In general, male singers try to be more flamboyant. Therefore, the raga essays carry lot of fast-moving phrases and are a demonstration of the vocal power.
In such situations, the casualty sometimes is the emotion in the raga or kriti. K. Bharat Sundar seems to have understood the concept of subtlety in classical music and follows it sincerely too. This was evident during two raga elaborations at his concert.
Captivating Thodi
Thodi was dealt with in detail with several karvais. The vocalist brought out the many shades of the raga in style. Papanasam Sivan’s ‘Thamadamaen swami’ was the chosen kriti. His voice modulation, the sancharas in the lower and upper sections along with captivating madhyama kala entries created a good impact. The swarakalpana, which followed the pallavi, sans any niraval, was equally enjoyable.
After nearly an hour of Thodi, Bharat Sundar ventured into Vachaspathi for RTP. And it was no half-hearted attempt.
The raga contours were clearly drawn and the tanam was followed by the wonderful pallavi ‘Angum ingum engum Tamizh, adhai panivom innisayal’ set to misra chapu. The niraval and swara segued into almost each word in the pallavi, independently and collectively, and concluded with a dash of ragamalika swaras.
The choice of compositions alternated effectively between slow and fast numbers. Opening with ‘Varavallaba ramana’ (GNB) in Hamsadhwani with swaras, Bharat Sundar moved on to the leisurely ‘Tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam’ (Muthuswami Dikshitar) in Anandabhairavi. Malayamarutham and ‘Dhanyu devvado’ of Patnam Subramania Iyer with brilliant swaras were the appetisers for the sumptuous treat that followed.
‘Kanogonu sowkyamu’ in Nayaki and ‘Telisirama’ in Poornachandrika (both by Tyagaraja) and the post-tani ‘Bhajathe murali,’ a bhajan by Swati Tirunal heightened the listening pleasure.
H.N. Bhaskar on the violin matched Bharat Sundar’s every move with equal verve. In fact, Bhaskar drew a bigger applause in one part of the tanam while following the vocalist.
His swara sections were laudable. Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan on the mridangam and N. Guruprasad on the ghatam brought enough enthusiasm to their playing that made the thani exciting.