Embarking on a Musical Journey

CHENNAI: Vocalist Sriram Parathasarthy’s concert for Tapas Academy commenced with the high tonal equations and bereft of mellifluous expressions. The recital revealed the singer’s inclinations to communicate the raga swaroops with the moorings of classicism, never wanting to dabble with a superficial glitz. His tonal variations were mostly dominated by tempo.

When he took up Vayyukumaran of Papanasam Sivan in Raga Thodi, and descended on Raja-Raja of Muthiah Bhagavathar in Raga Niroshta (the swaras exclude ma-pa) the  potentialities of his voice were explored. Being a playback singer, this enabled him to glide at in all octaves and deliver anuswaras with clarity. The fast tempo continued till he took up Keeravani Raga Kriti of Periaswami Thooran Punniyam oru kodi, which was rendered with tonal sublimation and chaukakala kritis. It was followed by Vuyyala of Thyagaraja in Raga Neelambari, revealing his uncanny ability to project manifestation of bhavas effectively.

He would have succeeded if he had re-engineered his delivery, combining durithakalaam and chaukakala kritis, balancing the entire presentation, like how maestros including Ariyakudi, G N Balasubramaniam, K V Narayanasamy and others did. The concert as a whole indicated that this young vocalist has the capacity to render kritis with such an intensity as to mirror the dynamism of those veterans. His presentation also reiterated the  importance of voice culture,  as one of the vital components of music.

Rajeev on violin gave a good account of himself while Kumabakonam Swaminathan on mridangam and Sunil on kanjira served the needs of the kutcheri successfully.