Vidya Kalyanaraman presented a charming portrait of Kapi

Vidya Kalyanaraman drew from KVN’s treasure trove

Vidya Kalyanaraman’s vocal concert at The Music Academy was a tribute to maestro K.V. Narayanaswamy in his birth centenary year. She chose some of his favourite ragas and kritis.

Vidya began with the shloka ‘Sadabala roopapi’ in Nattai, followed by the varnam ‘Sarasijanabha’ (Nattai) by Palghat Paremeshwara Bhagavatar, which was, a welcome departure from the usual set of varnams sung in most concerts. ‘Seshachala nayakam’ in Varali (Dikshitar) came with niraval and swaras at ‘Aravinda patra nayanam’. Natakurinji is a charming raga and Vidya’s elucidation brought out the delicate phrases. She chose KVN’s ‘Amba pahi janani satatam’ a famous Navaratri kriti by Swati Tirunal. The kriti, which is normally presented in chapu tala used to be set in Tisra Triputa by KVN, and Vidya followed his style of presentation.

The fast-paced ‘Parampurusham’ in ‘Lalitha Panchamam’, again by Swati Tirunal, became a prelude to Vidya’s Kapi raga alapana. This raga offers immense scope for the artiste to go beyond the routine detailing. And Vidya did her best. She brilliantly highlighted the soulful karvais in the melkala sancharas. Can there be a better choice than Tyagaraja’s ‘Inta sowkhya mani ne’ to present after that poignant alapana? The ‘Swara raga laya’ niraval and the swarakalpana carried ample ingenuity.

Vidya Kalyanaraman was supported on the violin by R. Raghul with equal commitment and resourcefulness in the raga essays and swara segments.

This was followed by a fairly exhaustive tani avartanam by veterans B. Ganapathiraman on the mridangam and Sukanya Ramgopal on the ghatam. Both vied with each other to exhibit their percussive ability.

It was time for ragam tanam pallavi and Vidya chose Purvikalyani. The raga essay was not very exhaustive but the pallavi ‘Kana kidaikkumo sabesan darisanam’ was another one from the KVN treasure trove. It came with lively niraval and ragamalika chain of swaras in Mohanam, Shanmukhapriya, Atana, Behag and Saveri.

Before wrapping up her concert, Vidya included the evocative ‘Varugalamo ayya’ by Gopalakrishna Bharati in Manji, Sindhubhairavi Thiruppavai ‘Andru ivvulagam alandhai’ and the Poornachandrika thillana by Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar.