Strings of melody
G. JAYAKUMAR
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Gitanjali G. Iyer's recital highlighted the delineation of ragas.
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FLOW OF RAGAS: Gitanjali G. Iyer's concert included a couple of non-kriti compositions of her guru Kudamaloor Janardanan.
Gitanjali G. Iyer's veena concert enchanted listeners and remained true to her guru's concept of what music should be.
Gitanjali began her concert with the raga Navarasakanada. The kriti was Tyagaraja's `Ninuvina,' immortalised by legends like flute vidwan T.R. Mahalingam and veena maestro Chitti Babu.
She elaborated the raga by exploring all the possibilities of the veena. This was continued with a tanam. She was ably supported by the percussionists.
Her guru is the renowned flautist Kudamaloor Janardanan whose credo is that ragas are supreme in instrumental music with the kritis playing a secondary role. Naturally, Gitanjali's concert included a couple of non-kriti compositions of her guru.
One of them was the composition in Bahudari raga. It stood out for its raga alapana and tanam, the rendition of the raga in a set pattern. Here, the swaras in the form of ragas communicated with the audience without the help of the kriti.
Main piece
As the main piece of her concert, Gitanjali played to perfection a swara pallavi based on the raga Kalyani. Displaying a maturity beyond her years, it was a smooth delineation of the raga that stood out for its alapana and disciplined approach.
The composition elevated the listeners to a sublime level as the young artiste plucked the strings and moved her fingers smoothly across the frets while playing the ragamalika swaras - Kanada, Neelambari and Vrindavan Saranga. It was followed by a thaniavarthanam performed by Vypin Satish on the mridangam and Kottayam Unnikrishnan on the ghatam. The short duration of the thaniavarthanam was enjoyed by the audience.
Through the raga Dhanyasi, she played a piece composed by Kudamaloor Janardanan. Gitanjali created a devout ambience with Vypin Satish accompanying on the edakka. Gitanjali concluded her 90-minute veena concert deviating from the usual practice of rendering mangalam. Instead, she played Surutti, the mangala raga, to the accompaniment of the edakka.
A final-year student of linguistics, 21-year-old Gitanjali had won the first prize for veena in a national-level competition conducted by All India Radio.
The concert in Thiruvananthapuram was organised by Alliance Francaise de Trivandrum in association with the Embassy of France in India.
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