ADITYA PRAKASH IN KASTURI SRINIVASAN HALL –MUSIC ACADEMY

[CRama]

Aditya Prakash in the company of R.Raghul and Arjun Ganesh presented a concert of Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar kritis on 20/7/18 at 6.00 P.M. List of songs.

• Mathe Malayadhwaja- Khamas- Daru varnam
• Amba Vani- Keeravani (N,S)
• Arukkum adangatha neeli- Begada (R,S)
• Vanchatonu- Karnaranjani
• Bhagala deviya bhajisi- Thodi (R,N,S)
• Thani
• Andavan Darisaname- Jonpuri (R)
• Tillana-Behag (R)
• Mangalam Kosalendraya-Madhyamavathy

Adithya Prakash is endowed with a very energetic and emotive voice, solid patantharam, rich manodharmam, stage presence, confidence- all the aspects necessary for a successful concert artist. I have heard him a few occasions earlier and had been much impressed by his performance. He comes in the Semmangudi lineage, having learned from Palai C.K.Ramachandran and P.S.Narayanaswamy. His earlier concerts strictly confirmed to SSI repertoire. This is the first time I am hearing him in a non SSI repertoire and he proved that his basics are strong and can mould his concerts in any direction.

The Daru varnam Mathe was rendered well with grip in the laya, and raga and karvai elements which constitute key handles in this monumental varnam. I observe that there are different ways of singing this varnam. This varnam has got swaram, jati and sahithya portions which are identical in structure. M.S Subbalakshmi, T.M.Krishna, Sudha Raghunathan etc sing two speeds of each segment before going to the charanam. T.N.Seshagopalan sings all the three segments in the lower speed and he combines the three segments in the higher speed. Aditya Prakash sang all the three segments in the lower speed followed by the higher speed of all the three segments. Some innovative sangathis he introduced in the varnam were much refreshing.

The second song Amba Vani in Keeravani was given a heavy treatment with elaborate neraval at the lines Paradevi ninnu bhajiyincha with complete two lines taken to give the desired meaning. Elaborate mel kala swaras landing at ma and pa alternatively was highly enjoyed by the audience. Two ragams- Begada and Thodi were rendered elaborately with a judicious combination of characteristic phrases, well rounded gamakams, jarus, lightning brighas in the typical SSI style. The sarva laghu swara prastarams added much lustre to the performance. The kriti in Thodi is new to me. It is one of the few kritis HMB composed in Kannada. The post thani pieces were rendered with due emphasis on the raga bhavam and sahithya bhavam.

The normal slot in the Kasturi Srinivasan Hall is two hours- 6 to 8 PM. The concert started at 6 and concluded at 7.52. He could have utilized the full slot by singing one Vinayaka kriti as No 2.- Ganganapathe or Sakthi ganapathim.

Because of his sojourn with a variety of genres including singing for the dance performance of his sister Mythili Prakash, his concerts had been sporadic in Chennai and I reliably understand that Aditya Prakash has since decided to firm up his career in the Carnatic music circuit.

R.Raghul on the Violin provided excellent support. His alapanas following the style of Doyen M.Chandrasekharan was much pronounced in the alapana of Behag. Arjun Ganesh on the Mridangam embellished the concert significantly with his anticipation and the patterns he filled up during the long karvais in Amba Vani was much appealing.

An excellent concert.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Good review, CRama.
Aditya Prakash seems to be a Vidwan to watch. Hope he will be performing many concerts during the ensuing season.