With a powerhouse presentation, he swept the audience off their feet. R. Suryaprakash, the Chennai-based vocalist, looks like a mild young boy out of a spiritual shelter and the least one would expect from him is a stunning performance!
The varnam is Panthuvarali and the next kriti, a straight rendition in Bahudari ( Brova barama… ) hardly gave us a clue of his prowess. Though blessed with clear tones and diction, these two pieces made no impact. But then he took off with an alapana of the Kosalam (71st Melakarta), a Tamil composition of Koteswara Iyer Ka Guha Shanmukha… and we had a glimpse of what was coming.
None could venture a guess that the pitter-patter of Kosalam would suddenly burst forth into a torrential pour with none other than the Khambhoji. The sweeping alapana brought everything under the sky of this grand raga to earth. Gopinath on the violin, who till then gave a wiry following, seemed inspired enough to warm up to the situation and gave a brilliant replay from which there was no looking back. Thyagaraja's Rangasayee reverberated in full glory with the neraval on Bhuloka vaikunta bringing the heavens down to us. Suryaprakash's command on artistry was superb. The Gamaka cascade was a marvel. He seemed possessed by the Khambhoji as he spun cascading swara patterns in quick succession He hardly seemed to take a breath in this stupendous flow leaving his audience breathless and in sheer stupor. Kudos to music wizard Suryaprakash for bestowing a wonderful treat. The tanam thundered its way through after a full blown exposition of the raga. The pallavi in Desh (Khandachapu triputa talam) had us tuning in to Bharatiyar's patriotic song. The percussion artists, Neyveli Venkatesh on the Mridangam and Nemani Somayajulu on the Ghatam and K. Shyam Kumar on the Kanjira, gave an energetic triangular contest after the Taniavarathanam exercise in rhythm.
