Sudha Ragunathan @ Krishna Gana Sabha on 25th of December 2014

[Madras Talkies]

The genius in her shone:

Sudha’s concerts always drew maximum crowd when she began her career in Chennai in the mid-1980s. This trend continues for long. After a thunderous performance at academy on 24 th December evening. Sudha Ragunathan started her concert at sharp 9.30 am. Despite strenuous schedule, Sudha, totally oblivious to this, presented a concert that brought forth the genius in her, all through. The navaragamalika varnam and the saint’s ‘Mudhumomu’ (Suryakantam-Adi) with kalpanaswaras.

Sudha had not ventured into any raga alapana till this point and Aparada mula Adi - Patnam Subramanya Iyer. was a straight approach to the kriti with the expected raga essay missing. The niraval and kalpanaswaras at ‘kripa jesina’ the charanam line compensated the absence of alapana.

She began the next number with an alapana that sounded rather new to few listeners. Mrs. Ragunathan announced the raga as Priyadarshini, and sang ‘Rukmini Pathe’ of Guru Surajananda, with long winding swaras.

A brisk Tyagaraja kriti ‘Anupama gunambudhi’ (Atana), led to a fine essay of Bhairavi, that abounded in methodical sancharas. The raga stood up grandly like a gopuram. It was an exquisite alapana. The majestic Dikshitar kriti ‘Balagopala’ and niraval at ‘Neela Neerada sareera’, sung in a pleasing pace, evoked serenity. Opulent kalpanaswara sequence, meticulous in laya, was followed by a neatly-packaged tani.

Appropriate pauses while rendering nereval at Neela neerada sareera just gave a unique experience. Also point to be noted that Sudha is increasingly delivering chowka kala renditions to increase ‘sowkiyam’ aspect in her concerts. With an interestingly cast of chowka kala swara, without singing Ni as the nereval line landed on Ni note was another deposition of Sudha's musical dexterity.

After the Tani, people started requesting her to sing tamil, bharathiar and Tirupavai compositions. She responded to the audience saying all these songs will be rendered after I complete RTP. After rendering ‘om Namo Narayana’, she quickly started rendering Subhapantuvarali ragam. The scintillating raga alapana by her concluded with swirls of brigas. Her brigas reminded me of S. Kalyanaraman.

More thorough exploration of the raga through tanam was awaited but the artist rounded off the tanam in 10 minutes due to time constraints. The pallavi was in Tamil, Venkateshwara abhyankara …. (forgot the lines) set in Khanda Jathi triputa thalam. Being a product of the MLV School, it was no surprise that Sudha handled all the exercises of the Pallavi with expertise. She completed the anulomam and pratilomam.

After the RTP, she sang Kamalanayana Vasudeva in Suruti composed by Badrrachala Ramdaas. I was under impression that Sudha would end the concert with Tillana. After her Suruti, listeners stood up and requested her to sing Kandanaal, Bho Shambo, Sai Bhajan and Tirupavai. She smiled at the audience and asked RK Sriram Kumar’s suggestion. He requested her to sing Bhavayami Gopala balam in Yamun Kalyani. She delivered that song with a Virutham. She also rendered sai bhajan, Bho Shambo, Kanda Naal and concluded her concert with Azhi Mazhai Kanna in Varali.

Both Tiruvaru Vaidyanathan and Guruprasad, not only excelled in the thani but also in their supportive roles right through the concert. Their sruti fidelity was an outstanding feature. RK Sriramkumar followed Sudha like a shadow acting as a booster to her imagination at every stage.

[VK RAMAN]

Very well written review. thank you Music talkies.

[HarishankarK]

hmm, indeed a super review, i could imagine Sudhaji's face with her smile and pleasing manner. Seems to have been a good concert and so good of her to oblige the rasikas by singing the request songs.

[Vocalist]

Sounds like another great concert. Interesting she chose Tiruppavai in Varali to conclude.