Vasudha Ravi ushered in the second half of her concert for Naadhabrahmam with an alapana that sounded casual owing to its start on a high register. Soon, the rush of brigas abated, and the vocals landed on a carpet of velvety glides. The entailing calmness initiated a sonorous exploration of Gamakakriya, tacitly announcing her choice of the main raga at Naadhabrahmam. Some of the passages, however brief, bore a definite Hindustani flair — Vasudha is anyway adept in abhangs and bhajans. The raga’s swaroopam came out well in the 11-minute exercise, the spirit of which violinist Usha Rajagopalan retained in her solo reply. Her bows were particularly sweet along the baselines, where Vasudha, earlier, was a bit inaudible.
The kriti ‘Ekamranatham bhajeham’ brought to the fore Arjun Ganesh’s suitability as the mridangam accompanist. He chipped in smartly to the fast-paced lyrics towards the end of the charanams, typical of Muthuswami Dikshitar, even as the vocalist reiterated her adherence to the style of M.L. Vasanthakumari. Vasudha’s akaras possess a clinging quality, adorned with oscillations. This is a hallmark of MLV, whose direct disciple Gowri Kuppuswamy taught Manjula Sriram — the young singer’s guru.
The niraval (around ‘Omkara roopam sivam’) progressed classically from an unhurried threshold, while the subsequent swaraprastara too carried notes with a surplus force, typical of MLV (1928-90). Commendable were Vasudha’s sudden ‘ma’ forays upward, with the honeyed voice intact. The adi tala tani avartanam took a proportionate share of time, icing the core package that spanned 52 minutes in the two-hour presentation.
Hindolam was the sub-main suite, with ‘Samaganalolane’ as the kriti (by G.N. Balasubramaniam, MLV’s mentor). The alapana resorted to restrained delivery of upper portions that have an emotional appeal in the pentatonic melody. Usha, in her turn, took cue from the vocalist’s pace. Both musicians emphasised on clarity in the gamakas even amid the brisk swara rendition.
A contrasting Bilahari followed next. Tyagaraja’s ‘Narasimha nannu brova’ had all its rollercoaster rides profiled well, seldom circus-like. That smartly juxtaposed with the subsequent Ahiri raga, the zigzag contours of which revelled in graceful slowness. Vasudha made good use of those undulations across ‘Mayamma’ (Syama Sastri) to display her grip over laya. She lent it a trace of dramatics by beginning with the anupallavi, ‘Nyayama meenakshamma’.
The filler ahead of the main was ‘Thillai chidambarame’ by Marimutha Pillai (Kapi Narayani) that usually gets slotted as a tukkada. The post tani avartanam section was confined to just a Vakulabharanam number (‘Thedi thavikkuthadi’) with its one note distinctly recalling the devotional raga’s parental hold over Vasanthabhairavi.
To wind back, the concert took off with a four-speed varnam in Sri raga. Karur Devudu Iyer’s ‘Sami ninne kori’ set a pleasing tone, accentuated by the vocalist’s smiling face. The second item, ahead of the sub-main Hindolam, was Muthu Thandavar’s ‘Adikondar antha’ (Mayamalavagowla). Its swara sequences steadied the peppiness of the eight-song kutcheri.
