SRI PARTHASARATHY SWAMI SABHA
Lively swarams
Photo: K.V. Srinivasan.
Charulatha Mani.
Instead of singing a routine raga alapana, Charulatha Mani sang the Tamil verse, `Kunitha Puruvamum' in Yadukulakhambodi and the Sanskrit sloka, `Manikya Veenam' in Ahiri before the kritis `Kaalaithookki' and `Mayammam' respectively. It was nice to listen to `Narayna Nalinayathalochana' in Sama.
Ragas like Yadukulakhambodi and Sama are becoming rare in concerts. She began her programme with `Seethamma' in Vasantha with lively swarams. The first raga sketch came with Dharmavati preceding the Dikshitar kriti `Parandhamavati'. While in the faster mode her raga delineation was fairly good, in slower tempo she seemed to wander and sounded as if she was not quite confident, the result being the loss of tightness. There was niraval and swarams at `Paranjothi Vikasini'. Not many artistes even sing the Tyagaraja kriti `Paramathmudu' these days. Thus it was commendable that Charulatha chose Vagadeeswari raga as the main piece. A meditative raga, as she herself announced, that quality did not quite come through in her essay due to the same problem as in the earlier case; now and then it strayed into Bahudari.
The rendering of the song and the swarams for `Gagananeela' was quite appealing.
Srilakshmi Venkatramani on the violin along with Rohan Krishnamurthy on the mridangam and Anirudh Athreya on the kanjira provided good support. The amplification for the mridangam was overpowering. The concert concluded with the bhajan, `Marari Giridharagopala'.
LAKSHMI VENKATRAMAN
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