Sandeep Narayan turns Natakapriya delineation interesting

Sandeep Narayan went beyond the usual to showcase his imagination

When Sandeep Narayan rendered ‘Gita vadya natana’ in Natakapriya as the piece de resistance, his concert felt like a tribute to composer Thanjavur Sankara Iyer, who died in May this year. The young vocalist subsequently showed his own capacity to pen, tune and sing by winding up the two-hour programme with a thillana in the late night raga, Bageshri.

Kartik Fine Arts’ Musically Margazhi 2021 came to a close with Sandeep’s concert. Natakapriya, a parent scale in Carnatic music, is not often heard, despite its curious intertwining of popular ragas, Chakravakam and Thodi. The 12-minute alapana climaxed in long upper-range passages, treated in a way that was close to the Hindustani Ahir Bhairav. H.N. Bhaskar enhanced it with the violin.