“A friend in need is a friend in deed,” goes the famous adage. Delhi Tamil Sangam seems to have proved this point. In order to provide financial support to another Delhi-based organisation, the Delhi Tamil Education Association, the Sangam organised fund-raising concerts by two popular Chennai-based artistes, recently. Sanjay Subramanyan and Nithyashree Mahadevan participated in the two-day festival. The proceeds from the concerts have been set aside for the DTEA-run schools in the Capital.
Nithyashree,who performed on the second day, took up for detailed rendition, Papanasam Sivan's “Venkataramana” in raga Kalyani. While the presentation of the composition as such was very good, the raga alapana was stretched too much and contained some uninteresting phrases.
Nithyashree however, made good use of her creative talents while handling the neraval of the phrase “Alarmel mangai manalan unnai bajikka” from the charanam portion of the composition, and the subsequent swaraprastaras too were enjoyable.
Nithyashree's post-taniavartanam session too was lively. It included scintillating viruthams of verses composed by Gopala Krishna Bharathi in ragas Dhanyasi, Saveri, Mohanam, Shanmukhapriya and Sindhubhaivari, a Tamil padam, a thiruppugzal and a tillana.
M.A. Krishnaswamy on the violin, Neyveli Skandasubramanian on the mridangam and Delhi's Mannai N. Kannan on the ghatam provided good support. Krishnaswamy's delineation of Kalyani was delightful. Despite not being in finest health, Skandasubramanian played a riveting taniavartanam in Adi tala with Kannan. Kannan has to walk that extra mile. More hard work will help him rise to the occasion at such festivals.
One disturbing feature was the movement of the audience in the auditorium. They were walking out and entering frequently even while the concert was in full swing. The noise of the doors created a constant disturbance for other listeners as well as the performers.
Delhi youngsters
Elsewhere, Delhi youngsters G. Sowmya and Anirudh Bhardwaj presented impressive vocal and flute concerts, respectively. While Sowmya's concert was organised by the Lok Kala Manch in their cute little auditorium, Anirudh's performance was held at the India Habitat Centre basement auditorium. While Sowmya took up adventurously Dikshitar's “Matangi Raja Rajeshwari” in raga Ramapriya as her central item, Anirudh chose for this slot Tyagaraja's “Kaligiyunte gadda” in raga Keeravani, which he played with poise. Both the kalpita portion (music as learnt) as well the creative aspects in these presentations were impressively presented by these youngsters.
While R. Sridhar on the violin, Kumbakonam N. Padmanabhan on the mridangam and Mannai N. Kannan on the ghatam provided good support to Sowmya, R. Saravanan on the violin and M.V. Chandrasekhar on the mridangam ably assisted Anirudh in his concert. While Padmanabhan's taniavartanam with Kannan in the Rupakam tala was enjoyable, Chandrasekhar's taniavartanam in Adi tala was graceful.
If Delhi Tamil Sangam's effort at helping an educational society is laudable, the Lok Kala Manch and the India Habitat Centre too deserve praise for providing a platform to young local talents.
