Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
Unique ensemble
|
Laya Lahari, a rhythm-melody feature displayed all the potential of maturing into a full-fledged symphony
|
RHYTHMS ALL Various beat-patterns reverberated in the concert
Laya Vidya Pratishtana, celebrating its first anniversary at Vasudevacharya Bhavana, bestowed the titles Layabhushana and Sangeetha Kala Tapaswi on the scholars V. Nagabhushanachar and H.S. Mahalakshmi respectively.
Laya Lahari, a rhythm-melody feature (direction - H.L. Shivashankaraswamy), entertained the audience. A team of accomplished artistes had pooled their expertise and ideas to constitute this unique ensemble, which displayed the necessary potential of maturing into a full-fledged symphony.
Whereas Shivashankaraswamy had defined the rhythm-patterns in layavinyasa, Veena Suresh had lent her creativity in composing the tune in Sumanisaranjani.
Nadamadhurya in Ragamalika displayed perceptible versatility (in individual artistes) and perfect harmony (between the rhythm and the melody sections). Serene Mohana evolving from R.K. Padmanabha’s veena and pensive Revathi flowing from Veena Suresh’s violin exemplified melody improvisations.
An inspiring rhythm-ladanth (combative rhythm extempore) between cymbals (Tobias) and mridanga (Shivashankaraswamy) thrilled the audience. Various beat-patterns reverberated in relays among ghata (S. Shrinivasa and C.L. Amarnath), khanjira (Ananthakrishna Sharma, who also played the rhythm pad), morsing (V.S. Ramesh and Ramanujan), and konakkol (D.V. Prahlada Rao).
A musical movement comprising tunes of popular vachanas and compositions (Basavanna, Akkamahadevi, Shadakshari, Purandaradasa and so on), “Chinnam chiru kiliye” (Ragamalika-Subrahmanya Bharathi), tillana (Dhanashri -Swathy Thirunal and “Vande maataram” were other highlights.
Sameer L. Rao, S.G. Muralidhar, Chandankumar (flautists), M.V. Shanthakumar, K.T. Udaykiran (violinists), A.S. Prasanna Kumar (keyboard), S. Narayan (tavil), S. Nagaraj (tabala), A.V. Anand (bass guitar) and M. Mahadev (effects) extended their expertise.
*** Sri Thyagaraja Sangeetha Sabha and Nadabrahma Sangeetha Sabha, in memory of P.G. Lakshminarayana, one of the doyens in the field of percussion arts, had arranged R. K. Padmanabha’s vocal concert.
Padmanabha also released a CD, containing memorable recordings of the luminary. The organisers honored veteran musician Bellary M. Venkateshachar.
Padmanabha’s resonating voice has striking stability and remarkable consistency, though, at times, he tends to be stentorian.
An uncompromising tenacity in his style makes his concert dynamic and assertive.
A commanding take off at the taara sthayi in “Vanajakshiro” (Varna -Kalyani) admirably suited the whole tenor and construction of the varna.
In-depth gamakas, equaling with naabhi thanas, demonstrated hard sadhana.
However, the same vigorous propulsion, which imparted a dynamism to the Varna, started playing spoilsport in some of the other presentations.
As far as the lyrics were concerned, Purandaradasa’s “Mareyabeda manave” (Begade) appreciably conveyed the impregnated import. However, kalpanaswaras, crisp and scholarly, complemented the raga more than the lyrics. Alapana in Suruti (“Shri Venkatagirisham” - Dikshitar) could have been simpler and progressively climactic. H.K. Narasimha Murthy (violin: soft and pleasing), H.S. Sudhindra (mridanga: aggressive strokes), M.A. Krishnamurthy (ghata) and Krishnaprasad and Vinay (vocal support) accompanied the singer.
V. NAGARAJ
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
