Sudha Ragunathan’s experience came to the fore at her Margazhi 2022 concert for Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Sudha Ragunathan’s concert would be remembered more for the beautiful Dhanyasi she sang in the early part than the main piece, Hemavathi. The pleasing, soulful Dhanyasi alapana brought out the splendour of the raga. Tyagaraja’s famous composition, ‘Sangeeta gnanamu’ followed. Even more delectable was the niraval at ‘nyaya-anyayamu’ (even if she had skipped the fast-tempo part) and the long swaras that followed it. The entire episode was nothing but enjoyable. One doesn’t hear a niraval in Dhanyasi often. So, this was more than welcome.
However, the Hemavathi was of a kind that would have made one say, ‘could have been better’ — for, we have heard Sudha sing much better Hemavathi. The raga essay started off in its full majesty, but a few minutes into the alapana, the distinction of the raga seemed to disappear into a volley of brigas and phrases. The alapana also suffered from an unacceptably strong flavour of Karaharapriya — it often gave an impression that one was hearing Karaharapriya just with the upper madhyamam. It is true that the two ragas have six of the seven notes in common, but the artiste has to deliver what has been promised.
Sudha Raghunathan | Photo Credit: SRINIVASAN KV
The fulfillment of Hemavathi lies in its defining ‘ga’ (the note underlying ‘kan’ in the second syllable of the famous Dikshitar’s composition, ‘Sree kanthimatim’); the Hemavathi ‘ga’ is preferably delivered elongated and gamaka-less. This seemed to be generally missing here. The alapana itself did not proceed in an orderly manner, moving from one note to next — however, this is not a flaw (only an observation), because an artiste is at liberty to choose a ‘splash-on-the-canvas’ approach rather than a structured sketch.
Sudha took up a Tamil composition by Mayuram Viswanatha Sastri (1893-1958), best remembered for his composition ‘Jayati jayati bharata mata’.
‘Sivanukku ilaya seya sevvel silambane nee vaa’, on Muruga, came out sweet and Sudha deserves to be complimented as much for singing it beautifully as for choosing the song. It is a wonder why such compositions have not yet become popular. Niraval and swaras came at ‘Aatma bodha onkaramum neeye’. Violinist B.V. Raghavendra Rao provided energetic support.
The other notable element of the concert was the Kedaram song, ‘Sakala bhuvana nayaka’, again superbly delivered. Wedged between the Dhanyasi and the Hemavathi was a sprightly rendition of G.N. Balasubramaniam’s Kadanakuthuhalam composition, ‘Maananeeya gunanidhi’.
Neyveli Skandasubramanian on the mridangam and Sunil Kumar on the kanjira provided faultless support and played an enjoyable thani.
Published - December 08, 2022 05:22 pm IST
