HYDERABAD: South Indian Cultural Association (Sica) organised vocal concerts of Duddu Radhika and Kalyana Vasanth at Ravindra Bharati’s conference hall on two consecutive days recently. Radhika was accompanied by R. Dinkar on violin and Nemani Somayajulu on mridangam. This concert was arranged in memory of C. Santha Devi.
Radhika opened her concert with Daru varnam Mathe Malaya Dhwaja Pandya Samjathe of Muthiah Bhagavatar and then moved to present Papanasam Sivan’s composition Gajavadana Karuna Sadana in Sriranjani,with brief swarakalpana.
The first composition she launched with ragalapana was Dikshitar’s Abhayambikayam in Kedaragowla. It was well received. She then took up Muthiah Bhagavatar’s
Vanchatonu Naa Vagalu Telpave in Karnaranjani laid path for the main number of the concert Etavunara Nilakada Neeku in Kalyani of Thyagaraja. She presented this number with impressive ragalapana and expressive kirtana rendition that also had neraval at Srikarundagu Thyagaraja kalarchita . This was followed by neat swarakalpana.
Another major number of Radhika’s concert was Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi in Sahana, Khadajati Triputa talam. The pallavi line was Rara Ravikula Soma Sri Rama Tarakanama in Khandajati triputa talam. It was a brilliant piece.
The end numbers Radhika presented were Charanamule nammiti in Kapi of Ramadasu and Annamacharya kirtana Edutanunnadu Veede Eebaludu in Bhujangini and a tillana in Poorvi. Accompanists lent good support all along.
Vocal by Kalyan Vasanth
Kalyan launched his concert with Kambhoji varnam of Ponnupillai Ilalo Pranatarthi in Athana of Thyagaraja. He then took up Amritavarshini and expanded it well with tasteful moves. He rendered popular kirtana Anandaamrutha Varshini of Dikshitar resenting neraval too followed by swarakalpana. He then went for Swararaga in Sankarabharanam of Tyagaraja and followed it with Hiranmayim Lakshmim in Lalitha of Syama Sastry. He delineated raga for awhile and then rendered kirtana impressively. There was swarakalpana too in the end giving good finish.
The concert was held in memory of Alivelu Mangatayaru.
Violin support by Vijayawada-based 13-year-oldGayatri Sivani was a brilliant exercise.
Vocal by Bala Rayudu
Carnatic vocalist Bala Rayudu was invited by the management of Skandagiri Subramanya Temple complex to present a concert marking ‘Dasara Navaratri Utsavas’ recently. Bala was the disciple of the late Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana and was also trained by R.S.Ramakanth of Bengaluru and Lalitha of Hyderabad Sisters. Her repertoire is wide. She has pleasant vocal culture and ability to render kirtanas with apt sahitya bhava. Her manodharma was rich enough to tackle the numbers she chose. She was accompanied by N.C. Ananthakrishna on violin and Gopalakrishna on mridangam.
She opened the concert traditionally with Durbaru varnam that she presented in two speeds, rendering which she revealed a voice fresh and pleasant. She then presented Vinayaka Ninu Vina Brochutaku of Veena Kuppaiyer in Hamsadhwani, with swarakalpana part elegantly.
Bala then chose to present Pancharatna kirtana of Thyagaraja Endaro Mahaanubhaavulu . She presented with careful handling of technical part and rendering the sahitya part expressively with chitta swaras. Gaanamuurthe in Gaanamurthi also of Thyagaraja that followed too was presented with sahitya appeal.
Sambho Mahadeva in Pantuvaraali the main number was opened with ragalapana and kirtana rendition was neat expression. The swarakalpana that followed kept up to the spirit and rendition elevated the number further. This was followed by Dikshitar’s Subramanyena Rakshitoham in Suddha Dhanyasi which proved important as its presentation and sahitya expression are relevant to the presiding deity and it made audience curiously listen to it.
Kovvali remembered
From 1030s to 70s, train travel would be incomplete without the book vendors getting into trains with bundles of magazines and short novels, shouting the name ‘Kovvali’. Kovvali Lakshmi Narasimha Rao’s novels, a quarter-size of foolscap paper, were sold thick and fast as Kovvali novels had a big clientele. A function was arranged on Kovvali’s birthday, at Ravindra Bharati’s conference hall, to release a book written on Kovvali by noted writer Vedagiri Rambabu, titled Kovvali – Jeevitham, Sahityam. The book was released by veteran writer and stage and film actor Ravi Kondal Rao who recalled his association with Kovvali and shared some memories about him. Editor of Telugu weakly Navya , A.N. Jagannadha Sarma presided over the function. Vedagiri Rambabu who penned the book, literary scholars Voleti Parvateesam, scholar Dwa.Na.Sastry and Kovvali’s elder son Lakshminarayana also shared their experiences and presented the personality of Kovvali and his literary output from different perspectives. It was indeed momentous occasion for litterateurs to know and nurture thoughts of Kovvali, who passed away 36 years ago.
If in Telugu literary world, novel writing assumes significant era, Kovvali’s novels are considered a landmark contribution because he penned as many as 1001 sensible social novels, a score that no other novelist surpassed till date. His novels became immensely popular for their realistic portrayal of women. These novels were the best friends of train travellers. It was believed that some uneducated people learnt Telugu just to read these books!
Those were the days when most of the scholars used to write in chaste Telugu. Kovvali was one among the first to break that tradition and write in simple, colloquial language. Due to this, Kovvali invited the wrath of renowned scholars, but they began accepting his way of writing upon observing how popular they were.
At a time when the progressive movement was on the rise, women were slowly gathering courage to read something new about love, sexuality and freedom of expression, which some of Kovvali’s novels had. Elders banned the reading of these books, as they feared they carried revolutionary ideas to young women.
He wrote about one novel a week; some in just two days. Such was the demand for his books that it gave birth to new publishers. Their low pricing also contributed to their popularity.
