MUSIC ACADEMY
Perfect diction
CHARUKESI
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Vilasini handled rakti ragas with care.
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Photos: S.R. Raghunathan
Determined: S.M. Vilasini (left) and Sherthalai Renganatha Sharma.
S.M. Vilasani took up ‘Sarasooda’ (Saveri) to begin her concert. Annamacharya’s ‘Vandeham’ in Hamsadhwani featured next.
Vilasini sang swaras, too, and it appeared she needed to be more cautious in the area. Her rendering of Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s ‘Angarakam Asrayamyaham’ in raga Surutti was a blend of fervour and piety.
What stood out in the whole concert was her rendition of the raga ‘Vachaspati’ for the kriti ‘Kantajutumi’ of Tyagaraja and her alapana of Thodi for the Syama Sastri kriti ‘Ninne Namminanu.’
For a young and budding artist, the alapana for rakti ragas like Thodi is a real challenge and Vilasini had the grit and determination to meet it squarely. The kritis were also rendered with due care and perfect diction.
Muthuthandavar’s Neelambari song ‘Kaanaamal Veenile Kaalam Kazhithome’ was a good choice.
The kriti was made popular by D.K. Pattammal. Vilasini signed off with the ragamalika song, ‘Kannanai Kanbathepo’ with Nattakurinji, Sudha Dhanyasi and Abhogi and Jayadeva’s Ashtapathi ‘Shanamathu.’
S.P. Ananthakrishnan served his part well as violinist and Kumbakonam K. Swaminathan played his role as the percussionist to enliven the concert.
What happens when the whole recital is structured in vilamba kala and the vocalist has a thick, rich voice? Simply, ‘sowkhyam.’ It was amazing that Sherthalai Renganatha Sharma had planned his performance with the menu of eight kritis plus an RTP in the time space of two hours and yet he did full justice to every alapana, kriti rendition and swaraprasthara. Sherthalai R. Ananthakrishnan’s Thani appropriated a clear 14 minutes, when he got to play soon after Sharma completed his swaraprasthara for the rare kriti ‘Ikanannu’ in Bhairavi.
One wondered how Sharma would fulfil the task of doing alapana for a raga like Simhendramadhyamam in his RTP when the clock showed it was 3.22 leaving him just 23 minutes for the mandatory RTP.
Sharma was clever enough to sing a short alapana of the raga, asked violinist to play his part and all this took exactly 8 minutes. Did ’Thaanam’ for 3 minutes with violinist and sang the pallavi line ’Sambho Mahadeva Vibho’ and completed a round of swarakalpanas including a second chance of ‘thani’ to the mridangist by 3.41. For the rest of the four minutes, he sang a beautiful bhajan ‘Bhaajeth Murali’ of Swati Tirunal.
Sherthalai Renganatha Sharma sang ‘Vanajaksha’ Varnam in Ritigowlai and Muthusamy Dikshitar’s not-so-often-heard kriti, ’Lambodaraya Namaste’ in Varali. Tyagaraja’s ’Pattividuvaradhu’ in Manjari, Subbaraya Sastri’s ’Ninnu Sevinchane’ in Yadukulakhambodi prefixed with a solid alapana’ and ’Vade Venkatadri Neeve Vara Deivamu’ of Annamacharya in Vasantha were all rendered without any hurry.
Before venturing on RTP, Sharma sang Marimutha Pillai’s ‘Edhukkithanai Modithaan Umakku’ in Surutti. Renganatha Sharma has way of singing in Vilamba Kaala style and that suits him extremely well with his fine voice.
A.G.A. Gnanasundaram’s violin accompaniment was resourceful and Shertalai Ananthakrishnan’s mridangam artistry contributed to the success of the recital.
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