Niranjana Srinivasan sang with such supreme self-confidence at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. The kind of authority the disciple of Lalitha Sivakumar imparted to her recitation of songs is perhaps what makes age-old compositions come alive in new dimensions in the concert hall.
The first sign of Niranjana’s unique touch came in the Lalgudi Jayaraman varnam in ragam Charukesi. It was an impromptu choice, said the artiste, an Assistant Professor at the Tamil Nadu Music and Fine-arts University (her doctoral dissertation was on ‘Gowla anthya ragas,’ with the emphasis on the Nilotpalamba Vibhakti kritis of Dikshitar.)
Asked to explain the particular appeal she produced on this occasion, the scholar attributed it to the guru’s deliberate effort in singing the violin virtuoso’s work. Niranjana never looked back thereafter. She treated her audience to Tyagaraja’s ‘Manasuloni marmamunu telusuko.’ Noteworthy here among others, was the way she avoided the common error in the enunciation of the first two words — ‘manasuloni marmamunu’ rather than manasulonimar mamunu/lu (in the plural).
The short improvisation to conclude the piece was enough to further emphasise the distinctness of ragam Varamu. This is the other scale in which the song has come to be recited, besides Hindolam. The two versions deploy respectively chatusruti dhaivatam and suddha dhaivatam.
The next song was the Varali kriti of Tyagaraja — ‘eti janmamidira’ — followed by one of the Navagraha kritis of Muthuswami Dikshitar, set to ragam Suratti. The artiste wrapped up the first part of the recital with the famous Periyasami Thooran kriti, ‘Taye Tripurasundari,’ in immaculate style.
The centre-piece of the concert was ‘Kaligiyunte gada.’ You could not take issue with anything Niranjana attempted; so unhurried was her approach, which is itself quite extraordinary. Noteworthy was the penultimate song, penned by Lalitha Sivakumar in ragam Tirumurthypriya — one of the niroshta category of scales that eschew both panchamam and madhyamam.
The trio of accompaniments of the afternoon was splendid. They were Melakaveri K. Thyagarajan on the violin, B. Guru Raghavendra on the mridangam and S. Krishnan on the ghatam.
