The best thing Cuddalore S J Jananiy has managed in her seven-song bouquet is the selection of the compositions. The recently released audio CD features a set of tunes you would stumble upon the globe’s far east and the west. Now, that is a smart pick, given the young artiste is presenting Carnatic music on the keyboard, a rather new and alien instrument for the south Indian classical system.
Take, for instance, the first and penultimate numbers in the disc. Ninnu Kori, the opening varnam, has its Mohanam raga notes presented with a bubbly feel that would make it sound more a Chinese or Japanese piece of music. Almost juxtaposing this is the second-last ditty. Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s Rama Janaardana, with its amusing slides along the scales of Sankarabharanam, cannot but remind you of a Christmas carol or a nursery rhyme.
Dikshitar’s Vataapi Ganaptim (second song) is preceded by an alapanam in Hamsadhwani, but here violinist V Suresh Babu scores better. Ditto, in the neraval passage, starting Pranavaswarupa.
The next two compositions famously appeal better in western instruments, yet bringing somewhat similar ragas like Kadanakudoohalam and Nalinakanti back to back could have been ideally avoided. The kritis Raghu Vamsha Sudha and Manaviyaala have been neatly rendered, though setting them to a slightly speedier tempo could have magnified the effect.
Even the following Nagumomu would sound like asking for a shade faster passage, but here the soulfully brooding side of raga Abheri offsets that bit of thought. The final tillana by Jananiy’s famed guru Dr M Balamuralikrishna is graceful. Percussionists Mannarokovil J Balaji (mridangam) and Raja Raman (ghatam) have gelled well more often than not.
Overall, you feel the best song in this Chennai-recorded Kosmik release is the first one. But for a couple of slips in the fast corridors, the many variations in its speed are really refreshing.