Good and not so good
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The three-day Purandara-Thyagaraja Sangeethothsava presented a series of concerts by talented artistes
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GIFTED Chaitra's concert was a fine blend of good learning and sincere approach
Ganabharathi, celebrating three-day Purandara-Thyagaraja Sangeethothsava, presented series of concerts by talented artistes, some of them reaching the mark and some lagging behind even in matters of elementary requirements.
Sudhamani Venkataraghav, in spite of commitment and zeal with which she endeavoured to maintain clarity and fervour, frequent violations in keeping to the shruthi marked her performance. This was more pronounced in all the nilugade-s, and thus an otherwise interesting performance was marred.
This drawback was evident from the very beginning ("Abhishtavarada") of the concert and went on unhindered even after a considerable progression through "Etijanmamithi Ha" (Varali-Thyagaraja), "Sallado Krishna Sallado" of Purandaradasa and so on.
Sandhya Shankar's bold and assertive voice was found to be better suited for compositions which either warranted an aggressive narrative style or those composed in raga-s which were predominantly mild and melting in order to soften the "pushing" predisposition. "Shobillu Sapthaswara" in Jaganmohini needed finer touches with subtle vocal inflections to match both the substance and the mood, the composition and the raga reasonably presupposed. However, the alapana in Kalyani brought to the fore the artiste's proficiency and imagination, the elaborate neraval and terse swara prastara sections, complementing the text "Amma Ravamma" of Thyagaraja imparted warmth to the presentation.
In both the above concerts the violinist H.M. Smitha's admirable adaptability in providing the contents keenly sensing the context, in the midst of obvious exigencies, was a significant solace. M.S. Jayaram (mridanga) provided the rhythm support.
Chaithra had systematically framed her vocal concert and diligently complemented it with good learning, melody and emotions. She was inspiringly supported by Veena Suresh (violin) and M.R. Manjunath (mridanga). Her voice remained delicate and smooth with subtle intonations strictly adhering to the shruthi at all the necessary octaves. Nevertheless, it fell short of the required vigour in the tharasthayi though it maintained consistency in tonal qualities.
Her two presentations "Mokshamugalada" (Saramathi) and "Giripai Nelakonna" (Shahana), both composed by Sri Thyagaraja, vouched for the above observations. Her exposition of Shahana went in furtherance of both the rasa inseparably flowing in the raga and artha impregnated in the lyrics ("Giripai Nelakonna"). The neraval at "Parivarulu" and the swaraprasthara which followed aggrandised the overall impact.
Except for the presentation of "Aparama Bhakthi", a Thyagaraja composition in Kamavardhini, most part of Hamsini Nagendra's concert failed to interest for lack of creativity and imagination. She was accompanied by Govindaswami (violin) and Kumaraswami (mridanga). An elaborate alpana in Kamavardhini developed methodically in progressive stages of different paces and pitches had a traditional flavour. Neraval and the swaraprasthara sections were also built on a similar foundation.
V. NAGARAJ
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