MYLAPORE FINE ARTS
A veritable feast
Savita Narasimhan
ENDOWED WITH a melodious voice, Savita Narasimhan, disciple of Chitravina Ravikiran, gave a scintillating performance, at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club auditorium. Disciplined rendition, utmost commitment to sruti and diction blended with imagination, were the highlights of Savita's concert.
She made a bright start with "Raghunayaka" (Hamsadhwani) and strung it with smooth and elegant patterns of kalpanaswaras and followed it with the rarely heard "Raka Shashi Vadana" (Dakka) and "Muruga Tirumal Maruha" (Harikamboji), which she rendered with finesse. The delineation of Poorvikalyani alapana, which came next, was packed with rich and aesthetic sancharas that brought her creativity to the fore. "Padmavati Ramanam," a masterpiece of Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi, composed as a tribute to Jayadeva, was rendered with ιlan. The main raga was Todi and Savita did full justice to its grandeur. Her choice of Tyagaraja's "Dachukovalena" was refreshing and she presented it with a touch of class.
Young violinist Charumathy Raghuraman's musical maturity was evident in her refined raga alapanas. Manikandan (mridangam) enriched the concert with soothing accompaniment.
Distinct stamp
Threatening to be a noisy affair initially, the concert of the Malladi Brothers gradually calmed down with the rendition of "Chanitoditeve" (Harikamboji), a kriti not often heard in recent times. The melodic improvisations were pregnant with soulful phrases. The elaboration of Saraswati ("Anuragamule") and Bhairavi ("Upacharamulanu") had their own distinct stamp.
The neraval and swaras in both songs were impressive. But, more often than not, some of the phrases that were intended as touches, that were meant to add value to the raga, fell flat due to lack of clarity and precision in execution. "Nenarunchinanu" (Malavi) was rendered at breakneck speed and the voices were completely drowned. The brothers next executed an interesting ragam tanam pallavi in Sahana in Khanda triputa (tisra gati).
Bhushany Kalyanaraman
M. A. Sundareswaran, normally a very able violinist, attempted to match the vocalists, phrase for phrase, and though he succeeded often, he generated a very harsh and scratchy tone at times. Umaiyalpuram Sivaraman, the legendary mridangist, encouraged the duo with subtle and tuneful touches and finishes. He was complemented by E. M. Subramaniam on the ghatam.
Lacking in depth
Bhushany Kalyanaraman, a senior representative of the GNB bani, gave a lacklustre concert with too many slips in sruti. While this could be attributed to lack of form on the day in question, what baffled one was the number of times she missed her tala.
Malladi Brothers, Sreeram Prasad and Ravikumar
Her raga expositions of Amritavarshini ("Sudhamayee"), Chandrajyoti ("Bagayanayya"), Madhyamavati ("Ramakatha") and Sankarabharanam ("Mahalakshmi") were merely a run of sancharas. Her neraval in Madhyamavati was the high point in the concert.
Tamil compositions seemed to be the order of the day and many popular kritis such as "Sabapatikku" (Abhogi), "Thayae Tripurasundari" (Shuddhasaveri), "Kalai Thookki" (Yadukulakambodhi) and "Mal Maruha" (Vasanta) were rendered. Pakkala Ramdass (violin) faithfully went along with the vocalist. Palladam Ravi (mridangam) and H. Sivaramakrishnan (ghatam) provided brisk and energetic accompaniment. — B. B
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