Hamsadwani Concert Review
From Samachar.com
Concert Date:Tuesday, December 28, 1999
Sabha:Hamsadwani
Veena:Srikanth Chary
Mridangam:A.J.Sharma
Ghatam:Udipi Sridhar
Under Hamsadwani's auspices, Srikanth Chari
gave a brilliant Veena recital to the above accompaniments.
This recital was totally free of any cosmetic approach is
a heartening feature. Secondly he was not 'fretly' but quite
friendly at the frets with a beautiful fingering technique.
Thirdly he kept the microphone - the villain of Carnatic
Music (contact mike) attached to his veena at the optimum
level. This intelligent technique made the 'musical aceent'
of the veena more audible which in turn doubled the 'musicfulness'
of the entire recital.
He played with considerable vidwat, and
with involvement. He began the recital with his guru Lalgudi
Jayaraman's Sama raga varnam which the composer has 'structured'
with all the architechtonic elements. Chari played the varnam
with every anatomic beauty of it very much intact. This
kind of smart beginning of the recital only presaged the
kind of music that was to emanate from Srikanth Chari's
veena.
St. Thyagaraja's Sobillu in Jagan Mohini
was the next song which he rendered in a brisk pace in contrast
to the slow-tempoed Dikshitar's composition Balasubramanyanu
Bhajeham in Surati ragam. These two were a sumptuous feast
to the listening ears.
His sense of raga choice came to the fore
by the delightful alapana of Poorvi Kalyani that went ideally
with the evening hour. It was followed by Syama Sastri's
Ninuvinagamari in a balanced tempo.
An elaborate Bhairavi alapana he did. It
was presented in all its depth with beautiful embellishments
here and there but not to the unsavory extent of repetitions.
It was a wholesome Bhairavi played to a haunting effect.
This Vainika was the fourth or the fifth
musician to repeat Dikshitar's composition "Balagopala"
in the above ragam. Yet the grandeur of it was as beautifically
enjoyable as repeatedly doing Ramayana parayanam.
It was on the whole a sedate recital Srikanth
Chari provided for Hamsadwani rasikas with a pure musical
approach to raga conception, keertana, niraval and swara
rendition. They were too just to proportions. He is equally
steady in rhythm. The veena tonality was bold yet musicful.
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