Talented musicians , enthralling evenings

Kalasagaram's 52nd Annual Cultural Festival featured the young maverick Palakkad Ram Prasad. Grandson of the Mridangam vidwan Palakkad Mani Iyer learnt music from his father TR Rajaram has been performing on stage since he was eight. Greatly accomplished in academics (a post-doctoral fellow in Harvard University and a Postgraduate in Economics with multiple gold medals), Ram Prasad continues his Carnatic musical journey and is counted amongst the best young and promising musicians of our time. He is appreciated for his amazing talent especially his swara vinyasam. His nereval is an exemplary showcase of his expertise, which was on a delightful display during his concert held at Keys High School in Secunderabad. His concert began with a short rendition of Saveri Varnam warming up to the beautiful evening ahead, which he followed it up with Thiruppavai; 'Ambarame Thanneere' in Kalyani. Accompanied by exemplary artistes – RK Shriram Kumar on violin, Patri Satish Kumar on Mrudangam and BS Purushothaman on Khanjira, Ramprasad went on to create an appealing tapestry of alapana, sangathis and swara Kalpana that took the audience along on an elaborately embellished musical wave.

'Hiramayeem Lakshmim' by Dikshitar in Lalita raagam, which true to its name stood out to be melodious and soothing, 'Chaala Kallalaadu', an Arabhi krithi by Thyagaraja and Syama Sastry's Palinchu Kamakshi in Madhyamavathi are few other items, which he chose for the concert; and the ease with which he traversed the complex rhythm patterns, highlighted by his rich voice culture made for an amazing performance.

Malladi Brothers, the sons of the soil performed the next day, the brothers were all about knowledge, and experience, and what they presented can easily be slotted as one of their best. It is always a delight to listen to Sreeram Prasad and Ravikumar as they complement each other perfectly delivering the alapanas, dwelling on swaras and tonal variations with perfection. And when they sing with that perfect diction while rendering the beautiful Sahityam of the vaggeyakars, one is reminded of the importance of the lyrics, which sometimes is lost in the onslaught of musical prowess and technique.

Their repertoire for the evening included Thyagaraja krithi 'Sreekanta Neeyeda' in Bhavapriya ragam and and 'Vinata Suta Vahana' in Deshadi, Dikshitar's 'Dharmasamvardhini Dhanuja Samvardhani' in Madhyamavati and the main item, 'Akshaya Linga Vibho' by Diskhitar dwelling over 'Akshara Swaroopa Amita Pratapa'. The evening reached its zenith when they chose to present an elaborate RTP. The brothers were accompanied by S Kannan on violin, B Ravishankar on Mrudangam and Shyam Kumar on Kanjira.

The festival will also feature a concert by Kunnakudi M Balamuralikrishna (Thursday) and Veena recital by Dr Jayanthi Kumaresh on Friday followed by Bharatanatyam dance drama by students of Guru VS Ramamoorty and Manjula Ramaswamy.