Music was an inseperable part of K.V. Ramanathan's life. As the editor of the arts magazine Sruti , he had channelled his interest and energy to the cause of music. To commemorate his memory and to make the house he lived in resonate with music once again, his family organised a tribute concert featuring two young artistes, Ragavan Manian and Praveen Pandikaran.
Praveen, a Chicago-based disciple of Guitar Prasanna, began his electric guitar concert with ‘Mahaganapathim palayasuma’ in raga Natanarayani. Two Tyagaraja kritis ‘Bantureethi kolu’ in Hamsanadam and ‘Sobhillu Sapthaswara’ in Jaganmohini were rendered with competence. A brief raga alapana, niraval and swara singing in raga Pantuvarali for the composition ‘Chakkaniraja’ revealed the sincerity of the young boy in assimilating his training and present it to suit the concert platform. He needs to work a little more for his music to have 'azhuttam’. With further learning, he can turn into a mature performer.
A melodious voice backed by strong training and a few years on the circuit have helped Ragavan Manian establish an instant rapport with the audience. A padavarnam ‘Ayyan Narasimhan’ composed by Ragavan captured the power of the Lord. It wove kathas and upakathas of Narasimhavataram in the charanam passages beginning with the lines ‘Aho Bilahari Narayana’. It would help if the sahityam following the swaram gets repeated for the listeners to follow the lines.
Colours of raga Bilahari had phrases that Ragavan had learnt from his guru M. Balamuralikrishna. The piece de resistance of the recital was an emotion-filled rendition of his guru’s composition ‘Kavave Kanyakumari’ in Sahana. Adarsh and C. S. Venkatraman embellished the recital with their percussion support on mridangam and ganjira.
Revealing another facet of his musical talent, Ragavan played the saxophone along with Praveen on the guitar. The coordination between the two added to the listening experience as they rendered ‘Akhilandeshwari’ in raga Dwijavanti. A detailed sketch of raga Kalyani and a Mohana Kalyani tillana were the other pieces performed.
Published - July 25, 2019 04:13 pm IST
