Kuldeep Pai has an appealing voice and his akara singing is clear. In the Hindola kriti ‘Saraswati Vidhiyuvati' of Dikshitar his swarakalpana for the madhyamakala lyrics was attractive with the notes set in ascending and descending order just as in the aarohana and avarohana in groups of threes. He daringly took the raga alapana of the melakarta raga Jangaradhwani and it was a commendable effort without straying into Natabhairavi. Melakkaveri Thyagarajan on the violin was quite good too in his turn. The song chosen was Tyagaraja's ‘Panipathisaayi.' The kalpanaawaras were imaginative stressing the characteristic ‘Da' and ‘Ni' of the raga. A brisk ‘Saravanabhava Guhane,' a composition of Papanasam Sivan in Kannada was followed by a humourous song ‘Aadumvarai Aadattum' in Husseini. The tisranadai Roopaka tala also added to the lilt. The main item was Surutti. Except for a few repetitions, the rendition proved to be explorative of the raga's nuances and Thyagarajan's effort was good. ‘Sringarinchu' taken from Tyagaraja's Naukacharithram was an attractive composition and the niraval and swarams were as good as the rest of the piece. A lively thani by V.V.T. Srinivasan followed. He played an understanding and supportive role through the concert. Final piece was ‘Theruvil Vaaraano' in Khamas. This popular Padam was rendered well except for a couple of fancy cinematic Sangatis. Why should a young artist like Pai keep referring to the notebook for every song? Is that a habit formed from singing for dance recitals?
