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| Photo courtesy: Nadasurabhi | |
At the Indian Heritage Academy in Koramangala the hall was packed to capacity for the carnatic concert of Dr.Sreevalsan Menon from Trichur, Kerala. He was accompanied by a specialist team consisting of Smt.Charulatha Ramanujam on violin, Sri. Jayachandra Rao on Mridangam and Sri.MA Krishnamurthy on Ghatam. The overall concert experience was that of peace and tranquility- sowkyam, which is a very important face of this Classical Indian Music system.
Starting with a traditional todi raga varnam Eraa naapai , Dr.Menon presented the pleasant composition Rakhshamaam Charanaagatam in Gambira nattai. There were few avarthanams of swaram meshing seamlessly into the sahityam. A well received devagandhari alapana which was ably reciprocated by the violinist, was followed by Vina raadaa naa manavi, a composition of Thyagaraja. A detailed presentation of the sub-main piece in Kalyani with Thyagaraja's landmark kriti Vasudevayani with neraval and swaras at Raaga Taala Gatulanu was very impressive. Close on the heels of this major piece came a fairly detailed Saveri alapanai and the selected song was a Muthuswamy Dikshitar piece Kari Kalabha mukham. There was also a suitable swaraprasthara.
Before taking up the main item of the evening, Sreevalsan presented the ever green Swati Tirunal's Bhogeendra saayinam in the lovely raga Kuntalavaraali. Although a filler, he chose to give a short swaram sequence for this song as well. Then, Kapi was taken for elaboration. The Thyagaraja's master piece Intha Sowkya mani ne was majestically presented to bring out all its beauty. Neraval and swraprasthara was at Swara raaga laya. This was followed by Tani aavarthanam by the percussionists. The tail pieces consisted of the lilting folk song in kKnnada Etara cheluva rangayya, incidentally also displaying the genius of Purandara dasa in producing a wide variety in his compositions. A Malayalam piece Karuna cheyvaan was a beautiful one. An MD Ramanathan composition in Bhageshri, Saagara sayana vibho was a masterly emotional presentation.
The accompanying artists definitely lifted the quality of the concert which was in itself of a very high caliber from Sreevalsan menon. The important aspect was that there were no excesses of any kind and the mood of involvement and enjoyment was never disturbed. The selection and sequencing of the songs gave the programme a wholesome satisfactory effect.
It was announced that Nadasurabhi will hold the Madurai Mani Iyer Centenary concert with the performance of Padmabhushan Sangita Kalanidhi Sri.TV Sankaranarayanan on 15th July 2012.
