It could be a challenging task to showcase one’s musical talent in a short duration concert. However, some see the challenge as an opportunity. Delhi-based youngster Sowmya Gurucharan did that at her recent vocal concert for around an hour at Delhi Tamil Sangam’s auditorium. Sowmya was featured on the first day of the three-day music festival organised to pay homage to the saint composer Tyagaraja. It was jointly organised by the Tyagaraja Music Festival Trust and the Delhi Muthamizh Peravai. Sowmya’s concert preceded the inaugural function and the keenly awaited concert of the popular vocalist Aurna Sairam. There was no way Sowmya could stretch beyond the allocated time and in just only three items that she took up, the youngster not only did complete justice to the festival by making it an ‘all Tyagaraja songs’ concert but also gave a brilliant account of her kalpita music (music as learnt) and the kalpana music (creative music). Sowmya is presently under the tutelage of Malladi Brothers.
Detailed alapana
Sowmya’s opening piece “Makelara Vicharamu” in the raga Ravichandrika itself was delightfully presented. She sang the popular composition “Gnanamosagarada” in the raga Poorvikalyani and while singing it she brought to fore the emotive contents of the lyrics. Moving to take up a detailed rendition, Sowmya’s choice was a thoughtful and weighty composition “Chakkani Raja” in the raga Kharaharapriya. Apart from singing the composition in a delightful manner with utmost care for the sangatis, the vocalist presented a detailed alapana of the raga bringing out its features to fore. By presenting an equally detailed neraval as well as the kalpanaswaras, not only did Sowmya’s creative talent came to the fore but she also did complete justice to this item.
Delhi R. Sridhar on the violin and Kumbakonam N. Padmanabhan on the mridangam provided enthusiastic and understanding support. B. Manohar on the kanjira and N. Harinarayanan on the ghatam did not quite have their due space and were constantly eclipsed by the mridangam artiste. One could not quite gauge the need for uppa-packavadiyams for a shorter duration concert.
The Chennai-based popular vocalist Aruna Sairam whom the Delhi music lovers were looking forward to had around two hours at her disposal. Despite this, Aruna did not do adequate justice to the title of the festival (”Dhillyil Tyagarajar Isai Ula” which loosely translates to musical tour of Tyagaraja in Delhi). She took up just two compositions of the legendary saint (“Marukelara O Ragava” in the raga Jayantashree and “Nannu Vidachi’ in the raga Reeti Gowla) in the initial stages of her concert. Even if she had taken up a Tyagaraja’s composition as her central item, she could have been seen to have done justice to the title. Added to this was the noisy percussion accompaniment (Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan mridangam and Dr. S. Karthick ghatam) which marred the listening pleasure and almost drowned the vocalist’s voice many a time. B.V. Raghavendra Rao’s violin accompaniment, however, was delightful.
