Six vocalists have rendered seven compositions of Sampath Kumar set to music by Chitravina N. Ravikiran, in an admirable fashion.
The songs are in praise of various forms of Vishnu and are in Sanskrit. The influence of Muthuswamy Dikshitar's style is evident in the lyric and musical setting. The disc commences with a sprightly rendering of ‘Chintayami' (Mayamalavagowla -Rupakam) sung by Deepika Varadarajan, a student of Sudha Ragunathan.
Bright start
This kriti is in praise of Lord Narasimha enshrined in the temple at Sholingur and gives a detailed description of the sthalam and the main deities. Deepika sings the composition well which provides a bright opening. The sleeve note lists nine compositions though only seven of them have been sung. The second kriti is in ragamalika extolling the Lord of the Seven hills (Tirumala).
This lengthy composition is attractive and the ragas employed are Ananda Bhairavi, Purvi Kalyani, Sahana and Madhuvanthi. The voices are that of Anahita and Apoorva who are impressive.
Popular singers Suryaprakash and Sikkil Gurucharan render one song each -- ‘Chakrayudha' (Ramapriya) and ‘Nityakalyana' (Kalyanavasantam), respectively. The Kalyanavasantam number is on Nityakalyana Perumal of Thiruvidanthai. Both the kritis are rendered with poise. Another lengthy song is on Andal in the weighty raga Harikhambodi.
The voices of Bhargavi and Anahita blend well in the rendering. The final two compositions are ‘Poojayamyaham' (Kedaram) and ‘Sri Sundara' (Shree), which have been brightly rendered by Suryaprakash, Deepika and Anahita.
The Kedaram kriti is on Lord Bhuvarahaswamy, the main deity at the Srimushnam temple.
The composer's knowledge of the Vaishnava kshetras is amply reflected in the lyrical contents of the compositions.
Good accompaniment has been provided by Ranjani Ramakrishnan (violin), Srimushnam Raja Rao and Venkatasubramaniam (mridangam) and Trichy Murali (ghatam).
