S. Nithyasree’s veena recital was a subdued presentation. The highlight of Nithyasree’s veena recital was a fairly extensive Ragam Tanam Pallavi in raga Simhendramadhyamam. The raga is an absolute beauty and the artiste understood the nuances of the raga and explored it gently in her alapana. The tanam also carried the soft tenor. The pallavi set in Adi tala went as ‘Muruga guha shanmuga arul tha’ in Adi tala two kalai. The niraval of the pallavi and trikalam that followed led to the swara section. Here, after a few rounds of swaras in Simhendramadhyamam, Nithayasree presented a surfeit of ragamalika swaras in Revati, Begada, Saraswati and Sahana in quick succession.
The restrained tani avartanam taken up after this was by B. Sivaraman on the mridangam and Trivandrum D. Rajagopal on the kanjira.
The other interesting pieces in Nithyasree’s concert were ‘Abhishta vara sri maha ganapathe’ in raga Hamsadhwani by Tyagaraja, with a swara suite in two speeds, Muthu Thandavar’s ‘Sevikka vendum ayya’ in Andholika and Papanasam Sivan’s ‘Karpaga manohara’ in Malayamarutham.
S. Nithyasree’s veena performance. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A slow and steady exposition of the Saveri raga followed these two brisk pieces. The raga image was built with several delicate phrases. The option of Syama Sastri’s ‘Sankari Sankuru’ suited a perfect adjunct to the alapana. The niraval and swaras at ‘Syama krishna sodari’ had enough poignancy. The swarakalpana followed embellished the rendition.
It was gratifying to see Nithyasree making announcements after the ragas and kritis she presented.
Nithyasree’s final segment included ‘Mayanai mannu vada’ Thiruppavai in Sri, Kalki’s ‘Maravene ennalilume’ in raga Paras and ‘Karpagame kan parai’ in Madhyamavathi by Papanasam Sivan.
