Child-prodigies have tasted varied degrees of success in their later career. How has it gone for Shashank, the flautist? This ‘audience-friendly’ artist impressed the listeners with his tone, sruti-alignment, neat gamakas and grip over laya when he began his concert with the Nattakurinji varnam. He presented a nice sketch of Suryakantam, prefacing Tyagaraja’s ‘Muddumomu.’ There were swaras with standard concert-ingredients but the absence of a ‘tala-keeper’ resulted in acceleration. He played a good alapana of Ranjani (‘Durmarga’ Tyagaraja) and showed that he could cover a wide range (‘ga’ in manthra sthayi to ‘sa’ in ati tara sthayi) on the flute.
The focus was largely on melody. He had good ideas but played a trifle too long. He could shift the mike a little to the side, to avoid his occasional gasps being heard. Dr. Jyotsna (violin) sounded a bit harsh with her bow but her alapana was above average. Swaras, in two speeds, had a dose of koraippu and a long and tiring (but tolerable) finale. Meanwhile, Sai Giridhar (mridangam) provided enthusiastic support but gave very little space for Chandrasekhara Sarma (ghatam). Shashank played ‘Kamalapta Kula’ (Brindavana Saranga, Tyagaraja) as a filler and embarked on Kiravani. Some of his passages were blissful, despite the disturbance of blaring horns from the road. The scale-based phrases, leaps over notes and some speedy excursions were displayed with a sense of proportion. Jyotsna’s ‘scalish’ version did not show much of Kiravani. Shashank played a good tanam, including a spell at high speed. While his virtuosity impressed, his gasping distracted. Jyotsna’s bowing suited tanam-playing. Shashank sang the pallavi first, for the benefit of the audience. After a few rounds he shifted to the ragamalika mode. His Kapi was soothing. He played Hamsanandi and returned to Kiravani for the fast swaras and anulomam. He did a khanda nadai variation and went through the standard format of koraippu and korvai. Sai Giridhar enjoyed playing his thani at the accelerated pace and banged away to glory. Chandrasekhara Sarma utilised his limited opportunity well. In the post-thani session, the Khamas javali, ‘Marubari,’ sounded good.
Shashank has evolved well as a musician. He did a good job of what he chose to play but the harder demand on him is to show his class over the more ancient ragas that are phrase-based. Ranjani and Kiravani are not in that category.
