Music & dance reviews

Shankara Jayanthi fest

Sri Tyagaraja Gana Sabha conducted the Annual Music Festival last week, in connection with the Shankara Jayanthi. Flute, vocal and Gamaka recitals, apart from religious rituals were held at the Sri Vani Vidya Kendra. Senior Vocalist and teacher Nagamani Srinath presided over the festival and received the title “Kalabhooshana” and four artistes – Ashwathnarayan (tabla), Nirmala Prasanna and A V Prasanna (gamaka) and M S Sanath Kumar (veda) – were felicitated in the “Sadas”.

Young and enthusiastic musician Amrith Naga Sundar gave a vocal recital in the festival, on Monday. He has just completed his BE degree and after taking lessons from K Varadarangan, is being trained now by T S Satyavathi, senior vocalist and scholar. High spot of his concert was a Pallavi, but not the usual one! By selecting a ‘Dwinade Pallavi’ he converted it into a exhilarating experience. ‘Khanda’ in the first half and ‘Thisra’ nade in the second half of the Adi Tala, with an intelligent set-up. The ‘Ragabhava’ of Panthuvarali was also appealing. The lyrics of Annamacharya in ragamalika was very evocative.

A number of compositions were delivered in the second half of the concert. A devaranama (Ninna Maganene Gopi), Smarawaram (Sadashiva Brahmendra), Astapadi (Jayadeva) and a Vachana (Kallanagara Kandare). Though imploring mood of the lyric was brought out, he may develop a sense of proportion and balance, by some more stage experience. But what was noteworthy was the musical involvement and his career is worth watching. The accompanists – B K Raghu (violin), T S Chandrasekhar (mridanga) and Dayananda Mohithe (ghata) – gave excellent support to the young vocalist.

Promising dancers

The Bharathanatya recital of Nirupama and Akshatha, for “Every Friday Cultural Evening Programme” was a pleasant experience. Elder of them, Nirupama has just completed her BE in Industrial Engineering and has been adjudged as the “Best Dancer” of Jain College. Her younger sister Akshatha is pursuing her BA degree and has won prizes in NCC rifle shooting and horse riding also. Both are students of Natya Niketan and have passed senior examination.

Their disciplined training was very much evident in the initial composition “Sabhapathiku”, accounting for a good grounding. Especially the swara part was pleasant, with attractive poses. They executed the Jathis in the Varna (Nee inda – Dhanyasi) with ease and assurance. A dignified stance and neat “Thattu Mettu” lent credibility to their performance. Both the devaranama (Gummana Kareyadire) and Jawadi (Nee maata) – were evocative and concluded with a Tillana of Sumanesharanjini. With some more stage experience they can bring depth to their Abhinaya and some more intensified training will bring the full impact of their dancing talent. Srivatsa’s melodious vocal was the other high spot of the programme. Guru Revathi Narasimhan (natuvanga), Gurumurthy (mridanga) and Vivek Krishna (flute) – gave good support from the wings.