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Divine music of the Oothukkadu poet
CHITRAVINA maestro N. Ravikiran has done a lot of research on Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi's kritis. In his vocal concert for Hamsadhwani, he brought to the fore the beauty and spiritualism of the great bilingual composer, and divine preceptor, whose only object was communion with God. Ravi Kiran had many interesting sidelights to say of this multi-faceted personality. Before every song, Ravi gave details to enable the audience appreciate and enjoy, the aesthetics in particular. It was quite interesting to learn that for every charge made by the Gopis to mother Yasodha in "Taye Yasoda" in Todi, the divine child rebutted each in raga Mohanam. Ravi Kiran did not sing this all too familiar, but exhilarating piece. He chose "Venugana Ramana" after a detailed alapana covering all the nuances of the raga. The swaras of various patterns glittered, and emphasised his musical prowess. The splitting of the words at the right place earned the artiste a special encore.
Ravikiran began his concert with the Ghambira Nattai kriti, "Sri Vignarajam Bhaje". This was followed by a brief alapana in Vasanta for "Neelamalar Kola" in Tamil. The song on Lord Muruga in Kedaram, "Gajamukha Anujam" in Sanskrit was another high point of the concert. The Ritigowla alapana was quite moving and the matching piece was "Ennapunyam Seideno Sadgurunatha". (Incidentally, Venkatakavi does not appear to have had any guru and the legend is that Lord Krishna himself took this role).
Ravikiran's next song in Kannadamaruvam, "Vandenanda Soonum" was noteworthy for the kalpanaswaras and the vocalist's duel with the violinst Sundaresan worked up interest.
Venkata Kavi visited all shrines for inspiration, one of which was Udupi. The Tamil piece, "Ennadan Inbam Kandayo" as well as the Nagaswaravali kriti, "Raghukulottama" and "Eppaditan En Ullattil" (Neelambari) were well-appreciated. The Sindubhairvai tillana in Sanskrit was a real winner. Guruvayur Durai (mridangam) and K. Srivatsa (ganjira) provided the percussion support. — KSR
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