An enjoyable line-up

The kritis of Tyagaraja, Purandaradasa, Bharati and Rajaji find place in this album by Kadapa Ragavendra.

August 02, 2012 03:41 pm | Updated 03:41 pm IST

Reign of melody: Kadapa Ragavendra.

Reign of melody: Kadapa Ragavendra.

An audio compact disc of flute music rendered by by Kadapa Ragavendra has been brought out by Rythem Music, for which the creative head is R. Amaravathy as mentioned in the inlay card. The inlay card also mentions the opening number as a Varnam in Vasanta ragam but what is heard is the Mohanam raga varnam ‘Ninnukori’ in two speeds. Hamsadhwani, that followed immediately, could have been avoided but the flautist with the entitled liberty chooses to play ‘Raghunayaka’ of Tygaraja. Further compositions of the bard which followed

are ‘Thelisi Rama’ (Purnachandrika), ‘Yochana’ (Darbar) and ‘Mohana Rama’ (Mohanam). Ragavendra certainly has a feel of the art. It would greatly enhance the quality of his playing, if more attention is given to swarasthana suddham. Many of the notes tend to be played at a higher sthana than required.

The other songs that find a place in this disc are ‘Venkatachala’ (Sindhubhairavi - Purandaradasa), ‘Nenarunchinanu’ (Malavi - Tyagaraja), ‘Chinanchirukiliye’ (Ragamalika - Subramania Bharati), the overworked ‘Kuraionrum Illai’ (ragamalika - Rajaji), ‘Harivarasanam’ (A traditional Ayyapa devotional in Madhyamavati) and an extremely short

mangalam in Madhyamavati, which is the flautist's creation. The names of the accompanying artists are not mentioned in the inlay card.

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