Sangeetha Sivakumar’s resonant voice and clarity in presentation are two of her big assets. Sometimes one feels that the voice can be better utilised to bring out the emotion in the music.
She began her concert, for Mylapore Fine Arts, with the Mayamalava Gowla piece, ‘Sivaloka Naadanaikkandu,’ a classical song from the film ‘Nandanar’ which was a welcome change from the routine, with kalpanaswaram, and Dikshitar’s ‘Sri Mathrubhutham’ in Kannada which followed next was a neat presentation. Subbaraya Sastri’s ‘Dalachinavaru’ in Dhanyasi was preceded by a perfect and lengthy raga alapana- though on the expected lines -with the violinist R.K. Sriramkumar, giving a similar version.
After a short and sweet raga rendition of Kalyani, the surprise came in the choice of a Javali, ‘Entati Kuluke’ with few rounds of kalpanaswaram at the pallavi line. ‘Sevikka Vendumayya’ the Aandolika kriti, rendered well in a fast tempo acted as a good foil before the main item. (Wouldn’t it be better not to split the word ‘Pradatchinamum’ into ‘Pra’ and ‘datchinamum’).
Sangeetha let her imagination flow in the Kharaharapriya raga alapana. It was a satisfying and fruitful step by step exercise, which explored the raga fully before putting a full stop for the ‘Raja Margam,’ to pave the way for Tyagaraja’s ‘Chakkani Raja.’ The violinist played an equally balanced essay. There is a lot of scope for niraval at ‘Kantiki Sundara’ which was utilised well and the swaraprastara rendered in Durita kalam was enjoyable with very good contribution from R.K. Sriram Kumar. After a good thani from Melakaveri K. Balaji on the mridangam and Aniruddh Atreya on the ganjira, the concert ended with the Aychiyar kuravai piece ‘Vadavarayai Mathakki,’ from Silappadikaram.
The audience who come early for the next concert should realise the disturbance they are creating and should occupy the available seats quietly.
