KARTIK FINE ARTS
Brilliant and hackneyed
M.RAMESHM. RAMESH
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The pendulum swung from stunning to good at this recital.
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Photo: K. V. Srinivasan.
Geetha Rajasekhar.
Geetha Rajasekhar's concert swung back and forth from brilliant to fair. Her Shanmukhapriya won her a roaring applause, but Madhyamavathi got her only a muted response. This in a way sums up the performance. The first post-varnam song, `Bhaja Manasa' (Bahudhari) presented with a brief alapana and kalpanaswara, spoke of talent of a very high order. The Sriranjani piece (Bhuvini Dasudane), that came with some enjoyable swaras, sustained the momentum. Then came Shanmukhapriya, well begun but caught in a mix of brilliant and hackneyed phrases.
Indeed, the Shanmukhapriya would have had a better impact had it not been preceded by a better piece of music, which had raised expectations. The alapana soon gave way to "Paramapurusha Nirupamana" of Annamacharya. At this stage, the concert slid from being `brilliant' to `good'. Nereval and swaras occurred at the charanam point, Chaturamuruti.
The filler between the Shanmukhapriya and the Madhyamavathi that was to follow was Papanasanam Sivan's `Karpaga Manohara' in Malayamarutham. The rendition was stunningly beautiful. Geetha could have embellished it further with some swara sequences.
But just as one was getting ready to upgrade the concert again, came the Madhyamavathi that was just about fair. Repetitive phrases and insufficient azhutham at the upper panchamam diluted the quality.
Thyagaraja's Rama Katha Sudharasa appeared good, but nothing remarkable for an artiste who could sing Bahudhari so well. Vittal Ramamurthy on the violin has certainly played much better. His support was perfunctory. Neyveli Skanda Subramanian (mridangam) and H. Sivaramakrishnan (ghatam) backed the singer adequately.
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