Songs of prayer
K.C. ASOK
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Devotion was the hallmark of the concerts held at the Navaratri Mandapom.
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The recently concluded Navaratri concerts at the Navarathri Mandapom in Thiruvananthapuram was noted for the inclusion of rarely sung Swati kritis.
T.M. Krishna overwhelmed rasikas with his high-pitched, sruthi-suddha recital.
A disciple of B. Seetharama Sarma and Semmangudi, T.M. Krishna's rendition had traces of his masters' purist tradition. The concert had a slow tempo and the emphasis was on melody and laya. The chittaswarams in the introductory piece `Sumasayaka... ' in Karnataka Kappi came in different ragas such as Kalyani, Khamas, Vasantha and Mohanam. A vivid elaboration of Begada (`Karunakara madhava... ') and Ananda Bhairavi (`Pahi tara..,' a rare krithi) enthralled the listeners.
Upbeat mood
Both the singer and the violinist R.M. Sreeramkumar were in an upbeat mood while they delved into `Sanantam kamala manohari... ,' a padam composed in a string of ragas such as Kamalamanohari, Hamsadhwani, Revagupti, and Tarangini. The lengthy ragaalapana also traced the constituent ragas. `Panchasayaka janakan... ' in Neelambari, another rare composition, was sung before the main piece in Suddha saveri (`Janani pahi sada... ').
The percussion was handled by K.V. Prasad.
Flute recital
Flautist N. Ramani performed on the previous day. He was accompanied by Attukal P. Balasubramaniam on the violin, mridangam vidwan Mavelikkara K. Vellukutty Nair on the mridangam and Adichanallur Anil Kumar on the ghatom. Ramani chose to perform oft-heard krithis, like `Paripalayamam... ' (Reethigoula), `Smarasadha ... ' ( Bilahari), `Mamavasada... ' in Kanada, `Padmanabha pahi... ' in Hindolam and the popular tillana `Geeta dhunikku... ' in Dhanasree. `Saroru hasana' in Panthuvarali was the main item for the day.
Penultimate day
K.N. Ranganatha Sarma paid obeisance on the penultimate day of the festival.
Starting with `Chala melara,' an Adatala varnam in Sankarabharanam, he also included in his recital, kritis seldom heard these days. The vocalist explored ragas such as Malayamarutham (`Padmanabha pali... '), Madhyamavathi (`Sree padumanabha... '), Ameerkalyani (`Gangeya vasana... '), Keeravani (`Bhavaye sarasa nabham... '), other than Nattakurunji (`Pahi Janai... '), the main item for the day.
T.V. Ramanujacharulu and Sreekumara Varma accompanied on the violin and the mridangam respectively.
T.V.G.'s concert
T.V. Gopalakrishnan performed on the last day. `Pahi Parvatha Nandini... ' in Arabhi was the main item for the day. Apart from this main raga, TVG ventured into a detailed alapana of Saveri (`Paripahi pahimam... '), Begada (`Karunakara madhava mamava bhasura... ') Poorvikalyani (`Panchabhana dhanurdhara'), Kanada (`Mamavasada janani'), and Mohanam (`Mohanam tava... ').
T.H. Subramoniam played the violin with ease, bringing out some striking ragalakshanas. Thiruvananthapuram V. Surendran on the mridangam and Trippunnittura Radhakrishnan on the ghatom provided lively accompaniment.
With the rendition of `Bujagasayinoo nama mangalam... '(Yadhukulakamboji) the curtain fell on the nine-day musical festival.
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