‘Veena’ Srinivas’ majestic veena recital

‘Vainika Chakravarthy’ D Srinivas gave a captivating veena recital on the ongoing Kalasagaram’s Annual cultural fest at Keyes High School on Tuesday. It was an impeccable concert and the connoisseurs were in for a treat. Srinivas was trained by his mother DL Tulasi and then he was trained under Late NS Srinivasan. Fondly called as Veena Srinivas, he is renowned far and wide.

His team consists of Peri Sreerama Murthy (son of violinist Peri Subba Rao), Vankayala Venkata Ramanamurthy (son of mridanga vidwan Vankayala Narasimham) and PV Ramana Murthy (son of mridanga vidwan Pulletikurthi Rama Rao), who are renowned musicians in their respective fields.

Srinivas opened the concert with a pleasing Saveri varnam. He took Papansam Sivan’s krithi ‘Gajavadana Karuna Sadana’ (Sriranjani) as an invocation item and played it perfectly showing his mastery over strings. He then moved on to Thyagaraja’s Nalinikanthi raga krithi, “Manavi Alakimpa Raadatey” and presented with a brief ragaalapana and swarakalpana. Yet another krithi of Thyagaraja ‘Durmarga Charadhamulanu’ (Ranjani) was handled by Srinivas with a sumptuous ragaalapana besides showcasing neraval trait at ‘Paluku Botini Sabhalona’ phrase.

Srinivas opted for Sankarabharana raga (Melakartha 29) krithi, “Swara Raga Sudha Rasa” as the main piece of the evening. It was played with a detailed ragaalapana and Srinivas played Thanam in all the three speeds and in Swraprastharam, he showed his versatility in handling the gentle veena to the merriment of the listeners. The change of postures, alienation and delineation of swaras showed his impeccable style of performance on the veena.

Peri Sreerama Murthy excelled on violin throughout the concert. The Taniavarthanam by VV Ramana Murthy (mridangam) and PV Ramana Murthy (ghatam) was masterly keeping laya in all its perfection and showing their expertise on the instruments. Srinivas concluded the recital with ‘Karunai Divamu (Sindhubhairavi) and ‘Tandanana Ahi Tandanana (Bhouli) and it was a concert par excellence.

The concert was good in all respects. However the play on mridangam and ghatam should’ve matched the gentle veena, which needs a soothing touch but was marred by hoarse sound that hampered otherwise a majestic concert.