Dulcet voice, clear vision, perfect enunciation and above all, good planning marked Nisha Rajagopalan’s concert. Time distribution was meticulously done to provide judicious treatment to the main features of the concert. Nisha had chosen three ragas for elaboration — Mohanam and the kriti was ‘Narsimha’ (Dikshitar), Thodi for Tyagaraja’s ‘Kaddanuvariki’ and Nattakurinji for RTP composed in a special rhythmic cycle.
Thodi provides ample scope and Nisha’s treatise was a detailed one. Her voice brought out the range of the raga in a vibrant manner. The Tyagaraja kriti, ‘Kaddanuvariki,’ the niraval on ‘Niddura niragarinchi’ and the swara sequence centred on panchamam were imposing.
Five ragas
Later, for the RTP when Nisha took up Nattakurinji, it was precise as she had a pallavi, which went on a long and testing cycle set in Khanda Dhruva talam (Panchamukhi). The pallavi ‘Pancha vadana Marutim’ was refreshing . The ragamalika swaras were in five ragas, referring to five deities — Anjaneya, Narasimha, Garuda, Lakshmivaraha and Hayagriva — through Arabhi, Abhogi, Garudadhwani, Saraswati and Saveri.
Nisha was ably supported by violinist Vaikom Padma Krishnan in the raga essays, swara sallies and pallavi. K.U. Jayachandra Rao on the mridangam and Phanindra Bhaskar on the ghatam shared perfect rapport with the main artiste, which came to the fore in the RTP. Their thani was asonorous musical exercise.
Nisha Rajagopalan’s repertoire included ‘Sami daya’ varnam in Kedaragowla, ‘Narada muni’ in Pantuvarali (Tyagaraja) with a brisk suit of niraval and swarakalpana at ‘Narayana namamulanu’, ‘Venkatasaila’ in Hamirkalyani (Subbaraya Sastri), ‘Vande sada’ in Navarasakanada (Swati Tirunal), ‘Iko namma swami’ in Manirangu (Purandaradasa) and a soulful Tamizh composition ‘Kaliyugamurthy’ in Sivaranjani prefaced with a viruttam of Kandar Alankaram.
