Sedate raga representation

FEATURED BY Kalakruthi as part of its fifth anniversary celebrations at Sri Sankaralayam in Chetpet on April 15, the recital of Mani Krishnaswamy was a delightful demonstration of her dexterity. The recital followed a function presided over by Bhanumathi Ramakrishna, ex-director and principal, Government College of Music, Chennai.

Mani Krishnaswamy's rendition of the pieces, ``Mahaganapathim'' (Nattai), ``Divakaratanujam'' (Yadukulakambodi), ``Varuvaro'' (Sama) and ``Chinnanate'' (Kalanidhi) reflected her keenness to present them quite solemnly in deft musical versions. The vocalist's elaboration of Kambodi as the recital's major raga was thoughtful and included a good number of gratifying phrases aimed at a sedate representation of the raga's essential features.

The piece, ``Evarimata'' of Tyagaraja succeeded it satisfyingly in clear diction. The singer presented a spell of pleasing neraval and swara passages.

Her moving depiction of the pieces, ``Sobhillu'' (Jaganmohini), ``Vagaladi'' (Behag) and ``Kanakasaila'' (Punnagavarali) attested to her mature perception of the classical details. The vocalist concluded with a placid portrayal of Suruti through a mangala sloka. The piece was ``Pathikiharati'' of Tyagaraja. Padma Krishnan provided mellow vocal assistance.

Chidambaram Durai Balasubramaniam's accompaniment on the violin was sensitive. His performance in the phase of Kambodi revealed his appreciation of the vocalist's calm and scholarly style.

Kumbakonam A. Saravanan (mridangam), Papanasam S. Sethuraman (kanjira) and Adambakkam K. Shankar (ghatam) extended lively percussion support.

Rigorous recital

The recital of Lalitha Sivakumar and Gayathri Sundaram featured by the Vishva Kala Kendra of Jaigopal Garodia Hindu Vidyalaya in West Mambalam during the Sri Rama Navami music festival, was impressive. The Carnatic rigour with which the duo delivered the pieces, ``Sri Ganapathini'' (Sowrashtram), ``Janakiramana'' (Suddhaseemanthini), ``Sripathe'' (Nagaswaravali), ``Swamikki'' (Kedaragowla), and ``Ikanannu'' (Bhairavi) was illustrative of the intensity of their training. Their description of the ragas, Nagaswaravali and Bhairavi with a taste for finer expressions drew praise. The swara exercises for the piece, ``Sripathe'' were tasteful and metrically precise.

M. A. Krishnaswamy supported the recital ably on the violin. His narrative of Nagaswaravali was neat. Thanjavur Ramadas provided enjoyable percussion support on the mridangam.

Convincing rendition

Young V. Shankar gave a convincing vocal recital at Sri Kaveri Vinayakar Temple in Saligramam on the Tamil New Year day.

His sketch of Mohanam as a preface to the piece, ``Ganapathiye Undan'' of Thanjavur Sankara Iyer revealed his enthusiasm to convey its details in an effective vocal style.

The vocalist's raga delineation in Anandabhairavi was equally attractive in a course aligned uniformly to the sruthi.

His completion of it with a crisp execution of the piece, ``Himachala'' evoked appreciative audience attention.

The singer's delivery of ``Balagopala'' of Muthuswamy Dikshitar in Bhairavi was dainty.

K. Satagopan (violin), Master Kumar (mridangam) and Gowrishankar (ghatam) gave adequate support to the recital.

R.V.

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