If you had to talk of one highlight of the veena concert by Geetha Bennett, the choice would fall on the ragamalika tanam. The tanam is so critical to veena playing that when it comes out in ragamalika it sparkles. In fact, in olden times there used to be veena players who would play the tanam after every raga exposition.
The three percussionists lifted the concert to a higher plane by their dexterous support - Thanjavur Subramanyam on the mridangam, V. Umashankar, with his expressive display on the ghatam and subdued following by Papanasam S. Sethuraman on the ganjira. Their thani was something to remember.
Veena notes are so close to the human voice that some players tend to play the instrument in vocal style, but every instrument has its unique characteristics that a player must exploit to the fullest. Geetha played it more as if she were vocalising the instrument except at one point where she began using the unique characteristic of veena playing in Kharaharapriya: the long phrase on one stroke had the audience applauding for more. A super lengthy phrase on a single stroke is an exquisite veena technique, and Geetha would do well to exploit the instrument's beauty to the maximum extent. Another place where she brought out the veena's beautiful qualities was in the tanam in ragamalika. It was striking, but short.
Pachimiririam Adiappa Iyer will stand the test of time for that ‘Viriboni' varnam he composed. Geetha began the concert with that varnam in Bhairavi raga. ‘Parathpara' came next with adequate kalpanaswaras. The raga alapana of Ritigowla hit the raga bhava on the first phrase and gamakas were on display to the fullest in the rendering of ‘Neelakantam' by Muthuswamy Dikshitar.
A neat raga alapana of Lalitha provided a foil for ‘Nannu Brovu,' a composition of Syama Sastri. Geetha chose Kharaharapriya for a well-rounded raga rendering, where she began using the veena's special qualities more and more. A stoic performance of Tyagaraja's ‘Nadachi' created interest with some fast kalpanaswaras on the Rishabam note. A smooth rendering being a basic requisite of concerts, Geetha can avoid the occasional awkward phrase.
The Behag ragam, tanam, pallavi was the most enjoyable with the words ‘Venkateswara Digambara Abhayankara Dinam Unnai Charan Adainthen.' Geetha concluded with a Hamsanandi tillana. It was a morning of mellow music of the S. Ramanathan School.
