Vid. Saketharaman from Chennai performed for Sri Ramaseva Mandali Charitable Trust, Mysore North, on the fourth day of its 30th Sri Ramanavami Music Festival at Sri Prasanna Parvati Kalyana Mantapa, V.V. Mohalla, Mysuru. He was accompanied on violin by Dr. Nishanth Chandra, on mridanga by Vid. Arjun Kumar and on ghata by Vid. G.S. Ramanaujam.

Vid. Saketharaman manages both his profession as a software engineer and his passion music extraordinarily well, doing justice to both. With his stamp of Lalgudi bani, he won the audience in each one of the compositions that he presented.

All compositions chosen for the concert were on Lord Rama. ‘Kodandaramam anisham’ by Deekshitar in a rare raga kokilapriya preceded by a bhava-laden ragalapana was extremely pleasant. Abheri ragalapana was presented step  by step in an unhurried manner followed by another surprise ‘Rama nama payasake Krishnanama sakkare’ by Purandaradasaru was highly enjoyed by both the artistes and the listeners.

‘Rama Rama Rama enniro’ by Purandaradasaru in Vasanta was presented in a brisk manner in contrast  with the previous kriti. Mohana was the highlight of the evening. The ragalapana was good with plenty of brigas but in the ragalapana, Mohana kalyani peeped in a couple of times. ‘Ra Ra Rajeevalochana Rama’ by Mysore Vasudevachar set to Adi tala in Vilamba Gati brought smile on the faces of the audience. The niraval came surprisingly at the pallavi line, which was meaningful and never heard before. The post-tani part included a shloka ‘Mata Ramo matpita Ramabhadrah’ followed by Rama nama bhajisidavage unte bhavada bandhana’ by Gopala Dasaru rose to the occasion. But the shloka in Sanskrit suffered sahitya.

Vid. Saketharaman should concentrate more on sahitya while choosing Sanskrit shlokas. This and the next composition ‘Ramanai bhajittal’ in Maand filled the hall with devotion. He concluded the concert with a Lalgudi Tillana in Brindavani. Dr. Nishanth’s playing was equally excellent throughout and won applause frequently. The hold on his violin is amazing and praiseworthy. Vid. Arjun’s understanding of the vocalist was noteworthy. Vid. Ramanujam’s playing was brilliant, both as a support and in taniyavartanam.

—Dr. Padmavathi Narasimhan