It was heartening to see various organisations in the Capital arranging full-fledged Carnatic music concerts on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi recently. Mostly, it was Delhi-based artistes who pepped up the festivity, though at some places artistes form Andhra Pradesh too performed.
At a concert organised by the Sri Adi Sankara Sewa Samajam at their Sri Ishta Siddhi Vinayakar Temple complex, Mayur Vihar, Phase III, Delhi’s K. Vageesh delighted music lovers and devotees with his thoughtful selection of songs and well structured concert. Most of his presentations were prefixed with verses on Ganesha in the form of virutams. He being a seasoned vocalist and experienced in composing Carnatic compositions, his recital was a treat.
Vageesh started with an Adi tala varnam in raga Malayamarutam, his own composition, in two speeds. The subsequent Harikesanallur Muthaiah Baghvatar composition “Chaya Devi” in raga Begada was prefixed with a fine alapana and suffixed with some creative swara formats.
Then onwards, the creative talents of Vageesh were at their best, whether it was raga alapana, swara kalpana, virutams on Ganesha or choosing ragas and compositions. Vageesh went on to present one composition each from the ghana ragas — the ragas of Tyagaraja’s Pancharatna kritis. He sang “Gajamukam Baja” in Nattai, “Pranamamyaham” in Goula, “Sharanu Siddhi” in Arabhi, “Lambodarya Namaste” in Varali and “Ganapati talai” in Sri raga, in quick succession.
Kalyani Varadarajan’s “Aparna” in the raga Nalinakanti was emotive. The main presentation of the recital was a ragam-taanam-pallavi. The execution of the pallavi, “Sundaram lambodaram ishta pradakaram sada bhaje Shanmukha Priya” composed in raga Shanmukhapriya and set to Khanda jati Triputa tala was excellent. Earlier, in a detailed delineation, the features of the raga came to the fore. The kalpana swaras were only Shanmukhapriya, though one did expect them to be in ragamalika pattern, at least in three ragas. Vageesh concluded the recital with a scintillating bhajan, again on Ganesha, in raga Durga.
Vageesh was ably assisted by the Chennai-based M. Narmadha on the violin and Delhi-based K.N. Padmanabhan on the mridangam. Narmadha’s touch based on the Parur-MSG style was captivating. Her take on ragas Begada and Shanmukhapriya were enjoyable. Padmanabhan did provide understanding and appropriate accompaniment and his tani avartanam (Khanda Triputa tala) was engaging.
In neighbouring Noida, the Noida Telugu Seva Samithi too included a Carnatic vocal concert of Vijayawada-based Modumudi Sudhakar as part of its “Vinayaka Chavithi” celebrations. Though the concert started after a delay of more than an hour, Sudhakar’s impressive performance was enough to create a lasting impression on the music lovers and devotees. Endowed with a good voice, Sudhakar took ofr his central item Tyagaraja’s “Nagumomu” in raga Abheri. In the unhurried and detailed alapana, Sudhakar brought out the features of the raga. The swaraprastaras were indicative of his depth in creative music. Calcutta Krishnamoorthy’s “Sangeetha Samrajya” in raga Mohanakalyani, Tyagaraja’s “Marugelara” in the raga Jayantasri and “Sobhillu” in raga Jaganmohini were all impressively presented. Peravali Nandakumar on the violin and Peravali Jayabhaskar on the mridangam (siblings) provided understanding support and contributed significantly.
