Gayathri Venkataraghavan began her concert with an invoking stuti, ‘Vaakkundam nalla manamundaam,’ on Lord Vinayaga, on the second day of the 67th anniversary celebrations of Sri Sathguru Sangeetha Samajam here on Saturday. She was accompanied by Charumathi Raghuraman on the violin, N. Manoj Siva on the mrudangam and Tiruchi S. Krishnasamy on the ghatam.
Her next song was the kriti , ‘Naradamuni vedalina’, in Raga Panthuvaral by saint composer Thyagaraja, in which he brings out the good qualities of Sage Narada.
Her next rendition, ‘Narasimhagaccha parabrahmapuccha’, in Raga Mohanam by Dikshidar on the presiding deity of Sholingur was well received by the audience.
To coincide and to celebrate the birth of Lord Hanuman , verses from Ramavataram , popularly referred to as Kamba Ramayanam ,was sung for the dialogue between Sita and Hanuman.
The main raga of the evening, kambhoji, classified as female raga (i.e., Ragini), was very well taken up by the singer, conveying the sentiments of shringara, hasya and karuna, for Shyama Sastri’s ‘Devi ni padasarasamule’. The vocalist paid salutations to the presiding deity of Madurai through a vrittam from Meenakshi Pancharatnam, ‘Shrimad Sundara Naayikaam’, by sage Adi Sankara.
Raga Surya (which is very rarely heard in concerts) was taken up for the pallavi ‘panchamuki maruti namosthuthe,’ and was very well applauded by the rasikas.
The final pieces included ‘Bare pandurenga’ by Saint Thukkaram, Bhaja Mathavam by Mysore Vasudevachariyar in Kapi and Matha parasakthi by Mahakavi Bharathiar.
Accompanist Charumathi Raguram on the violin performed with uniform involvement in bringing out the beauty of the lyrics as well as the swaras and won the admiration of rasikas. Manoj Siva on the mrudangam and Tiruchi Krishnasamy on the ghatam coordinated with each other to provide percussive support.
S. Padmanabhan
