The repertoire was varied and conventional. The Sri raga varnam, Sami nine.. unveiled the recital of Vasumathi Badrinathan under the aegis of South Indian Cultural Association. She sauntered on with well-known kritis and ragas like Mayamalavagowla ( Deva deva ), Amrithavarshini ( Anandamritha varshini ), Nalinikanthi ( Manavi aalakincha ), Khambhoji ( Evari maata ) , Kurinji and so on with a Dikshitar, Swati Tirunal, Arunachala Kavi, Thyagaraja — it was a platter on offer. The vocalist’s husky tones were a little too harsh for music but then her adherence to the grammar of music called for appreciation. Her prefacing (alapana) of the kriti with elaboration of the raga was at its best in the Kambhoji which was of course the centrepiece of the concert. She delved through the raga nuances bringing up its unique phrases as well as its evocative element to the fore. The neraval at Paramabhakta.. was an exercise in variations which sounded very astute. Her improvisations however, lacked expertise as they scaled through the third cycle. The taniavarthanam between percussionists Srinivasa Gopalan and Janardhan (mridangam and ghatam respectively) was the only occasion where there seemed to be a vestige of synchrony for otherwise, the instrumentalist (Dinakar on the violin), the vocalist and the percussionists did not blend as they should and each went his/her way.
The Tamil song, (H)anumane s(w)aamikinda adayalam in Malayamarutham wafted fragrance both in the raga bhava and the lyric which Vasumathi pronounced with feeling. The padam in Kurinji and Nanda nandana in Brindavana Saranga were some of the lovely songs the audience were regaled with. The concert was hosted at Ravindra Bharathi.
