Creative streak well exploited
G. SWAMINATHAN
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It was a slow, steady and stirring recital by Kasturirangan.
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photo: K. Pichumani
RARE BLEND: Kasturirangan
Young S. Kasturirangan is not new to the concert circuit but has not been in circulation as much as some of his contemporaries. The hibernation seems to have done him good adding to the vocalist's musical dexterity.
A disciple of Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan, Kasturirangan has learnt how to exploit the creative streak. In his concert at the Ragasudha Hall for Naada Inbam, Kasturirangan engaged the discerning audience in a well-planned musical exercise.
Kasturirangan's voice carries a rare blend, which sounds fairly light in the middle and upper regions but touches deep bass in the lower registers. Many times during his singing one got the impression of two voices at odds to a level of slight discomfort. But the vocalist's shipshape perception and presentation helped him overcome these minor drawbacks.
Neat interpretation
Kasturirangan had selected kritis of various composers, set at varied tempos and rhythm. The expositions of Pantuvarali and Kedaragowlai were given high priority projected in two different styles. His profound comprehension on the significant attributes of these ragas surfaced during his neat interpretations.
Pantuvarali carried a range of spiralling akaras interlocked with minimum extended karvais. Kasturirangan employed his skill in full measure in the kriti ``Sarasaksha Paripalaya" (Swati Tirunal) and racy neraval and swaras at ``Bhamini Samudaya."
In Kedaragowlai, he showed more poise and his prolific phrases stemmed from the middle and upper registers thus strengthening the vivid and unblemished shades of the raga. It was perhaps an odd prelude — an Azhwar Paasuram — to the Telugu composition `Saraguna Palimpa' (Poochi Iyengar). `Varaguna Seshadri' was the place on which neraval and swaras were centred.
Kasturirangan was quite frugal in his swaras but employed bewitching patterns of jandai swaras.
It was gratifying that Kasturirangan did not miss the emotional content in kritis such as `Janani Ninnuvina' (Subbaraya Sastri)in Ritigowlai and `Mayamma' (Syama Sastri) in Ahiri relying on slow and steady rendition. V.V.Ravi on the violin responded positively to the vocalist in ragas and swaras but chose to keep a low profile.
Thrissur Narendran's rhythmic support and the terse `tani' spoke volumes of percussive skills honed through years of practice.
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