Vignana Samithi arranged two vocal concerts of Suri Venkateswarlu, president of this organisation and that of Vasa Gopinatha Rao, acting Principal of the Thyagaraja government college of Music and dance, Ramkote. Kolanka Saikumar on violin, P. Vidyasagar on mridangam lent support to both these concerts.
The evening opened with a one-hour concert of veteran Suri Venkateswarlu, who has had experiences like participating in the prestigious group concerts for Venkateswara Bhakti Channel. Venkateswarlu is blessed with soft voice that generally goes well with devotional numbers.
Venkateswarlu kept his vocal verve intact with the rendition of the very first number Sarasuda, a varnam in Saveri of K.Venkatrama Iyer. This was followed by Mahaganapathim ’ n Nata of Dikshitar he sang with utter devotion and followed it with Brochevarevarura in Khamas of Mysore Vasudevachar with chitta swaras — the finest number in this section.
Keeping his age in perspective Venkateswarlu mostly stuck to kirtana renditions with occasional brief delineation of raga and swarakalpana. Patnam’s popular number Mari Vere Dikkevarayya in Shanmukhapriya was followed by the rare compositions of Matru Bhootayya Neemadi Challaga in Anandabhairavi. Due to lack of time this veteran simply rendered some popular numbers Manavinalakincha Radate in Nalinakanthi of Thyagaraja, Edari Sancharinturama in Chandrajyothi also of Thyagaraja, Paridanamichite in Bilahari of Patnam, and Akhilandesari in Dwijavanti of Dikshitar
Vasa Gopinath Rao
The second concert by Vasa Gopinath Rao that lasted more than two hours. He hails from a family of musicians, and is the Asthana Vidwan of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.
He opened the concert with Natakuranji varnam Chalamela of Veena Kuppaier and a prayer to Vinayaka through Hamsadhwani number. The best number in this initial part was Thyagaraja’s melody filled Bala Kanakamayachela in Athana. It turned out to be impressive because of his concentration on the sahitya expression applied with melody. Aparadhamula Manpi in Darbaru, Khandachapu talam paved way for his sub-main number Sudhamayi in Amritavarshini a real sweet number that Muttaiah Bhagavatar composed. Gopinath’s impressive delineation of the raga won him appreciation and the kirtana part was again a clear enunciation of melody filled sahitya. The swarakalpana part was engaging. Later he came out with Thyagaraja’s Endaro Mahanubhavulu in Sriragam. After presenting fast paced number Sada Madin in Gambhiravani, Gopinath chose Thyagaraja’s Raju Vedale in Thodi as his main offering of the concert. The raga Thodi being a magnificent melody was carefully evolved with all its impressive phrases. Kirtana rendition was exemplary and the neraval he presented taking the chranam Kaveri Teeramuna made the presentation rich. The swarakalpana matched the mood already set.
Later part of Gopinath’s concert brought in Enta Muddo Enta Sogaso in Bindumalini, Annamayya kirtanas Narayanate Namo Namo in Behag and Tandanana Hure in Bowli. The final numbers were tillana in Bridavani of Balamurali and Venkatachala Nilayam in Sindhubhairavi of Purandaradasu.
