The second day of Ragapriya concert series witnessed the vocal concert of Nithyasri Mahadevan with orchestral support from M.A. Krishnaswamy on the violin, Neyveli Skanda Subramanian on the mridangam and Tiruchi Krishnasamy on the ghatam.
Nithyasri started with ‘Thanjam endral’, an Abhogi Raga varnam by Papanasam Sivan, by invoking the blessings of Kapali (Lord Shiva) of Mylapore, which caught the attention of the rasikas at the very beginning of the concert. ‘Okapari Judagarada’ by Saint Tyagaraja in ragam ‘kalavati’ was rendered next, in which the Saint pleads with Lord Rama to look at him once like He looked at sage Suka.
Then came Dikshidar’s ‘Chetha Shree Balakrishnam Bhajare’ in ‘Dwijavanti’, which was rendered effortlessly with the able support of the percussionists. The singer then presented an old favourite, popularised by D.K. Pattammal, ‘Vinave O manasa!’, by Saint Tyagaraja.
The main song, ‘Parama Pavana Rama’ in ‘Poorvi Kalyani’ by Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar (teacher of Ariyakudi), was well delineated and appreciated by audience. The singer and the percussionists maintained the metronome throughout the song.
The violinist played complex phrases very nicely with the singer right from the well delineated alapana to the chittai swaras. Both the mridangist and the ghatam vidwan showed their maturity in their support to the singer during the ‘Tani avardanam’.
‘Mamadurai Meenakshi’ on Goddess Meenakshi in the words of Kallidaikurichi Sundaram, in raga ‘Bagesri’ and ‘Ragathil Sirandathu’ (with the conclusion that one which has proper shruti, svara and sukha bhavam) of Kadalur Subramaniyam in ‘Ragamalika’, a ‘thillana’ in ‘Nalina kanthi’ were the final pieces rendered.
The audience were satisfied with the energetic singing that the singer provided.
S. Padmanabhan
