Often, the choice of the point taken for niraval and swaras makes a big difference to a concert. A wrong choice could mar an otherwise great effort. This was exactly what happened at Nisha Rajagopal’s concert for Narada Gana Sabha . If you take up Dikshitar’s Subhapantuvarali piece, ‘Sri Satyanarayanam’, there is no better point to do niraval or append notes than the pallavi line. Nisha chose ‘matsya kurma varahaadi’, presumably aiming to be different, but the experiment did not quite work. It was, therefore, not surprising that the audience, which had cheered her lovely alapana, maintained a dignified silence when she ended the swaras.
The Subhapantuvarali piece was followed by a Bhairavi alapana and she took up a rare Thyagaraja piece, ‘Yenadi Nomu’. The Bhairavi, with niraval and swaras at ‘sundaresa aravinda nayana’, was good though not remarkable, just as was the case with the Ritigowlai she sang earlier (Swati Thirunal’s ‘Paripalayamam’). Violinist Charumathi Raghuraman played superbly.
Perhaps it was not her best day, for Nisha is capable of singing — and has sung — better. Indeed, just a few days earlier, she came up with a thoroughly enjoyable Vachaspati, Nattakurinju and Keeravani at Indian Fine Arts Society . Delivered in her sonorous voice, they made for pleasant listening. Periyasamy Thooran’s ‘Punniyam Oru Kodi’ perked up the concert further, the niraval and swaras providing a treat.
