Violin - Akkarai Subhalakshmi
Mridangam - Trivandrum Balaji
I missed both the live and the TV relay of his Jaya TV concert. I came prepared to be content and I was blown away. What a voice, what a range. Nothing from start to finish was mediocre. Even the thukadas were rich and loaded. Karpuram Narumo is still ringing in my ears a good 24 hours later.
He started with a varnam in Darbar (not Chalamela) and I knew he meant business. He sang a kriti with a sketch of raga, niraval and swarams (sorry, didn't write down list) which was impressive. He followed that by Ambujam Krishna's Enna Solli Azhaithal in Kanada. What stole the show was a scintillating Kiravani:bhava-brigha-laden alapana followed by Kalikiyunte. I read in The Hindu earlier in the week that this kriti and ragam had been milked to death. This was almost a 'dare' for that article and the answer is 'No, it hasn't been milked to death'. The niraval and swarams were equally mesmerising. Subhalakshmi was ofcourse no slacker. What was beautiful was the obvious respect and enjoyment all 3 artistes had on stage.
I rate this my best concert of the Season and I've still got a few on my list of 'to do'