K. Gayathri, one of the promising artists, is endowed with a resonant voice and musical wisdom. As a prime student of Suguna Purshothaman, she acquired extraordinary competence in laya. This aspect came through in her concert for The Music Academy.
Two ragas, which unfold more in the sancharas in the upper registers, Pantuvarali and Khambodi, were taken up for detailed illustration by Gayathri. She also packed her alapanas and niravals with pleasingswara patterns.
In Pantuvarali, she opted for a lesser-known composition of Tyagaraja, ‘Andundaka’. In Kambhodi, it was the popular ‘Tiruvadi Charanam’ of Gopalakrishna Bharati. The exploration of ‘Adutthu Vanda Ennai’ and the swaras, were done with care and interesting combinations.
The chef-d’oeruvre was the RTP in Thodi set to Simhanandana tala , which has 128 aksharas. After the customary essay of Thodi, Gayathri presented a fair segment of the tanam. The pallavi singing was a marathon exercise for her and her team consisting of Anuradha Sridhar (violin), B. Ganapathyraman (mridangam) and Adambakkam S. Shankar (ghatam). The pallavi was in Manipravalam with words mainly in Sanskrit and Tamil. Since the tala was an extended one, the pallavi also ran like a short kriti. Gayathri after a brief explanation of the features of the exquisite tala, performed the same with all the mandatory requirements like trikalam, niraval and swaras.
The contributions of Anuradha Sridhar and specially the percussionists in bringing out the vocalist’s vision were remarkable.
Gayathri’s repertoire also included ‘Swaminatha Paripalayasumam’ in Nattai (Dikshitar) ‘O Jagadamba’ in Anandabhairavi (Syama Sastri), ‘Kripajuda’ in Hamsalatha (Suguna Purushothaman) and ‘Om Namo Narayana’ in Karnaranjani (Ambujam Krishna).
