Youngsters steal the show

Veterans and budding musicians paid tribute to the bard of Tiruvaiyaru at his 165th aradhana held at Srirangam, Tiruchi.

N. Ramani. Photo: M. Srinath

The young musicians ruled the roost at the 165 aradhana festival of Sathguru Sri Tyagaraja held for four days from January 10 to 14 at the Kodiyalam Seshadri Iyengar Kalyana Mandapam, Srirangam. The festival was organised in association with the Sri Sathguru Thiagarabrahma Aradhana Trust and Sri Sathguru Sangeetha Sabha. The young vocalists vied with the exponents, to establish themselves. The festival commenced with the unchavriti bhajan by Sri Sathguru Thiagaraja Bhavanam. Dr. Kalyani, of BHEL Hospital, inaugurated the festival which was followed by the nagaswaram recital of Ammapettai A. P. Govindarajan. While veteran musicians such as T. V. Sankaranayanan, Anayampatti S. Ganesan, N. Ramani and Mudicondan S. N. Ramesh, a senior artist in All India Radio, led the senior musicians team, young musicians such as Swarna Rethas, Ramakrishna Murthy, K. M. Aarthi and L. M. Vaishnavi duo of Chennai, Harsha from United States and Priya Sisters, ignited the celebrations with their ebullient performances. They rendered the kritis of Tyagaraja at the festival, which began with the vocal concert of T.V. Sankaranarayanan. He was accompanied by Nagai R. Muralidharan on the violin, B. Ganapathiraman on the mridangam and S. Venkataramanan on the ganjira.

Anayampatti Ganesan , held the audience spellbound with his cheerful performance on the jalatarangam. He commenced his concert with ‘Ragunayaka' in ragam Hamsadhwani. He followed it up with the pancharatna kriti, ‘Entharo Mahanu Bhavulu' in Sriragam. Later he played ‘Thuli Janmamu' another kriti of the saint, in Bilahari ragam. This was followed by the main item in ragam Kharaharapriya with a detailed alapana and swaraprastara. The kriti was ‘Pakkala Nilabadi.' This was followed by ‘Dhaarini Telusukonti' in Suddha Saveri. Aanayampatti G. Venkatasubramaniam lent able support on the violin, Umayalpuram Mali on the mridangam and Alathur T. Rajaganesh on the ganjira.

Flute maestro

N. Ramani commenced his concert with ‘Thulasidalamula' in Mayamalavagowla, followed by ‘Brova Baarama' in Gowri Manohari. He elaborated ragam Kalyani by rendering ‘Nidhichala Sukhama.' He chose Kharaharapriya for a detailed raga alapana and sang the kriti ‘Rama Neeyada Prema Rahitulaku.' Ramani displayed his mastery by playing different swaraprastaras.

Nagai R. Muralidharan on the violin, B. Harikumar on the mridangam and S. Karthick on the ghatam paid rich tribute to the bard of Tiruvaiyaru by rendering a classical tani avarthanam.

Young Swarna Rethas , a disciple of Sanjay Subramaniam, rendered an excellent vocal concert. He commenced with ‘Everikai Avatharam Enthithivo,' followed by a rare kriti in raga Naga Nandini and ‘Sathanemi Dinamu Archana.' He rendered ‘Siva Siva Ena Radha' in Pantuvarali with a detailed swaraprastara. This was followed by another kriti ‘Venugana' in Kedaragowla. He presented an elaborate Sankarabharanam and the kriti was ‘Swararaga Sudha.' He was ably accompanied by M. R. Gopinath on the violin, Srirangam Madhusudhanan on the mridangam and Srirangam Ravikrishnan on the ghatam.

Sisters

L.M. Aarthi and

L.M. Vaishnavi , presented a vocal concert with Deepika Raghunathan on the violin, M. Sreeram on the mridangam and Andanallur Renganathan on the ghatam.

Ramakrishnamurthy , who has come down from the U.S., presented a brilliant concert. Vocal concerts by Harsha, Pattabhiraman Pandit, T. M. Krishna and Priya Sisters also enthralled the audience.

”With an aim to motivate the talented young musicians, the sabha provided more opportunities for the youngsters during this festival,” said Alathur S. Thiagarajan, secretary of the sabha.

“We had reposed lot of faith in the youngsters and they did not fail us,” he added. with a sense of pride.