The audience at Ganabharathi’s Veene Seshanna Bhavana were entertained to a brisk, beautiful and an energetic Karnatak vocal music on Friday, 24th June 2022. The concert was arranged in memory of Smt. Sugunamma Dayalu and Smt. G. Mahalaxamma who  turned centenarians, by the families of Mrs. and Dr. C.G. Narasimhan.

Vid. K.S. Vishnudev (originally Vishnudev Namboodiri) endowed with a powerful voice gave a well-planned concert for two-and-a- half hours. His choice of ragas were appreciably well knit. After the Varna in Shudha Dhanyasi  he sang  ‘Sri Mahaganapathim’ in raga Gaula appended with beautiful  swaras to the pallavi line.

Ranjani raga was rendered well in high speed but the brigas sung by him were of utmost clarity. A slower tempo for that raga would have been more suitable. He sang a rare kriti of Swati Tirunal ‘Kalaye deva devam’ in that raga.

Next he chose to elaborate Bilahari and successfully brought out in all its colours and presented with vigour and speed. The brief shift of the tonic that he made at the swara ’Dhaivatha’ resulting in Yamuna kalyani came as a surprise gift.

Vid. H.N. Bhaskar in all raga passages and swara prastharas  gave his best and followed the singer’s style and elevated the concert. The kriti of Vasudevacharya ‘Sri Chamundeshwari’ is not new to Mysureans but the neraval at ‘raka nishakara’  and swara kalpanas  were the highlights of his talent.

This was followed by an engaging tani avarathanam by maestros Vid. U. Jayachandra Rao and Vid. G.S. Ramanujan on mridanga and ghata respectively and made the audience sit up and enjoy the concert.

Last part of the concert witnessed ragam  tanam and pallavi in  raga Bhairavi. In that half of an hour he sang, full justice was done to the raga and special mention he deserves for the detailed tanam sung in all the three speeds. The tala he chose for ‘Odi  barayya  Purandhara  Vittala  Sangeetha  lola’ was Khanda Jampe. The familiar words of the pallavi made lasting impression on the audience. He rounded off the concert with ‘Jagadodharana’ and a tillana of Veene Seshanna.

Vid. Vishnudev was able to sustain his energy level till the end. The present world is fast in everything including music. However, it would not be out of place to remind the singer to sing at least one really vilamba kala  kriti in a concert.

—Mrs. Neeraja Achuta Rao