Veritable treat
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A six-day festival comprised Carnatic music concerts, discourses and Bharatanatyam recitals. S. Ramachandra Iyer
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It was a golden opportunity for art lovers to satisfy their hunger for devotional classical music, religious discourses and Bharatanatyam recitals. The six-day-long ‘Thirumurugan Music, Lecture and Dance Art Festival’ at Sree Pandurang
a Bhajana Mandapam, was organised jointly by Sree Seetha Rama Bhaktha Sabha, and Thiruppugazh Anbargal. The Carnatic music concert began with a nadaswaram recital by E. Murugesa Kambar. S. Kishore and Shencottah Hariharsubramaniam gave vocal recitals to an appreciative audience.
Wide repertoire
Shertallay K. N. Renganatha Sharma gave the last music concert of the series. He is a gifted singer with a sonorous voice and a wide repertoire.
The well known varnam ‘Chalamela’ in Nattakkurinji, composed by the not-so-well-known Srirangam Rangaswamy Nattuvanar, opened his two-hour-long masterly performance. A brief alapana of Varali (a unique raga conventionally self-taught by disciples, and not taught by the gurus) and the rendering of the Muthuswamy Dikshitar kriti, ‘Lambodaraya Namaste’ followed.
A bewitchingly sweet ‘Nathajanapalini Nalinakanthi’ in Nalinakanthi, composed by Thanjavur Sankara Iyer, was a short rendition. The lilting melody of Sahana wafted in the air when Ranganatha Sharma chose the popular piece of Papanasam Sivan – ‘Chitham Irangathathenayya.’ Kosalam, the 71st Melakartha raga, is not heard often. A Koteeswara Iyer composition in Kosalam, ‘Ka Guha Shanmukha,’ was listened to with curiosity by many in the audience.
The piece-de-resistance of the concert was the ragam tanam and pallavi and the closing ragamalika. After a brief but compact Thodi raga alapana and tanam (reminiscent of Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar for the brevity and compactness), the pallavi chosen was ‘Mal Maruka, Shanmukha, Guha.’ Behag. Anandabhairavi and Bageshri were the pieces in the ragamalika segment. A couple of ‘Thiruppugazh’ songs were the concluding items of a memorable kutcheri.
S. R. Vinu (violin), Dr. G. Babu (mridangam) and Trivandrum Karthikeyam (ghatam) contributed considerably to the high quality of the recital by their instrumental support.
There was also a Bharathanatyam performance by students of Tarang Institute of Classical Dances.
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