Feast of Carnatic music
BALA SHANKAR
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The SIFAS held its cultural festival recently. Glimpses.
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Balamuralikrishna
Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society (SIFAS) has been running a pure classical event every year, spread over two weeks, interspersed tastefully with Carnatic Music, Hindustani Music, Bharathanatyam, Kuchipudi and other dance forms and most strikingly, bringing local groomed talent to the same stage as the renowned artistes of India.
The fifth edition lit up the cultural skies with legends such as Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma (Santoor), Ustad Zakir Hussain, P. Unnikrishnan, violinists Ganesh Kumaresh, the talented couple Anuradha-Sriram Parasuram and dancer Priyadarsini Govind performing at the Esplanade Theatres. Also there were performances from some of the in-form new talents such as Gayatri Venkatraghavan and (Master) M. Balamuralikrishna. More important the 40-odd individual programmes showcased many young talents from Singapore and the region nearby.
Gayatri Venkatraghavan toiled gracefully for a full three hours to make sure her debut concert in Singapore carried the highest stamp of classicism and top quality. Her brilliant sancharas in ragas (Kharaharapriya, Ananda Bhairavi, Charukesi), excellent sense of proportions in swaras and a time-tested Madhyama kala concert tempo, supplemented a gifted voice which ensures a perfect conversion from ideas to execution. Ganesh Kumar on the violin, Thanjavur Balakrishnan on the mridanagam and V. Devarajan on the morsing capitalised on the opportunity.
STARS: Gayatri Venkatraghavan
Traditional song selection
Balamuralikrishna, disciple of P.S.Narayanaswamy, did his master proud. One was impressed by his traditional song selection. Todi was a good sample of K. Sivaraman’s experience and stature as a competent violinist. Thanjavur Balakrishnan (mridangam) and V. Devarajan (morsing) made sure the train kept its purposeful course. The inaugural show of Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma and Ustad Zakir Hussain had all the aspects of costumed splendour that such events are meant to possess.
The Prime Minister of Singapore himself led the cosmopolitan audience. One wished there was more on offer.
P. Unnikrishnan.
Ganesh and Kumaresh have honed their violin skills over the past three decades and have absolute mastery over it. And yet, their show at the Esplanade was a regulation concert. The end result was a bit snappy, full of stereo ricochets, with melody disappearing every time it appeared. Strange choice of ragas (RTP in Nattai, and too in an instrument!) did not help either. K.V.Prasad and S.V.Ramani balanced the concert with a mature thani. Anuradha Sriram and Sriram Parasuram are surely creating a new group of crossover audience — people who love one of the two styles Carnatic or Hindustani — and yet can tolerate the other. Their SIFAS concert brought out two of the powerful elements of Indian Music. Akkarai Subhalakshmi took up all the challenges thrown in by the non-mainstream ragas (Sumanesaranjani, Gowlipantu), the shorter opportunities for alapanas and swaras. K.V.Prasad, S.V.Ramani and Nakod Rajendra (tabla) had a field day as the extended hour was well filled with popular rhythmic entertainment.
With a light tenor, Unnikrishnan produces excellent substance and colour in traversing the madhya stayi. The Teflon coating of sahitya is a mannerism perhaps picked up from the film world.
Unni seemed to have rediscovered his roots of classicism at the SIFAS concert. The Thodi alapana right in the middle of the concert was testimony to this.
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