The 49th Annual Cultural Festival of Kalasagaram opened last Saturday at Keyes High School with a concert by Malladi Brothers — Sriram Prasad and Ravikumar. They were also felicitated and conferred with the title of ‘Sangeetha Kalasagara’ by the chief guest V. Viswanathan, chief general manager of State Bank of Hyderabad.
The Brothers opened the concert with Mysore Vasudevacharyar’s composition Lambodhara in Kambhoji, Roopakam and ended it with brief swarakalpana. This was followed by Thyagaraja’s Sripapriya Sangeethopasana in Athana, Adi talam also decorated with brief swaram.
The first raga they dealt with was Mayamalavagoula for the kriti Vidulaku Mrokkeda in Adi talam.
This raga with which the learning of Carnatic music generally commences, became the choice raga for the brothers before the commencement of the kirtana Vidulaku Mrokkeda that talks of Thyagaraja praying to all the Gods and gurus who created and practised this art of music.
And the kirtana rendition was vivid in diction and the textual gist of the kirtana of Thyagaraja was well brought out.
This was followed by simple rendition of Dikshitar’s kriti Arunachala Nadam in Saranga in Rupaka talam.
The main item of the concert was a composition of Annamacharya tuned in raga Kharaharapriya. The raga was presented in great detail with nuances here and there that added to the raga’s aesthetic appeal. Violin support of Embar Kannan was complementary to the vocalists’ effort that was at once neat and melodious. Tani avartanam by Tumkur Ravishankar and Shyam Kumar was adequate.
In the later part of the concert the Brothers chose to present Gopala Krishna Bharathi’s Varuvayo Varam Tharuvayo in Sama.
They concluded the concert with a Tarangam Paramapurusha in Behag, Prathi varam varam of Sadhashiva Brahmendra and a composition in Ahiri.
Ramakrishna Murthy’s vocal
Young vocalist Ramakrishna Murthy sang on the third of the Kalasagaram fest. He was accompanied by S. Varadarajan on violin, Manoj Siva on mridangam and V. Anirudh Athreya on kanjira.
Ramakrishnan is known for his quick rise from being a computer science graduate from University of California to the field of Carnatic music. He is specially known for his presentation of gamaka structures with aesthetics intact.
In this concert, his manodharma was of high order. He began with Bhairavi varnam Viriboni in Ata talam of Pachimiriyam Adiyappa Iyer. The tone and spirit he set for this number continued in rest of the numbers he sang. This was followed by Srirama Ramani Manohara in Mohana of Pallavi Gopala Iyer. He then followed it with Sangeetha Gnanamu in Dhanyasi of Thyagaraja that asserts the fact that sans Bhakti there is no sense in just having knowledge in music. Ramakrishnan presented this number with that spirit of devotion.
Later Ramakrishnan presented Ramanatham Bhajeham of Dikshitar in Panthuvarali, Tisra Eka talam and followed it with Swati Tirunal’s lovely kriti Bhogindra Sainam in Kuntalavarali, Khanadachapu talam. He then went for the main number of the concert Palinchu Kamakshi of Syama Sastry in Madhyamavathi. The Tani avartanam presented by Manoj Siva and V.A. Atreya was a treat by itself. Violinist Varadarajan was at his best in not just accompanying the vocalist like a shadow, but also to reveal his own manodharma in his responses.
Ramakrishnan then rendered Gaanaamruta paanam of Koteeswara Iyer in Jyothi Swaroopini in Misrachapu talam and followed it with Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi in Mayamalavagowla, with the pallavi line as Mayateeta Swaroopini presented in ragamalika comprising of Sahana and Sankarabharanam that dominated.
In the latter part of the concert Ramakrishna presented Balamurali’s Mahaniya Madhura Murthe in Mahati. The other numbers that followed were Eppo Varuvaro in Jhonpuri of Gopalakrishna Bharati, tillana in Poornachandrika of Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar. He concluded his concert with Tiruppughazh in Devagandhari of Arunagiri Nathar.
