A musician taking the stage to the ‘accompaniment’ of a laptop and a thick book does not make for a great sight on the Carnatic music stage to a conservative Mylaporean. This disciple of Sudha Ragunathan appears to have a voice similar to that of another eminent disciple of MLV. Once Deepika Varadarajan settled down at Kapali Fine Arts on Wednesday, she banished all these stray thoughts from the listener and compelled attention to her music.
The opening varnam (‘ Vanajakshi ’, Kalyani, Adi talam ), sung in two speeds and the closing ‘ Enna tavam seidanai ’ were about the only oft-heard songs in this concert with an unusual list. She heralded ‘ Vaikuntha dwadashi ’ with a famous Azhwar pashuram (‘ Pallandu pallandu ’) in Nattai, sang well, embellished with swara -s. Deepika portrayed Sahana well; the image of the raga stayed intact, there were evocative phrases but the progression was a bit jumpy at a few places. Sudharshan’s reply on the violin was equally good except for a vague-sounding ri Ga ri sa phrase. Purandara Dasa’s ‘ Venkatesha dayamado ’ was refreshing to hear. She proceeded to render a Tamil song in ‘ Chandrajyoti ’ and Tyagaraja’s ‘ Choota murare ’ in Arabhi, which came as a whiff of fresh air.
Hemavati was the main raga for the evening. The identity of the raga was never in doubt and the flow was good. She sang the faster passages very comfortably but repeated a few phrases in the slow elaboration. Again, Sudharshan played a good alapana , too. Deepika sang tanam to the accompaniment of the mridangam. The pallavi was set to Khanda jati triputa tala . Despite a densely-packed lyric, she managed to sing neraval , an improvisation that should, ideally, have found a place in one of the kriti -s, at least. After the conventional execution of the pallavi in three speeds and a couple of rounds of vilamba kala swara -s, she accelerated the tala to half its original speed ( oru kalai ) and eventually to the fast-paced rupaka tala ; three cycles of this made up for one cycle of the 9-beat tala , ostensibly, to make the taniavartanam comfortable for Srivanchiyam Sriram, who gave competent support.
Deepika has a sweet voice aligned to the shruti and has good ideas. She made a clean break from the formula-ridden concert-list. Her alapana -s can have less of the ‘ tadarinana ’ and more of akara passages; a little more tautness in the progression of her alapana -s will help. Sudharshan’s admirable bowing and finger-movement were unhindered by the high shruti ; just a few rough edges need attention.
(Prof. TT Narendran is a professor in the Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras; a vainika and a connoisseur of music.)
