Music and not Vedic chanting were heard at Sankaramatham as vocalist Mantha Jwalaprasad presented an impressive concert as part of Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi’ Jayanthi celebrations at Sankaramatham in Visakhapatnam.
A disciple of Ivaturi Vijayeswara Rao, Prasad essayed the chosen pieces on earnest note. It was a plain presentation with an eye on the emotive contours of the composition in its devotional content. It was rather a neat presentation without gimmicks to play to the gallery or showmanship of technicalities or pretentious mastery over the idiom. His raga essays and its improvisations are reflective of a sincere endeavour in an impressive rendition.
He warmed up the session with Sree raga varnam and then took up Srimaha Ganapathim ravatumam of Muttuswamy Dikshitar in raga Goula with swarakalpana at the line ‘ prakasa’ . It set the tempo for the concert. He rendered a neat and precise aalapana and swarakalpana for raga Kanada. The krithi for this was Srinarada nada of Thyagaraja. Sarasa Samadana , again of Thyagaraja, in raga Kapinarayani was evocative. Next came up Sankari neevani of Subbaraya Sastry in raga Begada. It is appreciable that he has chosen to present diverse composers letting the audience relish varied shades of expression. He rendered Kripaya palaya of Swathi Tirunal in raga Charukesi well. Laced with aalapana and swarakalpana in good proportion, it paved the way for exposition of raga Kalyani, the mainstay of the concert. The kriti for this was Needu chearana pankajamula of Pallavi Gopalaiyer. He elaborately presented it with ragam, neraval and swarakalpana. Kanjadalayatakshi of Muttuswamy Dikshitar in raga Kamalamanohari and Govardhanagiridhari of sage Narayana Theertha were other notables of the concert.
Young violinist M Sriramya’s bow robust responses particularly for raga Charukesi and Kalyani were remarkable and Varanasi Jayadeep Sarma on mridangam lent competent support.
