Kalyana Krishna Nrithya Sangeeta Utsav at Edappally featured seasoned artistes in music, dance and Kathakali.
Aishwarya Vidya Raghunath’s Carnatic music concert on the first day showed glimpses of music of the good old days, a style that she has inherited from her gurus Vegavahini Vijayaraghavan of the Veena Dhanam school and P.S. Narayanaswamy of Semmangudi bani. Yet she infuses many modern aspects of her own into her music.
Aishwarya Vidya Raghunath in concert.
Nowadays when swara exercises are a mere display of skill, Aishwarya’s first-speed swaras for the Harikamboji kriti ‘Dinamanivamsa’ showed aesthetics of bhava and intuitiveness. The second-speed swaras were crisp, with no loose ends. Her rendition was heightened when Idappally Ajith followed her meticulously on the violin. The vocalist was wise in choosing the exact kalapramana for the compositions. A creative alaapana of raga Lalitha saw sustenance notes in which her voice was steady all through the rendition. Dikshithar’s ‘Hiranamayim Lakshmim’ had a rich niraval on ‘Sangeeta vadya vinodini’ while the swaras were embellished with fine korvais.
Balakrishna Kamath on the mridangam supported her admirably at this stage of the concert. Raga Kalyani was expanded in three phases with focus on sancharas and on nuanced phrases. Her voice, round and resonating, was modulated at the right points. She deliberated once again on the first kala swaras for the Dikshithar kriti ‘Bhajare re chitha’.
On the same day, Swapna Shivakumar performed Navarasanjali and ‘Paramapurusha’ in her Mohiniyattam recital.
On the second day, Odissi exponent Sujata Mohapatra, disciple of the legendary Kelucharan Mohapatra, gave a striking performance along with her disciple Sowmya Bose. ‘Ramayana’, which Kelucharan had composed as a group choreography, was performed as a solo piece by Sujata. She brought alive the feminine grace of Sita, the caprice of Mareecha, the deer, and the stealth of Ravana in disguise. Jatayu’s flight to rescue Sita was indeed breathtaking. The encounter between Jatayu and Ravana was a high point in the piece. She enthralled one and all with ‘Ardhanareeswara’, which she danced in tandem with Soumya. They succeeded in portraying the dual aspects of Shiva and Shakti.
Sujata Mohapatra gave a striking performance along with her disciple Sowmya Bose
Nangiarkoothu performer Kalamandalam Girija presented ‘Kaikaseeyam’ as an account by Kaikasi of her son Ravana’s many exploits till his death. This was adapted from ‘Dasamukharavana’, popularly performed in Kathakali.
Kalamandalam Girija performing Nangiarkoothu
Smitha Rajan, Mohiniyattam danseuse, performed on the final day. She elaborated the episodes of Kubja and Narasimha dramatically in a shloka to portray Karunyam and Beebhatsam respectively while portraying these emotions in depicting episodes from Krishna’s life. ‘Kanden kanden’ describes Hanuman’s joyous account to Lord Rama about meeting Sita in Lanka. Scenes from the kingdom of Lanka as described by Hanuman in his narration were depicted by Smitha.
Smitha Rajan’s Mohiniyattam performance in Edappally.
‘Amrutham’ was a new item in Smitha’s repertoire, in which she took the famed Madhurashtakam and interspersed it with bits from a thillana. She improvised on the line ‘Nrithyam madhuram’ by portraying the divine dance of the lord. The bhakti-soaked Kathakali padam ‘Ajithahare jaya’ in Sreeragam was interpreted in Mohiniyattam. The dancer depicted Kuchela’s embarrassment of his own poverty as he meets Krishna. Krishna as the charioteer of Arjuna was depicted with majestic horse movements in the line ‘Vijayasarathe’.
The Lalitha-Panchali episode in ‘Kirmeeravadham’ Kathakali was enacted by Kudamaloor Muralikrishnan and Madhu Varanasi. ‘Kandalathimodam’ was a padam in which Lalitha indicates the various scenes of the forest. Muraleekrishnan also essayed Lalitha’s changes in expressions. Veteran vocalist Pathiyoor Sankarankutty and maddalam exponent Kalamandalam Sankara Warrier provided accompaniment. The three-day festival was organised by Kalyana Krishna Foundation. The programme is held annually in memory of Kathakali and Mohiniyattam legends Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair and Kalyanikutty Amma.
