BANGALORE: It is said that Carnatic vocal music concerts were held to the accompaniment of veena before Ramaswamy Dikshitar (Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s brother)’s period. The veena which approximates to the human voice naturally enriched the vocal music. It would be an amazing experience to think of. That experience became real when seasoned vocalist-mridangist Tirumale Srinivas rendered an unusual but highly impressive vocal concert at the JSS auditorium for the Ananya as part of a benefit program in aid of Ananya Arogyadhara, the ambitious medical-aid project of the Ananya. He was accompanied with equally talented vocalist cum veena player M R
Manjula on the veena.
To add novelty and surprise instead of the usual mridanga back up two tavils by R Rajkumar and Bhaskar imparted the most compatible percussive support. That is why and rightly too, Srinivas began with a Mallari (essentially a nagaswara-item) set to Gambheera Nata. As it was a short duration recital, Srinivas and Manjula cast a spell with the immaculate rendition of a raga, tana and pallavi (Bhaava raga taala yogadim sangeetham kaalaateetam, adi tala) set to Vagadheeshwari raga. The compact and comprehensive delineation contained all the traditional features of a pallavi rendition like nadai, swara, grahabedhas. The rasikas enjoyed the musical phrases which had skipped notes in between creating the shades of different ragas. All the artistes shone forth in their respective roles and contributed to the success of the recital.
Impressive
instrumental fusion
In the instrumental Indian classical and Western music fusion Anur Ananthakrishna Sharma’s composition based on the Carnatic raga Vakulabharana’s structure and in Spanish style was expounded neatly. D Srinivas Achar (Guitar), Varijashri (Flute), Umesh (Keyboard), Caleb (Bass Guitar), Venugopal Raju (tabla, Congos art tape), Amrit (khanjari and konnakol) and Arun Kumar (Percussion Support) gave a good
account of themselves.
Neat and tidy
jugalbandhi
The flute jugalbandhi by M K Pranesh and Pravin Godkhindi was ably supported by a brilliant percussion ensemble comprising of Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma (Dolu), Anoor Dathathreya Sharma, Sreenivasa Murthy, Sudarshan Chakravarthy and Karna Athreya (mridangas), Udaykarpurkar, Venugopala Raju, Kiran Godikindi, Madhusudhan and Jagadeesh Kurthkoti (tablas), Guruprasnna (Khanjira), Ravikumar (ghata), Prassannakumar (morsing), Somashekar Jois (Konnakhol), Arunkumar, Karthikmani (drums), Pramath Kiran (Jembe and Congos), Harsha Samaga (Chende), Munisidappa, Jaganath, Shivamallu, Sathyamurthy, Shivasathya, Zerald, Shekar and Alphons (folk percussions). A swarapallavi was rendered in Sarasangi raga. The raga and tana were neat and tidy and the pallavi was dealt in such a manner as pave way for the 25 percussionists to unfold the various possibilities in aditala.
Another fusion
Seasoned singer P Ramaa was in her top form in an another fusion music concert held at Seva Sadana, Malleshwaram on the second day of seven day Sangeetha Sambhrama, Nirantara. Though one felt that she could have done better with a lesser number of instruments, the well rehearsed programme evoked curiosity. And it provided a mixed results.
Ramaa sang with her rich and articulate voice to the accompaniment of Raghunandan (flute), Manojgeorge (western violin), Varun (keyboard), Vishwanath Nakod (tabla), Harsha Samaga (mridanga) and Karthik Mani (drums). The concert began with Mahaganapathim (Nata) rounded off with a well planned swaraprastara. Endaro Mahanubhavulu could have been more impressive. Harikambhoji based tune was enjoyable. The highlight of the evening was a meaningful raga, tana and pallavi (Sangeetha sambhramam nirantharama geetha nrithya samaagamam) ornamented by shared swaras. Tamboori meetidava (Sindhubhairavi) was delightful. It was good that the instruments were in action only during the improvisations and tended to be less obtrusive.