Confident and planned presentation

The third day’s concert at Sri Sathguru Sangeetha Samajam’s 67th anniversary celebrations was that of Ramakrishna Murthy, who was accompanied by V. S. Gokul on the violin, N. Manoj Siva on mrudangam and S. Sunilkumar on kanjira.

Ramakrishna Murthy started off with ‘Valachi vacchi,’ a Navaragamalika, a collection of nine ragas with each verse set to a different raga, by Patnam Subramania Iyer, who used Venkatesa Mudra (special words of composers to identify their works). Then he invoked the blessings of Lord Ganapati of Tiruchenkattankudi in Tiruvarur district through one of the Shodasa Ganapati Kriti, ‘Vatapi Ganapatim,’in raga Hamsadwani by Muthusamy Dikshithar.

Through his next rendition, ‘Endaro mahanubhavulu,’ by saint composer Thyagarajar, in raga Sri, he saluted all those great men in this world, who submit their hearts at the feet of Rama. Ragas fill our systems with positivity and good vibes. In this regard, the singer selected Todi raga for the evening. His next choice was ‘Karthikeya Gangeya’ by Papanasam Sivan in Todi ragam. The swara exercises were well-timed and appealing with good support from violinist Gokul.

Dikshithar’s ‘Sri Lakshmi Varaham’ (Vishnu in the boar incarnation), in Abhogi raga was on the presiding deity at Kallidaikurichi. The raga’s name was beautifully woven in the charanam line,

Mangalayabhogiyutapadam , and it was well received and applauded by the audience. He concluded the concert with verses from Nandanar Charithram and Tiruppugazh ‘Maalasai kobam’ (Viralimalai) by Arunagirinathar.

The audience was also highly appreciative of the solo performance of percussionists Manoj Siva and Sunil Kumar. The rasika’s interest was kept alive throughout the concert with a confident and planned presentation.

S. Padmanabhan