Style sans vigour
O. S. THIAGARAJAN'S music is neither exciting nor prosaic. He appears to sing in aneasy way, using such syllables and idioms that will not cause much strain. He has developed a musical style without a performing vigour. This might be the secret of his keeping his shariram intact for long periods. Few are the occasions when he has let down his followers with voice playing the truant.
In all alapanas there is a delicate overtone. Resourceful in picking the kritis for the programme, which abounds in vidwat, variety and serenity too, especially when he delivers devotionals. All these traits were found aplenty in his Hamsadhwani concert. These long spells of sruti control set the audience to a contemplative mood and he did not require any gestures to exhibit the bhava of the kritis, inherent in Neelakanta Sivan's "Enraikku Sivakrupa" (Mukhari) and Papanasam Sivan's "Kanavendamo" (Sriranjani), but to render the lines with the right emphasis on the words. Tyagaraja's "Hechharikagarara" (Utsavasampradaya kriti in the beseeching Yadukulakhambhoji in Jhampa tala) was prefaced by a soulful alapana and followed by an expansive neraval and swaras at the mudra charanam.
Alattoor Brothers' Ritigowla favourite Cherarava, Syama Sastri's "Tarunam" (Gowlipantu) Uttukadu's "Kalyanarama" (Hamsanada) and the feature, Patnam Subramania Iyer's "Nijadasavarada" were most satisfying to his rasikas. Ponnayya Pilla's tillana in Sankarabharanam was a crowning piece. Nagai Muralidharan (violin) was soft and supportive while B. Harikumar's mridangam display was most pleasing to the laya buffs.
Fluent voice
Ramaswami Sivan's "Kadaikan" (Begada) was rendered with commendable confidence by Vaishnavi Anantanarayan after a spicy alapana. She has a fluent voice, which she does not muffle. "Ammaravamma" (Kalyani) — Tyagaraja — was another kriti which she sang with aplomb.
Dictum and laya showed her good patanthara when she rendered Dikshitar's "Ramanatham". The accompanists V. Ananta Narayanan (violin) and Karaikurichi Mohanram (mridangam) gave good support.
KSR
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