A. Kanyakumari and Vittal Rangan with NC Bharadwaj on the mridangam and Sunil Kumar on the kanjira.
| Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B
On a rainy evening, there was a downpour of melody as violin vidushi A. Kanyakumari and her disciple B. Vittal Rangan, drenched rasikas in their nuanced and aesthetic music.
In perfect sync, the guru-sishya duo commenced the concert, for Kartik Fine Arts, evoking bhakti rasa with ‘Karimukha varadha’, a GNB composition in raga Nattai.
This was followed by an alapana that captured the grandeur of raga Thodi, which segued into Syama Sastri’s swarajathi ‘Rave himagiri’.
The Suddhasaverialapana began with Vittal Rangan’s crisp bowing and delicate sliding, which his guruartistically expanded, creating a beautiful dialogue that highlighted the raga’s inherent gravitas and pathos. This led smoothly into Tyagaraja’s ‘Darini telusukontini’, bringing a lively shift in tempo, followed by an electrifying exchange of kalpanaswaras.
‘Aparadhamula’, a rare gem by Tyagaraja in raga Raasali, a janyam of Vanaspathi, saw each stroke imbued with emotional weight, capturing the essence of the composer’s plea for forgiveness and spiritual redemption.
The evening’s centerpiece was a meditative ragam-tanam-kriti presentation in Dwijavanti, featuring Muthuswami Dikshitar’s magnum opus ‘Chetasri balakrishnam’. Kanyakumari’s alapana was sublime, brimming with bhakti and karuna rasas. Vittal’s tanam, rhythmically intricate and melodically inventive, was a fitting complement. The kriti rendition was followed by an exhilarating round of kalpanaswaras in Ragamalika, seamlessly traversing Sivaranjani, Madhuvanti, Hindolam, and Trimurthi (a unique raga comprising just three swaras shadjam, madhyamam and daivatham), created by Kanyakumari. This raga is a tribute to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
This was followed by a pulsating percussion interlude by NC Bharadwaj on the mridangam and Sunil Kumar on the kanjira. The spontaneous interplay of tani avartanam earned thunderous applause from the audience.
As a moment of serene beauty and providing a refreshing contrast, the kriti that followed was Vaali’s ‘Koovi azhaithal’ in Valaji.
The duo then presented Kanyakumari’s composition, a thillana in raga Trishakthi, that unleashed a torrent of ragas — Kannada, Vasanti and Shivashakthi. The concluding piece was ‘Om namo narayana’ by Ambujam Krishna in Karnaranjani.
Published – December 17, 2024 05:43 pm IST
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