With a voice that negotiates curves with ease, Nisha Rajagopalan lit her concert up with ragas that shone further with her involuntary loops. Decking up a half-hour suite in Varali and then employing double that time for Karaharapriya as the main, the vocalist ensured that her USP benefited the swaroopa of the melodies. Nowhere did the musician produce anything exceptional or even novel; yet there was no drab moment in her kutcheri at Naada Inbam.
Nisha commenced with a string of morning ragas. ‘Mudumomu’ in Sooryakantham ushered in peppiness that cheered up her accompanists instantly. The Tyagaraja composition earned ornamentations in a swaraprastara. Just at one place did R. Hemalatha slip in her response; else the violinist provided commendable support. K. Arunprakash was typically masterly on the mridangam, prompting young morsing artiste V. Sai Subramaniam to lie a bit too low during much of the 145 minutes on stage.
Syama Sastri’s ‘Parvati ninnune’ in the lesser-heard Kalgada came second, with sangatis proceeding nicely on predictable lines. Janaranjini found its introduction in an alapana that was brief and succinct. ‘Nadadina’ by Tyagaraja was the kriti where Nisha entered the charanam somewhat ceremoniously after a fair amount of silence. That hinted at the prospect of a niraval from ‘Talaku vachina’, but the line ended up to be the anchor for the swaraprastara. The singer’s nasal notes steered a vocal-violin rally in Semmangudi spirit. (The maestro’s frontline disciple P.S. Narayanaswamy is Nisha’s cardinal teacher besides Suguna Varadachari).
Varali, as sub-main, opened with a bold alapana journeying with all the zigzags integral to the vivadi raga. Hemalatha reciprocated well, no matter her minor struggles while scaling certain upper portions. ‘Sheshachala nayakam’ (Muthuswami Dikshitar) trod down an ideal medium tempo, with the niraval (‘Aravinda patra’) highlighting the beauty of Varali’s back-and-forth movements punctuated by graceful bumps. The raga would have sounded more pious had the vocalist given as much thought to modulation as she gave to being open-throated.
Yadukula Kamboji, subsequently, was unhurried. ‘Annam palikkum tillai’ demonstrated the charm in the slow unfurling of the raga. Even so, Nisha decorated the Gopalakrishna Bharati piece from Nandanar Charitam with plenty of frills.
Swati Tirunal’s springy ‘Parama purusham’ in Lalita Panchamam functioned as the bylane to hit the central Karaharapriya.
The 12-minute alapana began by a ride along the middle stretches before touching the bottom registers. There, Nisha came up with the juicy scoops of the melakarta raga. Hemalatha’s resting places carried a maturely low volume. Kampita gamakas were all-pervading in ‘Rama neeyeda’ even as the leisurely niraval at ‘Tana soukhyamu’ abruptly segued into the swaraprastara that spanned a little over eight minutes, as did the tani avartanam.
Jeeyar Swami’s ‘Janaki Ramana’ in Kapi succeeded a slokam (‘Nanmayum selvamum’) that initially featured Hindolam and Kamboji. Annamacharya’s ‘Ksheerabdhi kanyakaku’ (Kurinji) marked a sweet end ahead of the Mangalam.
