I. Swetha Prasad is a popular name among Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dance circles; she has been the prime choice among women vocalists for their dance numbers, for she is not only well versed in Carnatic music but also gives vocal recitals for sabhas. The concert Swetha gave last week for Sampradaya sabha in Neredmet, Hyderabad bore all these qualities. Not many know that she is the grandchild of yesteryear cinema’s character artiste Nagabhushanam . She was accompanied by her husband I.V.Renuka Prasad on mridangam, Kolanka Saikumar on violin and V.Sreedharacharya on ghatam.
Swetha opened her concert with Sri Mahaganapathe in Nata, Aditalam, a composition of Mayuram Viswanatha Sastry that she presented with devotional appeal. She is blessed with a mellifluous voice with great vocal range. The rendition of kirtana displayed her mature vocal quality and sahitya expression and the swarakalpana she presented at the end, though brief, carried the melodic temper. This was followed by a composition of Purandaradasa Narayana Ninna Naamada in Suddha Dhanyasi, set in Khandachapu talam. It was a simple kirtana rendition. Saraswathi Namosthute in Saraswathi, Roopaka talam, a composition of GNB that figured next too was enjoyable. She then went for Alamelumanga Nee Abhinavaroopamu in Kalyani of Annamacharya and rendered it perfectly with sahitya import.
The first number Swetha treated as her sub-main presentation was Eti Janmamidi in Varali. The raga essay was neat and brought out the mood of Thyagaraja. There was neraval presentation too accentuating this mood.
The swarakalpana she presented was quite pleasing, decked with technical beauties.
Sweta then chose to present Thyagaraja Maravairyramani in Nasikabhushani set in Tisra Adi talam as a step to climb for the main number of her concert Nadachi Nadachi of Thyagaraja in Kharaharapriya, Aditalam that lasted for more than three quarters of an hour. The delineation of the raga Kharaharapriya was quite expansive building it step by step in text book approach with nuances here and there and reaching higher octave where she rendered it with pleasing moves. Kirtana rendition was again has its own beauty with sahitya bhava and continued in the neraval part and an expansive swarakalpana. This was followed by Tani Avarthanam by percussionists who too excelled in the avruttas of different frames and the muktayies too ended with thrilling finish. The violin support by noted violinist Saikumar was remarkable. Later Meenakshi Pancharatnam of Adi Shankaracharya and a Tillana in Behag of Lalgudi Jayaraman concluded the concert.
