Trip to Valmiki’s hermitage
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Rama Katha cast its spell on the audience when Vasundhara Rajagopal rendered select songs of Arunachala Kavi at the TTD Information Centre. SVK
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Photo: M. Karunakaran
Perfect enunciation: Vasundhara Rajagopal.
As long as the mountains exist and rivers flow, the Ramayana shall prevail in this world, so was blessed Valmiki by Brahma. In whatever form Rama Katha is presented it casts its spell. Such was the experience when Vasundhara Rajagopal rendered selec
t songs of Arunachala Kavi’s Rama Nataka under the auspices of the TTD Information Centre.
Significant episodes covering the first three cantos formed the core of the recital. Equanimity was achieved through kirtanas and niravals motivated by sahitya clarity.
Gentle appeal
The essentially narrative musical opera, for its full enjoyment, rested on the enunciation of the simple Tamil words, which to Vasundhara Rajagopal was natural. Her simple interpretative style coupled with the pleasantness of her voice cast its gentle appeal that was enhanced by the crisp, brief introductory note to each kirtana.
Behind the simplicity of her rendering of the songs was depth. In this respect the concert was uplifting. The characteristic feature was the way vocal sensitivity, modulation and subtle variations were linked to the moods of the songs.
For instance, her presentation of ‘Annai Janaki Vandale’ (Sankarabharanam) and ‘Eppadi Manam’ in Huseni. It was Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar who selected a few songs and tuned them to be concert-worthy.
Vasundhara Rajagopal sang some familiar and some unfamiliar songs. The emotional angle mainly sprang from the mental association of rasikas with Valmiki’s epic expounded by great Katha Kalakshepa artistes highlighting the dharmic and spiritual base of the words of the sage. Thus, Arunachala Kavi’s kirtanas took the listeners to Valmiki’s hermitage. Pertinently Vasundhara Rajagopal started her recital with the item, ‘En Pallikondirayya’ in Mohanam which was a dedication of Arunachala Kavi to Sri Ranganatha.
This was followed by ‘Para Brahma Swaroopame’ (Gowlipanthu) describing Rama’s birth and ‘Ramanukku Mannan’ (Hindolam) on Kaikeyi-Kooni meeting face-to-face.
The alapana ragas were Asaveri (‘Raja Raja’), Kanada (‘Devi Ival Rama’) and Sankarabharanam (‘Annai Janaki’). Consistency and control marked the phrasings and the whole development was richly worked out. Kandadevi Vijayaraghavan, the violinist, seemed to be quite conversant with the characteristic nuances of the ragas. Thanjavur Kumar on the mridangam was very enthusiastic without being pedantic.
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