A feast of music, dance and drama

For over half a century now, Kalasagaram has been organising Carnatic music concerts, classical-dance and theatre shows for the artlovers of Hyderabad and Secunderabad with much success. This winter season, December 2024, saw the 57th Annual Cultural Festival of Music, Dance and Drama of Kalasagaram which offered a well-chosen line-up of esteemed artistes.

The festival commenced with a Carnatic music concert by Sangita Kalanidhi Sanjay Subrahmanyam. The ace vocalist gave a spellbinding performance revealing his grip over the grammar and aesthetics of the art. He began with the customary varnam: Patnam Subramanyam Iyer’s Valachi (Navaragamalika). Subbaraya Sastri’s popular Janani Ninuvina (Reetigowla ragam) and a masterly rendition of Thyagaraja’s Kaddanuvariki (Todi ragam) drew much applause as did the Ragam Thanam Pallavi (RTP) in Sahana ragam for its rich creativity. A fast-paced Arunachal Kavirayar’s Ramasamy Dhoothan (Bahudari ragam) and a brisk Chittor Subramanya Pillai’s popular Maavalla Gadamma (Mand) delighted the audience. Purandaradasa’s Sharanambe Vani (Mohanakalyani ragam: yes, Sanjay chose this raga over the usual Kalyani for his rendition) and Swathi Thirunal’s Jai Jai Devi (Vallabhi) tuned by Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna regaled the audience. Lending excellent support were the talented co-artistes Varadarajan (violin), Neyveli B. Venkatesh (mridangam), and Anirudh Athreya (kanjira). Often, Sanjay publishes his playlist on social media before a concert but goes beyond that to add bonus songs. He did that here too to the audience’s delight.

The following day, two artistes were conferred the Sangeeta Kalasagara title, instituted by Kalasagaram: vainika D. Srinivas (known as the fastest plucker in veena), and violinist Dwaram Venkateswara Rao.

A grand veena concert by D. Srinivas followed in which every item showcased his vidwat and mastery over the stringed instrument. It had much-respected co-artistes: Nemani Somayajulu (mridangam), TP Balasubramanyam (ghatam) and Komanduri Venkata Krishna (violin). He began with Mutthaiah Bhagavatar’s Shakthi Ganapathim (Nata). He rendered a rare krithi of MD Ramanathan, namely Sagara Shayana Vibho (Bageshri). The concert highlight was a quick-paced Hamsanaadam ragam and high speed thanam followed by a challenging Dwikala Pallavi in which the poorvangam was set in high speed and uttarangam in slow speed, a technical feat which impressed the audience. The interplay between the vainika and violinist delighted connoisseurs. The main item was Thyagaraja’s composition Yenduku Dayaradura (Todi ragam) within which an elaborate ragam and swarakalpana were showcased. The scintillating thani-avarthanam was a treat to musiclovers. Sadasiva Brahmendra’s Pibare Ramarasam (Ahirbhairavi) and Swathi Thirunal’s thillana were tail-end presentations.

Given Ranjani and Gayatri’s stature, a large crowd gathered much before time, was understandable. The vocalist-violinist pair began with Gananayakam (Rudhrapriya). Annamacharya’s Ithara Devathala (Bahudari) was brief and richly melodious. Thyagaraja’s Durmargacharadhamulanu (Ranjani ragam) had both sisters take turns to elucidate the raga in all its nuances and aesthetic beauty in the alapana and do neraval at Dharmatmaka. Much applause came for Periasamy Thooran’s popular Muruga Muruga (Saveri) and to what the sisters said was among their perennial favourites, Nenarunchinaanu (Malawi). A scintillating RTP in Karnaranjani ragam in khandajathi triputa thalam followed by an illustration of various ragas that grahabhedam creates was interesting and educative for the rasikas/students. They were accompanied with elan by Vittal Rangan (violin), Manoj Siva (mridangam) and S. Krishna (ghatam).

Aishwarya Vidya Raghunath is a vocalist whom this writer has seen in performance since she was setting out on the concert circuit and noted that she had much promise. She is now a well-known vidushi. Her co-artistes were Shriram Kumar (violin), Arun Prakash (mridangam) and Chandrakanth (ghatam). All added much value to the concert. The Thyagaraja krithis Thulasidalamulache (Mayamalavagowla) and Sanathana Parama Pavana (Phalamanjari), Shyama Shastri’s Karuna Joodavamma (Varali) and Diskhitar’s Veena Pustaka (Vegavahini) were well-received by the audience for their melody and rich bhava. Dikshitar’s Balagopala (Bhairavi) was an impressive main piece with neraval at Manikya Makuta and sparkling swarakalpana.

Kalasagaram’s next concert, by vocalist N.J. Nandini had support from seasoned instrumentalists: R. Dinakar (violin), DSR Murthy (mridangam) and B. Janardan (ghatam). Her initial presentation was a superb rendition of Thaygaraja’s Pancharatna keerthana Dudukugala (Gowla). We can look forward to many more renditions of this very soon given that the Thyagaraja Aradhana season is coming up. Nandini proved her mettle again with Mysore Vasudevacharya’s Idhi Samayamu Brovaradha (Natakapriya) preceded by an enchanting ragalapana and with the neraval at Karuna Jesi Munu. Shyama Shastri’s, Kanakasaila Viharini (Punnagavarali) was soothing and bhavaladen. The exposition of Begada in ragalapana for Ramaswamy Sivan’s composition and the RTP in Kalyani revealed her maturity in manodharma.

Kalasagaram also presented Alekhya Punjala’s aesthetic presentation, a Kuchipudi dance-drama titled Mandodari. Alekhya played Mandodari, a woman torn between her love of and loyalty to her husband, Ravana and distress at his wrong deeds especially the abduction and harassment of Sita which, ultimately proves fatal for him. It was an interesting exploration of the moral dilemmas faced by this Ramayana character. The gifted Alekhya impressed, especially with her abhinaya while her co-dancers were competent. A special word of praise for the music of Mandodari: the lyrics were superb, music was well-composed and vocals (Nitya Santoshini, etc.) were very melodious.

Vocalist Bharat Sundar has garnered a well-deserved reputation at a relatively young age and he lived up to it in this concert. He started off with a fast-paced Nattakuranji varnam. Among the stand-out items: Shyama Shastri’s Mayamma (Ahiri) in chowka kaalam, and Thyagaraja’s two compositions: Guruleka (Gowrimanohari), and the main item Sri Raghuvara Apremaya (Kambhoji) both showcased with impressive manodharma. He also rendered Sivananda Kamavardhini, a GN Balasubramaniam composition (Kamavardhini), with imaginative neraval at Bhavani Pavani; and M. Balamuralikrishna’s Marulu Konnane (Jhanjhuti). He chose Shanmukhapriya ragam for his RTP. Co-artistes Parur Ananthakrishnan (violin), Delhi Sairam (mridangam), and Shyam Kumar (kanjira) complemented and enhanced the concert.

The final day saw a captivating Jugalbandi between Hindustani musician, flautist Pravin Godkhindi and Carnatic-music vocalist Abhishek Raghuram. The much-talented Abhishek was his usual effervescent self. Abhishek commenced with an impressive rendition of Shyama Shastri’s famous swarajathi Anudinamunu Kamakshi (Bhairavi) preceded by a mellifluous, richly nuanced ragalapana. The duo teamed up for a scintillating Vatapi Ganapathim (Hamsadhwani). Pravin’s presentation of Jog raga was mellifluous and soothing. They received excellent accompaniment from Karthik Nagaraj (violin), Patri Satish Kumar on an eyecatching mridangam, and Roopak Kallurkar (tabla).