The three-day-long Sreeramanavami festival that was celebrated at Kalpathy Ramadhyanamadhom (Anjaneya Temple) featured two captivating vocal concerts. The curtain-raiser was a well-executed concert by up-and-coming artiste Kashyap Mahesh.
Opening with a haunting Dakshinamurthy stothram popularised by M.S. Subbalakshmi, Kashyap moved on to ‘Sarasuda’, a Saveri varna, set to Adi tala, building up to a fine tempo in the process. Muthiah Bhagavathar's ‘Gam Ganapathaye’ in Hamsadhwani, adorned with opulent chittaswara, was tagged with sprightly strings of kalpanaswara. A Tyagaraja kriti, ‘Orajupu’ in Kannadagoula, was followed by a classic presentation of the maestro’s pancharatna kriti ‘Jagadanandakaraka’ in Natta, in which each word is an offering to Lord Rama. Swati's ‘Gopalaka pahimam anisam’ in Revagupthi was appended with alluring swaraprasthara.
‘Ramanukku mannan mutidharithale’ in Hindolam, a dialogue between Kaikeyi and her maid Manthara from the opera ‘Ramanatakam’, highlighted the lyrical beauty of the composition.
The pinnacle of the concert was a virtuoso treatment of Harikamboji.
Tyagaraja's ‘Dinamanivamsa’ also came in for deft handling. The vocalist was accompanied by N.C. Madhav on the violin, Hariprasad on the mridangam and Trichy Krishnaswami on the ghatam.
Sreevalsan J. Menon’s concert, meanwhile, was filled with devotion and carried the stamp of classicism as he regaled listeners in his soulful soothing voice.
T.H. Subrahmaniam on the violin, Balakrishna Kamath on the mridangam and Kovai Suresh on the ghatam provided admirable support. Sreevalsan began with Patnam Subrahmaniya Iyer’s ‘Eranapai’ in Thodi, Adi tala. His nourishment of the Tyagaraja kriti ‘Rama ninne nammina’ in Mohanam and Papanasam Sivan's 'Kanavendamo' on Nataraja of Chidambaram in Sreeranjani, was finely nuanced.
Before a splendid portrayal of Poorvikalyani, replete with aestheticism and classicism, Sreevalsan's rendition of Tyagaraja kriti ‘Nenenthu vethakuthura’ in Carnatic Behag was brilliant. Dikshitar’s ‘Meenakshi me mudam’, with niraval at ‘Madhurapuri nilaye...’, sung with devotional fervour and grandeur, each in proper measure, was a serene treat. An alapana of Bhairavi was outstanding.
Subrahmanyam’s melodic raga expositions fulfilled both technical and aesthetic parameters. Sreevalsan’s rendition of Arunachala Kavi’s ‘Yaro, ivar yaro’ highlighted the structural beauty and sahithya bhava of the composition. An exhilarating swarasanchara flowed into a scholarly Mutaiah kriti. It was follwed by a Tani meticulously woven with laya patterns.
Sreevalsan’s selection of devotional numbers, ‘Jai Hanumathe’, a bhajan, ‘Thoomanimatathu’, a Thiruppavai, and Tyagaraja’s ‘Geethardhamu’ in Surutty, were all soulful. The fete came to an auspicious end with a mangalam and mangalarathy .
