A seven-day music festival in Kochi had a line-up of some of the best Carnatic musicians.
The first day was dedicated to the great composer Muthaiyah Bhagavathar. K. Venkataramanan presented select kritis of the composer that are set in rare ragas. The swara conversations for Lambodara Mahaganesa in Navarasakannada, with Mahadeva Sharma on the violin, were delightful.
Peppering the concert with frequent interactions with listeners, Venkataramanan regaled the audience with verve. The frequent sruti variations could not be missed in the Saranga Malhar composition Sreemahabalagirinivasini and his Kamboji alaapana ended up way short.
The star of the concert was violinist Mahadeva Sharma whose Hindolam follow-up showed his chiselled technique and quick forays into seemingly uncharted territories of the raga with fast phrases. His Kamboji alaapana was melody at its best in the first half of the middle octave. Balakrishna Kamath and Vinod Mallya excelled in presenting a jaunty thaniavarthanam.
Ramakrishnan Murthy was at his creative best on the second day. Complex swaras in Mohanam for the Garbhapuri Vasar composition Maruvakadaya gave the audience a peek of what was to come. The structural integrity of Pantuvarali raga was intact in Murthy’s alaapana. Niraval on an off-beat was tagged on to high decibel swaras.
There were multiple layers in the raga edifice of Bilahari and Edapally Ajith bowed the violin through an amazing tanam. The pallavi set in Chaturashrajathi triputa tala demonstrated the artiste’s grip over laya. Raga malika swaras in Kanada, Atana and Behag were attuned well for an exciting finish that was heightened with percussion support from Njanjil Arul on the mridangam and Uduppi Sridhar on the ghatam. Aesthetics happily blended with emotion for the virutham renditions that preceded Jamboopathe in Yamuna Kalyani and Aravindapadamalar in Kapi.
Padma Sugavanam
Padma Sugavanam has blossomed into a seasoned vocalist. She gave a concert on the third day and it would have fared better with effective accompanying music. Full throated, clear sangatis marked Padma’s Varali alaapana. She embellished the piece with amazing vocal dynamics and modulations. After the Muthuswamy Dikshitar composition Mamava Meenakshi in Misrachapu tala, she took on a detailed niraval on Shyame Shankari that had some superb variations in the first speed with accent on gamakas.
Niraval is a strong point in Padma’s music and she revels in presenting it. This was again seen in the niraval on Vedashastra tatwartha for the Tyagaraja composition Enthuku peddala in slow speed. She presented a dainty Vrindavanasaranga pallavi in Tisra triputa, khanda nadai.
Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna’s expanse of manodharma was evident in his Lathangi alaapana, which had multiple, charming phrases around the dhaivatham. The many vakra phrases had brigas, and it was followed by Pattanam Subramanya Iyer’s composition Aparadhamulanneeyo maninchi .
This was preceded by swaras with korvai endings for the Vadheeswari composition Paramatmudu velige . In keeping with the recent fad in Carnatic music concerts and evident in this festival of choosing Hindustani ragas for Ragam Tanam Pallavi, Balamuralikrishna essayed Hamir Kalyani at length with a Pallavi in tisrajathi triputa tala.
The much-awaited Ranjani-Gayatri concert, took the packed audience by storm. The duo’s professionalism and their audience-centric, well packaged music did not fail to thrill the listeners. The emotive alapana of Khamas by Ranjani culminated in a Mysore Vasudevachar kriti Brochevarevarura with a loosely wound niraval on Seethapathe naapai .
Gayatri took the linear route in a progressive expansion of Madhyamavati raga and the duo presented Tyagaraja’s Adigi sukhamu . The swara korvais by Gayatri demonstrated her craft and her hold on the idiom.
Expectations were high from the formidable young percussion duo Bharadwaj on the mridangam and Vazhapilly Krishnakumar on the ghatam as well. They rose to the occasion to present a tani that brought in crisp rhythmic niceties and interactive exchanges.
Ranjani unfurled the raga structure of Shubhapantuvarali with its gripping spots and Gayatri took up the exposition in the higher octave with sancharas as high as the dhaivatham. She took a tonal shift (srutibhedam) to Hindolam, a feat which she repeated as she sang ragamalika swaras in Nattakurinji with quick shifts to Neelambari, which elicited applause from the crowd. The pallavi in chaturashra triputa took the phrase satyajnaanandamayam sarvam vishnumayam from the Dikshithar composition Sreesathyanarayanam in the same raga. Another high point of the concert was the ragamalika swaras for the pallavi in Sreeranjani, Kapi and Shudha Sarang, which Gayatri rendered with Hindustani flourishes with forceful gamaks.
Nisha Rajagopal
Perfection was the hallmark of Nisha Rajagopal’s concert on the penultimate day of the festival. Her rich voice captured the essence of Hamsanandi raga and she presented Pahi jagatjanani . Nisha had a neat approach to presenting the compositions and this was evinced in her dynamic singing of Anjaneya Raghuramadootha in Saveri raga.
Cleverly packed, aesthetically arranged kalpanaswaras ended in a crisp mukthai. Palakkad Mahesh Kumar gave a vibrant performance in the tani with korvais that neatly harmonised without any blemishes.
The main highlight of Jayanthi Kumaresh’s veena recital was the ragamalika tanam for a pallavi in Behag that traversed serenely through Malayamarutham and Anandabhairavi. Bangalore Arjun Kumar on the mridangam excelled in his backing for the entire concert. However, Trichy Krishnaswamy on the ghatam could not match up with the seasoned artiste in Arjun Kumar in rounding up the thani. Intricate gamakas, fast sancharas and phrases centering around on the nishada and madhyama embellished Jayanthi’s Keeravani alaapana.
Brisk sarvalaghu swaras in half cycles proceeding to longer cycles for the kriti Ambavani nannu adarimpave were supported with rhythmic exchanges with Arjun Kumar.
The event was organised as part of the thirteenth anniversary of Edappally Sangeeta Sadas at Changampuzha Park.
