Bhavatharini Anantharaman appears to be a confident singer, with a pleasing timbre, crystal-clear diction and command over classicism, enabling her to choose diverse ragas for her concerts. A vocal concert by Bhavatharini, a disciple of the legendary D. K. Pattamal, was held at Vyloppilly Samskriti Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram, recently.
Bhavatharini began her concert with a bang with a sloka in Shanmukhapriya and the varnam ‘Devar munivar thozhum padam,' set to Adi tala. She scaled the heights of devotion with this Lalgudi Jayaraman composition during the charanam and the charanaswaras.
Setting the mood
Raga Valachi set the mood for the concert. A brief but soothing raga visthara preceded the kriti ‘Dhanaganapathiye va va,' which was enriched by elaborate sangathis and fluent kalpanaswaras. The kriti ‘Sharavana Bhava' in Ranjini had a beautiful arohana-swara intercepting its charanam. ‘Ellara Krishna' in Kamboji set to Roopaka was decorated with a well-articulated niravel and swarams at ‘Ragarasitha.' Although the singer brought out the essence of raga Bhoopalam, not much focus was given to modulations and the emotional slant of the scale. Her rendition of Muthuswamy Dikshitar's ‘Sadachaleshwaram' had a good flow of swarams, which escalated in intensity.
Bhavatharini's delineation of Kalyani raga was rich in melodic sancharas, effortlessly creating a tranquil mood. The main kriti, set to Mishra chapu, had long niravel phrases and well-arranged swara passages at ‘Shyama Krishna.' Udupi Balasubramaniam on the violin fell short of expectations.
‘Krishnaya Vasudevaya,' a sloka in Hamsanandi, found its way to a lilting and brisk thillana, which was embedded with soft, groovy touches. A mellow kriti in Chenchuruti, ‘Karunasagaram' (madhyama sruthi), had portions like ‘Bhooloka Vaikunatam,' which had a lot of soul. Bhavatharini wound up the two-hour concert, with a peppy number set to thishra tala. Udupi Balakrishnan accompanied on the mridangam.
