Yet another evening of pure music at the sabha’s music festival was by N. Vijay Siva. Ganapathy Sastry’s ‘Arunachala Pathe’ in Thodi with niraval provided a sukhanubhavam. Harikhambodi, which has not found favour with the vidwans in the recent past, was the next.
Adopting a vivacious approach Vijay Siva was very clear in his intonation. It was haunting nostalgia as I was reminded of his guru D.K. Jayaraman singing this raga with authority on several occasions. Vijay Siva’s was on a par, an aspect the discerning rasika would have acknowledged. ‘Sanithodi’ (Tyagaraja- Adi)) was detailed with kalpanaswaras .It was a treat to listen to Vijay Siva for the clarity in his swaras and the way he pronounced them.
Dharmavathi was the next alapana with his voice exuding confidence. His lengthy sancharas at the upper shadjam with an open mouth were soothing.
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R.K. Sriramkumar, grandson of veteran violin vidwan R.K. Venkatrama Sastry, lived up to the reputation of his tradition with a neatly structured reply.
A Tamil viruttam (Seetha Ravi) in praise of Sukanthakunthalambal Samedha Sri Mathrubootheswarar, the presiding deity of the Rock Fort temple, Tiruchi, and ‘Sri Mathrubootham’ kriti in raga Kannada were moving. The main Bhairavi (Syama Sastri-‘Sari Evvaramma’) alapana, the niraval in ‘Madhava Sodhar’ and the slow-paced swaras were statements on the raga.
Neyveli Narayanan (mridangam) has so much up his sleeve that one concert is not enough to exhibit them. That day he reminded one of his guru Thanjavur Upendran. His variations in the
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Siva’s rich repertoire of Tamil kritis helps sustain rasikas’ interest till the end. That evening he presented ‘Endhaiyum Thaayum’ (Bharatiyar), ‘Kannan Varugindra Neram’ (Oothukkadu) and ‘Tiraikadal’ (Kalki).