Music & dance reviews

The glory of harmonium

The Bharatha Bharathi Prathishtana along with Sri Jayarama Seva Mandali felicitated veteran harmonium player Palladam S Venkataramana Rao, last week.

It was followed by a solo harmonium recital by Venkataramana Rao, accompanied by Krishna Prasad (co-player), Brinda Raghunath on violin, B Raghunath on mridanga and R Ramesh on ghata. Rao presented many familiar pieces but capped his efforts with an evocative exposition of ‘Daarini Thelusukonti,’ one of the fine compositions of Saint Tyagaraja.

The composer says “O merciful Goddess! You are the Mother who confers inestimable prosperity and wealth, who protects devotees… That I have been privileged to witness the Friday worship of yours …..”.

The delineation of this Keerthana cast a mood of sobriety on the audience, gathered in good number. Earlier, he opened the concert with the popular Natakuranji varna. The invocatory piece ‘Gajavadana Beduve’ was pleasing with brief swara and followed by all time favourite ‘Endaro Mahanubhavulu,’ the popular Panchayat krithi He concluded with a devotional ‘Sharanara Surabhoja.’

With his command over the instrument, Rao cast a spell and there was brevity of expression in the recital and swayed the audience.

Young vocalist

Earlier, Dr Ramya Mohan gave a vocal recital supported by Brinda Raghunath and Venkata Krishna on violin and mridanga, respectively. Ramya has been groomed by M A Narasimhachar, a veteran vocalist and popular teacher. She is a child psychiatrist in London and is continuing her music practice with Shivashakthi Nesan.

In the current concert Dr Ramya chose a number of well known compositions, which caught the attention of the listeners on her musical potential. For instance, ‘Ranjani Niranjani’ was liked by all and ‘Sarasaksha Paripalayamam’ had brief but pleasing alapana. A infrequent krithi of Maharajapuram Santhanam was also evocative. With her good voice and simple presentation ‘Dasa Dasara Maneya’ was also appreciated.

With some more training and concert experience Ramya Mohan can improve her ragalapana, nerval and swara prasthara, to reach great heights.

Flute duet

Father-son duo B K Anantharam and Amith Nadig gave a flute recital for Malleswaram Sangeetha Sabha on Saturday at the Sri Rama Mandira in Malleswaram.

Latangi chosen by the duo for a brief elaboration, which is the 63rd mela and a popular ‘rakti’ raga.

The alap was short and impactful, which vindicated their reputation as experienced flautists. ‘Marivere,’ the popular krithi in Latangi was also delightful. The reasonably spacious alap of Kambodhi was shared by them by turns and the keerthana “O Ranga Shayee” followed the established pattern. It was tuneful and wholesome.

The concert came to an end with the devaranama ‘Jagadoddarana.’ Accompanists J K Sridhar (violin), K U Jayachandra Rao (mridanga) and B N Chandramouli (khanjari) – shared the honours with the main artistes.