Young Nikhitha Srivalli of Vishakapatnam gave a vocal concert at Thyagaraya Ganasabha under the aegis os Sangeetha Ksheerasagaram recently. She was in the company of Komanduri Anantha Sourirajan on violin, P. Satya Varaprasad on mridangam and Srikanth on kanjira. Blessed with bold voice of good range and stage presence, Srivalli won the audience admiration right with her opening number Khamas Daru varnam Mathe Malayadhwaja of Muthiah Bhagavatar. It was a long varnam packed with jatis. She revealed sense for beauty and perfection. She followed it up with another rare number Sri Vighnarajam Bhaje in Gambheeranata of Oothukadu Venkata Subba Iyer and filled it with divine appeal.
The first raga essay Srivalli presented was Suddhadhanyasi. Though brief it was beauty in brevity. A rare Tamil composition Alagha of Ambujam Krishna in Khandachapu was her choice number that she went though well maintaining the melodic impact. The first familiar number that figured here was Sankarasrigiri in Hamsanandi of Swati Tirunal. Then Begada came for a brief but pleasing delineation, for Thyagaraja's Gattiganu Nannu in Jhampe talam. The swarakalpana part in this revealed her imaginative skills in building up swara sequences. After Neekela Dayaradu in Kadanakutuhalam of Mysore Vasudevachar that she sang next was followed by a detailed raga essay of Poorvikalyani for Gnanamosagarada , that revealed first how she applies methodical approach in building a raga to a fine finish. The popular kriti of Thyagaraja in this was rendered by her keeping an eye on its sahitya import. The swarakalpana was imaginative and interesting. Bhogindra Sayinam in Kuntalavarali of Swati Tirunal that was presented later proved a good break before she went for the major raga of the concert Kharaharapriya. This extensive delineation was marked with disciplined approach she adopted in building it up to higher octaves methodically and her finish in mandra and anumandra sthayis revealed again her manodharma.
The rendition of the kriti Prakkalanilabadi was expressive carrying raga bhava that continued even in her nereval and swarakalpana. Violinist Sourirajan caught up well with the idiom and supported the melody with his own complementary touches, both in the raga and swara phrases. This was followed by a well organised tani avartanam by the percussionists. Mero Mero Man a Surdas bhajan and Dehi Murare in Pahadi of Jayadeva Goswamy were the concluding classical numbers along with N.Ch. Krishnamacharylu's rare tillana in Athana in Aditalam.
