To usher in the Tamil New Year, Delhi Tamil Sangam had organised a Carnatic music concert last Sunday at their auditorium by Chennai-based vocalist Niranjana Srinivasan, disciple of Lalitha Sivakumar. Niranjana, who took up Tamil compositions in her recital, regaled the audience with her wide repertoire, musical talents and excellent diction in the Tamil lyrics. The verses that she sang in the form of viruthams on several occasions, before taking up a composition, too, were noteworthy for their diction. Starting very impressively with an aditala varnam in raga Charukesi, composed by Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, Niranjana took up Dandapani Desikar’s “Padavendume” in raga Hamsanadam and Papanasam Sivan’s “Piravavaramtarum” in raga Lathangi for elaborate presentation. VSK Chakrapani on violin and M.N. Subramanian on mridangam provided good support.
Some janya (derived) ragas take one or two swaras not belonging to the janaka (parent) raga, which are referred to as “anyaswaras” or “‘foreign notes”. The inclusion of S. Sowmya’s musical presentation, titled “Nandanar Charithram”, as part of Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha’s “Tyagaraja Music Festival” was akin to anyaswara. However, as the anyaswaras enrich the beauty of the ragas, Sowmya’s knowledge on the subject and lucidity in bringing out various musical forms handled by the composer of the musical opera, Gopalakrishna Bharathi, was a rewarding experience. M. Narmadha on violin and Nevyeli R. Narayanan on mridangam provided excellent support to Sowmya.
The extent to which an artiste holds the legendry saint composer Tyagaraja close to his heart gets revealed in the way he handles these compositions. In a fitting finale to the “Tyagaraja Music Festival 2013”, seasoned vocalist O.S. Thyagarajan delighted music lovers by structuring his concert on compositions of Tyagaraja. Not only was his selection of songs well thought out, Thyagarajan’s focus was on these compositions. He achieved this by keeping the improvisation techniques to a bare minimum. Thyagarajan started off straight away with “Sadhinchene” in raga Arabhi, the third Pancharatnakriti. “Evaraninirnayimchirira” in raga Devamritavarshini and “Etijanmamidi” in raga Varalicame in quick succession, which were well presented. “Isa pahi mam” in raga Kalyani and “Gitarthamu” in raga Surati came in for detailed rendition. His rendering of “Palintuvopalimpavo” in raga Kantamani, “Kshinamaitiruga” in raga Mukhariand, “Marugelara” in raga Jayantasriwere was a treat. Mullaivasal G. Chandramouli on violin and Nevyeli R. Narayanan on mridangam provided excellent support in this concert.
Another popular vocalist from Chennai whose recital in this series will remain itched in the memories of listeners for quite some time would be Abhishek Raghuram. In his enthralling concert, Abhishek took up two of Tyagaraja’s compositions — “Vidulaku” in raga Mayamalavagowla and “Mokshamu” in raga Saramati — for detailed presentations. Earlier, starting his concert with the atatalavarnam “Viriboni” in raga Bhairavi, Abhishek included a few more songs of Tyagaraja, like “Muddumomu” in raga Suryakantam and “Lakshanamulu gala” in raga Suddhasaveri, to the utter delight of the audience. M. Narmadha on violin and Neyveli R. Narayanan on mridangam provided excellent support.
