JOIN USThe 93rd birthday of Dr R K Srikantan, the nonagenarian vocalist, was celebrated with the Sankranthi festival last week. Veena, flute and vocal concerts were held and a few senior artistes and organizers were also felicitated on the occasion.
Iishwarya Srinivas (nee Raghavan) is a chartered accountant and B (Mus) graduate. A recipient of Central Government scholarship, she has won a few prizes. But her concert could not testify to that merit.
No doubt the Varna lent a good start for her and the ‘Varasiddi Vinayakam’ was rendered with brief swara. In between she selected a few good compositions like ‘Evarani’ and ‘Ennaganu.’ She chose Bilahari for elaboration but was no more convincing. The alapana was of some substance and the swara was not free from slips.
But the krithi ‘Dorakuna ituvanti’ almost made up for the lapse. In the end she presented a sloka and the devaranama ‘Narayana Ninna.’ With continued higher lessons and home work she can reach great heights.
But the instrumentalists – Nalina Mohan on the violin, J Vaidyanathan on the mridanga and Dayanand Mohithe on the Ghata – accompanied with aplomb.
Traditional veena
R K Raghavan who played Veena in the Sankranthi festival, hails from a reputed family of veena players.
He opened his concert with the evergreen varna ‘viriboni.’ After the invocatory piece ‘Gam Ganapathe,’ the ‘Ramaninne’ was performed. While the chitteswara of ‘Vageeswari’ was attractive, the ‘Ganamurthe’ was soulful.
‘Nada Tanumanisham,’ in the raga Chitharanjini was noted for its purity of style and the ‘Brochevarevarura’ was noted for its purity of style. Hindola reverberated with glowing cadences of the melody, which was attended to in greater detail.
‘Samajavaragamana’ the familiar krithi was neatly presented, without overdoing anything.
His veena was traditional and the rendering was simple sans gimmicks. Raghavan concluded with a Thillana of Veena Seshanna in the raga Behag. Young percussion duo – S Prashanth and G S Nagaraj supported on the mridanga and khanjari, respectively.
Sparkling vocal
Curtains came down on the ‘Nirantharam’ of the Sangeetha Sambhrama last Sunday with a vocal recital. Young Abhishek Raghuram is fast emerging as a popular musician and is getting invitations from all corners! He is also heir to a reputed musicians lineage. Abhishek spurred the interest with a soulful composition ‘Suryamurthe.’
The Dikshitar’s composition in the raga Sourashtra suited the occasion as it was a Sunday. Bilahari bristled with an aesthetic touch. Swara for the ‘Smara sada maanasa Balagopalam,’ steered the concert to a sparkling course, which showed his prowess and competence.
‘Sarvam Brahma Mayam’ was also pleasing. Charulatha Ramanujam (violin), Anand Ananthakrishnan (mridanga) and Guru Prasanna (Khanjari) – combined effectively to add to the enjoyment.