The first in the golden jubilee series of Mulund Fine Arts Society (MFAS), was a Carnatic vocal concert by R. Suryaprakash at the Mahakavi Kalidas Auditorium, Mulund West.

‘Gananadane,’ composed by Periasamy Thooran in Saranga made for an auspicious start. This was followed by ‘Lavanya Rama’ in Purna Shadjam. ‘Kanikarambhutho,’ composed by Kalyani Varadharajan in ragam Bhavani, rarely heard, was sombrely pleasing. ‘Sri Mathrubhootam’ of Dikshitar in Kannada was a divine sojourn.

The rendition of ‘Sarasa sama dana’ in Kapinarayani, particularly the quick-paced swara patterns, took the listeners to the nostalgic era of Madurai Mani Iyer. Tutelage under his guru T.V. Sankaranarayan has facilitated Suryaprakash in imbibing the unique style of Mani Iyer.

Enjoyable Kharaharapriya

After this came Kharaharapriya, the main ragam of the evening. Effective and elaborate elucidation of every feature and essence of the ragam, elicited huge response from the audience.

Tyagaraja’s ‘Ramaneeyada’ with brisk niraval and kalpanaswarams in his guru’s bani was enjoyable. A crisp RTP with the fiirst half in Brindavani and the second half in Saranga, in laghu and dhrutam respectively, was an effortless presentation and well-received.

The much anticipated Madurai Mani nottuswaram in Sankarabharanam invigorated the ambience and engaged the audience thoroughly.

Keeping the audience glued to their seats for about three hours till near midnight was the artiste’s accomplishment.

B. Anathakrishnan on the violin played wonderful strokes, as comprehensive as the singer. A neat presentation of the thani avartanam by Sumesh Narayan and N.Y. Eshwar supplemented the concert largely. The team made the event a quality precursor to the Golden Jubilee year 2019-2020.