Gayathri Venkataraghavan, who gave a vocal concert on the second day of the Dhilliyil Tyagaraja festival recently to pay homage to the legendry Saint composer Tyagaraja, delighted music lovers with her musical abilities. Her musical depth too came to the fore during the recital. In line with the festival’s theme, Gayathri’s central item of her concert was Tyagaraja’s “Pakkalanilabadi” in the raga Kharaharapriya.
A detailed and unhurried raga alapana bringing out elements of the raga was a noteworthy feature here. The neraval of a phrase from the charanam portion of the composition and the subsequent kalpanaswaras, both embedded with rich creativity, spoke highly about the artiste’s musical depth.
In her early phase of the concert, Gayathri took up Tyagaraja’s “Nada sudharasam” in the raga Aarabi, in a thoughtful manner and in a somewhat detailed manner. Even in the brief delineation of the raga, she brought out the nuances of the raga to the fore. Neraval of the phrase “dhara bhajana bhagyamura tyagaraju sevinchu” and kalpanaswaras flowed in a delightful manner.
Gayathri took up yet another Tyagaraja’s “I vasudha” in the raga Sahana and presented it in a captivating manner.
B.V. Raghavendra Rao on the violin provided excellent support in this concert. Young N.C. Bharadwaj on the mridangam, though provided an enthusiastic support, he did not quite rise to the occasion.
The three big ticket organisations of the Capital namely the Tyagaraja Music Festival Trust, the Delhi Tamil Sangam and the Delhi Muththamizh Peravai had come together to conduct the three day festival but there was only one set of violin and mridangam accompanists who provided their support in all the three Carnatic music concerts. A commensurately senior mridangam accompanist for the senior vocalist was conspicuous in its absence.
