Kruthi Bhat, received the ‘Best Vocalist’ award, five years ago, at the same sabha. Initiated into this art by her mother Rajarajeswari Bhat and uncle, vidwan Vittal Ramamurthy, Kruthi had the privilege of learning from Lalgudi and TRS. She is doing her Computer Engineering in Houston, Texas.
It was a well-spent 90 minutes on a Sunday afternoon. Kruthi is endowed with a voice that has a rich timbre. At her concert, she presented just three songs. Her elaborations of Shanmukhapriya and Sankarabharanam displayed her virtuosity. Another youngster, Sruti Sarathy, from California, responded on the violin with equally charming and aesthetic elaborations.
In Shanmukhapriya, Kruthi rendered Gopalakrishna Bharati’s ‘Bhavasagaram Karaiyeralam,’ with niraval and swaras at ‘Thavamevum thenpuliyur.’ ‘Sri Chandrasekhara yatheendram,’ composed by N.S. Ramachandran on Kanchi Periyava was the Sankarabharanam kriti (Khanda Triputa) sung by Kruthi. She handled the chittaswaram in Tisra nadai with elan. The swaraprasthara was at ‘Sri Dakshinamurthy Prathyaksha Rupam.’
Sumesh Narayanan offered a thani — short and crisp, because of limitation of time. Here is a talent that promises to blossom into an effective accompanist. Kruthi commenced her recital with Tyagaraja’s ‘Ee vasudha nivanti’ on Kovur Lord Sundaresa — an apt choice on the Arudhra Darsanam day.