Until a few years ago, there had been talk of the declining stature of the hoary classical instrument, the veena. Now, signs of its revival are aplenty. The recent dynamic and aesthetic veena recital by Bonala Sankara Prakash for Madhuradhwani stood out for the infinite possibilities of this vadhya.
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Hailing from a small village in Visakhapatnam district, Sankara Prakash, whose parents were vainikas, learnt sampradaya sangeetham, with focus on the veena, from his father, Bonala Jagannathan.
In a recent concert, his extensive Kiravani alapana was an ideal mix of weighty gamakas and ravai sangathis. On the violin, B.U. Ganesh Prasad responded with an equally appealing elucidation. Sankara Prakash took up Tyagaraja’s ‘Kaligiyunte’ with a wide-ranging niraval at ‘Baaguga sri ramuni’.
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His laya gnanam, especially in kalpanaswaras, was laudable. In kuraippu and in the concluding korvai, he played a harmonious combination of Khanda and Chatusra nadais.
Enriching thani
The thani by Patri Satish Kumar (mridangam) and V. Suresh (ghatam) was a brilliant rhythmic exercise. Both of them enriched the entire concert with their subtle playing.
Another elaborate and splendid alapana that he rendered was in Ranjani, for the kriti ‘Durmarga chara’, by Tyagaraja. Ganesh Prasad offered an equally melodic response.
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Sankara Prakash began his concert with the popular Begada varnam, ‘Inta chalamu jesithe’ by Veena Kuppaiyer. He played kalpanaswaras at the charanam, ‘Pagavari’. This was followed by Mysore Vasudevachar’s Gowla kriti, ‘Pranamaamyaham’ on Vinayaka.
After a short alapana in Sahana, he rendered the Tyagaraja kriti, ‘Vandanamu’. Sankara Prakash’s Dharmavati exposition brought out the nuances of the raga well. He went on to play Ambujam Krishna’s evergreen kriti, ‘Ododi vandhen kanna’. The string effects that he produced on his veena sometimes resembled the sound of a thunder, while most of the times it was melodious.
Between the major items came three short pieces — ‘Etu nammina o manasa’ in Saveri (Patnam Subramanya Iyer), ‘Raka sasivadana’ in Takka, and ‘Edari sencharintura’ in Sruthi Ranjani (both by Tyagaraja). While playing kritis, Sankara Prakash employed a pleasant madhyamakala with good control over swara and laya. Speed is his strong point and he proves that in capable hands, it could deliver the goods wonderfully well. Bonala Sankara Prakash concluded his two-and-a-half hour concert with Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar’s Surutti javali, ‘Vega nivu vaani’.
The concert is available on Madhuradhwani’s YouTube channel.
The Chennai-based reviewer specialises in Carnatic music.