P.V. Parameswaran, who began his morning concert with a Kedaragowlai varnam, showed that his voice has boldness as its identifying tessitura. He seemed adept in using the mike too and hence, the sound, as he ventured into the lower registers, was pleasant. His niraval for ‘Sarasiruga Punnaga’ for the Mayamalavagowlai song (‘Thulasidhalamulache,’ Tyagaraja) was done with due reverence and adherence to niraval.
He also seemed to have a fancy for roopaka tala as witnessed by the innumerable number of swaraprastaras that came up for Mayamalavagowlai and Kaanada (‘Mamavasadha,’ Swati Tirunal). The alapanas for Anandabhairavi (‘Mari Vere’ of Syama Sastri) and the other ragas mustered up some strength and were likeable. With all this, one saw that the majesty and stateliness (‘Gambhiram’) contained in certain glorious songs of Tyagaraja, like ‘O Rangasayee’ (Khambodi) or ‘Ennalu Oorage’ (Subapantuvarali) seemed beyond the comprehension of this singer.
The words weren’t even minimally clear at several points and the sahitya, as they say, went for a six -- a huge six at that! ‘Renuka Devi Samrakshithoham’ (Dikshitar, Kannada Bangala) may have been a good selection but its rendering was below par, by any standard. There is a perceptible distinction between softening of the voice and making it sound light. One is certainly not the other and the second is anathema to classical music. This second aspect came to the fore in Parameswaran’s performance.
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Mysore Srikanth on the violin seemed to take things in his stride and his alapanas for Khambodi, Subapantuvarali and Anandabhairavi had a caressing effect. His roopaka tala swara answers were picture-perfect. His, was a conquering bow. We had Arjun Narasimhan, a southpaw on the mridangam, constantly encouraged by Sivaramakrishnan who was on the ghatam. The cynosure was Arjun whose nadham suggested an artist of good potential. His accompaniment with the senior ghatam vidwan was impressive.
( sivakumar2004@gmail.com )