The musical tribute was started by Vid M K Saraswathi, the senior veena player of Mysore. She appropriately opened the session with a compositions of Muthuswami Dixitar , ‘MahaGanapathim’ in the raga Nata and a Devaranama ‘Smaraneyonde Salade’ in Malayamarutha. Vani Satish from Bengaluru presented ‘Nadatanumanisham’ (Chintamani-Tyagaraja) and ‘Akhilandeshwari’(Dwijavanthi-Dixitar) in a pleasing way.
This was followed by Prashanth of Bengaluru, Chandankumar (flute), Manasanayana, Karthik (violin) and many more. Instrumentalists changing their roles was the highlight of the day. The opener M K Saraswathi and the last singer Mysore Manjunath surprised everyone with their vocal presentation. Manjunath proved that he is a good singer as well. It was more surprising to watch Arjunkumar, a well known mridangist, who was playing flute in the Goshti gana!
The Goshti gana which started with the traditional Pillari Geethas had only one Pancharathna Kruthi as a representation. Nevertheless, the participation of many musicians under the able guidance of Vid Mahalakshmi and Yadugiri joined in paying their respects to the great composers.
Lively concert
Tyagaraja sangeetha Sabha had organised a vocal concert by Vid Geetha Putti recently at Prarthana Mandira. M P Jyothi(violin) and P Nataraj (mridanga) accompanied her.
Geetha is groomed by T P Vaidyanathan and G S Rajalaksmi and G S Kamala. She has a sweet and a soft voice that suits her manodharma well. A singing that shuns acrobats of any sort is naturally pleasing to the ears. There is a liveliness in her singing that doesn’t go unnoticed. The creative expression touches you with their simplicity.
The Shree Raga varna ‘Samininne’ paved way to obeisance to the elephant headed ‘Gajavadana’ in the Raga Shree ranjani, a composition of Papanasam Shivan. A Kruthi of MahaVaidyanathayyar in Nagaswaravali ‘Shankara Guruvara’ was melodious.
‘Ekamreshanayike’of Muthuswami Dixitar in the Raga Karnataka Shuddha saveri carried a clear enunciation. It was raga Kalyani that she opted for alapana. The mellow shades of this beautiful raga were sketched in a short alapa. ‘Amma Ravamma’ of Tyagaraja was presented with an expansion of “Thamarasadala nethri Tyagarajuni mithri” decorated with Kalpanaswaras.
‘Bagayanayya’ (chandrajyothi-Tyagaraja) and ‘Karunichi nannu’ (navarasakannada-Mysore Vasudevachar) were attractive with crispness and ragabhava . The main raga of the day was Madhyamavathi . The slow expansion of the raga suited the vilamba kala of the composition. The phrases she sang successfully created a calmness which was followed by the serenity of the Kruthi ‘Ramakathasudha’ of Tyagaraja. This feeling augmented with a neraval and kalpanaswara. ‘Enu baredeyo brahma’ , a Devaranama of Purandara Dasa in Mukhari and Shivaranjani was meaningful with the sanchari bhavas. Geetha was well supported by Jyothi and Nataraj.