Anusha Pradeep performed a vocal concert for Krishna Gana Sabha recently; though it was a recital after a four years’ break, she proved to be a true representative of the Musiri school.
In the first piece, for the varnam ‘Era napai’ in Todi and set to Adi tala, she rendered tisra nadai for the pallavi and anupallavi, which was quite unusual.
After ‘Shambho Mahadeva’ in Bowli, the brief raga alapana of Khamas by Anusha as well as Sudarshan on the violin was quite pleasing. This young violinist is a promising talent. In the kriti ‘Seethapathi,’ both her niraval of ‘Premajoochinapai’ and the following swara segment seemed to end rather abruptly.
It was heartening to listen to an unhurried development of ragas Mukhari and Saveri. The alapanas touched on the characteristic nuances both on the upper and lower registers. Anusha took up Dikshitar’s ‘Paahimam Ratnachalanayaka’ in Mukhari, which is not heard often in concerts; this rather lengthy kriti was rendered with correct diction and tempo.
The main item, Saveri, had her singing ‘Durusukha’ of Syama Sastri with niraval and swaras. This was followed by a good thani by B. Sivaraman (mridangam) and H. Sivaramakrishnan (ghatam). Between the above two songs, Anusha also sang a quick ‘Bhogeendrasayinam’ in Kuntalavarali.
The concert ended with ‘Sri Venugopala’ in Kurinji, which again is rare to come across and a Namasankeertana style item on Hanuman and a Thiruppugazh.
