A collection of the unusual
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A sample of the NRI talent featured in the past week.
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The NRI festival of Hamsadhwani featured Sushila Krishnamurthy, a vocalist based in London, opened her concert with a rare number, "Bhajabhaja Manasa." The concert picked up pace from the second item, "Janakiramana" (Suddhaseemantini), for which a large share of credit is due to the mridangist, Thanjavur Kumar. Even though Sushila's repertoire featured rare ragas and kritis such as "Narmadakaveri" (Namadesi), an RTP in Vagadheeswari, "Brovasamaya" (Punnagavarali) and "Gatisukha Sare" (Ragamalika), they didn't go unregistered. However, she tended to adorn each number with at least a raga alapana and a few rounds of swaraprastara, which one felt, was overkill. She displayed her competence in her confident rendition of swarakalapana. Sushila's voice is on the heavy side and has a natural flow but showed signs of fatigue towards the end of the concert. Her pronunciation left a lot to be desired. Usha Rajagopal, a seasoned violinist, easily won the appreciation of the audience.
The sruti and layam of U.S.-based Rohini Balakrishna Ramanathan — a disciple of vidwan T. R. Subramaniam — were not up to the mark during her vocal concert on December 15. She commenced with a varnam of her guru in raga Devagandhari (Gananatha Neeye). Due to the late commencement of the concert, there was no time for a tani avartanam or tukkadas. Accompanists Kalyani Shankar (violin) and Anil Kumar (mridangam) played their roles well.
Gayatri Satya of Chicago has a brigha-laden voice. . With practice, the disciple of O.V. Subramanyam can ensure that it does not go out of control and end up in slips. Her raga alapana and swara kalpana are worthy of mention, as is the balance she struck between the manodharma and kalpita aspects. Mohanakrishnan, the mridangist, not only seemed to be in a hurry while playing for the Mukhari piece but also drowned the sensitive phrases. Madhyamavati ("Ramakatha") was the main raga for the evening, in which Gayatri sang a pleasingly elaborate alapana. The concert would have been more enjoyable had Gayatri put in more pep into the rendition of songs. Radha Sundaresan on the violin provided satisfactory accompaniment.
DIVYA RAMESH
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