Noted vocalist Pantula Rama presented an enchanting concert during the Thyagaraja Jayanthi concerts at Kalabharati Visakhpatnam. Well-grounded in both Carnatic classical musicology and its art of performance this sangeeta vidushi has a penchant for novelty that makes her concerts refreshingly pleasant. A stickler as she is, Rama strikes out bright well within the bounds of tradition and classicism. Endowed with rich voice that can traverse in chosen trajectory with ease; she revels in passionate rendition which displays her erudition as well. The occasion being Thygaraja Jayanthi, it further whetted her yen for spirited rendition letting the audience experience musical ecstasy in good measure.
She opened the session with Sadhinchene manasa a pancharatna kriti in raga Aarabhi. It is nothing new to open the concert with a krithi instead of a varnam as is the usual template of concert. However, rich taanam that she chose to lace it with made a difference and drove the audience to her crease at once. Thus with an initial take off on a high note, in the course of this session she harnessed various scales exploring its musical depth and range presenting a multi-dimensional content of lasting appeal. She then picked up Chede buddhi manaraa in raga Athana. A crafty swara sally decorated it well. After it she chose poignant Nagumomu in Abheri . Having taken it up with familiar chatusruthi, she soon shifted to suddha daivatam thus showing variants in its rendition, she built up the mood of the raga in all its attendant poignancy of the composition.
She chose raga Kapi for delineation as the mainstay of the session.
The krithi for this was Entha soukhyamani . The element of inexplicable ecstasy inherent in music forms the focal point that saint composer Thygaraja chose to weave this krithi around. Mindful of its lyrical nuances, Rama brought out its soothing ‘soukhyam’ rapturously well.
Negotiating salient phrases of raga Kapi with élan, her elaborate raga essay profiled its melodic shades in all its brilliance. A nifty swarakalpana added a measure of additional charm to it.
Amma raavamma in raga Kalyani was another piece that drew good applause. With a fluent neravu at the line ‘tamarasa’ accentuating its import, it received an elegant treatment. Clarity in enunciation of lyric with due accent on turn of phrase is noteworthy aspect of her rendition. Entha bhagyamo in Saranga, Manavi aalakimpa in raga Nalinakanthi and Rama Rama in Husseni were other notables in this concert.
Violinist MSN Murthy’s bow sparkled particularly for Kapi in its contribution and Vankayala Venkata Ramanamurthy on mridangam lent dexterous support.
Visakha Music and Dance Academy hosted the event.
