S. Mahathi, who is endowed with a powerful voice, presented a Vasanta this past Sunday which suggested that she is ready to step into the big league.
The open-throated singing adopted by Mahathi has to be appreciated given that she also is a playback singer for films where the parameters differ.
Melakaveri Thiagarajan (violin), a karma yogi, has been playing for a long time now without any bother of his slotting and sticks to his job and lets his violin do the talking. The veteran presented a refined Vasanta.
Hariharaputram (Dikshitar) saw Mahathi indulge in mathematics towards the end of her swaraprasthara which does not augur well. It is best left to the percussionists. A fast paced Ambujam Krishna’s Telugu kriti Mari emi kavalanu (Kannada- Adi) was the breather before the main Kalyani.
A slow and confident approach marked the raga’s beginning. Enough silent pauses created the space for the rasika to slip into meditation. The power went off for about 30 seconds yet Mahathi continued. The mikeless rendering in that morning silence was absolutely soothing. The damage that amplification inflicts on our music was evident once again.
Mahathi continued with her elaboration, undeterred, with tremendous energy. But then came a demon in the form of sruti bedham, where she drifted away from Kalyani briefly. An unwarranted foray that threw the discerning rasika out of gear and the Kalyani she had developed beautifully took a beating.
Melakaveri Thiagarajan proved his mettle with an ideal reply sans gimmicks. Etavunara (Tyagaraja) lead to the tani where M.S. Varadan (mridangam) and S. Krishna (ghatam) combined well to present a veritable treat.
