On Day-9 of the Ramotsava music series by Ramabhyudaya Sabha at Alammana Choultry in Srirampet on Apr. 14, Vid. Sunil Gargyan gave a vocal concert with Vid. H.N. Bhaskar on violin, Vid. K.V. Prasad on mridanga and Vid. Ranganath Chakravarthy on ghata.

Sunil’s singing is marked for its deep-rooted classicism, thanks to PSN, the visionary, who created so many of such unique talents.  Sunil opened the concert with the two-speed ‘Vanajakshi’ varnam by Nagapattinam Veerasamy Pillai set to Adi tala. He followed it by ‘PraNamAmyaham Sri Gowrisutam’ in Gowla by Mysore Vasudevacharya, rendering which he displayed his taste for the expression of Sanskrit literature.

Sri Tyagaraja’s ‘Nada sudharasamu’ in Arabhi, prefixed by an appealing alapana and the swarakalpana to the pallavi section displayed his approach for building tempo. Arunachala Kavi’s ‘HanumAne sAmikinta’ in Malayamaruta came as a surprise as this composition is never heard these days in concerts.

Rasikapriya, the last parent scale in the 72 raga system in Karnatak music, also called Rasamanjari in Dikshitar school, is not often heard.

The delineation of this raga was methodical keeping on beautiful moves in framing the melody. H.N. Bhaskar enhanced it with his violin. The Kannada rendition ‘Hindilla Swami Mundilla,’  by Purandara Dasaru marked for good sangatis, also showed Sunil’s keen interest in sahitya expression in an unknown language. ‘Shree Matrubhootam’ by Dikshitar in Kannada with kalpana swaras to the madhyamakala sahitya ‘SuvAsita nava jayanthi pushpa vikasita’ weaving interesting patterns, was a good choice.

Kharaharapriya was the sub-main suite. The alapana was appealing at every stage but the vocalist did not venture the top notes in this or anywhere in the concert. In the popular composition of Sri Tyagaraja ‘Chakkani RAjamArgamu’, the artiste took care to pronounce each word of the sahitya clearly, splitting it at proper, suitable places. The line ‘KanTiki sundara’ was chosen for melodic improvisation as expected, followed by a long swara essay, concentrating on ‘d’, climaxing into a grand muktaya and it was time for Taniyavartanam. The taniyavartanam by K.V. Prasad and Ranganath Chakravarthy was pleasingly elaborate.

Sunil chose to present a Raga Tana Pallavi in Revati. The raga, very short, was again sung in only the mandra and Madhya sthayi, where Sunil’s voice sounds heavenly but the Tara sthayi was not even touched, which was a bit disappointing. But the tana, which was rendered extremely well, made up for it. The pallavi ‘Sri RAma TvAm mama bhaktirEva | Teevra bhaktim dEhi’ set to Trishra Atta tala, was in no ways less engaging, though with no ragamalika swaras.

Tamil composition ‘mAruti varuvAn mangaLam taruvAn’ in Shuddha sarang by D. Krishnaswamy Iyengar, ‘GOpAlaka pAhi mAm anisham’ in Boopala by Swati Tirunal and devaranama sadA enne hrudayadalli’ in Behag by Vijaya Dasaru formed the dessert part of the concert.

—Dr. Padmavathi Narasimhan