T.V. Sankaranarayanan’s huge number of admirers in Kochi were not disappointed with his inspiring music concert, which was a paean to composer Tyagaraja.
His presentation of ‘Sree raghukula’ in Hamsadhwani raga was enriched with a stimulating swaraprasthara. This was followed by ‘Ramabhirama’ in Darbar and ‘Jnanamusagarada’ in Purvikalyani. The exposition of the latter saw some long, stretched out sancharas that were aesthetically combined with ample variations. The singing of swaras impressed with spontaneity. The Charukesi alaapana, the vocalist presented, had a rich emotive output and he traversed the phrases with ease, the modulations heightening the impact before Sankaranarayanan tagged it on to ‘gamapaamaga rigasariga’, the signature usage of his mentor Madurai Mani Iyer.
Idappally Ajith on the violin came out well in his version of Charukesi, which was followed by the kriti ‘Adamodigalade’. The vocalist presented numerous variations for the line ‘Toduvidaneeve’ and launched into a volley of kalpanaswaras.
The vocalist’s son and disciple, Mahadevan, seems to have found the niraval and swaras a bit trying and TVS was seen giving subtle indications. Sankaranarayanan’s ‘Bantureeti kolu’ was supported well by Mahadevan, who, with his robust voice, added a lot of presence to the concert. The vocalist did everything to retain the pep of the concert by going for fast songs that had a lot of exciting variations, and one such was ‘Anupamagunambudhi’ in Atana raga.
TVS let Mahadevan project his potential in the main raga of the evening, Kharaharapriya. Needless to say, the youngster impressed with high voltage briga-packed singing of the raga with ingenious improvisations. The duo took off with the anupallavi ‘Kamini veshadhariki’ before launching into ‘Ramaneeyada’, a Tyagaraja composition.
Sankaranarayanan has a unique ascending pattern of presenting kalpanaswaras. Though predictable, he brought out these appealing patterns. Ajit replicated it all on the violin and he was amply appreciated by the vocalist.
The tani was dominated by Balakrishna Kamath on the mridangam, who was supported by Tripunithura Gopalakrishnan on the ghatam. In the end came the vocalist’s string of regular numbers that has a freshness every time – a virutham in Hamsanandi followed by ‘Sreenivasa tiruvenkata’, ‘Eppo varuvaro’ in Jonpuri and the western note ‘gamama rigapa’. The programme was organised by Rasikapriya.
