Young violinist Shreya Devnath approached her recital for the Mylapore Fine Arts Club with utmost adherence to the style in which she has been trained. A student of the legendary Lalgudi Jayaraman, she achieved what she set out to prove at this concert - that she is a faithful disciple of this melodious school of violin. Her performance was marked by two distinctive aspects - flowing raga essays and good build up of fast-paced swaras.
That she was able to create an impression within the short span of this concert itself speaks volumes for her industrious application to elicit every nuance of which the style boasts.
Shreya’s performance revealed aesthetics on the one side, and the presentation of familiar kritis, on the other. She kept in mind that this was a solo violin recital and that the audiences love to hear well-known pieces from instrumentalists.
Pleasing and free-flowing, her music is definitely at a promising stage from where she can progress into explorations. Adhering to the unspoken, yet defined classicism of her mentor, she kept her musical exposition subtle and traditional, while, at the same time, not fearing to experiment here and there with her manodharma within the limits of the time given for the performance.
There were the catchy melodious renditions notably in raga Dhenuka and progressively also in raga Hemavati. There were also spells of swift long fast-paced swaraprastara during the performance. Akshay Ananthapadmanaban on the mridangam and Nerkunam Sankar on the ganjira displayed their enthusiastic involvement during these swift spells, besides providing apt support throughout.
The concert's overall tenor was set by a well-thought out Dhenuka raga with the kriti ‘Teliyaledu Rama.’ The kalpanaswara spoke of the possibilities elicited out of this raga. While the eighth melakartha (Hanuma) Todi provides musicians with a vast canvas, Dhenuka, this 9th melakartha in the 72 melakartha system, has limited appeal. But Shreya's violin and imagination gave it a sheen that comes out of good imagination. A fine build up of fast-paced swaras provided a nice warm up to the kutcheri.
Rendering ‘Thaye Tripurasundari,’ Shreya evinced good swaragnanam by working the accent on the ‘Ri,’ a major jiva swara for Sudhasaveri. Shreya then wove a nice Hemavathi raga enunciation, following it up with ‘Sri Kanthimathim.’ Interlacing the swaraprasthara for this kriti with tisram, she returned to chatusram. The emphasis on ‘Ri’ and then again on ‘Dha’ during kalpanaswara provided the aesthetic touch.
The recital ended with a Hamirkalyani tillana. Since the attendance is thin for afternoon concerts, such as 1.30 p.m., it's time the organisers ensured more popular time slots for young artists, like Shreya, with mettle.
Renuka Suryanarayan
