Deepika.V, an up-and-coming Carnatic musician from Chennai, delighted rasikas in Palakkad with her concert. She captivated listeners with her soft and melodious voice and her selection of kritis
The concert commenced with the rendition of the Navaragamalika varnam in Adi tala, followed by a sloka on Lord Ganesha, ‘Gajananyutham,’ in Natta. She sang the popular ‘Maha Ganapathim’ of Dikshitar with enthusiasm and zeal, with kalpanaswaras at ‘Vashista Vamadevadhi vandhita Maha Ganapathim.’
The highlight of the concert was a buoyant delineation of two majestic Swati Tirunal kritis in combination – ‘Janani mamava’ in Bhairavi and ‘Narasimhamamava’ in Arabhi.
The depiction of Bhairavi and Arabhi ragas earned the vocalist applause due to their harmony and consistency with the kritis. Next, she took up ‘Nee daya Radha’ (Vasantha Bhairavi) of Tyagaraja. The main item was Tyagaraja’s masterly composition, ‘Ethavunnara’ in Kalyani. The niraval and swaras sung for the main kriti were marvellous.
Before the ragam thanam pallavi, she filled the gap with yet another popular Tyagaraja kriti, ‘Gana moorthe’(Ganamoorthi). The neat presentation of RTP in Hemavathi set to Khanda Jathi Thriputa tala was another highlight of the concert.
The raga alapana of Hemavathi was brisk and short and the tanam was showcased with some appealing phrases. The pallavi was rendered brilliantly with ragamalika swarams in Behag, Reetigowla and in the rare raga Shudha Sarang. She presented another alluring piece in Shudha Sarang right after RTP, ‘Govardhana giridhara’. In the last part of the concert she delineated ‘Krishna nee begane’ (Yaman Kalyani) and ‘Enna thavam seidanai’ (Kapi).
Deepika concluded her concert with a thillana of M. Balamuralikrishna in the ragam ‘Brindavani,’ followed by ‘Pavamana’, a mangalam. While Anantha Padmanabha on the violin explored the facets of Bhairavi, Arabhi and Hemavathi, N.C. Bharadwaj on the mridangam and Neerkunnam S. Sankar impressed with their strong and able percussion support. The concert was organised by Palghat Fine Arts Society.
