The lilt of devotion
Sudha Raghunathan performing in New Delhi.
RENOWNED CARNATIC vocalist, Sudha Raghunathan gave a splendid Carnatic recital in the Capital at Sankara Vidya Kendra recently as part of the 37th anniversary celebrations of the Vishnu Sahasranama Satsangam, Ramakrishnapuram.
In a departure from her regular music recitals, Sudha rendered devotional songs. With her melodious vocal felicity she could bring out the devotional content of the lyrics.
She commenced her concert with a "Pallandu" and from then on she captivated the audience for nearly three hours with her immaculate presentation of the songs and raga alapana.
While all her songs were mellifluous, special mention must be made of the Khamboji raga rendering of "O Ranga Sayi", a Thyagaraja keerthanai.
In the song on Lord Ranganatha, the patron deity of the Satsangam, she did full justice to the lyrics in exposing its classical contours and spacious format. More so, in the rendering of the charanam line, "Bhuloka Vaikuntam", one could feel the weight and lilt in the raga prefacing of Dikshitar's Amrita Varshini Raga kriti.
Devotional effort
She had intelligently selected songs fit for the occasion and ensured that it was not a mere musical concert but a devotional effort. Disciple of the late M.L. Vasanthakumari, Sudha's handling of the Kalpana swara extension was pleasing. She excelled in the songs Purandara Dasar's "Jagadhodharana", Rajaji's "Kurai Onrumillai", Meera's bhajan "Giridhara Gopala" and Kaatrinile's "Varum Geetham". The concluding Dasavatara song "Parkadal Alai Mele" eulogising the 10 avatars of Lord Narayana, she kept the audience spell bound and kept them immersed in devotion.
Adding value to the excellent performance, the accompanying artistes, Neyveli Radhakrishnan on the violin, N. Ramakrishnan on the mridangam and R. Raman on mohar sangu supported Sudha by their excellent response and enhanced the performance.
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