By working on the aesthetics in ways that suits his soft voice, Girijashankar Sundaresan presented a concert, which brought to the fore his calm demeanour and flair for choosing the right songs. Both these traits are assets for a musician.
His afternoon performance at the Music Academy stayed true to the mentoring by his gurus - Chitravina Narasimhan and Chitravina N Ravikiran.
He anchored the day’s concert on patantaram, his singing style and adherence to the pitch. It’s nice to see youngsters like Girijashankar striving to make a mark, but one wishes he adds more to his music.
The pièce de résistance of the recital, ‘Bhajare re chitta’ (Kalyani), the Muthuswamy Dikshitar composition, stood out for sowkya bhava. The singer began with Kalyani raga alapana, supported ably by violinist Vaibhav Ramani, who pitched in with a well-sketched essay. Carrying the mood forward, the vocalist unfolded niraval in the charanam section of this popular kriti in praise of Balambika. The niraval flowed in studied fashion at ‘Devim sakti bhijodbhava matrukarna sharirinim’. This section ended on a kalpanaswara-korvai suite.
Mridangist Mysore L.Vadiraj proved his credentials during the good tani avarthanam that followed after the main Kalyani composition.
Girijashankar began the concert with the nava-ragamalika varnam ‘Valaci vachchi’ by Patnam Subramania Iyer in one speed moving to a slightly faster tempo in the charanam.
Following this came a sublime rendition og ‘Pahi sri girirajasute karunakalite’, a Syama Sastri composition (Anandabhairavi). A good kriti choice; its excellent lyrics enhanced the appeal.
A raga alapana of Chakravakam preceded the singing of the Ambujam Krishna composition, ‘Ranganai thudi seydiduvom’. Girijashankar rounded it off with a speedy swaraprasthara. He also sang the Tyagaraja kriti ‘Ora jupu ju chedi nyayama’ in poignant Kannadagaula raga. The concert ended with the Hamsanandi raga composition, ‘Srinivasa thiru Venkatamudaiyan’ and a tillana.
