Listeners dive to sahithya-bhava

The Surabhi Gana Mandira , as a part of its silver jubilee celebrations, had arranged a vocal concert by M S Sheela at the Prasanna SeethaRama Mandira of Sri Bidaram Krishnappa on June 10.

She was accompanied by Nalina Mohan (Violin), B C Manjunath (Mridanga) and V S Ramesh (Ghata). Sheela treated the packed hall with her vibrant and power packed singing.

Sheela is one of our senior most artistes who is known for her matured presentation laced with clear enunciation and a perfect hold on shruthi and laya. She is gifted with an attractive voice that easily traverses in different octaves. All these are topped with a classic style which gives importance to gamakas.

The opening Varna ‘Ninnekori’ in kanada gave a good start to the concert. She had stuffed the concert with a number of compositions apart from a raga tana pallavi. The invocatory ‘Sri Shankaraguruvaram’ in Nagaswravali had a frill of brisk kalpana swaras too. The structure and the bhava , which are the two crucial aspects in a raga, blossoms naturally in her raga delineation.

The accurate phrases capture these aspects to bring the unique emotional ingredient. The main raga Todi and also Mohana, in which she presented a Pallavi were a proof of this. Her alapana of Todi was complementary to the majestic and slow pace of the Keerthana ‘Kaddanuvariki’. The experience and maturity enabled in making every sangathi cardinal. It is this quality that is apprehended by a musician.

She creates an opportunity for the listeners to dive in to the sahithya bhava with her clear enunciation. ‘Varava kodu enage vagdevi’ (Kalyani-Khanda chapu-Kankadasa), ‘Emani pogadudura Rama’ (Veeravasantha-Adi-Tyagaraja) and ‘Samayamide nannubrochutaku’ (Budhamanohari-Adi-Muthaiah Bhagavathar) were evidence for it. The neraval at “Shashi mogada nasunageya bale”was complementary to both the composition and the raga Kalyani.

The two Kruthis of Mysore Vasudevacharya   ‘ShreeHarivallabhe’(Udayaravichandrike-Adi)and ‘Paripahimam Shree Dasharathe’(Shubhapanthuvarali-Adi) were very attractive.

The short and cute raga tana pallavi in the raga Mohana did please the rasikas. The pallavi was set to Tisra triputa tala in Khanda nade. Nalina Mohan was at her best on the violin.

Her approach to raga and the kalpana swaras were very pleasing. The percussion support by B C Manjunath and V S Ramesh is also worth mentioning. They enhanced the musical experience with their controlled strokes.

Chamber concert

Young and upcoming artiste Aishwarya Vidya Raghuram gave a chamber music concert in the morning on June 10 at Nivedithanagar. A disciple of P S Narayanaswami, Aishwarya was accompanied by Adithi Krishnaprakash(Violin) and H L Shivashankaraswami(Mridanga).

The voice requires tremendous stamina to sing without mike along with accompaniments. Aishwarya proved her stamina by presenting a number of Kruthis for the pleasure of rasikas present.

She has an attractive and easy flowing voice backed by classic style and good manodharma. After a Varna ‘Sarasuda’ in the raga Saveri, she moved on to ‘Rama nannu brovara’, a composition of Tyagaraja in Harikambodhi. A lively kalpana swaras followed after a neraval at “Meppulakai kannatavu”.

Reethigowla, the vakra raga was developed with confidence by her . Yet another Kruthi of Tyagaraja ‘Cheraraavademira’was presented enthusiastically making one forget the gloomy mood of the composer ! Many of the songs she presented like ‘Sarasijanabha sodari’ (Naga gandhari-Muthuswami Dixitar),‘Maakelara’(Ravichandrike),‘Orachupu juchethi nyayama’(Kannadagowla) were in the same mood.

Shyama Shastri’s ‘Brovavamma’(Manji) and ‘Hiranmayeem Lakshmim’(Lalitha-Muthuswami Dixitar) were an exception. With more stage experience, Aishwarya has all the possibilities of a  bright future in music.