Young Sushma Somasekaran has a voice that has an inherent volume which augurs well for her classical pursuits.
Choosing to sing in an open-throated manner too is indeed a good technique for her. However the same cannot sustain her for long if she has to engage the rasikas and take them along with her in the long run. Sushma has to arrive at a judicious mixture of mellifluous and powerful notes to add variety to her presentations.
Sushma’s perfect diction is yet another asset which was evident in her ‘Panchashat Peeta Roopini’ (Dikshitar).
Devagandharam raga that preceded was replete with brigas, which are real thrillers but in due course they affect the singer’s voice. Sushma should once again ponder and make discreet use of brigas.
K.J. Dileep has greatly progressed as a good accompanist over the years. His essays on the violin that day were of a high calibre.
Sushma gave a sedate start to her alapana of Malayamarutham and went on to build a beauty. Liberal swaras marked the finish of ‘Dhanyudevvado’ (Patnam Subramania Iyer). Aandavan Pichai’s composition in Sanskrit, ‘Hey Kamakshi’ was touching. Sushma’s Kalyani offered several moments to cherish with Dileep at his best. ‘Ethavunara’ (Tyagaraja) was faithfully rendered with niraval and swaras.
Thanjavur Pravin Kumar (mridangam), grand son of Thanjavur Upendran, and Nanganallur S. Swaminathan (ghatam) provided excellent support throughout and presented an imaginative thani.
