The Aradhana season is still going on. One of the Sabhas that celebrate Tyagaraja and Purandara Aradhana with pomp and fervor is N.R. Mohalla Sangeetha Sabha. They celebrate every year with two concerts, and on the third day, individuals offer their Sangeetha Seva followed by Goshti Gayana, honouring senior musicians and Maha Mangalarathi. This year too the celebrations went on from Feb.15 to 17. Vidu. Archana and Arathi of Chennai performed on the 15th and Vidu. Vani Satish of Bengaluru sang on the 16th. Vidwans T.P. Vaidyanathan, R.K.Padmanabha and Tandavamurthy were honoured after the Goshti Gayana.
The twin sisters, Arathi and Archana, were accompanied by Vid. H.K. Narasimhamurthy on violin, Vid. G.S. Ramanujam on mridanga and S. Manjunath on ghata.
Arathi and Archana can create a powerful impact on the listeners with their brisk singing. The co-ordination and understanding between them is complementary to their singing. The vigorous style carries their not-so-strong voices with ease. Be it Alapana or Kalpana swaras, the vigor and the vibrating colour catches you. Arathi started off with a Navagraha Sloka in the raga Athana, followed by ‘Sakala graha bala neene’ by Purandaradasa. The brisk ‘Rama nannu brovara’ (Harikambodhi) with a frill of crispy swaras followed. A soft and more expressive approach in the ragalapana (Varali) would have suited a pathetic and morose composition like ‘Eti janmamidi ha.’ One needs to dive deep into the kruti to do justice to the composer as well.
The two ‘not-so-popular’ keerthanas ‘Seetavara Sangeetha Jnanamu’ (Devagandhari-Tyagaraja) and ‘Sri mahabala girivasini’ (Sarangamalhar-Muthiah Bhagavatar) were received well by the listeners. The main raga of the day was Bhairavi. The two sisters elaborated with time-tested phrases followed by a good delineation by H.K. Narasimhamurthy. ‘Upacharamu’ was the right choice. The cascade of swaras exhibited their scholarship. The Tani avartana by Ramanujam and Manjunath was studded with variety of rhythmic patterns. An interesting devaranama in Kedaragowla ‘Rama emberadakkarada mahime’ brought the curtains down.
Vidu. Vani Satish was accompanied by Adithi Krishnaprakash on violin, H.L. Shivashankaraswamy on mridanga and Sharath Kaushik on ghata respectively.
Vani began the concert with ‘Jayajaya Jankikantha’ (Nata) with a brief introduction of the raga and kalpana swaras. Her core strength is singing with bhava. Her way of nurturing a raga with clear phrases is appealing. For instance, the way she handled raga Suryakantha was awesome. The keerthana ‘Muddumomu’ was very pleasing. Vani’s uncle Bellary Sheshagiri Achar was a very good composer. His composition in Vachaspathy was taken as the second main. She dived in to the raga and unveiled every dimensions of it. Adithi too was pleasing in exploring the raga.
After a brisk ‘Shobhillu sapthaswara’ (Jaganmohini), the main raga Kharaharapriya was taken for a detailed exposition. It was packed with emotion that flowed melodiously in her bright voice. Adithi’s bow did not lag behind in making it more melodious. ‘Chakkani rajamarga’ showed the raja marga in a leisurely pace. They both weaved a number of patterns around Dhaivatha as the center in kalpana swaras.
The percussion support by Shivashankaraswamy and Sharath Kaushik was commendable. The clear diction and emotion she brings in Devaranama and Vachana is delectable. ‘Neenolidare’ and ‘Kagada bandide’ had her magical touch.
By Dr. Rama V. Bennur
This post was published on March 12, 2019 6:28 pm