As a part of Swati Tirunal Jayanti celebrations, a ‘sangeetharchana' (musical offering) led by K. Omanakutty treated the audience to rare compositions of the prolific royal composer.
The illuminating musical journey through Swati compositions, included several padams, thillanas, Navaratri and Utsavaprabandam kritis. Omanakutty, along with Ranjini Varma and Suma, portrayed the nuances and subtleties of the Swati kritis with unerring renditions. Their presentation focussed on the inherent details and qualities in the compositions, and avoided too much manodharma. Thus, in many ways, the concert was a perfect ‘sangeetharchana' to the great composer.
The concert began with ‘Paripahi' in Saveri followed by the beautifully woven padam, ‘Suma Sayaka'. The padam ‘Devapalaya' in Asaveri on Lord Parthasarathy, deity of the Amabalappuzha Sreekrishna Temple, is a rarely-heard piece and was sung with deep devotion. Various other compositions such as ‘Anandavalli' in Neelambari, and ‘Kalaye Devdeva' in Ranjini were sung with deep emotion. Padams with lucid poetry and rich music such as ‘Kantha Thavam' in Atana, ‘Manasi madana taapam' in Suruti, and the popular ‘Hantha njan innu' in Hamsanandi were highlights of the concert.
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Love for dance and poetry
These padams reflected Swati Tirunal's ardent love for dance and imaginative poetry. The soothing rendition of the popular Navaratri kriti ‘Pahi Parvatha' in Arabhi and the Utsava Prabandham kriti ‘Saradindu sama' in Kamboji were well-received by the rasikas.
Accompanying artistes, Vaikom Padmakrishnan on the violin, G. Babu on the mridangam, and Tripunithura Radhakrishnan on the ghatam, gave apt and able support to the veteran vocalist. ‘Nandasudha' in Kurinji, which describes the birth of Lord Krishna on Ashtami Rohini day, was soaked in melody and bhakti.
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Omanakutty wound up the concert with a bhajan in Poorvi and a thillana in Bhoopalam. The concert was organised by Akashavani Thiruvananthapuram.