Senior Veena artist Mudikondan Ramesh was presented on the inaugural day of the annual Veenotsav ’21 by Venika Prof. R S. In the presence of Jayalakshmi, conferred the title of ‘Vainika Mudra’. Veteran violinist A. Kanyakumari presided over the award ceremony, which also had a concert by Ramesh.
His song selection, sense of timing and imaginative vocal sections proved his talent for the singing style.
The highlight of the performance was Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s challenging Chaturdasa ragamalika, ‘Sri Vishwanatham’, set in 14 ragas – Sri, Arbi, Gauri, Nattai, Govalai, Mohanam, Sama, Lalita, Bhairavai, Saranga, Sankarabharanam, Kamboji, Devakriya and Bhoopalam.
This wonderful Dixit composition is divided into two parts, which represent the Chaturdāsa Bhuvanas or 14 lokas, with the earth in the middle (seven lokas above and seven lokas below) mentioned in the Puranas.
swara pattern
The other notable performance was Kirwani. Ramesh managed to convey the vibrancy of the raga through Tyagaraja’s ‘Kaligiyunte Gada’.
The elaborate swara streams in ‘Bhagavatgre’ reach a conclusion with Shadjam as the landing note demonstrated Venika’s understanding of the complexity of swara matrices. In ‘Vinayaka Ninnu Vina’ (Hansdhwani; EV Ramakrishna Bhagavatara) he invented swaras in different nadis.
The concert, which began with ‘Viribhoni’ (Ata Taal; Bhairavi Varnam), also included ‘Ananda Natana Prakasam’ in Kedaram, a fleeting raga essay, ‘Ardhanarishvaram’, Kumudakriya (both by Muthuswamy Dikshitar) and ‘ Bogendra Sainam’. Kuntalavarali by Swathi Tirunal.
crispy stems
Mannargudi Easwaran on Mridangam and Tiruchi Murali on Ghatam were impressive, especially with their reps in the swara segment. His crisp and sharply carved Tani Avartanam was a treat.
The tail-enders include ‘Manadirkugandhu’ in Sindhubhairavi (Thanjavur Shankara Iyer), ‘Imani Teliche’ by Annamacharya in Seshadri (a raga composed by A. Kanyakumari) with great resemblance to Madhuvanti, and N. Manirangu by Ramani consisted of a thilana.
The six-day event (5 to 10 September) was organized by Mudra in association with Radell Electronics, which has introduced the Sunadvinodini, a portable, electronic veena with built-in amplifiers. On this Veena Ramesh presented his concert. The concert was broadcast through PalamTV.
Chennai-based writers write on music and culture.
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