JOIN USVisual pleasure
Indu Santhosh, who gave a Bharathanatya recital for EFCEP, is a disciple of Shobana Balachandra and has practised Ottanthullal also. She has a Masters degree in Fine Arts and is a practitioner of ‘Hata Yoga’ too.
Indu’s performance on Friday was a visual pleasure, with a talented student and an able teacher. The invocatory song ‘Naatyanjali’ was in praise of Lord Ganesha and Saraswathi, in ragamalika. Anyhow the piece de’resistance was a varna in raga Bhairavi.
In this Tanjore quartet’s varna, Indu portrayed the Nayika’s love, anguish, pain and even anger, impactfully. She negotiated the rhythms with a perfect understanding and accord. In the second half, she chose an Astapadi, devaranama and a thilla. In both the Astapadi (Dwijawanthi) and devaranama (Baro Krishnaiah) – her abhinaya was restrained but pleasing. The Lalgudi Jayaraman’s thillana in the raga Nalinakanthi – was a fitting finale to the recital.
Music from the wings was inspiring to the dancer. Natuvanga by Guru Shobana Balachandra, vocal by Krupalakshmi, mridanga by Vijayaraghavan and flute by Vivek Krishna.
Promising young vocalist
Ramakrishnan Murthy, who gave a vocal concert for the Bangalore Lalithakala Parishat on Wednesday, started learning under Padma Kutty (USA) and received advanced training from Delhi P Sunderrajan and is being guided now by R K Shriram Kumar. He is a recipient of a few awards, including the “Oustanding vocalist” from the Music Academy.
Seasoned music connoisseurs are used to hear a varna and / or a invocatory piece on Ganesha, in the beginning of a concert, though there are few exceptions! But Ramakrishna Murthy straightaway opened his concert with “Etavunara” of Saint Tyagaraja, in Kalyani, which musicians choose for a detail elaboration, usually. Brief swara was also added by Murthy. He also sang another familiar Keerthana ‘Samajavaragamana’ with brief raga and swara. Drawing his inspiration from two lovely compositions of Saint Tyagaraja, the young vocalist built a reverberating base in “Geetha rthamu”. In the post ‘Thani’ he chose a few popular devotionals like – Govardhanagiridhare and Dharma Shravana. A dignified thillana of Veena Seshanna in the raga Jinjoti lent the recital a delightful finale.
Ramakrishna Murthy’s vocal stood out for the melodic grace and he can reach great heights with some more experience. Three seasoned instrumentalists H K Venkatram, Arjun Kumar and Guruprasanna – accompanied with good understanding.
Delightful concert
Sri Rama Lalithakala Mandira presented a vocal concert by Padmabhushana
T V Shankaranarayanan, last week. Earlier young vocalist S R Vinay Sharva and Veena player Ramana Balachandran received G V Ranganayakamma – G V Vijayalakshmi Memorial ‘Raga Laya Prabha Prashasthi’.
T V Shankaranarayanan, (TVS) is a veteran vocalist and recipient of ‘Sangita Kalanidhi’ from the Music Academy and Padmabhushana from the Government of India. He is the best known practitioner of “Madhura Mani Baani” and known for his classicism and will never let down.
Saint Tyagaraja says in this composition – “Dear Rama! Why do you not bless me with the wisdom you have bestowed to the great ones? … Yet real wisdom which transcends mere intellectual awareness have not you blessed me with! Why?”. TVS unrolled a wide prospect of Shankarabharana. It was presented in fair detail with his characteristic melody.
The nerval (Veda Sastra Tatvarthamulu) and swara prasthara highlighted the character of the raga and also its beauty. Shankaranarayanan also sang the popular “Bhuvaneswariya” with a spirit and abandon.
A few devotionals like “Venkatachala Nilayam” were also pleasing. His son Mahadevan Shankaranarayanan proved his mettle as a co-singer. Nagai Muralidharan on violin, Mannargudi Eashwaran on mridanga and G S Ramanujan on ghata – gave excellent support.