On Sept. 13, young vocalist from Bengaluru, Vidu. Spoorthi Rao, sang for SPVGMC Trust accompanied by Vid. H.N. Bhaskar on violin, Vid. Adamya Ramanand on mridanga and Vid. Shamith Gowda on ghata.

Spoorthi has made a remarkable progress over the recent years. On Friday, she proved yet again that she is a skilled vocalist. She opened the concert with the popular Bhairavi varna ‘Veeri bONi’ by Pacchamiriyam Adiappayya. An experienced artiste that she is, surprisingly, the charana suffered tala in the second ettugade swara.

The same was observed in the following composition too ‘MahAgaNapatim’ in NAta by Dikshitar wherein instead of applying the Ekatala she sang the kriti in Adi tAla, which she realised and corrected only at the time of swarakalpana at the end of the composition rendition. But after this, the girl was careful not to make more mistakes.

Spoorthi excels in developing neraval and kalpana swaras.  ‘Sri Tyagaraja’s ‘Bantureeti kolu’ saw an extensive neraval at ‘RAmanAmamanu vara khadgamivi’ especially in the melkalam that gained appreciation from the audience.

Spoorthi’s selection of compositions for the evening was adequate. She did not choose to sing too many compositions but she tried to do justice to what she sang, elaborating two main compositions — one in TOdi ‘RAjuvadale jUtA murArE’ which is composed on Lord Ranganatha describing him on procession adorned with radiant divine ornaments studded with precious stones on the bank of the river Kaveri in Srirangam as all the kings serve him.

Spoorthi’s selection of the line ‘kAveri teeramunu’ was apt. She elaborated the sahitya wonderfully well, following it with intelligent, breath-taking swaras.

Senior violinist Bhaskar’s smiling encouragement to the young artiste throughout was notable.

After a racy filler ‘NenarunchinAnu’ by Sri tyagaraja in MAlavi in challenging speed, Spoorthi took the other main item — an RTP in Shubha Pantuvarali. This was welcome as no artiste had sung this raga here so far in this season. The Raga delineation was excellent with even a grahabeda at ‘n’ for Mohana and clear flowing gamakas, reminding the listener of her Guru Gayatri, especially in the higher notes. The tanam, both by the vocalist and on the violin, was outstanding, unleashing a variety of techniques. The sahitya chosen for the pallavi was ‘Satya JnyAnAnandamayam Sarvam VishNumayam,’ a line from the well-known composition of Muthuswami Dikshitar ‘Sri SatyanArAyaNam.’ The pallavi, set to Adi tAlam in two kalai, was executed in style with ragamalika swaras in Vasanti, Charukeshi, Mohana. The skill with which she handled Mohana and VAsanti (which are different only in daivata) was appreciative.

Adamya Ramanand, son of well-known Veena artiste Geeta Ramanand and disciple of Umayalpuram Sivaraman, together with Shamith Gowda from Mysuru, combined well to present a tani replete with trishra and chaturashra nadais. It was good to watch the senior who was present, beam with joy at her son’s performance. The end-pieces of the concert included a popular devaranama ‘BAro KrishNayya’ by Kanakadasaru and a Lalgudi tillana in Mand.

—Dr Padmavathi Narasimhan