Every stroke that this maestro played with his mridangam and the resultant sound that his figures produced had a telling effect in the auditorium. Trichy Sankaran, belonging to the renowned Pudhukottai tradition, was accompanying noted Carnatic vocalist Saketharaman in a recent concert at Andhra Bhavan in the Capital. The concert was organised by Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha on the second day of the Tyagaraja Music and Dance Festival, in association with Team Telugu Bhavan. Saketharaman structured his concert intelligently. He also kept in view the theme of the festival and sang brilliantly.
After starting his concert with the Saveri raga adi tala varnam in two speeds, he sang Tyagaraja’s compositions one after another in quick succession. While presenting ‘Marubalka’ in raga Sriranjani, he introduced neraval of a phrase, bringing to fore his creative depths at an early stage of the concert. Saketharaman then took up “Kamalaptakula” in raga Brindavana Saranga and “Munnu ravana” in Todi (and set to misra jati jampa tala) for detailed renditions. While the raga alapana of Brindavana Saranga was scintillating, the Todi alapana was detailed and excellent in which he brought out the features of the raga in an unhurried manner. He also did justice while presenting the neraval of the phrase “Rajaraja viraja vaha ravikula jaladhi” (a phrase from the later composition) and while singing kalpanaswaras for both the compositions. The rich creativity that flowed was another noteworthy feature here. Taking up the Todi raga for a detailed alapana at that stage indicated that Saketharaman is making enough space for a raga-tanam-pallavi session. As expected, the vocalist did include the raga-tanam-pallavi and executed the Pallavi “Tyagarajam upasmahe ramabaktham bhajamahe manasa bhajana” composed in Behag and set to Kanda jati Atta tala in tisra gati in a delightful manner. While the raga alapana earlier and the ragamallika kalpanaswaras towards the end brought out his creative skills, one felt he could have avoided the cluttered manner in which he introduced the ragamallika tanams.
