O.S. Thyagarajan’s repertoire was replete with some popular and rare numbers.
Living legend O. S. Thyagarajan.
O.S. Thyagarajan, one of the top class Carnatic vocalists of this country, was invited by the South Indian Cultural Association and arranged his concert at Ravindra Bharati, last week. Thyagarajan’s assets are an appealing voice with good vocal range. He has the art of presenting a kriti with good expression, without disturbing the sahitya bhava. He is innovative but never crossing the limits of the tradition and a hot name for m
ajor concerts and festivals. This Chennai-based vocalist has had tutelage under stalwart gurus O.V. Subramanyam, T.M. Thyagarajan and Lalgudi G. Jayaraman. He gave performances all over the country and abroad and has been a favourite with AIR and Doordarshan. He is now the Dean of Fine Arts in Annamalai Unversity and Head of the Department of Music and Dance there. His concert always is sought after one and the response to his concert he gave last week for SICA was a testimony by itself. He was accompanied on this occasion, by Mysore V. Srikanth on violin and Trivendram Balaji on mridangam.
Thyagarajan’s repertoire was filled with some popular and rare numbers. His approach sounded also to please the audience both with his vocal excellence and technical output, marked by manodharma. The numbers that impressed the
audience were lead by Thodi, major show piece of the concert.
His delineation of the raga was with restraint keeping an eye on what is beautiful. The response on violin by Mysore Srikanth was complementary to vocalist’s effort adding to the wholesome appeal. His choice number for this <
em style="i">raga was Ninne Namminanu. The kriti went well home to the music lovers, because of sahitya clarity. The nereval he did in this was a kind of extension of sahitya appeal for a while. And the swarakalpana that followed continued the melodic line of the raga.
In the earlier part of the concert, the numbers Thyagarajan presented were also interesting. Paritapamugani in Manohari was appealingly rendered while the kirtana Rara Mayintidaka in Asaveri was with feeling.
Eesa Paahimam in Kalyani was a smart rendition. So was another composition -Neelakantham Bhajeham in Kedaragowla - of Dikshitar. Kalyana Rama in
Hamsanadam almost prefaced the major raga Todi, which was marked by a balanced tani avartanam by Balaji. Purity and clarity marked the concert of Thiyagarajan throughout.
G. S
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