Ritwik Raja performing at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club in December 2022. He is accompanied by M Rajeev on violin, NC Bharadwaj on mridangam and Chandrasekhar Sharma on ghatam. , Photo credit: Raghunathan SR
Ritwik Raja concluded his two-hour concert at Jhonpuri with Gopalkrishna Bharathi’s ‘Eppo Varuvaro’. Earlier, NC Bharadwaj on Mridangam and Chandrasekhar Sharma on Ghatam presented a vibrant Tani Avataram. There is a reason why I started like this.
A navaragamalika varnam (putanam subramania aiyar) ragam tanam for the principal piece of the pallavi, which led to this taani being a mixture of ragas with just tanams, and each raga consisting of a string of swaras which are either alternately or sequentially used to come. The nine ragas – Sri, Mohanam, Bilhari, Yadukulakamboji, Kamboji, Begada, Kalyani, Shankarabharanam and Kedaram – had swaraprasthas in ascending and descending order followed by a brief tanam.
Ritwik Raja performing at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club in December 2022. , Photo credit: Raghunathan SR
If Ritwik had planned his Tanam Khanda well, he could have painted a richer picture of the ragas. But the way the ragas and swaras were put together and presented gave little scope for the rasikas to enjoy them.
I remembered Bhairavi’s elaborate raga rendition, followed by the Atta Taal Varnam, ‘Viriboni’ performed by Ritwik’s mentor (TM Krishna) a few years back at the December season music festival Was.
It is necessary to mention the seating arrangement on the stage. The musicians, including the sub-pakkavadyam artists, were seated in a semicircle.
Ritwik sings ‘Nyayama Meenakshi’ in Ahiri before singing the devotional ‘Mayamma’ by Shyama Shastri. Earlier, there were deftly composed swara rallies centered on Dhaivatam, adding sparkle to Neeraval in Tyagaraja’s ‘Sitapati’ (Khamas) to ‘Premjuchi Napai’, a crisp piece shared by Ritwik Raja and violinist M. Rajeev. Was prefixed with alapana.
The concert began with a tanam in Nattai which leads to the ‘Jagadanandakaraka’, again with vocal-literature exchanges between the sections, with Vijay playing the vowels, and singing the ritvik literature. Ritwik chooses to sing the last charanam assuming the posture of a saintly musician. Fortunately, no intonation was added.
It was a highly democratic, inclusive, modern-day concert, if one can call it that. However, one cannot help but appreciate the way Ritwik Raja’s musical prowess and voice have gained depth and range. So was Rajeev’s versatility on the violin and the precision in rhythm by Bhardwaj and Chandrashekhar Sharma.