The annual fest of Shanmukhapriya ‘Madhuradhwani’ provides stage for up and coming as well as established artistes . This year’s festival that took place between February 27 and March 5 featured a series of concerts.
Lavanya Vaidhyanathan’s supple voice and clear enunciation marked her vocal recital. However, a little more azhutham in her rendition would have enhanced the appeal. She began with ‘Sami ninne’ in Pantuvarali. She took up Kannada for elaboration initially and Mukhari as the main later. More than her Kannada, Lavanya’s Mukhari treatise carried many soulful sancharas with her focus on the tranquil tenor of the raga.
In Kannada, Lavanya chose ‘Kalayami hrdi’ by Swati Tirunal and for Mukhari it was Tyagaraja’s ‘Muripemu galigegada’. She rendered a niraval followed by swaras on ‘Ituleni malaya marutamuche.’ These were quite pleasing as there were no compromises on the bhava aspect.
Violinist S.P. Ananthapadmanabha’s repartees were excellent . His raga essays and swaras carried musical wisdom.
Lavanya included ‘Manasa vruta’ (Patnam Subramania Iyer) in Abhogi with a vibrant set of swaras , ‘Sudhamayee’ (Muthaiah Bhagavatar) in Amritavarshini and ‘Ramanamame’ (Thanjavur Sankara Iyer) in Desh, indeed a good bouquet of kritis of various composers.
It is good that Lavanya pays attention to expression in swarakalpana, it will help improve her musical output.
B. Ganapathyraman’s rhythm exercise on the mridangam was pleasant. He played a brief tani avartanam keeping in mind the time factor.
Chennai, 04/03/2019 : Lavanya Vaidhyanathan rendering carnatic vocal at Swamy's hall in Chennai on Saturday. Photo : S. R. raghunathan
Sumitra Nitin’s impressive voice, clear diction and competence in different musical aspects showed in the quality of her concert. The concert began with a Ganesha slokam in Nattai followed by ‘Sivathraya Mahaganapatim’ (Chidambaram Swarna Venkatesa Deekshitar). The expansive swaraprastara made for an energetic start. Sumitra slowed down with a soothing Anandabhairavi and the kriti chosen was Syama Sastri’s ‘Himachalatanaya.’
Sumitra opened with the alapana of Bilahari that had bhava-laden phrases conveying the myriad melodic shades of the raga. Tyagaraja’s ‘Intakkann anandam’ and the niraval on ‘Ni japamulu vela’ were followed up with swaras landing on rishabam, panchamam, daivatam and shadjam alternatively leading to a well-conceived finale.
With the preface of the verse ‘Kunittha puruvamum,’ Sumitra sang ‘Jnana sabhayil’ by Papanasam Sivan. A leisurely, but effectively, developed Thodi was the raga of the evening. Sumitra deserves appreciation for her choice of Tyagaraja’s ‘Dachukovalena’ in jhampa tala. Here too, Sumitra offered a niraval on ‘Sowmitri Tyagarajuni’ and the swara sallies with violinist Usha Rajagopalan were significant.
Usha stood by the vocalist’s perception and presentation of the raga, kriti, niraval and swaras. Same qualities were reflected on the mridangam by J. Balaji during his percussion and tani.
Patnam Subramania Iyer’s Javali ‘Appudu manasu’ in Khamas, Ambujam Krishna’s ‘Ganamazhai pozhigindran’ in Ragamalika (Behag, Bowli and Manirangu) and GNB’s tillana in Hamasanandi were the tail-enders.
