Young Aathira Krishna, who hails from Kerala, seemed to be fully conscious that the hour given to her had a mere 60 irreplaceable minutes. And she had to be adept at both time-management and concert-management!
Without much ado, she commenced with a varnam (Sri Ragam). On its heels came an alapana of Khambodi for Oothukkadu’s song ‘Kuzhaloodhi Manamellam.’ The alapana here and later for Mohanam (‘Kapali,’ Sivan) were built from the ground up, as a pyramidal structure and were marked by izhaippu sangatis, lightning brigas, whole lot of staccato phrases and a liberal dose of top-octave sancharas. The swaras though seemed a tad predictable. Yet, their presentation was picture-perfect.
The thukkada section had ‘Niraimathi Mugamenum’ in Hamsanandhi and the much expected ‘Kuraiondrumillai.’ An emotionally charged audience, though limited to a ‘small crowd,’ was in raptures and continued applauding even as the curtains came down.
She needs a wee bit of self-assessment (done vicariously here!) in her own interest. Nothing precludes her from “knowing” and “singing” the lyrics of the songs she proposes to render. Communicating sahitya-bhava in the true gayaki-style, is the ultimate aim of any instrumentalist. Take for instance the line, ‘Miga Miga Azhagaana Mayilaadavum’ (Kuzhaloodhi Manamellam).One could not merge with the “azhagu” element here, at once. And by the way, the pick-up device fitted to her violin may have provided clarity in sound, but it did not fall on one’s ears as the basic nadham of the violin per se’. All the same, she played like a violinist possessed and one who dared to experiment.
It was a different experience to listen to the thavil (Santhakumar) alongside the mridangam (Madipakkam Suresh) alongside the violin. The laya vidwans were able to foresee with alacrity the trend of the swaras and swara korvais that were presented and gave a thani almost as a combined effort.
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