Ramakrishnan Murthy did not allow any room for the audience to wonder which raga would be taken as the central piece of his concert — that was clear to everyone quite early on. When the opening phrases of raga Sri escaped his lips, the only question was about the composition.
The vocalist opened the (well-attended) concert with the first verse of the Aandal pasuram, ‘Marghazhi thingal,’ in Nattai. The pasuram followed a brief but beautiful alapana, which foretold the unfolding of a lovely concert. The line ‘Narayanane Namakke’ was selected for niraval, which was a detailed affair, but just as the audience was looking for a treat of swaras, the singer jumped into the second pasuram, ‘Vayyathu Vazhveerghal’, in Gowlai and chose the words ‘Mayittu Ezhudhom’ to land the swaras. Niraval in Nattai, swaras in Gowlai! The only slight exception one could take was his not singing swaras in the slower gait — which would have seen Gowlai in full blossom.
By now, it was a fair assumption that the next raga would be Arabhi. The sequence cued the third pasuram, ‘Ongi Ulagalandha,’ but Ramakrishnan broke the line and took up Swati Tirunal’s ‘Narasimha Mamava.’ He picked the pallavi line for swara singing, but the notes came on the heels of the longish chittaswaras in the same gait, which was perhaps a trifle unwise, because there was little contrast between the chittaswaras and the kalpanaswaras.
Sprightly rendition
At this point there was no doubt the next raga would be Varali. The alapana, which lasted under a minute, seemed perfunctorily rendered, for the artiste kept entirely to the lower notes. The abrupt pick-up of Dikshitar’s ‘Seshachala Nayakam’ left the alapana like an unfinished painting, leaving the audience with a sense of incompleteness. After a neat rendition of the song, Ramakrishnan sprang a little surprise by taking up the line ‘mandahasa vadanam’ for niraval, rather than the usual ‘aravinda patra nayanam.’
But then came another twist in the tale when halfway through the niraval the singer shifted to ‘aravinda patra.’ The double niraval was a welcome break from tradition. Swaras followed the niraval, which were sprightly and lovely, each phrase landing alternately on the upper and lower ‘ri’ — quite a joy ride! However, a notable miss was the long karvai on the rishabham.
When Varali ended, exactly at half-time, it had to be Sri, to complete the sequence set by Saint Tyagaraja through his five Pancharatnam gems. Perhaps it was by design that the singer rushed through the earlier pieces, so as to allow himself enough time for a detailed exposition of Sri.
Since it is not a raga that is commonly heard in concert halls these days, it was a wonderful experience, fully justifying Ramakrishnan’s growing reputation as an outstanding vocalist. The Sri ( Tyagaraja’s ‘Namakusuma’) alone sufficed to call the evening well-spent.
After the brief thani, he presented Behag, (‘Aadum Chidambaramo’) and chose for the finale, the third pasuram, ‘Ongi Ulagalandhu,’ which he sang in four ragas (Atana, Jhonpuri, Hamir Kalyani and Sindhu Bhairavi), two lines each.
Vittal Rangan on the violin, Vijay Natesan on the mridangam and Sunil Kumar on the kanjira helped in no small measure in the concert’s success.
