In a thematic concert, at Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, celebrating the glory of Lord Sri Rama in nine languages, Dr. Sriram Parasuram and Anooradha Sriram, presented a satisfying show.
Without the facility of proper acoustics the singers and the accompanists – Parur Ananthakrishnan on the violin, K.V Prasad on the mridangam, Umakant Puranik on the harmonium and Paynadath Jain on the tabla – had to contend with high decibel levels.
The presentation itself had several good ideas. Catchy tunes and languages we rarely hear on the South Indian stage such as Gujarati and Malayalam were highly interesting as was the core theme which never fails to draw – singing the glory of Lord Sri Rama throughout an evening. The crowd certainly enjoyed the Rama namam.
The depth of the two singers’ musical knowledge and the training under gurus such as T. Viswanathan were reflected in the raga enunciations. One must particularly mention Anooradha’s Sahana alapana that had attractive phrases in true classical style. It’s rare that a light music singer singing in a high pitch can handle the true classical flavours of Sahana. Anooradha would do well to lower the pitch for classical concerts as the phrases in the higher octaves sung at a high pitch can be disturbing.
The duo began with ‘Jaya Jaya’ in Nattai raga and quickly followed it up with an Ahirbhairav bhajan, ‘Ramaka Guna’ (Shuddha Hindi) to set off the meditation on Rama’s calmness and qualities. Sriram sang a good Bhairavi and followed it with Tamizh composition ‘Yaro Evar Yaaro.’ Violinist Parur Ananthakrishnan essayed a crisp Bhairavi. Arunachala Kavirayar created ‘Yaaro’ as Rama wondering “Who is this beautiful lady?” and not what is generally felt that it was Sita wondering at the sight of the handsome Rama. A kalpanaswara at ‘Chandra Bimba Vadana’ added to this rendering.
Anooradha’s voice lends itself to Revathy, a raga she brought out competently to couch the ‘Bhakti Kandaal’ verse in Malayalam. Sriram sang Bhairagi , raga Revathy’s Hindusthani version, followed by a bhajan. One wished for more coordination between the two singers at many points during the concert.
To praise Rama in Sanskrit, there was ‘Rama Kalita’ in raga Ramkali composed by Muthuswami Dikshitar. Anooradha began sketching raga Sahana as a prelude to the Telugu ‘Vandanamu Raghunandana,’ an utsava sampradaya creation by Tyagaraja. Violinist Parur Ananthakrishnan matched it with some good phrases in his raga outline.
Tulsidas never fails to tug at heartstrings as he did in the Brijbhasha song from Ramacharita Manas ‘Rama Pada.’ Ahalya regains the human form when the pollen from Rama’s feet touches her. Tulsidas extols ringing in the virtue of Rama. Sriram and Anooradha followed this with a Bengali song ‘Rathodi’ in Chandrakauns beautifully rendered. ‘Marukelara’ was fast paced and high on the decibel level to be enjoyed.
The Gujarati song in praise of Rama came in with a ‘Chaithi’ praising the Chaith season. A melodious Kannada creation and a Marathi abhang rounded off Rama’s praise in several languages. The accompanists rendered a neat thani.
