In his guru's footsteps
It is good news for Carnatic music, that youth in general and software engineers in particular are evincing lot of interest in it and have been able to win big audiences all over. It is heart warming that these youngsters could adapt themselves to the rigours of traditional music and these thoughts flood my mind when I heard the young G. Ravikiran sang for Ganagruha at the Ananya auditorium during its three-day anniversary festival of music.
Ravikiran is a disciple of the veteran vocalist Dr. R. K. Srikantan. By accompanying him on stage, Ravi has imbibed the technique of Srikanthan-bani correctly and perfectly too. The imprint of the guru was available to be seen in the renditions of the shishya. But the singer saw to it that it never boiled down to blind imitation. There was ingenuity in good measure too.
Like his guru, Ravi also captured the beauty and grandeur of vilambakala. Highly sensitive, full of subtleties of bhava, raga and laya, impeccable manodharma and a cohesive expressiveness of Ravikiran greeted the ears. Swati Tirunal's "Deva deva" (Mayamalavagowla) opened the concert. It was adorned with kalpanaswaras woven into sarvalaghu, daatu and janti patterns. The beauty of a krithi on "Sri Dakshinamoorthe" in Shankarabharana by Muthuswamy Dikshitar is something to be cherished. Ravi was at home in dealing with the maathu and dhaatu.
Demanding
The delineation of a demanding raga Varali for Thyagaraja's "Itu janma midi" was another milestone of his recital. Artistic nerval attached with cascading swaras delighted both the mind and ears. But in the singing of "Raksha battare" (Bhairavi) he rounded off the krithi with swaravinyasa sans neraval. He enthralled the audience by rendering swaras in the anaagatha (sahitya starting before the tala) edduppu. "Bhogeendra shaiyanam", "Broohi Mukundethi" and "Smariso sadaa Hariya" pleased the ears. J.K. Sridhar (violin), K.U. Jayachandra Rao (mridanga) and Dayananda Mohithe (ghata) imparted an enlivening accompaniment.
Sadhana Sangama Trust led by a Bharatanatya-expert Jyothi Pattabhi and Pattabhi, her husband adept in yoga, held a four day "Mukula - Yugala Nrithyotsava" in the premises of Sri Maha Veeranjaneyaswamy Temple, Mahalakshmi Layout. On the third day, Guru Sunandadevi's disciples Hemabharathi and Preethi Prakash with their laya perfect mercurial movements won the hearts of the rasikas. The Kuchipudi duet concluded with a tillana in Kuntalavarali raga.
Guru Sunandadevi (nattuvanga), Ramaa Jagannath (a rich and fine vocal), Ashwathanarayana (flute) and Chandrasekhar (mridanga) enriched the dance.
Artistic
Preksha Gruha was the venue of some of the important episodes during the life of Pandavas who were in Agnaatavaasa of Mahabharatha. Arjuna's curse, Arjuna as Brihannale training Uttare in natya, Bheema-Keechaka fight, Uttarakumara's tale et al were strung together for depiction in the format of a dance-drama. Penned by Shatavadhani Ganesh, the story was choreographed by Jyothi Pattabhi with music scored by singer Balasubramanya Sharma.
The dance drama unfolded in an artistic manner. The students of Jyothi at Sadhana Sangama, rose to the occasion in putting across the theme. Well aided by recorded music, the dancers clad in traditional costumes reacted positively to the tunes of music.
The combination of nritta, nrithya and abhinaya was even and enriching. Sadhanasri, Narayan, Sushma Narahari, Ananth, Nagesh among others stole the show.
M. SURYA PRASAD
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