Kedaram had organised a few concerts at Ragasudha Hall, Luz, Mylapore, in connection with its sixth anniversary.
Sowkhyam reigned throughout, as Abisekh Ravishankar presented kritis with succinct alapanas and interesting swaraprastaras. He began with the rare Telugu kriti by Muthuswami Dikshitar, ‘Nee saati daivamendhu ledani’ in Sriranjani. (supposedly composed by Dikshitar for the arangetram of his disciple Tiruvarur Kamalam).
Abisekh followed it up with Patnam Subramania Iyer’s ‘Samayamide nannu brova’ in Kedaram on Parthasarathy, in which the composer mentions three important deities of the temple – Parthasarathy, Gajendra Varada and Ranganatha (Kamalanabha).
‘Etavuna Nerchithivo’ in Yadukula Kamboji by Tyagaraja was another rare gem. After a fitting delineation of Karaharapriya, he presented another majestic kriti by Tyagaraja, ‘Nadachi nadachi’. The saint never misses an opportunity to take a dig at hypocrites. Here, he insists that the divine is to be experienced within and not in outward things. The impressive swara session was followed by an energetic tani avartanam.
‘Mavalla gadamma’ in Maund by Chittoor Subramania Pillai was a pleasant rendition. Marimutha Pillai’s ‘Innamum oru talam irukkumendru oru kalae’ in Behag following the virutham, ‘Uppum karpooramum’ was full of lyrical beauty and intense devotion.
Abisekh, who concluded his concert with a Thiruppugazh, would have done his guru A.S. Murali, proud.
Madan Mohan gave excellent support on the violin. Guru Raghavendra on the mridangam and Sai Subramaniam on the morsing enhanced the appeal of the concert.
Bhava-rich rendition
Thoppur Sairam performing at Kedaram’s sixth anniversary, 2022. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Thoppur Sairam’s brilliant vocal concert showcased the depth of his gnanam and sincerity. With effortless ease, he wove a magical world with lovely raga delineations, niravals laden with raga bhava and scintillating swaraprastaras.
He began with Patnam Subramania Iyer’s Abhogi varnam, ‘Evaribodhana’ and followed it up with Muthuswami Dikshitar’s ‘Vallabha nayakasya’ in Begada. ‘Chidambara natarajam, aashrayaeham’ in Kedaram, another kriti by Dikshitar was presented with a few crisp swaraprastaras.
Ragas Pantuvarali and Mohanam were chosen for elaboration, and Sairam as well as M.R. Gopinath (on the violin) vied with each other in bringing out the swaroopa of the ragas. The niraval for ‘Sharanagatha janarakshaka’ for the Pantuvarali kriti and the swara session were enjoyable.
Sairam’s rendering of ‘Kapali’, the magnificent kriti by Papanasam Sivan, brought the beauty of the lyrics to the fore. The kriti as such is a word portrait of Lord Shiva, beginning with his matted locks, carrying the crescent moon, the Ganges, the serpent, the flowers like kondrai and thumbai and the garland with the head of Brahma, the garb of the hides of the elephant and the tiger, his hands carrying the udukkai, trident and the deer and his whole resplendent body dazzling with the holy ash.
The thani that followed the spirited swara session with Arjun Ganesh on the mridangam and Trichy Murali on the ghatam was absorbing. Gopinath’s melodious violin followed the vocalist like a shadow, and brought out his mettle during the raga essays and swara repartees.
There were quite a few enjoyable kritis such as ‘Yaedhayya gathi’ in Chala Nattai; ‘Ora joopu’ in Kannada Gowla; ‘Vaananai madhi soodiya maindhanai’ in Kiravani; ‘Thillai thillai endraal piravi illai’ in Kapi; and ‘Noolaippadi’ in Behag by Bharathidasan. Sairam’s concluding Sai bhajan, ‘Shankara Shiva Shankara’ was perfect for an evening of Shiva dhyanam, it being a Pradosham day.
The Mangaluru-based reviewer writes on classical music.
