Listening to young Jayakrishnan Unni for the first time, the impression this writer got was of a motivated musician. He elaborated Sankarabharanam with confidence and in a relaxed manner. His effortless foray into higher octave indicated dedicated sadhakam .
He took up Dikshitar’s ‘Sri Dakshinamurthe’ in Misra Jhampa, popularised by Semmangudi. The niraval was at ‘Rakshamam Sanakadi.’ The swaraprastaras in Misra Jhampa (2 kalai) flowed smoothly.
On the violin, R. Rahul proved an asset. . He impressed with his raga delineation. K.H. Vineeth (mridangam) and H. Sivaramakrishnan offered a brilliant thani . Vineeth’s contribution was substantial.
Opening with the Sri raga varnam, along with fast-paced kalpanaswaras, Jayakrishnan rendered ‘Giriraja sutha thanaya (Tyagaraja) in Bangala, again with kalpanaswaras. A soulful alapana in Purvikalyani followed. Another Semmangudi special, ‘Devadeva Jagadeeswara’ was the chosen kriti. Niraval and swaras were at ‘Daritha Magadha mahipa.’ The concluding swara korvai was aesthetically built.
‘Ma Ramanan Uma Ramanan’ (Hindolam - Rupkam) of Papanasam Sivan was a neat rendering. The Behag Javali, ‘Nirupamana saamini’ of Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar provided an apt conclusion.
Jayakrishnan, who is doing his Ph.D in IIT, impressed with his choice of kritis. Hope he continues his musical journey along with his academic pursuits.
