Promising talent
AS SATHYAPRAKASH, the lad from Coimbatore, commenced ``Vatapi Ganapatimbhaje," you could not guess his age from his voice, which of course has not broken yet. But his long training — for seven years under Chandrasekhara Bhagavathar of the Pandanallur School — was in ample evidence. The boy of 14 sang the Neelakanta Sivan song ``Ananda Nadamaduvar Tillai" in Poorvikalyani, the first among the rare kritis of the evening.
A more scholarly facet of his persona came to the fore in the exquisite alapana in Lalitha, followed by Syama Sastri's ``Nannubrovu Lalitha." Even the piece in the interlude was no ordinary gig.
In case the audience had prejudged his ability to improvise on the lyrics (neraval) as well as swaram, the main piece gave the answer. The exposition of Subhapanthuvarali and the Tyagaraja song ``Yennallu oorake unduvo," would have forced even a sceptic to revise his otherwise generalised opinion on budding youngsters. The neraval on ``Sathimatalanalakinchi" was surcharged with emotional appeal.
It is not often that Bombay Anand on the violin and Trivandrum Hariharan on the mridangam find themselves accompanying a peer so extraordinary for his age. There were many special moments in their own performance to savour on that rare evening. At least some of those must have been inspired by Sathyaprakash.
As in cricket, so in music? Blooding out young talent is fraught with many possibilities. Some are weighed down by over-exposure, while others seem to handle each next opportunity better than the previous one. Satyaprakash, it appears, has the right temperament to forge ahead.
GARIMELLA SUBRAMANIAM
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Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
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Thiruvananthapuram
