S. Mahathi, a promising talent of the season, has a voice that works to her advantage. Any wonder then that the vocalist appeared at ease with greha bedham — a difficult exercise where one shifts from a note to another in a raga to arrive at a different one.
Mahathi effortlessly crafted a gorgeous Thodi out of Sankarabharanam. Similarly, she created Sivaranjani from Sunadavinodini in its alapana and Revathi in its swaraprasthara.
While branching away from and joining the main raga, the melody was seamless — a faithful exposition of murchana. Most importantly, she did not overdo it.
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In the Sunadavinodini RTP, the alapana was relaxed while the tanam vibrant. She chose misra jampa tala, a 10-beat cycle for the pallavi, ‘Nadavinodini veena pani.’ In the swara segment, she offered a ragamalika in Nalinakanti, Bindumalini and Mohana Kalyani.
B. U. Ganesh Prasad (violin) equalled her faculty. He not only replicated the main artist, but demonstrated his individuality with his imaginative playing. His Mohana Kalyani deserves a special mention.
The thani by Patri Satish Kumar (mridangam) and Sai Subramaniam (morsing), in a not too easy tala, was special in every aspect.
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Patri was at his best in exploring a variety of intricate patterns, and kept a grip on the aesthetic approach to laya. Sai’s korvais drew instant appreciation from the audience.
After a detailed alapana in the majestic Sankarabharanam, Mahathi took up ‘Manadhirkisaindha Manavalan’ of Harikesanallur Muthaiah Bhagavatar, a refreshingly rare Tamil kriti. Niraval was at ‘Anudinam Thuthi seyyum.’
The concluding chathurasra tisra swara korvai was harmonious. Another Harikesanallur piece that she took up was ‘Sakthi Ganapathim’ (Nattai, rupakam).
She rendered two more Tamil pieces — ‘Padavendume’ (Hamsanadam) of M. M. Dandapani Desikar and ‘Chinnanjiru Kiliye’ of Bharatiyar.
The Kalyani varnam, ‘Vanajakshi’, gave a perfect start to the concert. Mysore Vasudevachar’s ‘Idhi Samayamu’ (rupakam) was preceded by alapana in Natakapriya and swarams were at ‘Paramapurusha’.
Thyagaraja’s ‘Varanarada’ in Vijayasri sped like a superfast train. The finale was the Kuntalavarali tillana of M Balamuralikrishna with several innovative features.