Brimming with youthful confidence

THE VOCAL concert of A. V. K. Rajasimhan, a disciple of senior vidwan O. V. Subramaniam, was held under the auspices of Layalaavanya Fine Arts Foundation on June 27 at the Raga Sudha hall.

The programme came as a welcome surprise to the sizeable, knowledgeable audience.

The artiste's mellifluent voice, refined raga alapanas of Pantuvarali, Anandabhairavi and Kalyani, the healthy kriti versions of ``Marivere'' (Shyama Sastri), ``Paripalinchu'' (Tiruvisanallur Venkatrama Sastri), ``Ninnuvinagati'' (Subbaraya Sastri) etc., free flowing neraval and kalpanaswaras, stood testament to the singer having finetuned his artistic abilities to a considerable extent. V. V. Ravi on the violin was truly supportive.

But the focus of the evening's programme was the maiden appearance on stage of the mridangist Kalpathi Narayana Iyer, who is all of 72 years young.

Right from the Sriraga varnam in Adi Talam, till the end of the recital that covered all the talams such as Adi, Roopakam, Misra Chapu and Khanda Chapu, he displayed with credit his proficiency as an understanding accompanist.

His sensitive support for song renditions, expansion of the lyrics and swara improvisations was commendable.

The tani avartanam that lasted for about 25 minutes revealed Narayana Iyer's commitment and dedication to his art.

The clear percussive sollukattu, enjoyable timbre of the chapu and arai chapu, the quality of the meetu, the punctilious divisions and sub-divisions, the nadai variations in tisram and kandam, the vibrant mohra, pharans, judicious use of the thoppi and the concluding rhythmic finale were brimming with not only confidence but also with the spirit, vitality and zeal of youth. Understandably there were a few minor thuds that, however, were effectively cushioned.

E. M. Subramaniam, an experienced ghatam artiste, was alert in his responses and earnestly paved the path for a successful conclusion of the exercise.

The spontaneous, thundering ovation from the rasikas lent ample credence to the dictum, ``Learning tolerates neither age nor horizons,'' as also to a worthy disciple of a worthy guru.

S.P.

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