Well-formed patharam was the dominant aspect of the concert of C V Perisastri, a singer of mettle with a deep, sonorous voice at Vijayawada.
The twelve-hour event began with kanada varnam followed by Dikshitar’s Ekadantam bhaje in Bilahari, Atugarada a rare kIrtana in Manoranjani raga and Pavanajatmaja in Nata. Nata raga was finely elaborated and the kalpana swaras in it were also imaginative. Another highly impressive piece was Marajanani in Natakapriya, a composition of late Sriman N Ch Krishnamacharyulu, a guru of Perisastri, reputed violinist as well as a great literary scholar. Patnam Subramanya Iyer’s Nannu Brova in raga Saraswati was also treated with a rich bhava approach. As the climax of the concert, Sastri executed a simple but neat ragam tanam pallavi complete with technical finesse and musical depth. The lyric of the pallavi was ‘ Uma pathe-Gowri pathe-Kailasa pathe-Namosthu bhutapathe’ in Khandajati, Triputa talam. The pallavi in Sriranjani was flawlessly executed in six speeds. After a resounding thani on the mridangam by N S Kalyanaraman, Sastri closed the concert with a jawali in Surati and devotional song of Prayaga Rangadas in Sindu bhairavi. M Neeladri Rao of Vijayanagaram gave excellent violin support to Sastri. His Sriranjani version preceding the pallavi was particularly excellent.
