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Bhairavi on a broad canvas
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Good voice control lent distinctive charm to the picture.
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Appealing recitals: Savitha Narasimhan.
On the concluding day of the Navaratri series at TTD the concert of Savitha Narasimhan was noteworthy for the high level of musical maturity in her exposition. She painted the peaks and slopes of Bhairavi, (Sari-Evvaramma) the main item, on a broad v
ocal canvas. The remarkable balance between karvais, madhyamakala passages and proportionately appropriate duritakala sancharas in the alapana was such as to make the raga gleam with brilliance. Good voice control to dress up the subtleties she held in view ensured distinctive charm to the picturisation. It was a testimony to her cultured musicianship dedicated to delicate sensitivities of expression.
The Syama Sastri kirtana was a marvellous condensation of Bhairavi’s enchantment in form and substance. Savitha Narasimhan saw to it that she meticulously preserved the song’s classical simplicity, feelings and emotional surge. Her interpretation was both reflective and gentle.
The delay in start was most frustrating to Savitha. The mridangam artiste R. Sankaranarayanan was late by twenty minutes, an inexcusable irresponsibility. The first two songs “Sarasiruha” (Nattai) and “Kanchadalaaya-Daakshi” (Kamalamanohari) had to come to terms with the initial hiccups of amplification.
Her perception of Bilahari “Sri-Chaamundesvari” and Dhanyasi “Paruvam-Paarka-Nyayama” was made clear by the way she arranged the sequence of sancharas to highlight the lilting pace of the forms... and the equipoise of the latter. Similar was the treatment she accorded to the kirtanas – the sedate Asaveri piece “Raa-Raa-Maa-Intidaaga” and the swirling Amritavarshini item “Sudhaamayi.”
The vinyasas of ragas by the violinist Shertalai Sivakumar, in his solo versions, had a fragile coating of creativity. It was far removed from the style of Savitha Narasimhan.
Barring a few segments of lyrical percussive beats by Sankaranarayanan, the support both during playing for the songs and thani with the kanjira vidwan K.V.Gopalakrishnan was suggestive of the cracker environment on the eve of Deepavali. The kanjira strokes were soothing to the ear.
Roots in the past
Suguna Purushottaman.
As a representative of the earlier generation of sampradaya idealism, Suguna Purushottaman’s creative urge was in keeping with such articulation that played a central constructive role in framing her concert for the TTD Navaratri series. Her roots in the past helped her to introduce a rare break of old-worldliness turning her back on the denser commercial climate today. Her technique was directed to present different levels of depth and appeal. She sought to draw inspiration from consecrated principles, not to yield to spasmodic vague sentiments.
Her alapanas and song session reflected the guidelines nurtured over the decades. This ensured her music to flow placidly without any spectacular sweep in the raga development of Kalyani and Kedaragowla (Tulasi-Bilva). The simple straight-forward handling aroused interest and also revealed that these formed her musical base, namely vinyasa ought not to be a series of symmetrically arranged sancharas.
The characteristic feature in rendering the kirtanas was that it was done with a minimum of fuss almost to suggest the over-idealised traditional purity. This aspect could be sensed in the interpretation of the Kedaragowla song ‘Tulasi-Bilva’.
M.A.Krishnaswamy on the violin was the alter ego of the vocalist and though on the same wave length he tightly framed the phrases with great lucidity. Thanjavur Kumar was in charge of the laya section and his brief but spirited thani invoked specific percussion image.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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