Hariharan Ravi was confident and impressive in his vocal concert for Brahma Gana Sabha. He has a clear voice with a good range. After beginning with the varnam ‘Sarasuda’ in Saveri, he moved to ‘Bhuvini Dasudane’ in Sriranjani with kalpanaswaras for the pallavi. Ravi needs to watch out while singing swaras in Madhyamakalam as there were frequent slips in sruti. It was evident in other pieces too. The Kalyani essay by both Ravi and the violinist Shiv Ramamurthy was appealing. The chosen song was ‘Biranabrovayithe’ with niraval and swaras for ‘Nipadapankajamu.’
The main piece was Thodi, which was interesting at vilamba kalam. When it gained in speed, though the ideas and sangatis were not bad, singing with hardly any pause made it tiring. Of course, it proved his breath control. This seems to be the malady with most young artistes. It would be good if they realise the value of silence now and then during the concert. Syama Sastri’s ‘Ninnenamminaanu’ was rendered well. The niraval of ‘Kamakshi Kanchadalayadakshi’ could have been better and was followed by swaras. (Please check the pronunciation of ‘Kamakshi.’)
The violin accompaniment by Shiv was quite effective. The understanding support by Akshay Ananthapadmanabhan on the mridangam and the young Samyuktha Srinivasan on the ghatam enhanced the quality of the concert. Instead of playing together all the time they shared the time alternately during Ravi’s renditions, so that the Ghatam could be heard clearly.
