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What stood out at young vocalist Vignesh Krishnamurthy’s concert for SAFE was his robust voice that traverses the octaves with consummate ease. What also came through at his performance was his knowledge of musical nuances that define classical music — raga bhava and clear diction. He was accompanied by Mantha Sri Ramya on the violin, R. Rajesh on the mridangam and S. Sunil Kumar on the kanjira.
The team’s sincerity and commitment were evident at every stage of the two-hour concert.
Vignesh opened his performance with the not often heard Gowla raga varnam, ‘Chelimi kori’, by Vennai Kuppaiyer. It was, indeed, a bit surprising that he immediately chose to elaborate raga Karaharapriya. He delved deep into the raga to convey its myriad shades. Ramya too dealt with the raga in great detail on the violin.
Vignesh’s choice was Tyagaraja’s ‘Rama nee samanamevaru’, which was rendered in a relaxed manner to suit the mood of the composition. The niraval was at ‘Paluku paluku lakuthene’, while the elaborate swara sections were impressive.
Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Yamunakalyani kriti ‘Jambupathe’ that came next was rendered at a slow pace, followed by a vibrant Bilahari kriti, ‘Paridana michithe’ by Patnam Subramaniya Iyer.
Accent on melody
An imposing Thodi was the main piece of the concert. Vignesh seemed to be in no hurry when it came to the phrases and karvais. He gave them ample attention, rendering them in a gentle and steady way to enhance the appeal of the raga that gained more colour with Syama Sastri’s Thodi Swarajathi, ‘Rave himagiri kumari’.
Vignesh moved on to present the swaraprastaras at ‘Kalyani kanchi kamakshi nee paadame dikku’, with a good blend of the kizh and melkala swaras. The notable aspect was the accent on melody instead of an overzealous show of swaras.
After a precise but competent tani avartanam by Rajesh and Sunil Kumar, the concluding section carried ‘Entati kuluke’ in Kalyani (a Javali by Dharmapuri Subbaraya Iyer), ‘Tirupati Venkata Ramana’ in Sindhubhairavi (Purandaradasa), and ‘Irakkam varamal’ in Behag (Gopalakrishna Bharati).
It was gratifying to see that instead of packing in too many raga essays and swara prastaras, this young vocalist preferred to highlight the special features of the ragas and compositions he had chosen for the concert.
The Chennai-based reviewer writes on classical music.
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