Abhishek Raghuram’s concert began the 15-day music festival organised in Thiruvananthapuram to pay homage to composer-saint Neelakanta Sivan.
Abhishek Raghuram
Beginning with an Adi tala varnam in Natakurunji, ‘Chalamela Jesavaya’, of Moolaiveedu Rangaswamy Nattuvanar, he moved on to Swati Tirunal’s ‘Jaya Jaya Padmanabha’ in Sarangi, and Neelakanta Sivan's ‘Anandanadamaduvaar’ in Poorvikalyani.
An elaborate Kamboji, portraying all the shades of the raga, followed by a tanam and pallavi was the main item. The pallavi was ‘Sarasijinabha Paahi Sathatham’ with niraval and progressive manodharma swaraprasthara further illuminating the pallavi.
‘Erakkum Varaamaponnnethenna Swamy’ in Behag provided a soothing finishing touch to the concert.
Trivandrum Sampath (violin) provided excellent support. But he was not given an opportunity to play the Kamboji raga alapana. Anand R. Krishnan is a talented percussionist but his hard beats on the mridangam marred the melody of the music.
Malladi Brothers
Malladi Brothers Sreeram Prasad and Ravi Kumar presented a mellifluous vocal concert on the second day. They began their concert with a varnam – ‘Kanakanji ni chelimi kori’, composed by Pallavi Gopala Iyer in Thodi.
Two compositions of Neelakanta Sivan – ‘Innamum erakkum Illaiyya’ in Atana and ‘Kannara kandana’ in Mukhari – were a fitting tribute to the composer. Tygaraja’s ‘Ethuda nila chitha’ in Sankarabharanam was the main kriti of the day. An elaborate raga alapana was presented in a soothing manner. While singing the kalpanaswaras, the plangent Western notes embedded in Sankarabharanam made it an enchanting rendering.
After tani, the Malladi Brothers rendered a ragam thanam pallavi in Rama Priya with ragamalika swaras in Saveri, Aheri, Mohanam, Hameerkalyani and Dwijayanti.
M.A. Sundaresan presented the aesthetic embellishments with subtle strokes on the violin. Patri Sathishkumar (mridangam) and B. Sunderkumar (ganjira) provided excellent support.
Sanjay Subrahmanyan
Sanjay Subrahmanyan began with a varnam ‘Maaghuvaa’ in Narayanagaula. Swati Tirunal’s ‘Deva Palaya murare’ in Asaveri, one of the kshetra kritis in praise of Lord Krishna of Ambalappuzha, was the next number. The sweet classicism and the strength of gandhara and dhaivatha in Mohanam were demonstrated through an enchanting rendition of ‘Srirama ramaneeya manohara’, composed by Pallavi Gopala Iyer.
In an elaborate Thodi, Sanjay drew sustenance from depths of virtuosity and followed it up with the kriti ‘Ennerumum oru kalai thookki’, composed by Marimuthu Pillai, Adi tala.
In the post-tani session a ragam thanam pallavi in Arabhi with ragamalika thanam blended with enchanting ragas such as Subhaantuvarali, Kedaram, Saveri and Sahana was well received by the audience. Sanjay suddenly switched over to Kharaharapriya and landed in ‘Navasiddi Petralum’, a Neelakanta Sivan kriti. He wound up the concert with two small pieces in Ananda Bhairavi and Kapi.
M.A. Sundareswaran (violin), Patri Sathishkumar (mridangam) and B. Sundarkumar (ganjira) excelled.
Shashank Subramanyam
The opening number of flautist Shashank Subramanyam was the ‘Viriboni’ varnam in Bhairavi.
The main piece was ragam thanam pallavi in raga Saramathi, pallavi being ‘Samanama Sabhapathi Sadasiva’. Saramathi was intertwined with Behag and Pathuvarali in thanam. Similarly, while rendering kalpanaswaram in Saramathi, Hamsadhani, Renjini and Srirenjii were combined to make the whole exercise captivating. He concluded with a Behag piece ‘Narayanane Namo Nama’.
Akkarai Subhalakshmi (violin), Paruppally Phalgum (mridangam) and B. Sundarkumar (ganjira) proved to be excellent accompanists.
Akkarai sisters
Akkarai Subhalakshmi and Akkarai Swarnalatha, popularly known as Akkarai Sisters, began their concert with a varnam in Saveri – ‘Sara suda’.
