Of Thyagaraja and his krithis

The five-day 16th Thyagaraja Aradhana Cultural Festival was organised by the Sri Chandrasekharendra Educational Society, Secunderabad. Many artists presented recitals at the event.

The inaugural programme began with a namasankeerthana programme by ‘Shenkottai’ SKS Harihara Subramanain. He started the programme with “Viriboni”, a Bhairavi raga varnam in Ata talam. In the two-and-a-half-hour programme, he touched “Vallabha Nayakasya” (Begada), “Kamakshi Bangaaru” (Varali), and “Sobhillu Saptaswara” (Jaganmohini). “Telisi Ramachinthanatho” (Poornachandrika) in an inimitable style in tune with Bhajana sampradayam. He took “Enduku Peddalavale” (Sankarabharanam) as the main item. At the end he rendered a Tamil bhajan in ragamalika.

Kasaragod K Ganaraj (violin), Palakkad Karthik Viswanathan (mridangam), Nemani Somayajulu (ghatam) gave good instrumental support. To sum up, the inaugural programme could not evoke much response from the audience.

A commendable vocal recital

In the recent years musicians are taking an acute interest in promoting the works of the Carnatic Trinity. Vishnubhatla Saraswathi and Vishnubhatla Krishnaveni, popularly known as Vishnubhatla Sisters, delivered a pleasing vocal concert. The sisters started their concert with “Emani Varninthunu”, a Rasikapriya varnam, pleasingly and then moved onto “Sri Mahaganapathey” (Abhogi) with a good ragalapana. They then took “Maapala Velisina” (Asaveri), “Chedey Budhi Manaraa” (Athana), “Ganamoorthey” vivifying the phrases “Neepadamula Bhakthi Nindaraga”, “Cheday Buddhi Manaraa”, “Navaneetha Chora Nanda Satkisora” in ample measure.

Explaining the lyrical text of “Samsarulythe Nemayaa” (Saveri), the sisters rendered the krithi by decorating the anupallavi. In another noted piece of Thyagarja, “Bantureethi Koluveyavayya” (Hamsnadam), the sisters shared ragalapana as well swarakalpana. Of the two, Krishnaveni had an edge to her tonal variations. In Neelambari raga krithi “Bala Leela Anandaleela”, the sisters exhibited their mastery. Saraswathi and Krishnaveni took up “Emi Jesithey Nemi Ramaa” as the main item and dealt with swarakalpna in different scales. Here too Krishnaveni gave a good account of melodic swarakalpana filled with manodhrma trait. They concluded the recital with a Punnagavarali krithi, “Gandhamu Puyyarugaa”.

Ramaraju Dinakar (violin), BVS Prasad (mridangam) and PV Ramana Murthy (ghatam) gave a seasoned display on their relative instruments.