In full flow
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Ushalakshmi Krishnamoorthi's recital was a treat. Venkatesan Srikanth
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From time immemorial, temples in our country have played an important role in promoting the fine arts. For several years the Sri Subbha Siddhi Vinayaka Mandir Society of Mayur Vihar Phase I in East Delhi has been involved in promoting South Indian arts, particularly Carnatic music in the trans-Yamuna areas. The Carnatic vocal concert of Ushalakshmi Krishnamoorthi from Chennai this past weekend was yet another effort aimed in this direction.
Ushalakshmi began her concert with a kriti of Muthuswami Dikshitar, "Raktha Ganapathim", in the raga Mohanam, set to Adi tala. This song, especially with the crisp swaraprasthara in a quick tempo, provided a bracing start to the concert and was indicative of Ushalakshmi's manodharma talents.
Next was a fine presentation of Tyagaraja's composition, "Suki Yevaro" in the raga Kanada, also set to Adi tala, in which she meticulously brought out not only raga bhava but also the emotional contents of the sahityam (lyrics) to the fore. This was preceded by a fine alap of the raga and ended with neraval of the pallavi line as well as swaraprasthara. Another impressive rendition.
Ushalakshmi's main presentation was a ragam-taanam-pallavi in the raga Subha Pantuvarali. While the alap and the taanam had considerable fluency the pallavi, "Needhu Paadhame Gathiyeni Nammine Ramachandra" in Adi tala with edduppu (starting point) at the veechu point of the tala (constituting ateetha graha, in which the words of a composition start before the sam) was complete with the required technicalities. This was followed by an enthralling ragamalika presentation of the pallavi and swaraprastharas in Attana, Kanada, Dwijavanti and Brindavan Saranga. Nevertheless, the swaraprasthara of Subha Pantuvarali was shorter than the others.
Delhi's V.S.K. Annadurai on the violin and P. Jayabhaskar on the mridangam provided good support throughout.
Annadurai's delineation of Kanada and Subha Pantuvarali ragas had a good degree of expression.
However in the fast tempo, it is not enough if the weight applied while bowing results in clear notes. A little more care would translate into pleasing tonal notes, too. Jayabhaskar gave an excellent tani avartanam in Adi.
His total involvement enhanced the overall quality of the concert.
VENKATESAN SRIKANTH
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