In the case of dancer Rajeswari Sainath, her penchant for rhythm is obvious and her energies are all focused towards that aspect.
When rhythm dominates at the cost of all else, it is a lop-sided growth, quite like an incomplete meal with only spicy food and no dessert to balance it out.
Rajeswari's recital at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha was so full of complex rhythmic patterns and challenges that it felt like a lesson in Mathematics and timekeeping.
The lesson began right at the beginning with the invocation, a Laya Kavitha on Lord Ganesha in Hymavathi ragam, misra chapu talam. The rhythm progressively got more complicated with the Sringara-based varnam, `Kannan Yenakke Sondamadi' conceived by mridangam maestro Karaikkudi Mani, scripted by Kumbakonam Gajendran and tuned by V.V.Balasai in Charukesi (khanda jathi triputa tala).
The trikaalam theermanam was composed on the lines of a thani avarthanam in music concerts, where the tala aksharas are halved progressively. The dialogue between the dancer and the percussionist was another challenge; so were the two-speed arudis.
The lesson continued into the tillana, a new choreography for the Season in Surya ragam, Adi talam, a composition of Rajkumar Bharati.
There were enough fireworks here too — mei adavus in tisram, gati bedham in the next sequence, a dominant misram in the next. There was no time for the students to even catch their breath. It became too much of a good thing.
But nothing can take away from Rajeswari's accuracy and enthusiasm. One could see that she relishes the challenge of reaching the samam after a round of explosive rhythm, which she did accurately every time. In between the racy varnam and the equally racy tillana was a short javali, `Saramaina ' in Behag ragam, Rupaka talam. It showed that Rajeswari can emote beyond the basics, but there was no time to explore further.
Her extremely well-trained orchestra consisted of Srinivas (nattuvangam), Nellai D.Kannan (mridangam), Murali Parthasarathy (vocal), Kalaiarasan (violin) and Muthukumar (flute). A word for a visibly nervous Adit Narayan who did a good job with the opening Laya Kavitha.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Music Season
