Akshay Padmanabhan with Chidambaram Badrinath on the violin, NC Bharadwaj on the mridangam and Venkatramanan on the kanjira. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
In a recent function, Mudra showcased some young artistes who performed Tamil compositions. Akshay Padmanabhan, accompanied by his team of musicians that included Chidambaram Badrinath on violin, NC Bharadwaj on mridangam and Venkataraman on kanjira, took up a diverse set of songs, which included a wide range of Tamil composers from time to time – Kulasekhara Azhwar Started from and from Kanbar to Vaggeykar like Prof. TR Subramaniam.
Akshay begins the court with TRS’s Hamir Kalyani Varnam ‘Senthil Vaaz’, singing it in both kalams. This unique varnam provided an exciting debut showcasing the power of a seemingly soft Hamir Kalyani (sometimes without her inner curves). After a brief nattai alapana, Bharathiyar’s ‘Ganpati Thalai’ was presented. Some charming Kalpanaswaras, which had a playful tinge to Tyagaraja’s ‘Jagadanandakaraka’, were sung by Akshay.
mature company
Pantuvarali was Singer’s choice as Prati-Madhyama sub-chief. Akshay’s alapana stood out for its sharp use of akaram and briga. Violinist Badrinath matches Akshay in terms of creativity, exploiting the symmetries of the raga to bring out certain specific phrases. Amazingly, a set of verses from Vallar’s Thiruvarutpa were rendered in Adi Taala. The piece in Pantuvarali ‘Panniru Kanamalar’ was tuned by Akshay’s mentor PS Narayanaswamy. The composition, set in third movement, naturally gave Akshay the facility to insert some ornamentation in the form of brigands and subtle accompaniment. The neraval and vocals in ‘En Iru Kan Maniye’ were full of energy, especially in the mail kalam, prompting Bharadwaj and Venkataraman to chip in with their mathematical skills when Akshay attempted some kannakku. Sure enough, he left the audience wanting more!
Akshay sang Arunachal Kavi’s ‘Arivar Yaar Unnai’, a chauka kala song in Mukhari, before taking on ‘Thaye Tripurasundari’ in Shuddha Saveri. While singers usually take kalpanaswaras in the upper shadjam (on ‘thaye’) starting with a relaxed samaam, Akshay boldly chose to land his vocals in ‘sharanam’. He brilliantly took up the challenge of ending the vowels in the lower rishabham, bringing out some delicious kanakku mixed with the MPD phrasing so that the end sound was not repetitive. Once again, this prompted percussionists to pursue musicians with much greater involvement.
An elaborate Thodi
The main raga Thodi was handled in a perfect fashion as both Akshay and Badrinath devoted nearly ten minutes to elaborate the raga. The alapana was carefully constructed by Akshay, exploring the development of each swara in the raga. The highlight was the singing of long-winded phrases, which traveled in steadies but immediately circled back to center themselves around a chosen tone. Papanasam Sivan’s ‘Kundram Kudi Konda Velva’ was rendered with Neraval and Kalpanaswaras. The vocals represented a plethora of possibilities, as Akshay laced them with imaginative karavis and kanakkus.
The post-main section began with ‘Nanamaiyum Selvamam’, a Viruttam in Ragamalika from Kamba Ramayanam, followed by ‘Mannupugazh Kosalai’. A thillana in the Ambujam Krishna masterpiece ‘Kannanidam’ and Shankarabharanam by Ponnaiah Pillai provided a fitting finale to the concert.