Young brigade impresses

One remarkable aspect in the concert of Amritha Murali at the Gokulashtami series, was her meticulous concern to retain the classical flavour by setting aside exhibitionism.

With vividness and consistency, she revealed the dignity and grace of the two major ragas she delineated - Kalyani and Thodi. There was no extravagance of vocal technique in mounting sancharas in alapanas and nothing more than what was necessary for picturising the ragas. The progressive pattern in Kalyani and Thodi was not a mere run of sanchara clusters but selective to light up the essentially beauteous aspects. The main appeal of the cutcheri was the restraint she observed in elaboration conferring felicitous expression. In every respect, there was a touch of music’s heritage.

This objective was strengthened by the choice of the kirtanas. The not often heard song ‘Nijamarmamulanu’ in Umabharanam gave a spirited start to the performance. Her flexibility of voice giving gana-naya integration to sahitya interpretation was to be seen in every kirtana she rendered. Modulation of tonal expression in this area was highly impressive. Melodic stimulation in enunciating the sahitya was supreme in her mind.

The rendering of the Kalyani song ‘Sive-paahi-maam’ and the Todi piece ‘Kamalambike’ was intensely vigorous, but all the same gentle. She brought into her concert depth and content served with harmony and balance. ‘Ninnuvina-harigalada’ in Ritigowla with a brief alapana was another weighty song included in her programme.

Good selection of kirtanas made for the success of Amritha’s performance. The accompanying team also had a share. The support of violinist Charulatha Ramanujam was both sensitive and deep. In a few gentle phrasings, in her solo version, she revealed delicacy in violin tone, more eloquent than assertive rhetoric. Similar was the subdued percussive aid from Manoj Siva on the mridangam. Not till the tani was the presence of ganjira artist S. Venkataramanan noticeable.

In her violin recital, Shreya Devnath held the mirror to the Lalgudi legacy of parampara, perfection and precision. She has not only inherited the unique technique of violin play but also the basics of what constitutes quality music.

Shreya’s fingering dexterity, especially in the raga alapana, and her clear bowing technique came to the fore in her exposition of ragas Anandabhairavi and Kalyani. Her kirtana playing was crisp with emphasis on sahitya aspect. Her happy co-ordination of fingering and bowing was seen in the ragam, thanam, pallavi.

The arrangement and progress of sancharis in Ananda Bhairavi, brought out the peaceful emotion of the raga. The kriti ‘Marivare’ was marked by richness and subtlety. The Kalyani elaboration for the kriti ‘Kamalambam Bhajare’ presented the picturesque facets of the raga and kirtana. These two kritis formed the core of her performance, which was inviting and musically satisfying.

In J. Vaidyanathan (mridangam) and Purushothaman (ganjira), Shreya had perfect percussive support. Their thani was brief but sparkling.

The impression that Ashwath Narayanan created was to convey depth rooted in classical dimension- mainly because his exposition was gamaka-driven eschewing flimsy brigas. His well-trained deep-toned voice gave direction to his objective. In his elaboration of alapanas, the raga complex was replete with refined panels of sancharas. Though at the beginning Saveri raga was treated at length (brevity could have made its impact intense) the later Poorvikalyani carved fine and expressive sancharas. In this exercise, there were subtle gamaka nuances.

Ashwath Narayanan’s communicative skill made the presentation of ‘Sankari Sankuru’ remarkably expressive of its rhythmic structure and its pervasive excellence. While he has a good insight into vocalisation, Ashwath’s tara sthayi negotiations required softness and volume control. That would have added sensitivity and raga bhava of Poorvikalyani and Saveri would have come out in true perspective. Overall, his visranti was a rare factor that is hard to come by in many young artists. This aspect contributed to the blending of vocal idiom with classical stature heading to azutham cloaked in elusive felicity.

Though these two items dominated the concert, the handling of Sriranjani song ‘Songasuga mridanga taalamu’ and the Suddha Seemantini kirtana ‘Janaki Ramana’ were gently flowing. ‘Budham-Asrayami’ (Natakurinji) spoke of his familiarity with vilamba kala demands.

S.P. Ananta Padmanabhan on the violin in his solo was compact with sancharas well stitched to Saveri and Poorvikalyani shades. The percussive emphatic rhythm, fine korvai structuring and criss-cross patterns came to the fore in the erudite tani by Mudhra Bhaskar on the mridangam.

What alapana is to a vocalist is tala manodharma to the mridangist. His tani had both brilliance and depth. The ghatam player B. Subba Rao followed Mudhra Bhaskar to the best of his abilities.