An attractive composition of their grandfather, Sivasubraniam, was a ragamalika composed of Natta, Gaula, Arabhi, Varali and Sri raga. In each stanza, the raga name was pertinent. The chitta swaras were rendered in five ragas, both in ascending and descending order.
Neelakanta Sivan’s ‘Sivanai Ninai Maname’ in Hameerkalyani was also sung. It is believed to be the first composition of Neelakanta Sivan.
The main kriti was Tyagaraja's ‘Emijesithanemi’ in Thodi. The range of octaves and their breath control in an elaborate alapana was unbelievably good.
They concluded with a slokam in Desh.
Attukal Balasubramanyam (violin), Babu (mridangam) and Thrikkakara Y.N. Santharam (ganjira) on the ganjira provided support.
Baby Sreeram
Baby Sreeram chose to render the compositions of Neelakanta Sivan only. She commenced with ‘Sree Mahaganapathaye Thunai’ in Natta, followed by kritis in Kedaram Vasantha, Varali and Hamsavinodini.
Her focus was on ‘Endranmeethil unathu Nenjam Irangammal Iruppathannayya’, in Bhairavi, Chapu thalam. Unfortunately the vocalist failed in bringing out the innate nature of the raga bhava in her rendering. However there was an attractive ragamalika pallavi ‘Nambikol Nambikol Sivanai’, comprising five Ranjinis – Renjini, Sriranjini, Srutiranjini, Janaranjini and Sivaranjini.
Brilliant accompaniment was provided by Padmakrishnan (violin), Palghat Harinarayanan (mridangam) and Thrikkakkara Y.N. Santharam (ganjira).
N.J. Nandini
She started with Ramnad Sreenivasa Iyengar's varnam in Kalyani – ‘Vanajakshiro Ee viraha’, Adi tala. A bouquet of rare and lovely kritis such as ‘Ikkanaina’ in Pushpalathika and ‘Enthirivina’ in Urmika, followed. The modern approach to ‘Bhavayami Raghuramam’ as a ragam thanam pallavi with ragamalikaswaras in Saveri Nattakurunji Dhanyasi, Mohanam, Mukhari, Poorvikalyani and Madhyamavathi was appealing. She wound up the concert with M.D. Ramanathan’s ‘Sagarasayana vibho’ in Bagheswari. R. Raghul (violin) N.C. Bharadwaj (mridangam) and Attingal Madhu (ghatam) provided good support.
S. Saketaraman
S. Saketharaman chose Neelakanta Sivan’s ‘Sambho Mahadeva’ in Bowli to begin his concert. ‘Ananthudanu Gani’, a fast number of Tyagaraja in raga Jingla, was like an appetiser for the main kriti in Kalyani. Muthuswami Dikshitar’s ‘Kamalambhajara’ followed with an extensive raga alapana, which maintained the melody and mood of the evening, an apt choice for a Friday in the Tamil month of Aadi.
A crisp niraval in ‘Nithyakalyani’ further decorated the rendition.
He concluded the concert with ‘Visweswara Darsana’ in Sindhubhairavi and ‘Sagarasayana’ in Bhageswari .
Charulatha Ramanujam demonstrated her talent in her exposition of Charukesi, Mukhari and Kalyani. Poonkulam Subramanyam (mridangam) and Guruprasanna (ganjira) extended excellent support.
Mysore Brothers
Right from the opening notes of ‘Sogasuga Mridanga’ in Sriranjini of Tyagaraja, violin maestros Mysore Nagaraj and Mysore Manjunath set the mood for the concert.
The brothers played Ranjini raga as a prelude to the kriti ‘Durmargachara’ with brilliant artistry. ‘Mariveri’ in Lathangi of Pattanam Subrahmanya Iyer was full of astonishing virtuosity and outstanding artistic imagination. The main kriti was ‘Nanu Palimba’ of Tyagaraja in Mohanam, followed by a superb elaboration of the raga, decorated with sprightly kalpanaswaras.
They wound up the concert with ‘Bhogeendra sayanam’ in Kunthalavarali, followed by a thillana in Sindhubhairavi. Karaikudi R. Mani embellished the recital with his fine rhythmic support. Amrit was equally good on the ganjira.
The concerts were held under the auspices of Sree Neelakantasivan Sangitha Sabha Trust, Karamana, Thiruvananthapuram.
