Kalyanapuram Aravind presented a concert in the forenoon session of ‘Aradhanotsava’ dedicated to the Carnatic music Trinity, besides Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa and Vadiraja. The event, held recently in Manguluru, was jointly organised by Sangeetha Parishath, Karnataka’s Department of Kannada and Culture, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Ramakrishna Math.
With briga-laden alapanas, sprightly swaraprastharas and emotion-filled presentation of kritis, Arvind kept up the tempo throughout the concert and proved himself to be a worthy disciple of Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan. Violinist M. Srikanth followed him sincerely and added sheen and sowkhya bhava to the performance. Most of the songs were in Kannada and almost all of them were by Purandaradasa. It was a pleasant surprise when he began with the geetham, ‘Sri gananatha sindhoora varna’.
After Veenai Kuppaiyar’s Begada varnam, ‘Intha chalamu jesithae’, he sang ‘Hari Narayana, Hari Narayana, Hari Narayana enu manavae’. A delightful composition, it eulogises the power of the Lord’s name, tracing how Narada sowed its seed in devotees such as Dhruva, Prahalada, Bhishma, Draupadi and Sukha Brahmam. Aravind sang the first and last stanzas.
This was followed by the Anandabhairavi alapana and the kriti, ‘Srinivasa nenae paliso’. He sang ‘Rama Rama Rama Setha Rama enniro’ in Purvikalyani with an impressive alapana and niraval at ‘Naemadindha bhajisuvavara’.
Tyagaraja’s ‘Hecharikaga ra ra’ in Yadukulakamboji followed. ‘Yarae rangana, yarae krishnana’ in Hindolam was rendered at a swift pace with equally fast swaras.
The main piece was the Sankarabharanam kriti ‘Saroja dhala naetri himagiri putri’ by Syama Sastri. With a leisurely alapana, the niraval at ‘Saama gaana vinodhini’ and a spirited swara session, he paid a commendable tribute to the composer and the kriti.
The percussion artistes, Palakkad K. Jayakrishnan on the mridangam and Manjoor Unnikrishnan on the ghatam, supported the vocalist and violinist effectively and offered a brilliant thani. Vibrant tala patterns from the mridangam and the sparkling laya showers from the ghatam challenged and complemented each other. It was heartening to notice that the usual exodus during the thani did not happen.
The highlight of the lighter session was the shloka ‘Poorvam rama tapovanaanugamanam’ (it mentions the important episodes from the life of Rama) in different ragas followed by a Swati Tirunal composition, ‘Ramachandra prabhu tum bin pyare’ in Sindhu Bhairavi.
Aravind concluded his concert with a brisk thillana in Hamir kalyani and the Tiruppugazh ‘Yaerumayilaeri’.
