The music performances at Soorya Festival in Kochi were by Sanjay Subramanyan and Binni and Krishnakumar. Sanjay began with a Sahana varnam, a Tamil kriti. His erudition apart, it was nothing different from his other concerts. He sang compendious swaras ending in aggressive stops to the packed structure of Roopakam for the Kedaram kriti ‘Samayamide Nannubrova’. In his Todi alapana, he took a flight from the middle to upper octave and gave some magical moments as he brought out the subtle nuances of the raga. ‘Thanigai valar saravanabhava’ of Papanasam Sivan was sung with apt expressions. The vocalist demonstrated a few unique ways of interpreting the melodic raga Khamas before beginning a tanam and a pallavi. Varadarajan, although not a dynamic violinist, gave commendable back-up for the tanam and pallavi. Arjun Ganesh provided excellent support on the mridangam. ‘Makelaravicharamu’ in Ravichandrika, ‘Munduvenuka’ in Darbar and ‘Karunanidhan’ in Charukeshi were the vocalist’s other selections.
The musical duo Binni and Krishnakumar started off with a brisk presentation of a varnam in Amruthavarshini, a composition of their guru Balamuralikrishna. While Krishnakumar's elaboration of raga Ranjani gave the audience a peek into his vocal range, Binni's alapana was noteworthy for its clarity of fast brigas and her skill in the wholesome presentation of the raga. ‘Durmargachara’, a Tyagaraja composition, was delectably rendered. Krishnakumar took the niraval at unexpected points and executed it well. Mostly resorting to synchronised singing of the kriti, they also took turns in singing the lines separately. There was an organised progression in an alapana of raga Kapi that culminated in a crescendo. Binni, unfortunately, sang this in a high falsetto voice, which marred the beauty of the song.
‘Enthasowkhyamanine japaja’ was rightly paced and the variant nishadam was explored in the swara singing exercise, which ended in a ragamalika. Edappally Ajith played the violin and Kottayam Santhosh provided support on the mridangam. A tillana, which displayed srutibhedam, another composition of Balamuralikrishna, was the closing piece.
The event in Kochi was organised by Kerala Fine Arts society.
