A cultural extravaganza

A repertoire of mixed styles marked the Sharada Cultural Trust's four-day musical festival.

Sri Ranjani Santhanogopalan Photo: R. Shivaji Rao

Sharada Cultural Trust has recently conducted a four-day classical music concerts at Mani Mandapam, Skandagiri. The four days featured four different styles of different ‘guru paramparas'.

The first day featured Sriranjani Santhanagopalan , daughter of the noted musician Neyveli Santhanagopalan. She has a good voice and has given a pleasant concert in the company of Rahul on the violin and Arjun ganesh on the mridangam. She began her concert with Begada varnam in a steady way. Saveri was elaborated for a decent ragam for Syamasastry's Sankari Sankuru Chandramukhi with fine savaram in it. Raja Raja Radhithe in Niroshta a rare krithi was neatly presented. Varali was the main attraction and Sriranjani did well. Eti Jhanmamu was the krithi with detailed neraval and swarakalpanai sounded impressive. The percussion duo contributed to the success of the concert.

The second day featured

Maharajapuram S. Ganesh Viswanathan grandson of Maharajpuram Santhanam and son of Maharajapuram Srinivasan. He in the company of Rajeev on the violin and Tanjore Subramanyam on the mridangam opened his concert with Saveri varnam

Sarasuda . Has a good voice and only thing he has to improve his clarity in diction.

Sri Mahaganapathim in nata with brief swaram followed by

Oranmughame in Reetigowla. Dharamavathi was another expansion which was good for

Mangambhudhi hanumantha . Thodi was taken for the day for an RTP and Ganesh sang the alap part and Rajeev did the thanam part as the planning was not done properly by the singer.

The third day featured

Swarna Rethas an up and coming youngster, disciple of Sanjay Subrahmanyan. He gave a spirited concert along with senior artistes M.A. Sundereswaran on the violin and Nyveli Venkatesh on the mridangam. Rethas started with Kalyani atatala varnam Vanajakshi in an effective way and then sang Niravadhi sukha da in Ravichandrika with kalpana swaram in sarvalaghu. Dharmavathi was the first expansion which came out well for Arul Vaiz of Dandapani Desikar's composition in Jhampe talam. Aiyaga kanna in Neelambari, a rare piece was soothing. Begada was another expansion which was done to justice for Thyagaraya namasthe in Rupakam. Kharahara Priya was the main attraction of the concert and Rethas did very well to bring the raga bhavam. Chakkani raja margamu of Thyagaraja was the krithi and the artiste presented it in a decent way and with steady kalapramanam. The experienced accompanists Sundereswaran on the violin was excellent with his high quality support and also encouraging the youngster. Venkatesh's mridangam support was at its best and his quality tani in adi for three akshara's eduppu was good. Rethas concluded with a viruttam in Khambhoji, Behag, Surati and Naadanamakriya.

Sushma Somasekar hails from Singapore and her passion towards music has driven her to Chennai. She is the disciple of Lalitha Shivakumar, the daughter of Phalghat Mani Iyyer and mother of Nitya Sree. She has good sruthi and her pitch has a good range. She began her concert with Bilahari varnam then sang Tulasi dalamulache in Mayamalava Gowla ragam with neraval and swaram in vistaram. A slokam from Aditya Hridayam was sung in the ragam Surya for the krithi Sri surya kumarane which set to music by her guru Lalitha Shivakumar in Misrachapu and neatly rendered. Sri Venkatesa Gireesam in Surati was melodiously sung. Ninu Vina in Reethigowla was the next to come but the timing of the krithi placement could have been better. Sankarabharanam was the main attraction of the day, Sushma has carefully sung the ragam with classic sangathis intact. Swara raga sudha of Thyagaraja was the krithi with neraval and swarakalpana was well balanced. Dinakar on the violin lent able support with good anticipation and all his ragam expansions were good.