Dramatic ascent
VENKATESAN SRIKANTH
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Singer Mahathi gave a memorable concert at the Delhi Tamil Sangam recently.
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She sings Carnatic music as well as film songs. Therefore, it is quite natural for an organisation like the Delhi Tamil Sangam to emphasise her identity as a playback singer in the invitation card even for her Carnatic music concert.
However that may be, Mahathi delighted the rasikas with her rendering. Mahathi began her concert with the Adi tala varnam in the raga Aboghi. She followed it with some crisp swaraprastaras. This was unusual for a varnam. A Tamil song of Subramanya Bharathi, “Ganapathi thaalai” in raga Nattai was impressive. Though the niraval of the phrase “Dikkellam vendru jaya kodi nattalam” was brief, one could gauge the good manodharma talents of this artiste. The subsequent swaraprastaras were also impressive. Mahathi then presented Oothukaadu Venkatasubbaiyer’s “Kaanere kanchamalar” in Khamas, a song rarely heard in concerts. This, and Shyama Sastri’s “O Jagadamba” in raga Ananda Bhairavi, were presented emotively, bringing the raga and sahitya bhava of these compositions to the fore. While rendering Tyagaraja’s “Seethamma” in Vasanta, Mahathi presented an alap of the raga and ended with niraval of a phrase from the charanam portion. The subsequent swaraprastaras were creative. Another Tyagaraja kriti, “Nagumomukanaleni” in raga Abheri and Mutthutandavar’s “Sevikka vendum iyya” in raga Andolika were given good treatment. As her main item, Mahathi chose Dikshitar’s “Sri Krishnam Bhajamanasa” in Todi. The composition was presented well, and the culminating swaraprastaras creatively handled. However, she could have delineated the raga in stages. Sanchara in the mandra sthai was virtually non-existent.
She also unpleasantly unfolded raga Mohana Kalyani through the technique of sruti bhedam which she could have avoided. She could have also avoided announcing each song’s details . This was reminiscent of the presentation style of light singers. Better concert planning, like singing a kriti composed in one of the Sampoorna Prati Madhyama ragas (a raga containing all seven notes with a sharp Madhyam) could have enhanced the overall impact.
Mahathi was ably assisted by Delhi’s VSK Chakrapani on the violin and M.S. Varadan on the mridangam (from Chennai). Chakrapani’s delineation of ragas Vasanta and Todi were delightful. He also brought out some wonderful swaraprastaras in Nattai and Todi. The mridangam accompaniment of Varadan, including his tani avartanam in the Adi tala, was elegant and mature, with considerable depth.
On the whole, Mahathi’s concert was memorable . Nevertheless, she should not let her ascent in the film music domain eclipse her hard work and journey towards reaching higher goals in the field of Carnatic music.
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