Tyagaraja’s ‘Bhavanuta’ in Mohanam is a kriti with the gait of a varnam and serves as an apt opening song for a music-concert. Singing at the noon-time slot of this Sabha, Vignesh Iswar, a techie-disciple of T.M. Krishna, exploited the song well and sang a rousing spell of swaras, making a dramatic start to his concert. In his brief sketch of Pantuvarali, it was evident that his voice could whizz past the octaves in a trice. It was a voice with a natural felicity for singing brigas. He sang Tyagaraja’s ‘Nine Nera’ in Rupaka tala with niraval at the line, ‘Veda Sastra’ and finished it off with a string of fast swaras. For contrast, he embarked on a relaxed alapana of Devagandhari. Both Vignesh and Shivakumar Anantharaman (violin) presented the raga in a dignified manner. All that Dikshitar’s ‘Kshitija Ramanam’ required was a faithful rendering by the musician. Vignesh complied and the song did the rest. He completed his obligation to the Trinity when he sang Syama Sastri’s ‘Parvati Ninu’ in Kalgada raga.
Vignesh chose Kharaharapriya for elaboration and carefully balanced the need for presenting the melodic contours of the raga with his flair for brigas. His alapana had many impressive moments. When Shivakumar strove for dramatic effects in his essay, the result was mixed, with the added distraction of occasional screeches from his. He presented Tyagaraja’s ‘Pakkala Nilabadi’ in misra chapu and sang niraval at ‘Manasuna,’ with a tricky three-syllable offset from the start of the rhythmic cycle. His niraval was good but he could not reproduce the magic of his guru in the climax phase. Singing swaras in the slow tempo with this offset beat was a task that he accomplished comfortably. He wisely sang the koraippu at the samam itself. Burra Sriram (mridangam) played adroitly and added significantly to the entertainment value of the concert. He played a good thani, raced towards the end and finished with a tirmanam that fused well into the resuming lines of the sahityam. In the last phase of the concert, Vignesh sang Bharatiyar’s ‘Nenjukku Neediyum’ in Sindhubhairavi, often sung by the legendary M.S. Subbulakshmi. While the clarity in sahityam was striking, he sounded a bit hesitant while hitting the high note, finishing ‘Sakti Om.’
In summary, Vignesh is a singer with a pleasing voice and good potential. He is to be watched.
Subhiksha Rangarajan
A heartening feature of the current music season is that there were quite a few artists whose music seems deep-rooted in classical values. Belonging to this cluster was Subhiksha Rangarajan, who opened with a brisk rendition of Tyagaraja’s ‘Tulasi Dalamulache’ in Mayamalavagowla, topped it with niraval and swaras and made a fine impression. A vintage alapana of Kalyani followed, focussing on the contours of the raga. Trivandrum Sampath Kumar matched her alapana in quality. With a firm grip, he played an elegant kalyani, including a stunning glide from ‘dha’ in the middle octave to ‘pa’ in the higher octave. Subhiksha sang ‘Talli Ninnu Nera’ (Syama Sastri, misra chapu). As the kriti progressed, her ‘off-side’ also demanded attention!
The promising, young Sumesh Narayan showed a lot of involvement and imagination. He tempered his accompaniment to suit every line of the kriti and followed her swara-singing with uncanny anticipation. She made a powerful impact as her voice soared into the higher octave for ‘kshitija ramanam’ (Devagandhari, Dikshitar). However, she has to guard against her gamaka-rich laden voice becoming shaky over the years. As Tyagaraja’s ‘Ninnada’ (Kannada) came in for reviving up the tempo, Sumesh showed his versatility, being soft and subdued for the earlier kriti and firing off for the next. Thodi was the main raga for the concert. Subhiksha’s alapana had several telling phrases and brought out the beauty of the raga in its pristine form. Sampath replied with an equally classical version on his violin. She sang ‘Koluva Maragada’ kodandapani” (Tyagaraja, Adi) with all its grand sangatis. This kriti has a particularly striking manner of returning to the pallavi after the anupallavi/charanam. It came through cleanly in her singing. Sumesh contributed to the overall enjoyment by settling down smoothly with her kalapramanam. After slightly ‘racing’ through the charanam, she sang niraval at the line ‘Sri Karunika,’ in three distinct phases. She built up the swaras to a crescendo and finished with a good korvai.
It was teamwork at its best with both the accompanying artists contributing. Realising the limited time available for a thani, in Adi tala, 2 kalai, Sumesh started off with the tisra nadai variation right away and showcased his skills as much as he could, in the small time-frame. window.Overall, it was an excellent team on view with every member demonstrating potential to grow in the field.
