It looked as if it was the sixth night of Navaratri again. As senior citizens like the 96-year-old Colonel G.T. Thampi joined their hands to the Adi taalam, one of the most popular beats in Carnatic music, Aswathy Tirunal Rama Varma of the royal family of erstwhile Travancore sang Saroruhaasana Jaaye in Raga Kaamavardhini to recreate the atmospherics of Navaratri at Trivandrum Club on Friday night.
Organised by the senior citizen’s forum of the club, Rama Varma’s performance transported the audience to a bygone era, when Carnatic music was the presiding deity of the arts.
In the process, he also provided evidence of his musical journey, from an M.D. Ramanathan acolyte in the early nineties to an ardent proponent of the Balamurali Baani. Like his mentor, he communicates through his music as well as his conversational interludes.
“This Purandara Dasa song is about Balarama and Krishna, coming to our houses, metaphorically,” he explained as he essayed a lilting Tilang outpouring of baby Krishna’s pranks. If one were to close one’s eyes, did one hear snatches of Balamuralikrishna, especially at the Shadjam phrases?
These Baani reflections apart, Rama Varma has evolved his own presentation style with a dynamic emphasis on both the Saahitya and Sangita aspects of the great Vaageyakaara’s works. The vocalist started the evening with a varnam in the pentatonic Gambhira Nattai (Amma Anandadaayini), Rama Varma paid tributes to greats like Thyagaraja with his Kuntalavarali exposition (Shara Sara Samarika) by Sri Rama and Bhadrachala Ramadasa’s Sree Raghunandana in Naadanamakriya.
Rama Varma rounded off the evening with a sprightly thillana. S.R. Vinu on the violin, B. Harikumar on the mridangam, Perukavu Sudheer (Ghatam), and Thirunakkara Ratheesh (morsing) accompanied him.
