R. Raghavendra’s rapturous recital for Charsur Foundation on Wednesday was only helped by some unusual and intelligent choice of compositions. Singing just a single kriti of Tyagaraja and most of the others being in Tamil, it was as though the youngster was telling his audience that he could do better than merely play to the gallery. Judging from the ecstatic response his performance elicited, he must have gone home feeling quite vindicated.
Raghavendra began with a Saranganayanaro a varnam in Saranga composed by Vadivelu, who is one of the illustrious Tanjore quartet; contemporaries of the Trinity from Tiruvaroor (Tyagaraja, Muttuswami Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri were all born there).
Soon after a short essay of Natabhairavi followed Papanasam Sivan’s ‘ Shri vallidevasenapate ,’ and he never looked back. A fabulous neraval on ‘ Mamavasada shivakumara ’ was a fine finish to the piece.
Then there was more of the unfamiliar. First, ‘ Sakhiye ivanaro ariyen ’, a Tamil padam written by Kavikunjara Bharati in Kambhoji. Next, in Mayamalavagowla was the song ‘ Manam irangada ,’ by Swarna Venkatesha Dikshitar. Its brisk singing was met with an equally vibrant neraval on ‘ padi panindu bhaktar inda paarile uyarndar ’. The Athana ragam next was quite something else, in comparison to what has been on offer of late this season. Tyagaraja’s ‘ Anupama gunambudhi ’ was perhaps enough to tell pundits and purists that he was not wanting in any department.
Swati Tirunal’s piece in Kalyani, ‘ Adrisutavara kalyana ’, was exquisitely decorated with imaginative improvisation. V.V.S. Murari, the violinist, who played impressive spells early on, was masterful during the individual essays. The percussion solo between Neyveli R. Narayanan on the mridangam and Bangalore B. Rajasekhar on the morsing was quite superb. Rajasekhar amused listeners with the distinctive strains emanating from his instrument.
The tillana in Hamsanandi by Raghavendra’s father, mridangam maestro Srimushnam Rajarao, concluded the recital.
