Sandeep Narayan demonstrated that the allure of frills and thrills need not necessarily come at the expense of aesthetics. The recital began with Papanasam Sivan’s ‘Sri vathapi ganapathiye’ in Sahana, and the kalpanaswaras at the pallavi opening were interspersed with delightful jantai and dhattu patterns. Emotion reigned in the rendition of Swati Tirunal’s eighth-day Navaratri kriti ‘Pahi janani santatam’ in …
The vocal recital by K. Gayatri was full of energy. Gayatri’s niraval and swaras at ‘Nee padambujame sada’ carried well the sahitya and raga bhava. Gayatri’s sonorous voice, which is capable of traversing the different sthayis with ease, brought out the best shades of this raga. She sang Papanasam Sivan’s magnificent ‘Aadum deivam arulvai’ and the extended niraval and swarakalpana …
Aditya Madhavan’s recent concert for Madhuradhwani and Aanmajothi was aesthetic from the word go. Connoisseur’s delight Aditya Madhavan’s extensive Begada alapana for Muthuswami Dikhitar’s ‘Tyagarajaya namaste’ was a connoisseur’s delight. Another gem of a composition in this concert was Tiruvarur Ramaswamy Pillai’s ‘Sree Kamakshi Katakshi’ on the Goddess of Vedapuri in Tamil Nadu. This composition is attributed to Subbaraya Sastri …
It is, indeed, gratifying to note that Ramakrishnan Murthy, who has gained immense popularity, keeps his creative energy under tight leash through his musical wisdom. Recipient of ‘Isai Peroli’ title from the organisation this year, Ramakrishnan Murthy justified it in every way with his performance. It was followed by Syama Sastri’s Ritigowla composition, ‘Ninnuvina marigalada.’ Here, Murthy embellished the kriti …