Kalyanpuram Arvind | Photo Credit: Pichumani K
Kalyanapuram Aravind presented a concert in the forenoon session of ‘Aradhotsavam’ dedicated to the Carnatic music trinity, apart from Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa and Vadiraja. The recently held event in Mangaluru was jointly organized by Sangita Parishad, Department of Kannada and Culture of Karnataka, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Ramakrishna Math.
With brigade-laden alapanas, snappy vocals and emotion-filled rendition of the compositions, Aravind kept the momentum going throughout the concert and proved himself to be an able disciple of Madurai TN Seshagopalan. Violinist M. Srikanth faithfully followed him and added sparkle and grace to the performance. Most of the songs were in Kannada and almost all of them were by Purandaradasa. It was a pleasant surprise when he made his debut with the geetam, ‘Sri Ganathan Sindhura Varna’.
After Veenai Kuppaiyar’s Begada varnam, ‘Intha chalamu jesithae’, he sang ‘Hari Narayana, Hari Narayana, Hari Narayana enu manavae’. A delightful composition, it eulogises the power of the Lord’s name, tracing how Narada sowed its seed in devotees such as Dhruva, Prahalada, Bhishma, Draupadi and Sukha Brahmam. Aravind sang the first and last stanzas.
This was followed by Anandabhairavi Alapana and the masterpiece, ‘Srinivasa Nene Paliso’. He sang ‘Ram Ram Ram Seth Ram Enniro’ in Poorvikalyani with an impressive alpana and niraval in ‘Namadindha Bhajisuvavara’.
Tyagaraja’s ‘Hecharikaga ra ra’ in Yadukulakamboji followed. ‘Yarae rangana, yarae krishnana’ in Hindolam was rendered at a swift pace with equally fast swaras.
The Shankarabharanam work ‘Saroja Dhala Naitri Himgiri Putri’ composed by Shyama Shastri was the main work. With a leisurely alapana, Niraval in ‘Saam Gana Vinodini’ and a soulful vocal session, he paid an admirable tribute to the composer and the masterpiece.
The percussionist, Palakkad K. on the mridangam. Jayakrishnan and Manzoor Unnikrishnan on the ghatam, supported the singer and violinist effectively and delivered a scintillating thani. The vibrant tala patterns from the mridangam and the shower of shimmering rhythms from the ghatam challenged and complemented each other. Glad to know that there was no general exodus during Thani.
The highlight of the lighter session was the sloka ‘Poorvam Rama Tapovananugamanam’ (contains important episodes from Rama’s life) in various ragas, followed by Swati Tirunal’s composition, ‘Ramachandra Prabhu Tum Bin Pyare’ in Sindhu Bhairavi.
Aravind concluded his concert with a fast thillana in Hamir Kalyani and Tiruppugazh’s ‘Yerumayleri’.