A pleasing voice, exceptional clarity in the enunciation of lyrics and singing with a feel for the meaning of the song, competent niraval and creative patterns in swaras were the notable strengths of Kuldeep Pai.
There was a good list of songs for the Brahma Gana Sabha Trust, opening with Dikshitar’s ‘Karikalaba Mukham’ in Saveri. His Sanskrit diction was excellent. He sang the kriti with extraordinary care to avoid any mutilation or inappropriate splitting of the words.
A brisk ‘Kalaharana’ (Tyagaraja) in Suddha Saveri followed. There were some interesting permutations of swaras that he sang at the end of this kriti. M. Vijay (violin) also responded well. It ended with a prolonged spell after several short spells of swaras.
Mysore Vasudevachar’s defining kriti in Khamas, ‘Brochevarevarura,’ was rendered well without any embellishment. One wonders how many rasikas felt love for the Rasikapriya he chose to elaborate. Even a listener, without bias against vivadhi melas, has the right to expect a convincing, melodious and creative alapana, once a raga is taken up for exposition. Kuldeep was only able to traverse the scale, to try various permutations and combinations of notes, but the image of the raga eluded him.
He made up for it partly with his singing of Koteeswara Iyer’s ‘Arul Seyya Vendum.’ Kuldeep must have worked hard on his pronunciation of the lyrics, no matter what the language was. He sang swaras in the fast tempo without any difficulty.
An interesting inclusion at this stage was Dikshitar’s ‘Gange Mampahi’ in Jhunjhooti. Consistently, he rendered every kriti with lyrical clarity and feeling. He chose to sing Todi as the main raga. It was disappointing that, with a raga that allows scope for abundant creativity and elaboration, Kuldeep could not make a great impression. He sang ‘correctly’, even included a spell of grahabedham, but that was not enough for the concert to click.
Tyagaraja’s ‘Thappibratiki,’ a song rarely heard, was chosen. A great choice set in Rupaka tala. It was small enough to let him sing niraval, a few spells of swaras, give it a good finish and give reasonable time for a tani avartanam. Vijay Natesan’s accompaniment (mridangam) was effective. Kuldeep’s kriti rendition may appeal to the lay listener, but the connoisseur will demand more from his raga expositions.
