Music lovers of Madurai were treated to a wonderful concert by Bombay Jayashri át the 67th anniversary celebrations of Sri Sathguru Sangeetha Samajam on Sunday.
She was accompanied by Mysore Srikanth on the violin, Delhi Sri Sairam on the mrudangam and S. Sunil Kumar on the ganjira.
Jayashri invoked the blessings of the presiding deity of Madurai, Angayarkanni, through a rare varnam, ‘Tarunam en taye,’ in Raga Sama by Lalgudi Jayaraman.
Then she chose to sing ‘Rara ma intidaka’ in Asaveri by saint composer Thyagaraja.
The next song was Dikshithar’s composition on Vrinchipuram, where Lord Siva is known as Sri Margabandeswarar, in Ragam Nata Kuranji, ‘Parvati kumaraṃ bhavaye.’ It was rendered with full devotion and compassion.
Jayashri rendered at brilliant pace’Darini teusukonti’ by Thyagaraja in Suddha Saaveri on Goddess Tripurasundari at Tiruvettiyur. The chittaswarams were well punctuated and they brought out the beauty of the raga.
Then the singer launched into the main raga of the evening, Bhairavi, for Thyagaraja’s ‘Enaati nomu phalamo.’ The vocalist improvised the raga suitably and elaborated it to a beautiful effect in all three sthayis, Violonist Srikanth gave an excellent repartee to the singer.
The audience were happy to hear Hamsanadam as the RTP ragam for the pallavi, ‘Raga Swaroppini.’ The swarams and alapanai for ragas Bageshri, Ahir Bhairav , Chakravaham and Mohanam, were very well applauded . Sri Sairam and Sunil Kumar provided an energetic take on the pallavi and a wonderful thani.
The singer’s final pieces included ‘Vellaittamarai’ in Raga Anandabhairavi by Subramania Bharati and a thillana by Lalgudi in Behag, ‘Madhavan maruga.’ Throughout the concert Jayashri was involved in bringing out the bhava of every raga.
S. Padmanabhan
