pahi Parvata Nandini'' (in praise of Goddess Bhagavati, the family deity of the Tranvancore royalty) followed by the marathon a piece Pannagendrasayana dwelling on the varied splendours of Lord Padmanabha was dealt with refinement by Gopika Varma, in her Mohini Attam presentation the same evening. Although the essential requisites of a dignified Mohini Attam was evident in this recital the vocal support by Sudev was average.

NANDINI RAMANI

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