The quality of vocalist Mahathi’s concert shows her astuteness in the choice of kritis, the raga essaying style, her rendition ability, and aesthetics of swarakalpana. Justifying her title ‘Isai Peroli’ from Kartik Fine Arts, Mahathi presented an engaging recital at the Narada Gana Sabha main hall.
The distinctive section of the concert was a comprehensive essay of raga Khambodi followed by Dikshitar’s peerless ‘Sri Subrahmanyaya Namaste.’ Mahathi’s raga elaboration offered the usual, but her inventive touches lent elegance. Her voice smoothly scaled up to the upper register to render signature sancharas of Khambodi. The niraval and swaras on ‘Vasavathi Sakala’ matched the magnificence of the raga alapana and interpretation of the kriti leading to kuraippu swaras focused on dhaivatam.
Mahathi
Mahathi’s Malayamarutham raga treatise mostly traversed in the middle and upper regions. Nevertheless, the kriti, Tyagaraja’s ‘Manasa Etulo,’ (swarakalpana on ‘Kalilo rajasa’) was handled with poise. The noteworthy quality of Mahathi’s raga expositions was the judicious blend of karvais and brigas. Also she preferred not to meander into swara segments but employed crisp and captivating groupings.
Brisk raga essay
The second segment was an RTP in Shanmukhpriya, set to Khanda Triputa, which went as, ‘Saravanabhava Guha Shanmukhapriya’ with all the mandatory adornments of a pallavi. The raga essay was brisk and the tanam brief, pallavi and trikalam took time and the swara sallies got extended with an exotic ragamalika chain in Chandrakauns, Vasanthi, Rageshree and Brindavani; but she had to conclude the concert without any tail-end pieces. Perhaps, Mahathi should look into time management. The ubiquitous ‘Era Napai,’ Thodi varnam (she could have opened the concert with that stately Nattai varnam she sang during the sound test earlier) and the rare ‘Manasaramathi’ in Saramathi (Tanjavur Sankara Iyer) were the other pieces.
Mysore V. Srikanth responded with fine touches in the raga essays and clever combinations in swaras. His Malayamarutham swaras were perfect repartees to Mahathi’s posers. Patri Sathish Kumar and Tiruchi Krishnaswamy on mridangam and ghatam made their presence felt throughout. They came up with a resounding but well-knit thani.
