|
Music Season
MUSIC ACADEMY
Touching effect, elaborate rendition
KRIPA SUBRAHMANIAM
|
While Vasudha Ravi enjoyed her singing, Salem Sriram’s manodharma was in full bloom.
|
PhotoS: V. Ganesan.
Confident: Vasudha Ravi.
Vasudha Ravi commenced her recital with a rarely heard Bahudhari varnam, Adi talam by Lalgudi Jayaraman. She moved on to an Atana kriti of Muthuswami Dikshitar, ‘Herambaya’ set to Rupakam. Later, she proceeded to sing ‘Satileni’ in Naganandini, a kriti of Tyagaraja in Adi talam. Saraswati ragam was the next exposition and it fell short of expectations whereas the violinist proved his mettle in his raga essay. The kriti was ‘Srikara Raghuvara’ of Patnam Subramanya Iyer in Rupakam. The prayoga, ‘ma-ri-sa-ri-sa-ni-sa-ni-da’ should have been eschewed as it does not conform to the grammar of the raga. The Devamanohari kriti, ‘Ninnu Nera Nammi’ in Adi by Muthiah Bhagavatar followed suit. This kriti could have been avoided after Saraswati because of their similarity. Until this point, the concert was meandering and was listless. Kiravani came next in line and the raga was dealt swara by swara that the Kiravani contour was sacrificed. Unfortunately, time-tested prayogas were absent so that the audience rapport suffered to a great extent.
L. Ramakrishnan’s display of the raga on the violin was superior in content. ‘Kaligiyunte’ kriti of Tyagaraja in Adi talam was a trifle slow and so it robbed the kriti of its innate beauty. Each kriti in our system has an inbuilt gait and if followed, the kriti shines on its own merit. Niraval was taken up at ‘Bavuka Raghu’ followed by kuraippu swarams and ended with a poruttam in place. During swara rendition, shades of Bhairavi raga crept in, depriving the Kiravani ambience. A kriti of Syama Sastri in Neelambari, in misra chapu, ‘Brovavamma’ had a touching effect and one could read the artist’s enjoyment of the song while singing. She rounded up the concert with a tillana in Bindumalini in Adi talam by Lalgudi Jayaraman.
Vasudha has a pleasant voice and exudes confidence on stage. Junior singers should try and sing familiar ragas to relate to the audience rather than resort to elusive ragas to show their virtuosity. L. Ramakrishnan’s playing was consistently good and mridangist V.Srinivasan’s playing technique and fingering were appreciable but he did not realise till the end that the sruti of the mridangam was out of tune until the thani was over!
Salem Sriram’s opening piece was Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar’s Khanda Nadai Kanada raga varnam. ‘Etula Brothuva’ in Chakravaham, misra chapu of Tyagaraja followed suit. The niraval ‘patti kottu’ words were totally unclear and undecipherable. Sriram should learn to use the mike effectively. He sways from one side to the other and in the process the sound gets dissipated, sometimes it booms and sometimes it gets muffled. As a result the continuity is lost. He moved on to Purvikalyani, Rupaka talam, ‘Gnanamu Sakaradha’ and rendered it elaborately. His manodharma was in full bloom. Niraval at ‘Paramathmudu’ and kalpanaswaras inevitably followed. This kriti set the tempo of the concert well. Being the first raga exposition it would have been appropriate if he had stuck to a shorter duration.
Salem Sriram.
The poignancy of the kriti, ‘Thiruvadi Charanam’ of Gopalakrishna Bharati in Khambodi, Adi talam was brought out brilliantly. He began from the anupallavi, ‘Marupadiyum’ and the kriti was an outstanding interpretation. The ethos of the song was stunningly displayed. Niraval was done movingly and the avoidance of swaras for this kriti heightened the mood of the song. Ragam, Tanam, Pallavi in Kiravani flowed like a quiet stream, sedate and serene. It was an aesthetic expression of the raga pregnant with raga bhavam. Each swara was in its appointed place so much so that the raga rendition was an astounding success from start to finish. One had a feeling that Sriram conceived this raga in all its totality and rendered it exquisitely. The pallavi, ‘Hare Rama Govinda Murare’ was preceded by tanam for which the mridangam was played. Playing mridangam for tanam has been a practice at the Navaratri Mandapam in Thiruvananthapuram. The tanam was lively because of the beat of the mridangam. The pallavi was set in Adi talam two kalai starting at half edam. The pallavi was rendered in trikalam with necessary swara embellishments. He gave the pallavi its pride of place in the kutcheri format, a rare occurrence these days. The kutcheri ended with the famous ‘Jagadodharana’ in Peelu.
T.K. Padmanabhan on the violin was supportive throughout and H.S. Sudeendra acquitted himself well. The concert was for two hours and nearly two ragas were sung. Quantity, however, does not mean quality. Sriram has potential and is bound to reach great heights in the days to come.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Music Season
|
