Methodical delineations of melodies

BANGALORE: On the fifth day (Wednesday) of the nine day Nadajyothi music festival-2012 held at Sri Kannika Parameshwari temple, Malleshwara, seasoned singer Bharathi Prathap whetted the rasikas’ appetite for the soulful music. Wonderfully accompanied by this year’s Nadajyothi puraskara winner Gurucharan D Garud on the tabla and a seasoned Ravindra Katoti on the harmonium, one liked Bharathi’s sedate musical temperament which her cool and methodical delineations and deep and sonours tone have always unfolded.  Predictably, she began with Yaman. During her detailed and ramified expansions in vilambit (‘He Gajanana Ganapathi,’ ek tal) and drut (‘Mahadeva Deva Maheshwara’, teental) she amply lived upto her reputation. The tans, boltans and sargams were eloquent and beautiful. Her sensitivity of mind was never in doubt, nor was her vision of melodic beauty ever under a cloud when she sang the Madhya laya bandish ‘Pashupate Girijapathe’ (Basanth). The tarana was delightful: She paid her obeisance to the Goddess ‘Durga Maatha’ through a ragamala comprising of Jaijavanthi, Bhoopali, Durga, Basanthabahar, Saraswathi, Desh and other ragas. She delighted the audience by singing Purandaradasa’s ‘Manava shodhisabeku’ (Shivaranjini) with emotional intensity. Well established duo: A well tried and trained vocalist (Tirumale Srinivas) and veena player (Manjula) combined together  to render ‘Laya Vinyasa’ with seven percussionists. It was gratifying to see the sons of multi faced talented musicians Tirumale Srinivas, Anur Dattatreya Sharma and Anur Ananthakrishna Sharama--- Shravan (Live drums), Sunaad (khanjari) and Vinod Shyam (mridanga) respectively treading on their fathers’ path. They exhibited their latent talents and expertise. The concert was further embellished by the accompaniments provided by Somasekhar (ghata), Nagendraprasad (jhambe), Srinivasa Anantaramaiah (morsing) and Bhaskar (tavil).  Appropriate to the title ‘Laya Vinyasa’, the laya aspect was given a prominent place. Two tani avartanas(laya vinyasas) marked the concert. The ragaalapanas were prefixed with a round of percussion preamble. The Bhairavi atatala varna provided the formidable foundation for a vibrant musical experience.Jayachamarajawodeyar’s Athana number ‘Sri Mahaganapathim’ was studded with kalpanaswaras. Thus warmed up audience was treated with Gowla pancharathna krithi ‘Dudukugalada’. The swara portions were rendered on veena with the percussive support. Expert vocalist Srinivas (Shaami) sang the sahitya of the krithi meaningfully well. ‘Pahi pahi Parvatheshwari’ (Anandabhairavi) was in a lively tempo. Bilahari raga was extended into three and a half octave range for Patnam’s ‘Paridaana michchite’. This was adorned with chittaiswaras and kalpanaswaras. The vocalist drew the attention of the rasikas by attaching the portions drawn from the popular Bilahari swarajathi to the swaraprastara. A short laya vinyasa was enjoyable. Swati Tirunal’s ‘Smarajanaka’ (Behag) was followed by an artistic raga, tana and pallavi ‘Bhava raga tala yogamidam sangeetham kaalaateetam’ set to Vagadheeshwari raga and aditala. The concert was rounded off with a Khamach tillana. In the detailed tani avartana the young rhtythm men stole the applause. Vocal treat for ears: Almost 70 minutes’ delay in the start of the vocal recital due to the late arrival of the vocalist not withstanding, thankfully it turned out to be a treat for the ears. The penultimate day’s (Saturday) artiste was Sangeetha Shivakumar from Chennai. She began with Abhogi varna followed by ‘Jaya Janakikantha’ (Nata). ‘Bhuvuni dasudani’ (Sriranjini) in middle tempo enthralled the audience. ‘Mamava Meenakshi’ (Varali)  was ornamented with neraval (‘Rame Shankari’) and swaras. ‘Swararagalaya’ in Chenchukambhoji was crisp. Kambhoji raga was sketched richly on a larger canvass. ‘Evarimata’ was enriched with solid musical phrases and crowned with neraval at‘Bhakta vatsala’and swarakalpana. TG Thyagarajan (violin), Anur Ananthakrishna Sharma (mridanga) and Guruprasanna (khanjari) were in their elements. Veteran violinist A D Zakaraiah, mridangist Arjunan, vocalist Pt Lalitha J Rao were felicitated by acclaimed dancer Vyjayanthi Kashi and social activist KN Venkatanarayana. Gurucharan D Garud received the Nadajyothi puraskara at the valedictory program held on Sunday.