Slow Atana, brilliant Kalyani
M. RAMESH
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Sowmya offered a mixed fare while Srinivas thrilled with his mandolin.
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S. SOWMYA
S. Sowmya made up for a disappointing Atana with a brilliant Kalyani in the three-course musical meal she served at the Indian Fine Arts. Following a neat "Sobhillu Saptaswara" (Jaganmohini), which featured swaras at, surprise, "Bhajimpave Manasa," the Atana alapana rambled on with repeated phrases.
Tyagaraja's "Ela Ni Daya Radu" followed, with nereval at "Ra Ra" but the slow pace that was unbecoming of a good Atana killed the charm of the raga. Surprising, because Sowmya is not an artiste who has difficulty with speed.
Even the Kalyani that followed, until half-way through the alapana, was only run-of-the-mill. But as Sowmya developed the raga, it blossomed into something that could be expected of an artiste of her calibre. Patnam Subramanya Iyer's "Nija Dasa Varada" was delightfully rendered, with `teach-you-how' nereval and swaras at "Bhujagadhipa Seyana."
MANDOLIN U. SRINIVAS
Violinist R.K. Sriramkumar proved to be a worthy accompanist throughout the concert, as did Neyveli Narayanan on the mridangam.
Performing for the sabha where he made his debut in 1981, Mandolin U. Srinivas, thrilled his audience with some enthralling music. Opening his concert with a Todi varnam, Srinivas moved on to Ritigowlai. Both in the Ritigowlai piece ("Janani Ninnu Vina") and the Bahudhari ("Brova Bharama") that followed, the mandolin produced some stunning swaras. The Ritigowlai piece was complete with alapana and swaras. But Bahudhari started off with the composition straightway. The absence of an alapana was a bit of a letdown.
However Srinivas made up for it, weaving some scintillating swaras, which obviously satisfied him because he was all smiles. Was Srinivas inspired by the presence of his namesake, playback singer P.B. Srinivas? Perhaps.
SUMITRA NITIN
Saveri was the main piece. A slow alapana starting from the depths provided a good contrast to machine-gun swaras of the previous number. However, there was nothing remarkable about the alapana. It was certainly good and enjoyable, but was not a dazzler and drew muted applause. S.D. Sridhar provided just about adequate support to Srinivas.
Madirimangalam Swaminathan on the mridangam almost continuously earned gestures of appreciation from Srinivas. The tani, played with V. Umashankar on the ghatam, was short and sweet.
Sumitra Nitin delighted the audience with a neat, no-frills performance. On offer were Atana, Subhapantuvarali and Kambodi. The Atana piece, Tyagaraja's "Ela Ni Daya," again was less brisk than one expects it to be but was pleasant.
Swaras at "Ra Ra" ended in a longish korvai, with each sequence ending in `da da' to rhyme. Then came a Subhapantuvarali alapana followed by Tyagaraja's "Ennaloorage." Both the alapana and the song were rendered neatly but Sumitra could have ended the piece with some swara sequences.
The main piece of the concert was Kambodi ("Devi Nee Para"). The singer's rather thin voice would have done better with better audio support than the one provided at the German Hall.
Sumitra was supported on the violin by Trivandrum S.R. Rajashree, whose performance showed she deserved better time slots. Both her handling of the instrument and her conception of ragas showed class. Coimbatore R. Jayaprakash provided percussive support.
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