Sadanam K Harikumar, a multifaceted artiste, grabbed the attention of the audience at his vocal recital at Palghat Fine Arts Society, Tharekkad.
Being a Kathakali exponent, he was able to unfold the spirit of the songs with a keen sense of sahithya. The highlight of his concert was an exposition of Reethigowla. In his expansive portrayal, embellished with sangathis, he depicted the entire swaroopa of the raga. He followed it up with a soulful rendition of his own Malayalam composition, ‘Hridayam nin sadanamaakkuka sadayam’ in praise of Lord Guruvayurappan. There was a delightful picturisation of Kharaharapriya that brought out the quintessential character of the raga. However, niraval in the Tyagaraja kriti ‘Chakkaniraja’ was too short and swaraprastharas too did not have much impact.
Choice of kritis
Earlier, after commencing his concert with ‘Inthamodi’, a varnam of Thiruvattiyur Thyagayya in Saranga, he sang his Malayalam composition ‘Hari Shri Ganapathaye Nama’, preceded by ragam Sri. His alapana of Varali was true to tradition but the anticipated niraval and kalpanaswaras in ‘Mamava Meenakshi’, a well-known kriti of Muthuswami Dikshithar, were conspicuously missing.
A racy ‘Mariveradikevvaru’ (Lathangi, Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer) was an apt choice after the leisurely Varali, though it was also in a Pratimadhyama ragam. On a listener’s request, he rendered ‘Ajithahare’, (Sreeragam) from Kuchelavritham Kathakali, with deep emotion. A spirited ‘Kaavadichindu’ and ‘Padamalaril’ in Balahamsa ragam, the singers’s own creations, were enjoyable. Minor variations in the sruthi did not have a negative impact on the concert.
R Swaminathan lived up to his reputation as a seasoned violinist. Kallekulangara Unnikrishnan’s support on the mridangam was valuable. Moorthiyedam Sudhakaran was on the ghatam.
