Alapanas that shone with beauty

WITH PERCEPTIVE, persuasive manodharma, the Ranjani-Gayatri cutcheri took on a breezy complexion. They sang on the inauguration day of the mid-season music marvel organised by Balaganamrutham jointly with the Karnataka College of Percussion (Bangalore).

To their felicitous expressiveness the sisters brought the weight of their planned programming, in which the alapanas of Begada and Bhairavi helped to uplift the performance to a memorable level. Marked by passion, zest and self-confidence there was not only professional charm but equal merit in their interpretative effort.

It was rather difficult to say which of the two alapanas - Begada by Gayatri and Poorvikalyani by Ranjani - shone with manifold beauties. Dexterous in vocal manipulation and politely pleasing in execution, the phrasings in the vinyasa of Bhairavi raga, shared by Ranjani and Gayatri, were put in place with great solicitude.

The kirtana session included ``Bhuvinidaasudane'' (Sriranjani), ``Aparaadamula-maanpiyaadukovayya'' (an unfamiliar kirtana in Durbar), ``Tanivaaritanamu'' (Begada), ``Ananda Natamaduvar'' (Poorvikalyani) and ``Sari Evvare'' (Bhairavi). The songs were rendered in such a way as to cater to the finer expectations of discerning rasikas. Particularly, the Durbar kirtana in jampatala with its structural beauty different from the other famous kirtana ``Mundu-venuga'', lilting in effect, was zestfully presented. Similarly the Bhairavi item, ``Sari Evvare,'' in slow tempo was interpreted with great respect to its raga bhava.

Akkarai Subbulakshmi was the violinist. She steered the raga flights of Begada, Bhairavi and Poorvikalyani with distinction and aesthetic direction and her musical pasture was very fertile. Her musical statements gave primacy to violin melody. She touched the salient moorchanas in Begada and Bhairavi to reveal the beauteous niches of the ragas. She did not countenance any light- heartedness in her accompanying job. Being young, both the vocalists and the violinist seemed to be nudged by haste in unloading their ability. They have reached a stage when they have to consciously pay attention to that elusive quality of good music namely visranti.

Manoj Siva, handling the mridangam, framed his percussive pattern with firmness of beats embroidered with lustrous fast-phrased korvais. He fastened the rhythm tightly moved by a desire to give his laya interpretation a ring of virtuosity. The Kanjira vidwan Bangalore Prasanth was literally in the background during the songs, but revealed his capacity in the tani avartanam.

Skimming exercise

Vasundhara Rajagopal falls in the category of young women artistes who seek the slimline approach to give a veneer of melodic interpretation. Pleasantness to the rendering of ragas and songs was aimed at through cozy tonal modulation. But one healthy feature in her method was her reluctance to briga ornateness while developing an alapana. She moved away from the ordinary culture of musical brazenness which was welcome, but moved to the other extreme of over-softness, which only helped her skim the surface and not fathom the depths of ragas and kirtanas.

The programme list in her Musiri chamber concert was well conceived with the songs - ``Gajaananayutam'' (Chakravakam and according to the Dikshitar School Vegavaahini), ``Enneramum'' (Poorvikalyani), ``Entavedukondu'' (Saraswati Manohari), ``Naadupai'' (Madhyamavati), and ``Kohivamaregada'' (Todi) which should have made her concert noteworthy if only she had cared to give weightage to her singing. As for musical concepts in the alapanas of Poorvikalyani and Todi, there was no trace of superficialities and the sancharas in them were presented with vividness and consistency. The Kamas kirtana of Dikshitar, ``Santanagopalam,'' was well nurtured by Vasundhara Rajagopal.

The violinist Ambika Prasad was timid in his support. His versions of Poorvikalyani and Todi looked pale. Thanjavur Kumar was also equally modest in his percussive embellishment of the cutcheri.

SVK

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