In the Sangeet Natak Akademi’s ongoing festival of music, dance and drama featuring the recipients of the Akademi awards for the year 2012, the Chennai-based O.S. Thiagarajan’s Carnatic vocal concert turned out to be a musical treat for the music lovers in the Capital. The time that he had at his disposal was around 45 minutes only, which allowed him to sing only two songs (both composed by Saint Tyagaraja’s “Sundaradaradeham” in raga Pantuvarali and “Kaligiyuntegada” in raga Keeravani). Thiagarajan delightfully presented them in a somewhat detailed manner. While presenting the former composition, he embarked on the song straightaway and ended with a brief neraval of a phrase and kalpanaswaras. In the latter composition, he prefixed the song with a detailed and fine alapana of the raga and ended once again with neraval and kalpanaswaras. His talents in creative music flowed as he handled the improvisation techniques. The overall impact of Thiagarajan’s recital was that one left the Meghdoot Theatre-III, where the concert was held, with a sumptuous feeling as though one had attended a full-fledged three-hour concert.
Thiagarajan was ably accompanied by Mulaivasal G. Chandramouli on violin and K.V. Prasad, another recipient of the Akademi award, on mridangam. While Chandramouli’s sketch of raga Keeravani was delightful, Prasad’s understanding and riveting support on the percussion instrument was indeed embellishing. The taniavartanam that Prasad played in adital too was enthralling.
At the India Habitat Centre, the short flute recital of the Delhi-based G. Raghuraman too was delightful. Raghuraman was participating in the “Swati Tirunal Festival, 2013” organised by the International Academy of Mohiniyattam and Delhi Malayalee Association. He took up Swati Tirunal’s compositions, namely “Paramapurushajagadeesa” in raga Vasantha, “Paripalayamam” in raga Reetigoula and a bhajan of the composer in raga Sindhubhairavi. V.S.K. Annadurai on the violin and M.V. Chandrasekhar on the mridangam provided good support to Raghuraman in this recital.
The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and the All India Radio paid homage to the violin maestro late Lalgudi G. Jayaraman by organising a violin duet concert of Lalgudi G.J. R. Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi recently. Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi, children and disciples of the maestro, impressed the audience with their performance. Apart from playing a varnam (in raga Devagandhari and taladi) and a thillanna (in raga Thilang) composed by their father, the siblings took up predominantly the compositions of Saint Tyagaraja in their recital. The duo played “Anuragamuleni” in raga Saraswati, “Bhajarebhajamanasa” in raga Kannada and “Gatinivani” in raga Todi in detailed manner. While Vijayalakshmi played a fine alapana of raga Saraswati, Krishnan’s delineation of ragas Kannada and Todi were outstanding. “Brovabharama” in raga Bahudari and “Sri Ramapadama’ in raga Amritavahini too were handled very well by the siblings. Thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam on the mridangam and Tripoonitura Radhakrishnan on the ghatam provided excellent support. They also played a riveting taniavartanam in Adi talam.
