Being the daughter and disciple of an eminent guru like Neyveli Santanagopalan sure gives Sriranjani a cutting edge over others of her ilk. And in the recently held Kalvantha 2014, she attested her growth as an artiste in her own right. The choice of kritis, the essaying of the raga(s), the manodharma aspects were indeed unique and appealing too.
The mandatory varnam in Saveri (“Sarasudaa ninne kori…”) was dealt with the competence of a maven; from there on were the more exclusive raga like Saraswati Manohari and Hemavathi for instance. Expressive sangathis enhanced the old-time favourite, “Entha Vedukondu Raghava” with the neraval at “Chinta Teerchute’ which was appropriate and touching. The melodic improvisation showcased her artistry and expertise. Dikshitar’s divine kriti on “Shri Kanthimatim” was essayed through an exotic alapana in Hemavathi with its characteristic dhaivatam and nishada figuring in the poorvangam endowing the raga with a beatific quality. Her rendering of the sahitya at ‘Hiranya mani maya” was aesthetically appealing. This streak of tossing up an alphabet or two in the lyric gave a stylistic edge to her manner or singing but then, as the concert progressed it seemed to become her trademark irrespective of the emotion displayed in the kritis she chose to render. For instance, “Paridaana micchithe paalinthu vemo” in Bilahari went on a fast track that did not befit a lyric with this emotional content; similarly, the centrepiece in Dhanyasi, whose preface she essayed in an all-enveloping measure, with M. Rajeev on violin tracing the raga contours in his inimitable manner, also went for the ‘toss’ ; though it elicited an applause each time time she made that stylistic jerk at the charanam, such quirks need not seep in so early in one’s career even if one were to be the offspring of a maestro. Despite the extensive neraval and virtuosity, one could but notice this aberration. Arjun Ganesh was a little maestro on the percussion.
Earlier, we had Vivek Sadshivam giving us a glimpse into his commendable talent and repertoire with artistic rendition of kritis like “Vaadera daivamu manasa” in Panthuvarali, “Gathi neevani ne” in Thodi and “Samana rahithe Amba” (Saranga Tharangini - a la GNB). While the Panthuvarali swarakalpana was nothing out of the ordinary, the same cannot be said of the Thodi, a really difficult raga for an up and coming artiste to handle. Vivek did it with aplomb. The ‘aakaara’ merged alapana brought out the essence of the majestic Thodi where the wordplay in the anupallavi: ‘Matini ento vedaki sammatini shri …matini” was stated with beautiful emphasis on the alliteration, enriching the content. Taniavarthanam by Trichy Aravindh drew instant applause. Aditya M.P. on the violin made for an awesome threesome.
