Smt Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam@Raja Annamalai mandram(12/23)

[Sundarnrao]

Bewitching voice, rich emotional content, honey-dripping expressions and absolute technical perfection pillared a wondrous hallmark for Smt.VS’s concert today at Raja Annamalai mandram ( Tamil Isai Sangam).

Smt. VS opened the recital with an impressive hamsadhawni bandish (starting with the famous ‘vaakundaam’ verse) and offered distinctive treatments of melodic variations through her ornately warmed up voice. She then moved into a detailed presentation on Amrithavarshini based ‘Enai nee maravaadhe’, where smt. VS was able to construct inner essence of the raga effervescently through a very beautiful alaap and also casted a specialized set of sargams (linear, non-linear, horizontal, cross modeled, doublets, triplets, cross-octaves) with dazzling splendor . Her assorted paltas & phirat expansions using ‘n s ‘‘n p’ ‘mg’ and ‘sm’ defined the musical glitz of smt.VS.

Third bandish ‘Enna punniyam saidhaayo’ attested that her form and class were par excellence and also evoked superbly animated attar. Fourth performance was vasantha based ‘innum ethanai kaalam’ – where Smt. VS instilled ingenious fulfillment of all key & creative layering of the raga during her alaap and also ensured to display all the key improvisational alankaars (khatkas, zham-zamas, meend-maands, harqats, sargams, taans etc) during the song rendition. Smt. VS then graduated to yadhukula kamboji based ‘kaalai thooki nindraadum’ with a meditative quality and hit the soul of every rasikas. “Munnam avanaudaya” (hari kamboji) was a revelation of her tapasya, sadhana, gayaki, sancharis and surelpan.

Smt. VS then forward the concert to the main piece ‘bava sagaram’ (shanmughapriya) and detailed a very artistically modish presentation. Her leisure enlargement of raga, kirana like step-by-step badhats, emphasis on sur, immense feel, laykaari, taankaari, bol-baant, bol-vistaar, sargams, multi-octave swings, mesmerizing naads, tonal evenness ( across lows, mids & highs) and absorbing bhavas were the key highlights on this phenomenal production.
Smt. VS graced her eighth presentation with a todi based ‘yaar poi solluvaar’ with a beautiful unfolding of todi colors fragenced by her vocal resonance to the tanpura sounds . Her finesse and fresh glints were adding extra touches to her poignant rendition.

Smt VS then lingered into a raga-mala based tamil virutham and conjured many raga colors inimitably. Conspicuously, her sohini phrases were at its creative best and so was her behag. Smt. VS beautifully derived rasikapriya right after behag and launched the finale ‘arul seiyya’ with devotion and emotion at its best.

Today’s accompaniment ensembles were truly amazing. Shri KMS Mani on mridangam, Sri. A. Shankar on Ghatam and Sri. VVS Murari on violin had a ball all through the concert. Their support structures and hence their creative exoneration within their charter added terrific glow to the presentation. Thani-aavarthanam was a treat for all rasikas. It was yet another fulfilled concert overall.