Focus on Tamil compositions

Rendered with devotion: Mohana Krishnan and a team of musicians at the fest.

Sadhana Sadan, founded by A. Hariharan (a philanthropist in Coimbatore, who dedicates his time and energy for spreading the rich spiritual and cultural wealth of India, had organised the sixth edition of Tamizhisai Vizha, a three-day festival dedicated to Tamil compositions at Sidhi Vinayakar Koil, Coimbatore. As the auspicious notes of M. Sakthivel’s nagaswaram wafted into the air, Dr. P. Kuppusamy presided over the inaugural function and gave an impressive speech throwing light on the greatness of Tamil music.

Bhavani Kishore Kumar, Radha Satyanarayanan, Pozhakkudi R. Praveen, S.R. Krishnamurthy, K. Kailasanathan, Sriranjani Ramkumar and siblings Niranjan Krishna and Sindhuja Ravichandran were some of the eminent artists who were a part of the festival. There was a five-violin ensemble and a few performances on the veena.

Rare kritis

Niranjan Krishna and Sindhuja sang the rare varnam, ‘Mal Marugan’ in Hindolam by T.M. Thyagarajan and the moving composition by Madurai Somu, ‘Karunai Pozhiyum Aaru Mugangalil’ in Valaji.

Bhavani Kishore Kumar’s brief presentation reflected his depth and maturity. Kishore’s vocie brings out the exact emotion depicted in each of the compositions. He sang, ‘Vaananai Madhi Soodiya Vendhanai,’ a thevaram set to tune as a regular kriti in Kiravani. Syama Sastri’s rare Tamil composition, ‘Tharunam Idhamma’ in Gowli Panthu and ‘Irakkam Varaamal Ponathenna Kaaranam’ by Gopalakrishna Bharathi in Behag, were truly enjoyable. Mohana Krishnan and Sashikala Ramanathan presented a few devotional songs with their respective troupe. Anandhi Krishnan and her group presented Thiruppugazh. T.N. Srinivasan and Lakshmi Ramaswami rendered their own compositions.

Talents meet

Eminent singers sang to the accompaniment of the budding artists, and well-known accompanists supported the young aspiring musicians with equal vigour.

Raghunath, Perumal, Radhakrishnan, Sethu, Mohan and Vadasithur Ramachandran accompanied the artists on the mridangam. Ramkumar, Shakthivel and Sharathbabu played mridangam and ganjira according to the need. Brinda Raghunath, Ganesan, Sriranjani Ramkumar, Kailasanathan, Kovai K. Balasubramaniam and Krishnaveni Ammal (the senior most violinist of Coimbatore) gave support to the artists on the violin.

Three-year-old Magizhan Parithi rendered the Thiruppugazh, ‘Muthai Tharu’ (a real tongue twister) pronouncing each word correctly and clearly, astonishing everyone present. Professor K. Sivaramakrishnan’s invaluable guidance and support had a major role to play in the success of this music festival.