MUSIC ACADEMY
Colourful musical portrait
SULOCHANA PATTABHIRAMAN
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Adhering to the Dhanammal tradition, Rama Ravi won appreciation with her individualistic approach.
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Photo: K. V. Srinivasan
Rama Ravi.
Rama Ravi, an established vocalist who faithfully adheres to the bani of T. Brinda and Mukta, grand daughters of the redoubtable Veena Dhanammal, has also added an individualistic quality to her art that has received a warm audience response. In her concert she had as her accompanists R. Hemalatha on the violin and Thanjavur R. Kumar on the mridangam.
Tiruvarur Ramaswami Pillai's `Ekkalathilum Unnai Maravamal' with a chittaswara sahitya, was full to the brim with the quintessence of Purvikalyani. The neraval for the emotion charged lyrics warranted concentrated listening, the swaraprastharas in the two tempos passed muster.
`Sujana Jeevana' in Khamas had an orthodox outfit with conscious avoidance of the Kakali nishada. Begada was scripted sensitively with `Pracheena Pidis' pertaining to the raga swaroopa, albeit confined mostly to the madhyasthayi. Hemalatha has worked hard and with a sense of purpose to attain professional standards in both theory and performance, and she has come out with laurels. Her Begada profile was a cache of classical melody.
`Kalayami Raghuramam' of Swati Tirunal was garnished with sarva lagu swaras. Perhaps the sahitya could have been pronounced with a firmer grip to enhance clarity. The athletic rendition of `Ninnada' in Kannada provided a welcome pep to the proceedings.
The Bhairavi suite with indepth quality was the piece de resistance, despite brief bouts of vocal huskiness standing in the way of free expression in the tara sthayi.
Hemalatha's raga vinyasa on the violin was a free-flowing stream of mellifluence. `Raksha Bettare' of Tyagaraja was much favoured by the Nayana Pillai school and the singer's interpretation stuck to the sruti like an adhesive.
The vocal support by Nanditha Ravi, the musician's daughter, especially in the long, sustained karvais added refinement to the rendering. The swaras in the `kizh kalam' ripe with bhava and the faster sequences with a simple panchama kuraippu concluding with a not too complicated korvai, were easy on the ear. Thanjavur R. Kumar, a laya vidwan well equipped in all the nuances of his art, is the sishya of Thanjavur Upendran, whose arai chapu was singularly pleasing.
Kumar's accompaniment and solo display reflecting his master's style in good measure, did deserve positive value assessment. An Atana javali, padam in Sankarabharanam and `Saramaina' in Behag, gave the finishing touches to a colourful musical portrait.
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