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Music Season
TARANGINI ARTS FOUNDATION
Talent from Bangalore
S. SIVAKUMAR
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Dr. Suma Sudhindra, Manasi Prasad and Shanker — it was music from the heart they presented.
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Photos: K.V.Srinivasan and B.Jothi Ramalingam
SINCERE: (Clockwise from top left) Manasi Prasad, Bangalore Shanker and Suma Sudhindra with Divya.
Tarangini Fine Arts, Bangalore, presented a few artists at the Chettinad Vidhyashram, with the intent and design of making their presence felt during this music season. Manasi Prasad, an avid student of music, showed her penchant for ragas as she rendered a ragamalika that flowed seamlessly. This ragamalika, ‘Nee-dhan Thunai,’ only touched and yet fully revealed as many ragas as Nilambari, Gowri Manohari, Saraswathi, Sriranjani, Mohana Kalyani, Durga and Jyothiswaroopini. An interesting Thillana in Suddha Salavi Kharahrapriya (Janyam-Mysore Vasudevachar) was also presented. Earlier she sang a sparkling and sprightly niraval in Thodi and her other inclusions were ‘Saraswathi Namosthuthe’ (GNB) and ‘Brova Baarama’ (Tyagaraja). Manasi has a long way to go but she is long traversing the right path. V. Rajiv (violin) and Mannargudi Subramaniam (mridangam) provided good support.
Can a single stroke of the brush, make you visualise the whole portrait? Can a solitary opening phrase make you imagine the raga? Dr. Suma Sudhindra’s veena concert provided answers in the affirmative. Her cultivated kalapramanam for the monumental kritis — ‘Gajananayutham’ (Chakravakkam), ‘Gnanamusagaradha’ (Poorvikalyani), ‘Mokshamu’ (Saramathy) and ‘Intha Sowkhya’ (Kapi) spoke of the reverential attention she has paid to these songs.
The enchanting alapanas for Kapi and Poorvikalyani had an inherent superiority and were developed with such fineness that one could comprehend her deep aesthetic sense. Her schooling in the Chittibabu tradition was evidenced in the stylistic and yet systematic rendering of the many gorgeous sangatis for ‘Manavyalakinchara.’ Sarvasri Manjunath (mridangam) and Nagaraj (Ghatam) gave arudis and korvais with a keen sense of anticipation and their thani was replete with glowing yet sedate strokes
Bangalore Shanker, who featured in this short series, is a scrupulous musician who has reached and kept commanding heights in music - though not popular in Chennai. He seems to have been brought up on simple straight methods. There were none of those searched or stretching nuances but just bottom-of-the-heart presentations.
His special number, although it appeared towards the end was an exquisite Ranjani (Charanu Saradhe Vani-Mahima Dasar) where the song itself was pivoted on a lovely muthaipu - the word Kalyani. The raga alapanas for Rithigowla (Janani-Subbaraya Sastri) and Sankarabharanam (Saroja Dhala-Syama Sastri) had a staid approach and the swaras for ‘Thamasamu Seyakave’ for Rithgowla, where the swaras and the sahitya are sung alternatively in contrasting speeds, spoke of his creativity. Sarvasri Raghuram (violin) and Vasudeva (Mridangam) were the accompanists who adhered to the path of the main artist faithfully. Vocal support was provided by Ramani who exploited his soft voice in a judicious manner.
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Music Season
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