Aneesh Bhat from Puttur sang for Raaga Music Academy on Mar. 16 at Bidaram Krishnappa Mandira, Narayana Shastri Road, Mysuru. He was accompanied on violin by Prithvi Bhaskar, on mridanga by Vikram Bharadwaj and on ghata by S. Manjunath.

Currently pursuing Ph.D in Civil Engineering, Aneesh is simultaneously working as an Assistant Professor in Mangaluru.

Aneesh is a traditional vocalist with immense potential. His voice has good range and he is able to traverse without restraint in his sancharas. He had chosen a good list of compositions for the present concert — while he had chosen most of the compositions on Rama, the main item in Mohana was ‘Kapali Karunai nilavu’ by Papanashanam Shivan on Lord Shiva, which was also relevant as Shivaratri fell in the same month.

‘Marivere Dikkevarayya Rama’ by Patnam Subramanya Iyer in Shanmukhapriya was spiced up with neraval and good swaras at ‘Sannutanga Sri Venkatesha Neevu’. The other attraction of the concert was ‘Subramanyena Rakshitoham’ by Dikshitar in shuddha Dhanyasi rendered expertly by Aneesh with a well-expanded alapana and a variety of more than 20 sarvalaghu swaras with a single avarta. Dharmavathi that followed was a good contrast with a captivating alapana followed by ‘Bhajana Seya rada O manasa’ set to Rupaka Tala. ‘Abhaya Varade Sharade’ in Hindola (Indira Nateshan) was a good filler before Mohana. The brilliant and rich Alapana of Mohana clearly indicated the composition that the vocalist chose to render for the evening, the art of which is possible for a few musicians only.

Prithvi’s version of raga was equally impressive. Laya throughout the composition ‘Kapali’ was maintained excellently. Aneesh’s training in mridanga has helped him here. The kalpana swara essay with a lot of poruttam swaras was a testimony of the vocalist’s years of sadhana.

Taniyavartanam by Vikram and Manjunath from Mysuru enthralled the audience.

The other inclusions of the concert were ‘Vallabha Nayakasya’ by Dikshitar in Begade in the beginning and ‘Sri Ramachandra krpalu bhajamana’ a Tulasidas bhajan in the end.

—Dr. Padmavathi Narasimhan