A double dose of light
VENKATESAN SRIKANTH
|
Unnikrishnan and Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam presented delightful Carnatic concerts in Delhi the other day.
|
IMPRESSIVE P. Unnikrishnan.
In the Festival of Music and Dance organised by Sree Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha at the auditorium of Delhi Tamil Sangam recently, P. Unnikrishnan, who was featured on the third day of the festival, enthralled rasikas by steering his concert, close to three hours, to a delightful experience.
Unnikrishnan began his concert with the Pantuvarali raga Adi tala varnam, "Sami Ninne Nammina". His next item, a Tyagaraja composition, "Sugunamule" in the raga Chakravakam, was marked by crisp and fast-paced swaraprastaras.
A fine alap
Unnikrishnan then presented Kotteswara Iyer's "Unnai yellam vere gathi" in the raga Simhendra Madhyamam, bringing the sahitya bhava to the fore. Earlier, he presented a scintillating alap of this raga. Yet another Tyagaraja kriti, "Maanasa sancharare" in the raga Sama was marked with a fine alap, emotive depiction of the sahitya and creativity in swaraprastaras. Similarly, Muthuswami Dikshatar's "Rajagopalam bhajeham" in the raga Mohanam underwent fine treatment, which was marked with some enthralling swaraprastaras.
The main item of Unnikrishnan's presentation was a ragam-taanam-pallavi in the raga Kharaharapriya, set to Adi tala. The pallavi, "Thamarasa dala nethrudu Tyagarajuni mithrudu" was preceded by a fine alap and mellifluous taanam. While delineating this raga, Unnikrishnan also unfolded the ragas Harikamboji, Kalyani and Todi through the technique of griha bhedam. Incidentally, this pallavi phrase is from the charanam of Tyagaraja's famous Kalyani raga kriti, "Amma ravamma". Artistes do have this liberty in designing their pallavis, and Unnikrishnan added the usual technicalities to it. The subsequent swaraprastaras that he presented were imaginively crafted. He also followed it with ragamalika swaraprastaras in the ragas Bahudari and Chandrakauns.
Earlier in the evening, Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam put up an impressive show in her recital though that was for a brief hour-and-a-half only. Her presentation of Papanasam Sivam's "Pirava varam" in the raga Lathingi was marked with some scintillating swaraprastaras, which was indicative of her manodharma talents at the very outset. Muthuswami Dikshitar's "Nirajakshi kamakshi" in the raga Hindolam was marked with a fine alap of the raga and swaraprastaras rich in creativity. Kotteswara Iyer's "Kaanaa mukham", in the raga Salagam (37th melakarta raga) was handled impressively.
Vijayalakshmi's main item was a Tyagaraja's "Manasu Svadhinamaina" in the raga Sankarabharanam, which was marked by a fine delineation of the raga in stages and swaraprastaras rich in creativity.
R.K. Sriramkumar on the violin and Shertallai Ananthakrishnan on the mridangam provided excellent support in both these concerts. Sriramkumar's delineation of the ragas Simhendhra Madhyamam, Sama and Kharaharapriya (while accompanying Unnikrishnan) and Hindolam and Sankarabharanam (while accompanying Vijayalakshmi) and were delightful. Ananthakrishnan's taniavartanam in Adi tala (while accompanying Unnikrishnan) was enjoyable.
Since there wasn't any upapakkavadyam (in the form of kanjira, ghatam or morsunkh) in both these concerts, Ananthakrishnan did a good job playing tirelessly.
Instead of having two different concerts on the same evening (with the same accompanying artistes and that too without a upapakkavadyam), and when both the main artistes find it difficult to complete the performance within their allocated time schedules, it could have been a better idea to have only one concert for a longer duration. But wisely, the organisers had arranged for an independent microphone system, rather than relying on Delhi Tamil Sangam's system.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
