With an eye on aesthetics
LALITHAA KRISHNAN
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Voice culture and good presentation accounted for the success of Haricharan's concert.
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A brave new breed of young musicians has emerged — talented artistes who have fine-tuned their balancing act between the demands of a corporate career or professional course on the one hand and the creative satisfaction that music offers, on the other.
Haricharan Seshadri fits the bill for membership to this clique. In his recital for the Sarvani Sangeetha Sabha the importance he laid on voice culture and aesthetic presentation were evident.
A satisfactory kalpanaswara exercise rounded off a robust `Deva Deva Kalayaamithe' (Swathi Tirunal, Adi) in Mayamalavagowla. Muthuswami Dikshitar's gently-nuanced `Kamalamba Samrakshathumaam' in Anandabhairavi was presented with subtlety.
Lively touches of imagination flavoured the Poorvikalyani alapana, although there was a hint of repetitive imagery when middle-register passages were tapered off with a phrase descending from the tara sthayi shadja.
Haricharan built substantial areas around the elaboration of a concept rather than opting for a predictable progression. Ponnaiah Pillai composition, `Saatileni' (Misra chapu) made a mark with the neraval at `Koti manmatha.'
Emphatic start
The violinist's raga sancharas in the lower register held promise, although his take on the neraval did not jell with that of the vocalist.
`Maravairi Ramani' (Adi, tisra nadai) in Nasikabhushani, always a repository of esoteric melodic undercurrents, cast its spell anew in the vocalist's rendition.
A bright emphatic start to the main raga, Kharaharapriya, ensured a smooth take-off. The emphasis was on patterned structuring of sangatis. Dwelling upon more karvais would have imparted a sense of vishranti.
While sincerity of intention and the drive to explore unusual permutations lent impetus to the prayogas, a thorough familiarity with the nooks and the crannies of the raga would have helped in negotiating off-the-cuff passages with greater ease.
Involvement and bhava
The kizhkala neraval at `Thana Sowkyamu' in Tyagaraja's `Rama Neeyeda' (Adi, 2 kalai) reflected involvement and bhava.
A prolonged melkala swaraprastara without kuraippu, and capped with a simple korvai brought the swara segment to its culmination. While technique allowed the violinist, B. Ananthakrishnan to explore possibilities in alapana without trepidation, his attempts could have been tempered with discretion.
In a raga like Kharaharapriya, tradition-bound pidis are the indispensable milestones that mark the raga's progress in the right direction.
By observing this principle the artiste's raga essays would proceed along more disciplined and focused lines.
S. Venkatasubramaniam's mridangam accompaniment stood out for nimble fingering and clarity of sollus.
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