Rich tributes were paid to the late T.K. Govinda Rao by Koviladi Madhwaprasad, during a programme to pay homage to the veteran vocalist.
Madhwaprasad, a graded Carnatic vocalist and mridangam vidwan, recollected his association as a percussion accompanist with the veteran.
This was followed by a music concert by Madhwaprasad, accompanied by Vayala Rajendran on the violin, Kallekkulangara Unnikrishnan on the mridangam and Tripunithura Kannan on the ghatam.
A short alapana of Bhairavi meandered and merged into the majestic Ada tala varnam of ‘Pachamiriyam Adiappaya' and was followed by the Hamsadwani kriti ‘Gam Ganapathe' (Muthiah Bhagavathar) with kalpana swaras.
‘Sobhillu Sapthaswara,' a Jaganmohini composition enunciating the evolution, endurance and exposition of swaras through various internal parts of a human body, was taken up next. Despite some problems in negotiating with what seemed to be a bad throat, a neat alapana of Panthuvarali, effortlessly traversing through the three octaves and ‘Saarasaksha,' a Swati kriti with manodharma swaras, was well delineated. Vayala Rajendran deserves mention for the way in which he reproduced the alapana of this raga. Rendering of ‘Enthaveduko' (Saraswathi Manohari) evoked memories of Govinda Rao, as the vocalist announced that he was trying to follow the maestro's style.
Soothing effect
‘Kanamum maravathe' (Sama-Ambujam Krishna) had a soothing effect and was followed by a well-structured alapana of Mohanam and an equally sweet rendering of the Tyagaraja composition ‘Evaroora Ninnuvina.' ‘Marivere' in Shanmukhapriya was rendered briskly in contrast to the slow and steady rendition of its alapana. It would have been more appealing had he not resorted to very complex swara passages. Taniavarthanam was played by Unnikrishnan and Kannan for this piece.
‘Karunai Daivame' (Sindhu Bhairavi-Papanasam Sivan), ‘Govindaninna,' a Devarnaama in Janasammodini and ‘Bhagyaatha Lakshmi baaramma' constituted the post-tani session before the mangalam.
The programme was organised by Rasikapriya, Thrissur.
