Balachandra Nakod sang under the auspices of Swarasankula Sangeetha Sabha, Mysore, with Veerabhadrayya Hiremath (harmonium), Raghavendra Nakod (tabala) accompanied him.
“Kaun Gat Bhayi” (Bageshri) offered pleasing music capable of riveting them to thoughts of deep contemplation and experiences of rare vibration.
A voice endowed with marked resilience and mesmerising vibrancy had acquired proficiency prerequisite for an unfettered materialisation of what the singer had visualised and imagined; and therefore the presentation emerged as if it was an embodiment of the artiste's musical personality.
Observe how he pleased the audience when he articulated focusing on the melodic affinity existing between madhyam, dhaivath and the nishad finally descending smoothly to gandhar. During the process, subtle touches on pancham gave an extra edge to the raghabhava ultimately evolving into a profound experience, almost amounting to a trance.
Sargams in appropriate places, and taans of varied nature embellished the cheez. Though he executed them with great fervor, the melody and experience did not lose their grounds.
Replete with such merits the antara “Ek Ban Doondi” was intuitively instrumental in eliciting similar observations. Noticeable sancharas in tara saptak, wondrous heavy gamaks in different speed and amplitudes, and sargams embellished this part of the number.
“Paniya Baran” (chota khyal) comprised climactic tihayis-s judiciously effected. The percussionist, Raghavendra Nakod resorted to layakaris with discretion without jeopardising the smooth flow of the passages.
The melody accompanist, Veerabhadrayya Hiremath, exceptionally followed every subtle movement; and his vocal style of rendering infused the passages with the desired moods elevating the concert to a state of completeness. Nithin Rajaram Shastri lent vocal support admirably.
Pavanaputra Hanuman in Hamsadhwani reflected Nakod's maturity and versatility. Majestic Veerarasa inherent in the raag complemented Veera Hanuman's physical prowess; and the manner in which the singer elaborated the lyrics with appropriate vocal inflections befitted the Lord's spiritual fortitude and depth.
“Shyam Mohe” (Arjunsa Nakod) in Peelu stood on par with both the above numbers in all respects. Relatively, vachana (“Nadapriya Shivanembaru”) and “Vithala Pidi Enna Kaiyya” (Bhairavi-Prasanna Venkatadasa) slid to an average level.
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Maharajapuram Shrinivasan 's concert at Nadabrahma Sangeetha Sabha was more scholarly than melodic. In spite of an ideal speed, the numbers (all Vasudevacharya's) could not satisfactorily convey the sentiments intended by the composer, for lack of gentleness and subtle intonations. Maharajapuram Ganesh gave vocal support.
Without being sufficiently provided with pauses between the different strains he fluently developed, the alapana-s could not reveal different raagabhaavas fully.
Evidently, in “Mamavathu Shri Saraswathi” (Hindola) one could feel the dearth with regard to lalithya, madhurya and gambhirya expected in passages like “Komalakara Saroja” (anupallavi) and Rajadhiraja Pujitha (charana).
“Vande Anisham” (Hamsadhwani: he could have shortened the kalpanaswaras in observance of the importance of proportion), “Pranamamyaham Shri Prananatham” (Ranjani), “Marichithivemo” (Purvikalyani- with a neraval at “Pathithapavana” and swarakalpana), “Parakelanayya” (Saama) and raga-tana-pallavi (“Devadhideva”- Mohana) were other presentations.
Mysore M. Manjunath (violin), Tumkur B. Ravishankar (mridanga) and Shashishankar (ghata) accompanied the singer.
