N.J. Nandini’s concert for Charsur’s 72 Melakarta/ Raagaanga Raagams Festival was designed to keep a brisk momentum throughout. She opened her recital with ‘Nikela Nayeda’ in Devamanohari (Poochi Iyengar) with several passages of appealing swaras. She gave a noteworthy sketch of 67th mela raga Sucharitra and offered Koteeswara Iyer’s ‘Velum Mayilume’.
Essaying such vivadi ragas has its own limitations; the dissonant notes can throw a challenge to the performer. The present generation of singers are quite self-assured in handling them with ease and take care not to slip into the wrong swara slots.
The other two mela ragas she opted for were Shadvithamargini through Thyagaraja’s ‘Pahi Rama Dootha’ and the main Harikhambodi through ‘Enduku Nirdaya’ (Thyagaraja).
Janaranjani was detailed and Nandini sang ‘Pahimam Sri Rajarajeswari’ by Ramaswami Sivan with its interesting chittaiswaram. Here and later, during the swarakalpana, Nandini changed the nadai to add pep. Her swaras were centred on ‘Kripakari Sankari’. The fast rolling ‘Parama Purusham’ (Swati Thirunal) in Lalithapanchamam and the niraval on ‘Muralinada Lalithapanchamam’ was dynamic.
Nandini explored Harikhambodi with competence. However, all her phrases focussed more on speed. There were hardly any pauses or significant anchoring on karvais; The kriti, ‘Enduku Nirdaya,’ had a niraval outing on ‘Parama Pavana’ but the swaras were attached to the pallavi.
With some expertise, Nandini can use her vocal strength to make her music more effective.
L. Ramakrishnan on the violin played with sincerity and skill. His Harikhambodi version carried a few tender points. The concert enjoyed the spirited support of B. Ganapathyraman (mridangam) and H. Prasanna (ghatam).
