Wide repertoire of compositions

Mixed fare: Ajay Nambudiri.

A Carnatic vocal recital by Ajay Nambudiri was good in parts. He offered a mixed fare, by rendering songs of quite a few composers, apart from kritis of the Trinity. His choice of ‘druta kaala’ kritis at appropriate stages and attempts at varied combinations in swaraprastharas were some of the highlights of the concert.

Ajay began impressively, with Lalgudi Jayaraman’s Bahudhari raga varnam ‘Entho Premathonu.’ The next item was ‘Ambayenine’ in Ataana, a rarely-heard kriti of Ponnaiah Pillai.

The niraval at ‘Bhavaroganivaarini’ in the Muthiah Bhagavathar kriti ‘Jaalanthara’ (Valaji) was appealing. After a brief sketch of Bhairavi, he took up Syama Sastri’s swarajathi ‘Kamakshi.’ However, his presentation of this famous piece was flat and it was surprising that he did not attempt any niraval or kalpanaswaras at the phrase ‘Shyamakrishna Sahodari.’

Two of Tyagaraja’s kritis, ‘Sobillu Saptaswara’ in Jaganmohini and ‘Bhandureethi Kolu’ in Hamsanaadham, and Paapanasam Sivan’s ‘Paraatpara Parameswara’ in Vaachaspathi rendered in fast pace, were well appreciated. The brisk swaraprastharas in ‘Paraatpara’ deserve special mention. The development of Kamas raga contained a few unorthodox sancharas. The lyrical beauty of Muthuswami Dikshitar’s ‘Santhana Gopalakrishnam’ emanated well in Ajay’s portrayal. Graceful glides in ‘thara sthayi’ and pleasing movements in ‘manthra sthayi,’ in the delineation of Nattakurinji were praiseworthy. Swara patterns appended in the Swathi Tirunal composition ‘Maamava Sadha varadhe’ revealed raga Swaroopa. However, choosing allied ragas Kamas and Nattakurinji in the same concert was a bit odd.

Ajay’s alapana of Keeravani, the main raga of the evening, raised eyebrows. It was a deviation from the traditional pattern of developing this beautiful melody. A good number of alien sangathis – a few notes of Kalyanavasantham and Chandrakauns crept in, during his elaboration. It was left to violinist R. Swaminathan, to project the raga in its true colours with a solo. Ajay, however, did justice to Tyagaraja’s krithi ‘Kalikiyunte Gadha,’ with a fine niraval and imaginative swaraprastharas at the phrase ‘Baguga Sri Raghu.’

The concluding phase of the concert was marked by devotional fervour. ‘Sri Chakraraja,’ the ragamaalika song, ‘Ramamantrava,’ a Purandaradasa Devarnama in Jonpuri, ‘Irakkam varaamar ponaderkenna kaaranam’ of Gopalakrishna Bharathi in Behag and Papanasam Sivan’s ‘Enna tavam seidanai’ in Kaapi, were all rendered with feeling. The last number of the concert was a tillana of Muthiah Bhagavathar in Hamsaanandhi.

Ajay Nambudiri, an up-and-coming musician, should have been more judicious in concert planning as it is not ideal to choose six kritis in the same tala in one concert.

The accompanists R.Swaminathan on violin and Cherthala S. Dinesh on mridangam played a great role in enlivening the concert. Swaminathan’s raga essays exuded melody. Dinesh went along with the vocalist, with his dexterous touches. S.V.S.N. Viswanathan accompanied on the ghatam. The concert was held under the aegis of The Palghat Fine Arts Society.

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