On the fourth day of the music series of Sri Ramabhyudaya Sabha at Alammana Choultry in Srirampet, Vid. J.A. Jayant gave a flute concert with Vid. H.N. Bhaskar on violin, Vid. Kishore Ramesh on mridanga and Vid. Guruprasanna on kanjira.

Jayant is a young flautist who has been performing for more than two decades, which shows in his playing. In all the three major items that he took up for the evening, his steady explorations and his creative mind were brought into being.

While Sri Tyagaraja’s ‘ADamoDigalade RAmayya’ in Charukeshi and ‘Chinna nADe nA’ in a rare raga Kalanidhi, which is one of the few ragas in which Tyagaraja has composed a single composition and the appealing number ‘UyyAla loogavayya’ in Neelambari were highly enjoyable renditions, the main items of the evening Kamavardhini, kAnada and the RTP in ragamalika were a testimony to the creative versatility of the artiste.

‘Appa RAma Bhakti Ento’ in Kamavardhini, decorated with a good Alapana and captivating swaras to the pallavi, was marked for sonorous blowing and control over breath. But neither in this nor in the next composition ‘Sukhi Evvaro RAma’ by Sri Tyagaraja, did the expected neraval happen, which was a little disappointing.

The RTP set to Khanda tripurta tALa was interesting with three ragas — Kalyani, Mohana and Reetigowla. Jayant sang the pallavi to make the sahitya known to all — ‘Gokulanilaya Mohana MadhusUdana’ in the first half and ‘PanDava pAlaka pAhi’ in the second.

Jayant used variety of flutes according to the sthayi (some of them his own creation, a particular one was unusually long) and the elaboration of each raga though short was filled with aesthetic appeal. The quick change over of the ragas from one to another was handled with supreme ease by Jayant and also Bhaskar, whose playing won appreciation from the crowd frequently. Kishore Ramesh and Guruprasanna played a vibrant taniyavartanam in addition to enhancing the concert with their playing throughout.

While it is to be agreed that blowing is not easy and it is difficult to align for a blowing instrument to align perfectly with shruti, Whether Jayant was tired with travels or it was the microphone issue, there was a shruti problem right from the beginning, which was especially more evident in contrast with the violin. This marred the beauty of the concert but it was however resolved to most extent by the RTP time.

After Tani, Jayant played a couple of catchy numbers — ‘Venkatachalanilayam’ by Purandara Dasaru in Sindhu Bhairavi, ‘Pibare RAmarasam’ in Ahir Bhairavi by Sadashiva Brahmendra, Bhajan ‘Raghupati RAghava RAjARAm’ and concluded the concert.

—Dr. Padmavathi Narasimhan