The concert of Aswath Narayanan for HCL series on Syama Sastri Day created an aura of musical reverie. The recital began with the composer’s Bhairavi Swarajati ‘Kamakshi Amba.’ The presentation showcased Aswath’s musical poise in alternating between the upper and lower srutis with consummate ease in swara, sahitya and in reverting back to the pallavi.
The Paras kriti ‘Neelayadakshi’ was a perky one in Tisra Triputa. ‘Ninnu vina marigalada’ in Ritigowla was rendered with piety, characteristic of the raga and the lyric. Aswath’s vocal timbre is delectable and capable of reaching the upper scale with ease. This reflected in his delineation of Poorvikalyani. The briga oriented alapana, indeed, had some fine passages of phrases. The composition chosen here was ‘Ninnu vinaga mari.’ He presented this in Desadi talam instead of the usual viloma chapu. The swaras here sparkled with the vocalist’s ability to come up with interesting patterns.
‘Tarunam edamma’ in Gowlipantu came as filler; the sensitive ‘Devi brova’ in Chintamani paved the way for Aswath to settle on a well-crafted raga essay of the stately Sankarabharanam. The stretch was handled well by moving slowly in the initial stages to set a perfect foundation for the captivating middle and upper register sancharas. Here also, except for a limited part of the treatise that rested on soft and subtle phrases with poignancy, the raga had a surfeit of swirling phrases and awesome brigas.
As an youngster with potential, Aswath’s offering gave a good feel of his ingenuity. The famous ‘Saroja Dalanetri’ was the choice and the niraval and swaras were placed on the traditional ‘Sama gana vinodini.’ Well, here the ‘bhava’ aspect took a backseat and the energy was dominant. The panchama pivoted swaras underlined the ability in spinning delicate yet complex swara strings. ‘Karuna joodu ninnu’ in Sri was the concluding kriti.
Aswath made the concert more engaging by his preface to each kriti on the special nature of the raga, tala and the style.
L. Ramakrishnan on the violin was modest. His raga treatises and swara exchanges carried impact. N.C. Bharadwaj on the percussion was pleasingly sonorous .
