SRI THYAGA BRAHMA GANA SABHA
Bright Dharmavati
LALITHAA KRISHNAN
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It was the RTP with ear-friendly kaarvais that placed Sudha Ragunathan firmly on home ground.
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Sudha Ragunathan.
Experience is a boon. Popularity can be a bane. It takes an audience-savvy artiste like Sudha Ragunathan to make the most of the two, with sound judgment.
Therefore, it came as a surprise that in her recital, the artiste allowed her preoccupation with laya exercises sans aesthetic touches to take precedence over her customary practice of playing to her strengths in the alapana department.
This engineered a move that threw the delicate balance of kutcheri dynamics off kilter. A plethora of laya permutations punctuated the swara sequence affixed to Tyagaraja's `Chesinadella' (Thodi).
The December cold weather has appeared to have affected the steadiness of the vocalist's voice, rendering it a trifle shaky in the mandhira sthayi. In contrast, the tara sthayi overflowed with vitality, with the voice range being intact.
Consequently, the Muthuswami Dikshitar masterpiece `Akhilandeshwari' (Dvijavanthi) fared better in the higher octaves. To take up a dyed-in-the-wool traditional raga like Harikhambodi on the basis of presumed acquaintance is akin to navigating the Atlantic without a compass. Predictably, the exposition floundered.
Non-definitive phrases clutched at straws to keep the raga swaroopa afloat. It was during the niraval in Tyagaraja's `Rama Nannu Brovara' that the artiste began coming into her own. While kizhkala swaras shied away from raga bhava, melkala swaras incorporated a string of kanakkus marching stiffly to a successful conclusion. `Alaipaayudhe' breezed into an enthusiastic welcome.
The artiste regained the lost ground through the Dharmavathi RTP. The pratimadhyama raga was malleable to suggestion, placing Sudha firmly on home ground. Ear-friendly karvais, jarus and brigas banking on an attractive saareeram painted a bright picture. There was an easy flow to the tanam sung with mridangam accompaniment. The pallavi, `Meenakshi, Maamadurai Meenakshi, Kanchi Kamakshi, Kasi Visalakshi,' complete with anuloma and pratiloma was tidily packaged with ragamalika swaras. Vittal Ramamurthy on the violin was competent and secure in the knowledge of what lay ahead. His delineation of Harikhambodi proceeded along disciplined lines. Neyveli Skandasubramaniyam (mridangam) and R. Raman (morsing) offered percussive displays weaving skilful variations.
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