Well begun is half done
Vivek Moozhikulam’s concert showed why good planning matters
Veda Agama Deiva Tamilisai Mandram, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha and SPSKC Trust have jointly organised the fiveday Panniru Tirumurai festival, to be held from March 6 to 10, at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Maharajapuram Santhanam Salai, T. Nagar. The festival, in its 18th year, will have upandcoming artistes and Odhuvars presenting Thevaram verses, devotional songs, discourses and harikatha. Events will take place from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on all days.
The inaugural day’s programmes will begin with Vadapalani Karthik Arun Odhuvar’s Thevaram rendition at 3 p.m. This will be followed by M.K. Prabhakaramurthy’s discourse (4 p.m.). J.B. Keerthana’s concert (5 p.m.), and Udayalur Kalyanaraman’s rendition of Thevaram and other devotional songs (7.30 p.m.). Dr. Sudha Seshayyan, former ViceChancellor of Tamil Nadu Dr.
M.G.R. Medical University, will preside over the function. Programmes on the last day (March 10) will include Bhavatharini Anantharaman’s Thevaram rendition (3 p.m.); Suryanarayana murthy’s dance performance along with his students (5 p.m.); and Sargurunatha Odhuvar’s Thevaram rendition at 7 p.m. pettarae doraku’ in Bhairavi. After an elaborate and bhavaladen delineation of the raga, Vivek rendered the kriti with due dignity and appropriate ornamentation. In this Utsava Sampradaya kriti, Tyagaraja sings about placing an auspicious mark (raksha) on the forehead of Rama to ward off evil eyes. (In many houses, this used to be a regular ritual during twilight. That is why this time is referred to as ‘sayaraksha’). Tyagaraja takes the liberty to treat Rama as a small child who needs to be protected. In the same kriti, he enumerates the greatness of the Lord too. The niraval for ‘Sangeetha priya Tyagaraja’ had flashes of brigaladen sangatis, delivered with effortless ease.
Keshava Mohan Kumar followed the vocalist faithfully through his soulful repartees on the violin. Mridangam by Sunaada Krishna Amai spread ‘sunaadham’ (pleasant sound), and he supported the artiste with sensitivity. During the thani, along with Balakrishna Hosamane (morsing), Sunaada wove enjoyable rhythmic patterns.
The lighter session comprised Purandaradasar’s padas, ‘Mandha mathiyu nanu’ and ‘Rama nama payasake’. While both of them were lyrically rich, the latter delighted the listener with its metaphorical beauty, describing the process of preparing payasam. The devotee mixes the sugar named Krishna and ghee named Vittala with kheer named Rama, serves it on a plate and enjoys it till he gets two burps of bliss.
Vivek concluded his wellplanned concert with a thillana.
In the earlier session, young flautist Pranav Adiga from Udupi (disciple of Varijakshi Bhat and K. Raghavendra Rao), delighted the rasikas with his mature performance that was far beyond his age. With brief alapanas he presented ‘Sudhamayee sudhanidhi’ in Amritavarshini (Muthiah Bhagavatar) and ‘Tatvameruga tarama’ in Garudadhwani (Tyagaraja). After a satisfying alapana of Simhendramadhyamam for his main piece ‘Needhu charanamule’, (also by Tyagaraja), Pranav showcased his talent in swaraprataras and concluded with Purandarasar’s ‘Govinda ninna namavae chanda’ in raga Jana Sammodhini.
The young flautist was ably supported on the violin by Gowtham Bhat P.G. and on the mridangam by Shailesh Rao.