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Impressive alapana
THE MAIN item of the concert by Sashikiran and P. Ganesh for Mylapore Fine Arts Club was the Ragam, Tanam, Pallavi in Natabhairavi. The alapana by Sashikiran was quite impressive, considering the fact that Natabhairavi is a little difficult to handle in an extensive manner; nevertheless Sashikiran could not help repeating certain Prayogams. In Tanam, when it came to Tarastayi, singing was left to Ganesh; the same thing was noticed even earlier during singing the kritis; Sashikiran seemed to encounter some difficulty in dealing with the top octave. It was a simple Pallavi set to Aditalam. The violinist Nagai Sriram did a better job with this Raga than he did earlier with Yadukulakamboji, when he sounded rather uncertain. The Thani by Tiruvidaimarudur Sankaran and K.V.R.S. Mani was very short indeed. But they provided good support throughout the concert.
Lively mandolin
In the afternoon mandolin concert of U.P. Raju and Nagamani one could come across a lot of prayogams in Hamsadhwani and Karaharapriya in handling the Ragam, Swaram and even the kritis that are possible only in instruments. In fact, they might not even sound appealing if rendered vocally. The raga alapana of Dharmavati and Nalinakanti by Raju were quite lively. Even as one was wondering why Nagamani was not playing any alapana, there came the main item Karaharapriya, which she handled with expertise. When she played in an unhurried manner it was very good; particularly at Mantarastayi it provided a sense of comfort and peace. The monumental composition of Tyagaraja `Chakkanirajamarga' was taken up for detailed rendering with neraval at `Kandikisundara' with attractive combination of notes in the kalpanaswara segment. N. Ramakrishnan on the mridangam and Tiruchi Murali on the ghatam provided enthusiastic support and played an interesting thani. The programme ended with `Venkatachalanilayam' in Sindhubhairavi.
Pleasant veena
Jayanthi Kumaresh made the morning of December 27 very pleasant with her veena concert. Early in the programme came `Sangithasamrajya' in Mohanakalyani. While the raga delineation of Karaharapriya was neat, the swaraprasthara for the song, `Pakkalaneelabadi' was lively. But the most captivating was the alapana of Hamsadhwani before the RTP. The alapana was built up in small segments from Madhyastayi in an ascending order. Lalgudi Rajalakshmi was very supportive on the violin. Both in the Raga and Tanam Jayanthi chose to play most of the time on the Panchama string, the mellifluous tone exuding a sense of 'soukyam'; the sketch came out in very imaginative and beautiful phrases bringing out the characteristics of the raga. The Aditala Pallavi, after the anulomam, pratilomam etc. had swarams in Ragamalika comprising Abhogi, Pantuvarali, Anandabhairavi and Hamsanadam. These ragas were repeated several times by both artistes in long and short spells. The Thani by Thiruvarur Vaidyanathan on the mridangam and Karthik on the ghatam had some very attractive `sollu' patterns; they also were very cooperative during the entire concert. The RTP had to be packaged to fit in the AIR time frame.
Tidy rendition
With her clear voice Gayathri Venkatragavan presented a commendable elaboration of Sahana preceding 'Raghupathe Rama'. `Cheraravathe' in Reetigowla was also a tidy rendition. Wonder why she sang `Tharunam Eedamma' in Gowlipantu in such a fast tempo! This song pleads with the Goddess for protection and the tune is arranged suitably by the composer Shyama Sastri. In the alapana of raga Hemavathi one could observe expertise in Akara singing. Otherwise there was nothing special about the presentation of the song `Sri Kanthimathim' or the following Swaraprasthara. Padma Shankar on the violin was a good match for Gayathri. The Thani by R. Sankaranarayanan followed, whose mridangam support provided embellishment to the song rendition of the vocalist.
In his noon concert D. B. Aswin impressed the audience with his strong voice and clear enunciation. He used the Sa and Ma in the Jaganmohini Kriti, `Sobillusapthaswara' cleverly as Swaraakshara. The Swaraprasthara set a lively mood. He managed to overcome a bad throat to present an elevating elaboration of Mohanam; the kalpanaswaras for `En Pallikondeer Ayya' had short, imaginative phrases, reminiscent of his grandfather, the late Vidwan T.K. Rangachari. A short but good sketching of Nayaki Raga was followed by `Dayaleni' by Thyagaraja, a song not heard in recent times. A detailed delineation of Kiravani in the different octaves was the main piece, followed by Thyagaraja's `Kalikiyundekatha'. Amritha Murali on the violin proved her talent in her turn. The neraval and swaras especially were commendable. Nellai Balaji was indeed a good choice to support the vocalist on the mridangam. His thani was interesting.
Saketharaman is a promising talent but needs more honing. With some effort he can get the nasal sound out of his voice when he touches the Tarastayi Sa and above. After a couple of kritis, he presented a reasonably good sketch of Reetigowla preceding `Cheraravathe;' the violinist Ambika Prasad should slow down the tempo of playing the raga, particularly at the top octave, if he wants to avoid apaswaram; this was noticed repeatedly during the concert. A very fast `Anuragamule' in Saraswathi followed. Saketharaman should take care not to stop in the middle of a word such as `Gna' of the word `Gnana'! Softening his voice now and then, he made the raga alapana of Kamboji appealing.
