Poornima Satheesh’s (disciple of Bombay Jayashree) vocal recital for Vanaprastha in Vadavalli was a winsome presentation, where her tranquil sensibility was matched by her good manodharma and consummate harmonisation. Endowed with a quicksilver voice that moves across octaves well-aligned to sruthi, she did justice to her training under Jayashree.
Her portrait of Abhogi in the Varnam, ‘Evaribodha,’ was followed by a brisk presentation of ‘Sriman Narayana’ in Bhoopalam. ‘Innamum Orukanam’ in Yadukulakambodhi was sedate in exposition.
In the Karaharapriya raga alapana, she achieved the winning blend of lakshana and lakshya of the raga for the kriti, ‘Senthil Andavan,’ rendered with a spate of swaras.
Her Kalyani delineation, replete with gamakas and brighas including madhyamakala phrases, helped her to achieve a rounded portrayal for the kriti, ‘Unnaiallal.’ The manodharma swara exchanges were worth listening to.
Poornima signed off with ‘Vande Mataram.’ Though her sublime statements and varied patterns of swara sallies were delightful, listeners felt that she could have sung the numbers with full-throated ease.
Jayaprakash (violin) kept pace with the demands generated by the vocalist. Radhakrishnan (mridangam) revealed his laya expertise in an exuberant tani.
SAMPRADHAYA ARADHANA
Shree Charan Academy of Fine Arts (+91 9894949312), founded by Jayanthi Ramachandra to carry on the tradition of the Vazhuvoor Natyacharyas, celebrated its Sampradaya Aradhana 2012 at the Mani High School recently. The cultural evening featured the talents of young children trained by the academy in Bharatanatyam and mridangam.
The students’ Bharatanatyam recital was exemplary not only for their proficiency, but also for the exceptional nattuvangam skill of Jayanthi and Palaniappan.
Their intelligent, involved and enjoyable nattuvangam lifted the programme to a high level. The Mallari in Naattai by Amritavalli was a slow, unfurling of the graceful dance style with its sways. The following Pushpanjali, Natyaveda, Alarippu, Adi Sivam, Jatiswaram and Sabdam composed by Vazhuvur Ramaiah Pillai depicting love, devotion and longing of the devotee, were a synthetic blend of the various elements of jati, swara and the lyrics.
The participants used the entire stage with total command over movement, rhythm and emotions. The speed of the aesthetically dressed dancers added charm to the performance.
Kudos to Rajeev Kumar (vocal), Jayanthi and Palaniappan (nattuvangam) for deftly handling their roles. The orchestra included Devaraj (flute),Sivaramakrishnan (violin) and Srikanth (mridangam).
Sachu, Vanitha Mohan and Gopika Varma (Mohiniyattam exponent), felicitated the artists.
