A three-day music fete, Swara raga Sudha – 2014, in Thrissur featured a couple of veterans who were in Thrissur after many decades. Trichy Sankaran, mridangam maestro of repute, accompanied a violin duet by the Lalgudi siblings, G.J.R. Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi, on the first day. This was the only concert that was presented in the traditional format, beginning with a varnam and concluding in a thillana. Incidentally, both were compositions of their late father.
A varnam in Mohanakalyani was elegant. Vijayalakshmi’s singing of the swaras of Malavasree was an added attraction to the Tyagaraja composition, ‘Evarunnaru brova’. Another kriti of Tyagaraja, ‘Nadasudha rasam pilan’ in Roopakam, was followed by the Dikshitar composition in Vasantha and Khanda eka talam, ‘Hariharaputhram’. Viji’s (Vijayalakshmi) essaying of the raga was an exploration of the nuances of the raga.
Soothing delineation of ‘Raghuveera ranadheera’, Tyagaraja’s Huseni composition, by GJR (Krishnan) was short and crisp. Soon, Todi was taken up by GJR for an exhaustive treatment. The Tyagaraja Lalgudi Pancharatnam, ‘Gati Neevani’ was proof enough of the gayaki style of rendition.
Sankaran followed the violinists with resonant beats, thereby enhancing the melodic beauty of the compositions. In a thani tagged to Todi, he demonstrated his virtuosity over the patterns. Tripunithura Radhakrishnan took on the challenge and rose to the occasion. The RTP in Dharmavathi, Chaturasra jathi jhampa and Khanta gati was delectable but could have been avoided taking into consideration the long duration of the concert. Sahana, Varali,Tilang and Durga were featured in the pallavi. The denouement was noteworthy for the rhythmic flourish.
‘Devanu ke pathi Indra’ (Swati, Darbari Kannada), and ‘Chinnam cherukiliye’ (Subramania Bharathiyar, Kapi, Pahadi, Vasanatha, Jog) were followed by a varnam in Hamsanandi.
An astute sense of sruti alignment and the rich timbre of his voice were the hallmark of K.N. Ranganatha Sarma’s concert on the second day. He opened with the Hamirkalyani varnam of TRS, ‘Senthil vazh Muruga’ followed by Dikshitar’s ‘Gajananaya namasthe’ in Roopakam. Karnaranjini and Mandari ragas, though not very familiar, proved his musical prowess. The compositions were Muthiah Bhagavathar's ‘Vanchathonu’ and Patnam Subramania Iyer's ‘Ninnu Jeppa’. An elaboration of Sahana was vivid. But it was so lengthy that the audience took it for the main raga.
‘Chitham irangadenaiya’, a composition of Papanasam Sivan, was in Misra chap. The main raga Todi was taken up on an elaborate scale. Syama Sastri’s ‘Karuna nidhi’ in Adi (Tisra nada) entailed a blitzkrieg of swaras.
Accompaniment by M.A. Sundaresan (violin), Kovai Prakash (mridangam) and Kovai Suresh (ghatam) was in the right proportion.
Alapana for the post-main compositions in Kamas and Madhukauns (a combination of Madhuvanti and Malkauns) appeared redundant, especially when the concert had crossed two hours and a half.
G. Ravikiran proved his mastery of the intrinsic techniques of playing the chitravina. Production of swaras in abundance by sliding for a single plucking was marvellous. An enchanting Nattakurinji varnam after, ‘Janaki Ramana’, Tyagaraja’s composition in Suddha Seemanthini, in Adi followed. Dwijavanthi found expression in ‘Chetasree Balakrishnam’, the Dikshitar kriti in Roopakam. ‘Bhogeedra sayanam’ in Kuntalavarali, Jhampa, was followed by the main raga – Bhairavi.
Ravikiran, however, had to race through the elaboration as alapana of some of the previous ones had consumed much time. Tyagaraja’s ‘Koluvai unnade’ in Adi was the composition.
Padma Shankar supported Kiran faithfully on the violin. Thani by Nanjil Arul (mridangam) and Vaikom Gopalakrishnan (ghatam) was a treat. ‘Kintu cheyvu njaan’ (Swati, Kalyani) and ‘Govardhana giridhara’ (Narayana Theerthar, Darbari Kannada) were the concluding numbers.
The festival was part of the 55th year celebrations of Sree Thyagabrahma Sabha.
