Sandeep Narayan’s live performance focussed on musical aesthetics

Sandeep Narayan.
| Picture Credit score: SRINATH M

Sandeep Narayan demonstrated that the attract of frills and thrills needn’t essentially come on the expense of aesthetics. The vocalist handled the viewers to a scintillating music in his live performance for Krishna Gana Sabha, within the firm of Vittal Rangan (violin), Neyveli Venkatesh (mridangam), and Okay.V. Gopalakrishnan (kanjira).

Endowed with a pleasing voice that may soar and dip with equal ease, Sandeep, in a start-to-finish presentation, conjured artistic raga alapanas, and rendered kritis with aplomb, infusing nuanced vitality into niravals and kalpanaswaras.

The recital started with Papanasam Sivan’s ‘Sri vathapi ganapathiye’ in Sahana, and the kalpanaswaras on the pallavi opening had been interspersed with pleasant jantai and dhattu patterns. The delineation of Kapi, each by the vocalist and the violinist, was delicate and candy within the lead-up to ‘Meevalla gunadosham’, a composition by Tyagaraja in Khanda Chapu.

Sandeep Narayan.
| Picture Credit score:
SRINATH M

The pensive, devotional flavour of Dikshitar’s Dwijavanti masterpiece ‘Akhilandeswari’ was nicely introduced out by Sandeep in a great kalapramanam. He effected a swift temper shift with a brisk rendition of Tyagaraja’s ‘Padavini sathbhakti’ in Salakabhairavi. Exhilarating swara singing by Sandeep, pleasing responses with the bow from Vittal, and the partaking rhythmic help by Venkatesh and Gopalakrishnan drew spontaneous applause.

The fragile hues of Nattakurinji unfolded as Sandeep crafted a raga essay replete with lengthy phrases and attribute glides. Vittal mirrored the vocalist’s artistry. Emotion reigned within the rendition of Swati Tirunal’s eighth-day Navaratri kriti ‘Pahi janani santatam’ in Misra Chapu. The charanam opening ‘Kamaneeya’ was the niraval level, and never solely had been the variations he employed for the phrase true to its which means — ‘charming’ — but additionally your entire niraval and swara passages.

Sandeep captured the stateliness of Simhendramadhyamam with an natural stream throughout octaves, with lengthy and imaginative phrases. The factors of confluence within the take-off and touchdown in grahabedham, sandwiching Bowli, supplied a wide ranging distinction.

Vittal’s model of the primary raga had a velvety contact, bringing out its soul and melody. He selected Saveri, a sibling of Bowli, for the variation, which arrived on the fag finish of his essay.

Then got here the tanam, which was offered neatly. The pallavi line was ‘Kamakshi sakalaloka sakshi tripurasundari kanchi’, set to Adi tala. As is the order of the day, the pallavi was offered very briefly, with a few niraval rounds and some avartanas of swaras, all beneath eight minutes. Whereas what was offered was good, what bought omitted additionally caught one’s consideration.

Attention-grabbing rhythmic match-ups dominated a vibrant tani avartanam that includes Venkatesh and Gopalakrishnan.

The concluding section supplied a journey by way of various musical landscapes — ‘Nindati chandanam,’ a Jayadeva Ashtapadi in Darbari Kanada; a Kannada music ‘Guruvige tanuvannu’ in Mohanam with a Hindustani contact, composed by Puttaraj Gawai; a Lalgudi Jayaraman thillana in Ragesri; and a Tiruppugazh in Behag, set to Khanda triputa tala, sung in double velocity.