While the neraval in the kriti `O Rangasayi' had nothing noteworthy, his swaravinyasa was imaginative, with attractive combination of notes. Srisundarkumar was an understanding support on the mridangam; and played a brisk thani.
In the early afternoon programme, though the rendering of the song, "Bhiranabrovayithe'' in Kalyani by Shankar Ramani was good, he seemed to have some problem in holding on to the swarasthanam in this raga as well as the later alapana of Mohanam; also, he should pay better attention to sahitya. After Tyagaraja's "Ganamurthe'' in the raga of the same name, he took up Poorvikalyani for elaboration; it was quite decent. Nevertheless, both in the alapana and the neraval in the kriti, "Meenakshimemudam,'' often the sangatis proved slippery for him.
Villivakkam Raghuraman rendered good support on the violin and his effort in Mohanam was better than the main artiste. But he had trouble with the eduppu when playing swaraprasthara. Both these artistes perhaps should go through some serious practising before climbing the concert platform. There was a simple Ragam Tanam Pallavi set to tisra triputa tala in Mohanam. A decent mridangam support was provided by Kumbakonam Ramakrishnan.
Strong and clear
The highlight of Kanyakumari's violin concert was the Ragam Tanam Pallavi in Karaharapriya, followed by fifty other ragas in the ragamalika, to commemorate the 51st year of MFAC. The honour of playing these various tunes was shared by her disciples Sanjeev and Nishant Chandran, who had accompanied her. Preceding this, some items were presented in quick succession to give enough time for the main piece.
Kanyakumari's Arabhi raga alapana came strong and clear, as did Kapi, followed by the kritis "Nadasudharasam'' and "Meevalla'' respectively. When the three alternated while playing the alapanas or swaras, it was difficult to guess one from the other, if one did not actually see who was playing.
Couple of decades ago, the ragamalika "Bhavayami Raghuramam," a composition on the Ramayana, was very popular; one had the opportunity to listen to it in this concert. A leisurely elaboration of Sahana, quite a bit of it in the Mantarasthayi was pleasant, followed by "Giripai''. There was a brief tani by Satishkumar on the mridangam and Amrith on the kanjira at this point, though there was an extensive one after the RTP. Their percussion support enhanced the concert.
Rough voice
While there was no question about her commitment to music, why does Visalakshi Nityanand's have to sound so aggressive? Her voice itself is rather manly and her style of singing also is becoming more and more so, such as her intonations; no one can find fault with her `akara' singing though the `ukaras' are a little irritating. On the whole, her singing sounded rather rough and without aesthetic grace. "Arumuga'' in raga Durga was evocative; she did a commendable alapana of Jaganmohini followed by Syama Sastri's composition, "Samayamithe''. She used to prefer a slow tempo in raga and song rendition but now she also too has become partly a victim to the fast-paced music.
Decent elaboration
Some long forgotten compositions like "Ramabhakti Samrajya'' in Suddhabangala, "Sangeethagnanamu'' in Dhanyasi and "Sarasasamadana'' in Kapinarayani were taken out of the cold storage and presented by Lakshmi Rangarajan in her afternoon concert.
Her raga elaboration of Sahana was decent though quite standard, while Akkarai Subbbalakshmi's sketching on the violin was better. This young artiste has a firm fingering technique too.
The kriti to follow was "Rama Ikanannu''. Lakshmi chose Todi as the main item and gave a rather conventional alapana, and followed it up with "Ninne Namminanu''. The tani by J. Balaji on the mridangam and N. S. Shankar on the kanjira was quite spirited.
Lively concert
Charulatha's early afternoon concert was quite impressive. She too sang an alapana of Sahana, which sounded very pleasing when in the slower segments, in the lower octave. R. Sathishkumar on the violin was a little out of his depth in his turn.
The kalpanaswaras were lively for "Rama Ikanannu''. Couple of rare songs _ Muthuswami Dikshitar's Panchabhootha kirti in Yamunakalyani "Jambupathe'' and the fast paced "Anjane Anjane'' in Kuntalavarali _ followed.
Charulatha gave an inspired elaboration of Varali; her voice has a great appeal at the lower and middle octaves, though her range in all the three were commendable.
The violinist too did a better job in this raga. Too much of briga somewhat marred the emotional appeal of the kriti "Karunajoodavamma''. Mohanakrishnan's tani on the mridangam was racy and interesting, though in some parts of the concert he did not blend too well with the vocalist.
In this hall there is a problem, which the artistes and the audience could do without. In the morning concerts the whistle from the cooker from the canteen would sound now and then.
In the afternoon especially several times one hears the mixie sounding a different sruti; again the frying of chilly and masala irritates the throat. If this is the plight of the listener, one can imagine what the vocalists have to go through. In addition, the other day, there was a strong smell of insecticide near the dais!
LAKSHMI VENKATRAMAN.
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