NUNGAMBAKKAM CULTURAL ACADEMY
Admirable control
Photo: S. Thanthoni.
Salem Sriram.
This afternoon concert by Salem Sriram can be talked in terms of what-could-have-happened and what-really-happened. He was welcomed by an audience that was just more than a handful, and a violinist who was passé.
Akkarai Murugan (violinist) had played for the previous concert as well and obviously, was a bit exhausted. And instead of blaming the `circumstances,' Sriram, took admirable control, rode with panache and even included a Ragam, Tanam, Pallavi in Hamir Kalyani in Kanda Triputa talam that had `Kailasapathe Pasupathe Umapathe Namosthuthe,' for its lyrics.
The rendering of the first two songs — `Gurulekha Etuvanti' (Gowri Manohari - Tyagaraja) and `Maravakave O Manasa' (Sama - Patnam) served as pointers to the distance he must have travelled to be in this exalted position now. `Swararagasudha' (Sankarabharanam - Tyagaraja) had an alapana that put the raga in proper perspective and the swaras at the pallavi were adventurous without being cumbersome. Babu accompanied well on the mridangam and gave a thani that had pleasing qualities. One has to mention here that the day of the concert, December 21, was the birthday of Calcutta K.S.Krishnamurthy.
And `Gurulekha Etuvanti' as the first number was a simple tribute Sriram could pay to his guru.
S. SIVAKUMAR
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Music Season
