Meditative is the word that sums up the vocal concert of violin maestro Dwaram Durga Prasada Rao on the premises of Rajiv Smruthi Bhavan on the Beach road of Visakhaptnam. The inimitable veteran’s vocal performance was a revelation about this septuagenarian artiste’s hitherto less known facet of ingenuity in vocal rendition. Rich in distinct Dwaram school of style. It was in short a treat in classicism. The music fraternity that attended this rare performance tasted the purely classy vintage music of Dwaram School. His music is a perfect coalescence of both sahithya bhava and sangeetha bhava in an optimum proportion. Ripe with experience this veteran presented the chosen pieces in an unhurried pace letting each well-honed phrase sink deep into the hearts of connoisseurs exuding its musical brilliance. He prefaced almost every piece with a smooth aalapana. The way he captured the emotive shades of the piece at hand in its varied dimensions spoke of his exceptional command over the idiom of Carnatic classical music.
He opened the concert with Era napai a varnam of Patnam Subrahmanyaiyer in raga Todi, the very warm up piece served as the launching pad for soft and pleasant sail across the gentle stream of melody which remained consistent in every phrase in his rendition. Then he picked up raga Swarabhushini. The kriti for this was Varadaraja ninne kori of Thyagaraja. This rarely heard raga found lilting expression in his mellowed rendition. Ennadu joothuno of Thyagaraja in raga Kalavati brought out the inveterate yearning of staunch devotee to have a darshan of the Lord in all its poignancy.
His choice for delineation as the mainstay of the session was raga Narayani for his own composition Narayani nee . The way he built up the edifice of the raga in a structured manner wherein his emotive expression in articulation of raga bhava heightened its appeal. For this occasion, He specially composed his own piece Sri Badarininarayana mupasmhe in raga Hamsanandi that captivated the audience exuding bhakthi bhava in its soft shades. Marubari , a javali of Dhramapuru Subbiyer in raga Janjhooti, Saadavidya in Sindhubhairavi, Meluko Simhadrivasa in Bouli were other highlights.
Ch Ramya Kironmayi on violin and Dhanwada Dharmarao on mridangam lent competent support. Sri Tarakeswara Foundation hosted the event.
