Youngster Chalakudi A.K. Ragunath displayed the traits of a seasoned artiste in his flute recital at Tharekkad. Maintaining a fine rapport with his accompanists, he left an indelible impression on the audience, with his confident presentations.
He began the concert with the varnam ‘Sami Ninne' in Sri raga, composed by Garbhapurivasar. Muthuswamy Dikshitar's ‘Sri Mahaganapathi ravathuma' in Gowla was his next choice. The vibrant swaraprastharas at ‘Prakasakaro' in the charanam lent beauty to the rendition.
The unique flavour of Chandrajyothi was beautifully unfolded in his exposition of the raga. He even touched the ‘panchamam' in the upper octave. Tyagaraja's ‘Baagaayanayya' was portrayed with elegance. The kalpana swaras, with special accent on ‘dhaivata' were impressive.
While the rendition of ‘Sobillu Saptaswara' (Jaganmohini-Tyagaraja) with imaginative swaraprastharas made a mark, ‘Raghuvamsasudha' (Kadanakuthoohalam – Patnam Subramanya Iyer) was full of vigour, with lilting chittaswara enhancing its appeal.
Courting Mohanam
The piece de resistance of the concert was the ragam, thanam and pallavi in Mohanam. Raghunath struck a rich vein in his elaborate delineation of the raga, stretching his manodharma to the full. The leisurely development of thanam, sprinkled with finely etched sangathis, was a brilliant effort. The pallavi ‘Venu gaana lola Muralidhara Hare Gopala Manamohana' was presented with creative skill.
Intelligent improvisations in swara patterns offered variety, especially the long swaras centred around ‘ga' were remarkable.
Delectable strains of Kapi, followed by Paapanaasam Sivan's ‘Enna thavam seidanai' were melody personified. Lalgudi Jayaraman's thillana in Revathi was full of well-designed rhythmic passages. The flautist concluded with Purandaradasa's ‘Bhagyatha Lakshmi baramma' In Madhyamavathi.
Performing as a team, the accompanists shared equal honours with the main artiste. Viju S. Anand was superb on the violin. His raga sketches were rich in melodic tonal nuances. Palghat K. Jayakrishnan (mridangam) and Mangad K.V. Pramod (ghatam) wove delightful laya patterns in the tani avarthanam. The concert was held under the auspices of The Palghat Fine Arts Society.
