Lovers of Carnatic music were treated to a series of concerts by up-and-coming artistes at the eight-day festival at Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple, Thripunithura.
The aural fiesta began with a concert by Alappuzha K.S. Sreekumar. He started his concert with a Saveri varnam ‘Sarasuda' composed by Venkatarama Iyer.
The main raga for the day was Kalyani. Taniavartanam was by Parassala Ravi, Alappuzha R. Gopinatha Prabhu (ghatam) and Thrikkakkara Y.N. Santharam (ganjira).
Vani Satish took centre-stage on the second day. A follower of the Bellary bani, she began her concert with a navaragamalika varnam, ‘Valachi,' by Patnam Subrahmania Iyer.
Vani impressed the audience with an apt niraval in ‘Saraseeruhasana priye Amba' (Natta) by Puliyur Doraiswamy Iyer. Palakkad K.S. Mahesh Kumar displayed his skill on the mridangam during the niraval of ‘Bhakthi illada gnana kelanu,' a Purandaradasa kriti in Poorvikalyani.
Kamboji was the main raga of the day. Adichanalloor M. Anil Kumar (ghatom) and Kottayam Murali (morsing) provided accompaniment.
Kunnaikkudi M. Balamuralikrishna, a promising young musician, enthralled rasikas on the third day of the festival. He began with Sahaana varnam, ‘Karunimpa' by Thiruvottiyur Thyagayya. Avaneeswaran S.R. Vinu (violin), Thiruvananthapuram V. Surendran (mridangam), Mangad K.V. Pramod (ghatam) and Paravoor Gopakumar (morsing) provided excellent accompaniment.
‘Marivere Dikkevarayya rama' (Shanmukhapriya) by Patnam Subrahmania Iyer was the highlight of the day. Surendran led the tani along with Pramod and Paravoor Gopakumar.
A saxophone concert by Lavanya and Subbalaksmi lent variety to the festival. The duo began the concert with Gambheeranatta and went on to play popular kirtanas.
Although ‘Raghuvamsasudha,' is a speedy (druth kaal) kirthana in Kathanakuthoohalam by Patnam Subrahmania Iyer, the instrumentalists played it in slow tempo with required alaap, swaraprasthara and niraval. C.S. Anuroop (violin), M.R. Sainath (mridangam) and Kottayam Unnikrishnan (ghatam) accompanied the artistes.
T.V. Ramprasad began his concert with ‘Jaya jaya swamin jaya jaya' in Natta by Narayanatheerthar, followed by ‘Manavyaalakim' (Nalinakanthi) by Tyagaraja. ‘Santhana gopala Krishnam upasmahe' in Kamas by Dikshitar came next. The swaraprasthara was remarkable, for which T.H. Subrahmaniam (violin), R. Vaidyanathan (mridangam) and Tripunithura N. Radhakrishnan (ghatam) provided excellent support. The main raga of the day was Todi.
Amrutha Venkitesh, a talented young artiste, began her concert with a Kaanada varnam in a slow tempo and a masterful rendition of Dikshitar's ‘Vathapi' in Hamsadhwani.
An elaboration of alaap of Abheri revealed her repertoire. Amrutha gave a meticulous but exhaustive alaap of Kharaharapriya. Attukal Balasubrahmaniam provided excellent accompaniment on the violin. Amrutha chose ‘Pakkala,' a Tyagaraja kriti as the highlight of the day. G. Babu (mridangam), Vazhappilli Krishnakumar (ghatam) and Thamarakkudi R. Rajasekharan (morsing) gave a good tani.
The fete ended with a concert by V. Sankaranarayanan. He began with a Nattakurinji varnam, ‘Chalamela' by Kuppuswami Iyer and continued with some popular Tyagaraja kritis.V.V. Ravi provided excellent support on the violin. Changanassery B. Harikumar (mridangam), Ilanjimel P. Suseelkumar (ghatam) and Payyannur Govindaprasad (morsing) did an excellent tani.
