Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam recitals were the mainstay at an event organised by Gosri Gana Sabha in Fort Kochi.
Aishwarya Vidhya Raghunath’s concert was engaging from the word go. Her raga and song selections were balanced and gave an even flow to the concert. She set the mood of the concert with a weighty rendition of the Tyagaraja masterpiece ‘Jagadanandakaraka’ in Natta. She had some interesting exchanges with Idappally Ajith on the violin as she sang niraval and swaras for ‘Aparamabhakti’ in Pantuvarali. Bhava quotient was high in Aishwarya’s Bhairavi raga alaapana, which was filled with gamakas and long karvais, and she excelled in the final phase in which she sang passages till the upper rishabham, traversing the scale with ease and felicity.
Aishwarya’s execution of a pallavi in Khanda triputa was more aesthetic in its appeal than mere technical jugglery. She had vakra ragas such as Ananda Bhairavi, Kedaram and Poorvikalyani in the ragamalika section. Mahesh Kumar on the mridangam excelled in the tani and he amused the crowd by playing extended phrases on the left face of the instrument alone.
Bharat Sundar singing at Gosri Gana Sabha, Fort Kochi | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
One of the most promising Carnatic vocalists, Bharat Sundar gave a concert that was rich in manodharma and technical wizardry. The swaras for Begada in ‘Ganarasamu’ moved way to a profuse exploration of Shanmukhapriya raga tagged along with the less-sung GN Balasubramaniam kriti ‘Needayagalgunu’. The swara segment had mathematical permutations and he threw quite a few challenges to violinist Trivandrum Sampath and Balakrishna Kamath, who played the mridangam. A high decibel niraval at ‘Ramanamamane’ in ‘Bandureetikolu’ (Hamsanadam) had some sparkling sarvalaghu swaras in short cycles. This brilliance was contrasted with a slow, soulful singing of Tyagaraja’s Utsavasampradaya kriti ‘Hecharikarara’ in Yadukulakamboji. In his round, well-modulated voice, Bharat gave expression to Saveri raga, with due emphasis on gamakas and bhava. The metrical proportion of the raga phrases stood out distinctly. Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s ‘Karikalabhamukham’ in Roopaka tala was sung with accent on enunciation.
Meera Sreenarayanan’s Bharatanatyam concert was complete with technical finesse and inspiring abhinaya. The varnam she presented was ‘Danike tagujanara’, which was first performed by the Devadasi Mannargudi Meenakshi in the court of Sivaji, the second. It was composed by Tanjore Sivanandam.
Meena Sreenarayanan performing at Gosri Gana Sabha | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Here the dancer skilfully established the court scene. She comes holding her veil, offers customary ‘salaam’ to the courtiers and addresses the king with the coquetry of the courtesan. Even as she describes and praises the valour of the king, her sarcasm is subtle. As she professes her friend’s suitability for the king, her own desire for him is hidden yet palpable. While the trikalajathis had some interesting charis, the rest of the jathis were superlatively choreographed with attention to stage space, geometric variations and numerous possibilities of rhythmic and body kinetics.
Accent on abhinaya
Meera could easily get into the skin of the characters she portrayed, which is termed ‘thadaatmyam’ in Satwika Abhinaya. Her eyes welled up and teared often and her lips quivered as she portrayed Radha’s feeling of sorrow in the Ashtapadi ‘Yahi madhava yahi keshava’. She is horrified to find Krishna’s deceit as he returns to her after his dalliance with other women. Here too, as in the earlier varnam, though the dancer portrayed Radha, the audience could feel the presence of Krishna. The force with which she disengages herself from his clasp and the shudder as he prostrates before her were so telling. As she picks up a strand of hair of the other woman from his body, there was a moment of high action and drama in the silence and stillness and Meera carried it off well.
The fete also featured a violin concert by Nagaraj and Bharatanatyam by Dakshina Vaidyanathan. The programme was organised as part of the Sabha’s 52nd anniversary celebrations.