Frankly, at the start of the concert, one felt a sense of concern because Sowmya’s voice did not seem to co-operate while she presented the Kalyani Ata tala varnam. Amazingly, as the concert progressed, the same vocal chords showcased the myriad shades of Atana and Hamir Kalyani with consummate ease. Truly, among today’s vocalists, Sowmya belongs to a different genre. She is adventurous but with same quantum of devotion to classicism.
‘Seethamma Mayamma’ (Tyagaraja) in Vasantha threw open some cleverly woven swaras on ‘Vasishta Parasara.’ Atana, a raga that carries both authority and certain level of complexity, unfolded its splendour in the vocalist’s expert handling. She traversed all the regions effortlessly and landed on ‘Balakanakamaya’ (Tyagaraja). Her exposition on ‘Ra Ra Devathi Deva’ proved to be an exhilarating journey which was augmented by swaras. The characteristic notes of Atana and their intelligent combinations in a variety of jandai and dattu applications, lent an added edge to the kriti.
Sowmya’s treatise of Hamir Kalyani saw her blending phrases of the Hindustani style with traditional Carnatic motifs. Here too, she showed her musical wisdom with profundity. Subbaraya Sastri’s ‘Venkata Saila Vihara’ was articulated with focus on the nuances of the kriti and the raga.
Sowmya took up Thodi for Ragam Tanam Pallavi. Here only her timing and distribution were lopsided. The raga expose was given a lion’s share but the tanam and the pallavi ‘Raja Rajeswari Tripura Sundari’ had to move at a faster pace. Well, Sowmya’s Thodi stood majestic in its conception and delivery, overshadowing the shortfalls because of time constraints.
Serene ‘Hasti Vadanaya’ in Navroj (Dikshitar) and zesty ‘Maakelara’ in Ravichandrika with fiery swaras were contrastingly included in her agenda. Sowmya concluded her recital with ‘Bhajare Yatunatham’ (Pilu) and ‘Chidambaram Pokamal’ (Chenchurutti).
Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi shed some of her legendary sobriety in swara segments and matched Sowmya’s vivacity and momentum. Nevertheless, Vijayalakshmi’s Thodi glowed. Poongulam Subramaniam on the mridangam proved to be a perfect foil on the percussion front, elevating Sowmya’s speed and creativity in the company of K.V. Gopalakrishnan on the ganjira. Their comprehensive tani was impressive.
