Despite purists' disaffection with Nithyashree's razzmatazz, I must admit that I enjoy the livelieness of her music. I still remember a sparkling Mohanam that brought the house down at Vani Mahal during Season 1999. Motherhood has considerbaly reduced her presence on the concert circuit - it's been something like 2-3 since I last heard her. The main items were:
Sree Vighnarajam Bhaje - Gambheera Nattai - Adi (1.5) - OVK
Sreemannarayana - Bowli - Adi - ??
Yochana Kamala Lochana - Durbar - Adi - Thyagaraja (S)
Sobhillu Sapthaswara - Jaganmohini - Rupakam - Thyagaraja (R)
Mamava Pattabhirama - Manirang - Misra Chapu - Deekshitar
Parvati Nayakane - Shanmukhapriya - Adi - Papanasam Sivan (RNST)
The concert started off briskly - Yochana was particularly forceful with some neat swaras. The Jaganmohini alaapana was a disappointment and sounded rather sketchy with the artist's familiar troubles with the lower and lower middle octaves surfacing. Age, however, seems to have had a mellower effect on her voice overall. The Shanmukhapriya was enlivened by sustained vocal dexterity in the upper octave - I never cease to be amazed when she goes into that mode.
Usha Rajagopalan's violin was consistly good and her alaapana in Jaganmohini was some leagues ahead of the main artiste. Sivakumar made up for lack of forcefulness with a good imagination and many interesting endings. His long experience of playing for his daughter enhanced the concert considerably. The audio system, like most in Chennai, tended to completely muffled the ghatam except for solo patches during the tani.
Vijay
