A four-day national festival of music and dance, Nila, showcased a mélange of art forms. Viewed against the previous years, the festival was a serious departure from the conventional format since performances were not all of the classical arts.
Listeners were spellbound by Sanjay Subrahmanyan’s vocal concert for three hours. The vocalist presented a sterling performance, sticking to the traditional structure of a concert.
Sanjay Subrahmanyan in concert
He began the concert with an energetic rendition of the Sahana Ata tala varnam of Patnam Subramania Iyer. Mohanam manifested through the Tyagaraja composition Bhavanuta , Adi. Sanjay seemed to forget himself as he entered into the niraval at Badalika and swaras flowed freely over three octaves. Interestingly, a longer sanchara in the mandra sthayi augmented the beauty of this portion.
Sreeranjini was prefixed with an elaboration in the right measure. The aalap had a memorable moment when he sustained tara sthayi shadja for long in a single breath. In his inimitable style, gesticulations included, he painted innumerable colours of the raga quite vividly. The composition was Ini oru kanam , Papanasam Sivan’s kriti in Roopakam.
A soothing Neelambari followed. Subtle nuances he added to every syllable of the kriti sung in the slow tempo enhanced the melody of the composition.
Scholarly treatment
The main piece was Koluvarmare gada kodandapani , Tyagaraja’s composition in Thodi, Adi. A 20-minute essay of the raga embraced all its features. That the rendition lasted for 65 minutes was indication enough of the scholarly treatment of the raga. Niraval at Chudambura jekoni was embellished with swaras. S Varadarajan’s violin picked up every nuance that the vocalist had attempted. Tani by the percussion duo Neyveli Venkatesh (mridangam) and Alathur Raja Ganesh (ganjira) was a bit longer, but it was in the right proportion to the prolonged presentation of the number.
A short Kamas after, Sanjay entered into an RTP of Behag. Although it was melodious, it appeared redundant as he had already exceeded the time allotted to him. Then he sang an Ashtapadi in ragamalika, a Tamil number in Mandu and a Swathi bhajan in Charukesi.
A dazzling Bharatanatyam recital by Meera Sreenarayanan was another highlight of the festival. Perfect adavus, a keen sense of rhythm and captivating abhinaya were praiseworthy features of her recital. Her sculpturesque poses while delineating a sloka from Lalitha Sahasranamam were noteworthy. The piece was in raga Ahirtodi. As for the Alarippu in tisra dhruva, she performed the jathis with confidence.
Meera Sreenarayanan’s Bharatanatyam recital
She came good in the Lalgudi varnam in Charukesi, Innam en manam in Adi. The composition has the nayika lamenting about why her beloved Krishna continues to ignore her desires. Even as she struck an apt balance between nritta and nrithya, her terpsichorean dexterity was evident as hardly a single adavu was repeated in this presentation.
The sancharis recaptured the romantic time the nayika had spent with Krishna. Her abhinaya blossomed as she delineated each of the events.
Tulasidas bhajan Sree Ramachandra krupalu in Yamunakalyani, Misra Chap, portrayed Rama’s mother Kausalya’s mood while she waited for her son to return to Ayodhya after his 14 years of exile. Conceived by Kalamandalam Akshara, the piece had her visualising incidents from Rama’s childhood and connected those with her present mood. Meera’s abhinaya was remarkable as presented the piece.
She abruptly concluded her recital with a thillana in Gambiranatta in Khanta tripuda, composed by her guru Nirmala Nagaraj.
Sunanda Nair’s Mohiniyattam opened with a picturesque, graceful invocation to Ganapathy in Arabhi.
Sunanda Nair
Her own choreography Madhurashtakam in Ragamalika, Adi, included an adorable description of Krishna.
Graceful presentation
Portrayal of the Adisankaracharya composition Adharam madhuram, vadanam madhuram was illustrative as Sunanda delineated each with her exquisite abhinaya. Only three stanzas of Ardhanareeswara stothram were taken for elaboration for her own choreography in Kumudakriya. She succeeded in depicting the distinctive features of masculine and feminine grace.
Sunanda’s histrionic dexterity was revealed in Oru Makal , a famous choreography of her guru, Kanak Rele. An excerpt from Aham poems of the Sangham era, it centres on the feelings of a mother lamenting over the elopement of her only daughter. But she calms herself and wishes her child a happy life.
Sunanda concluded with the popular Ashtapadi, Dheerasameere, Yamuna theere choreographed by her in Kapi, Sindhubhairavi and Kamboji.
Nalacharitam (Day IV) was led by Kathakali Puraskaram awardee Sadanam Krishnankutty. A Hindustani recital by Dattatreya Velnakar was also among the programmes.
Spectators expect performances by artistes of national repute in a festival like Nila that is organised by a premier institution of performing arts of Kerala like Kalamandalam. However not all the programmes in the fete were of the same standard. Also, one wondered about the relevance of a modern drama in a festival of dance and music, that too one that was staged in the International Theatre Festival of Kerala a couple of months ago in Thrissur.
