A sonorous voice, clarity in vision and deference in rendition work in favour of vocalist Raji Gopalakrishnan. During her concert at Narada Gana Sabha, she managed her time well in presenting the ragas and kritis with their frills.
At the start, Raji embellished ‘Eka Dantam’ (Muthuswami Dikshitar) in Bilahari with panchamam centered swaras. Then, she adorned the Suddha Saveri (Tyagaraja) ‘Dharini Telusu’ with daivatam as the anchor. The essay of Suddha Saveri and the colourful array of sangatis systematically followed. Then it was Purvikalyani’s turn and Syama Sastri’s ‘Enneramum Un Namam’ was supported by an exordium of raga treatise and niraval – swara suite on the pallavi.
Raji’s sincerity to patanthara and her ability to format the cutcheri with a proper vision may not be something sensational but is definitely venerable.
Three unique raga-based compositions added special flavour to her well structured concert; ‘Chinna Nadana’ of Tyagaraja in Kalanidhi, ‘Mohana Muthukumara’ in Neethimathi by Koteswara Iyer with a smart raga prelude and ‘Kamala Charane’ of GNB in Amrita Behag.
Sandhya Srinath showed her proficiency in dealing with the ragas and replies in swaras to Raji. B. Sivaraman on the mridangam and Nanganallur Swaminathan on the ghatam were boisterous from the start to the end, with an extra round at the end of each item.
