Power-driven affair
SVK
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Through a bunch of special songs, Nithyasree paid obeisance to Sri Rama.
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Photo: V. Ganesan
VIBRANT VOICE: Nithyasree Mahadevan .
Sage Valmiki was given the benediction by Brahma that as long as the mountains and the rivers exist in this world Ramayana would prevail. Ramakatha has indeed inspired Sri Tyagaraja, Bhadrachala - and other vaggeyakaras to pour their hearts out in songs.
Through Ramakathamrutham, a special programme presented by Nithyasree Mahadevan, Sarvani Sangita Sabha offered a bunch of special songs rendered by the vocalist to emphasise the hold Sri Rama has over the mind of every individual. Nithyasree Mahadevan played the role given to her with great competence and ιlan.
The way she presented the songs was an emphatic assertion of her vibrant voice gliding over the tarastayi for the most part. There was no better feeling for the packed audience than the satisfaction of her kutcheri being astoundingly power-driven.
The performance started strongly on the Sahana obeisance of Tyagaraja — `Vandanamu-Raghunandana.' Nithyasree maintained the tempo by following it up with Bhadrachala Ramadas's famous kirtana `O! Rama Nee Nama Enta Ruchira.' With the energetic and brief alapana couched in a sloka and `Kalyana Rama Rama Raghurama' (Oothukadu Venkatakavi) she captivated the rasika. The swaraprasthara was especially impressive. No more evidence was necessary than her instinctive style to deploy fluency to gain her kutcheri objective.
The songs that were reposeful in contrast were `Ramadaya Joodave' in Durbar with an alapana and the Kalavathi kriti of Tyagaraja `Ennadu Joothunu.' Nithyasree shifted to heightened vocal resonance in her handling of the Arunachala Kavi item `Ramanukku Mannan' in Hindolam.
It was not a miscellany of spur-of-the moment rendering, but planned selection of songs with fecund articulation. The violionist B. Raghavendra Rao, seemed to accept the musical mind of the vocalist conveying correctly his pattern to her plan of presentation.
Mridangam vidwan Patri Satish Kumar and ghatam vidwan Tiruchi Murali lent crisp support, each percussive pattern creating stunning impact.
Sans aesthetics
Tyagaraja's songs are a unified exposition of sahitya emotion and loftiness of sangita. But by a mechanical interpretation of the songs (for the Indian Fine Arts Society celebrating the saint's aradhana) O.S.Thyagarajan deprived the sahitya of its aesthetical sensitivities.
The kritis `Ra Ra Maa Intidaaga' (Asaveri) and `Enduku Niradaya' (Harikambhodi) and `Hechchariga Gaa Raa Raa' (Yadukulakhambodi) were just tala-based renderings. His brick-by-brick development of Bhairavi (`Upachaaramulanu') abounded in sancharas sans lyrical tints. It is surprising that a senior vidwan thinks that a kutcheri is just a narrative expression of alapanas and kirtanas.
M.A.Sundareswaran was the violinist who played like a true pativrata in his solo raga versions and swara exercises. Srimushnam Raja Rao was a picture of over-exuberance with his beats vivifying and energetic.
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