Heartening level of excellence

BANGALORE: A heartening level of excellence that pervaded the Bharatanatya by young Manasa Rao at the Yavanika under the aegis of Every Friday Cultural Evening Programme series last Friday was a delightful experience.Manasa, trained by Guru Lalitha Srinivasan and the daughter of noted eye specialist-vocalist Dr Padmanabharao has almost matured into a worthy Bharatanatya dancer. She struck form straight away with an impressive invocation through Vighnaraja stuti with each stance vibrating the dignity of Ganeshahood on the basis of a great Kannada poet Putina’s composition.Manasa’s attractive stage personality, compatible limb movements, well correlated nritta, nrithya and abhinaya, natural way of expression, and praiseworthy self confidence et al won the hearts of rasikas.Suma Krishnamuthy, one of the most prominent, proficient and senior most student of guru Lalitha Srinivasan, wielded the cymbals with eclat. Backed up brilliantly by Vasudha Balakrishna (vocal), Adithya (violin), Narasimhamurthy (flute) and the evergreen mridangist Narayanaswamy (mridangam), Manasa took up the familiar Shankarabharana varna(Manavi chekona) for a detailed treatment. The pining nayika implores her sakhi to fetch her hero Lord Brihadeeshwara.It was an intense portrayal of nayika’s inner turmoil as revealed to the Sakhi. Manasa captured the entirety of the mood through glances and a mobile face that spoke. Her nritta and nrithya also were effective. The charana and ettukadai portions of the varna were unfolded in a crisp tempo. Jayadeva’s Ashtapadi (Rathi sukha saare, Yamuna Kalyani) with Sansrkit shloka prelude vouched for her histrionic abilities. DVG’s Antahapurageethe had a sensitive depiction. She concluded with a Brindavani tillana.Amazing violin masteryVeteran violinist and the inventor of Nadatarang A D Zakaraiah, was in his best form at his violin recital at Sri Kannika Parameshwari temple, Malleshwaram. He was performing on the valedictory day of the 47th Nadajyothi Sangeetotsava 2012. Seated on a chair and holding his violin upright, the octogenarian violin maestro Zakaraiah upheld the tradition and classicism of Carnatic music. He never seemed to be tired nor did he indulge in pyrotechnics. The artiste packed his recital with some unique ragas and rare krithis. Playing with unlimited enthusiasm, he rendered Nalinakanthi raga (Manavi alaginchara) and followed it up with his favourite raga Jhenkaradhwani for Thyagaraja’s quaint krithi Phanipathishaayi.The audience were thrilled to hear Dikshitar’s Namasthe paradevathe krithi in Devaranjini raga, which is a derivative of Mayamalavagowla. Emandune vichitramu was yet another Thyagaraja’s rare gem krithi in Srimani raga. Usefully accompanied by M R Sainath (mridangam), M R Chandrasekhar (ghatam) and Bhagyalakshmi M Krishna (morsing), the virtuoso violinist sent the rasikas into raptures with his Saraswathi raga, tana and pallavi (Endaro Mahanubhavulu was the text of the pallavi) set to mishra chapu tala.The ragalapana was attached with an interesting tanamalika comprising of Ahiri, Neelambari, Bhowli, Dwijavanthi and other ragas. The manner in which he rendered one raga after another was remarkable and scholarly. The swaravinyasa had innocuous laya patterns.Delightful Dwi-raga pallaviSeasoned singer Bombay Jayashree’s vocal recital launched the music festival of Sri Rama Lalithakala Mandira at Gayana Samaja auditorium. Supported by H N Bhaskar (violin), Patri Satish (mridanga) and Udupi Sridhar (khanjari), Jayashree sang Sri Saraswathi namostuthe (Arabhi) with swaras. She artistically underscored the niceties of Dhanyasi (Sangeetha jnanamu), Dwijavanthi (Akhilandeshwari) and Kharaharapriya (Rama nee samanamevaru) ragas with her touch of expertise and excellence.Daari nee telusukonti (Shuddhasaveri) was beautifully sung. The highlight of her recital was the twin-raga-pallavi(dwi-raga-pallavi, pallavi in two ragas). Sri Bhargavidevi Bhagamalini Srirangadhameshwari Mahashakthi Mahalakshmi Devi (chaturashra jhampe, mishra gathi) was the pallavi sung in Behag and Bageshri ragas.She made it a memorable event by rounding off the pallavi with a ragamalika swaras in Mayamalavagowla, Ranjini and Revathi ragas.