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BOMBAY JAYASHREE SINGS A CLASSY BHAIRAVI AT MUSIC ACADEMY
  
Bombay Jayashree is not merely a popular artiste, but possesses rich musical stamina. Her music is full of graces and nuances, both in the rendition of kritis and the creative aspects like raga alapana, neraval and kalpanaswaras. One could find an instrumental approach in the execution of phrases, either a solfeggio or ornamented with vowel extensions. At the same time, she sings exuberantly and enthusiastically. No a mere superficial glamour.

     

Her alapana of Sriranjani (Brochevarevare) in her concert for the Music Academy on 21st December 2000, was sung well, full of intrinsic bhava - not a jumble of permutation and combination of phrases based on the scale format. The kriti was sung meaningfully and the swaras were marked by intelligent musical flow. Begada raga was skillfully tackled, occasionally with a couple of phrases here and there which have crept into Begada of late, but which can be avoided. The plain rendering of 'Neeverakula dhanamu', a Tyagaraja masterpiece, was a welcome feature. Bhairavi was rendered at length with all the key phrases and combinations intact. Still, an unadorned, elongated Suddha Daivata figured not only in the rendition of the vocalist but was carried over faithfully by the violinist, Varadarajan. The alapana otherwise marked a class. The kriti of Syama Sastri, 'Sarievvaramma' was well placed in the sequence of items and served as an anchor.
     

Though norms well-written in black and white need not be documentally available regarding the selection of the ragas for Ragam Tanam Pallavi, one must pay heed to what traditionally and conventionally has been done by past votaries of the art. The raga Devamanohari could, at best, be dealt with for five minutes in alapana. To take it still further would lead only to a jugglery of permutation and combination of phrases, making it swara-oriented rather than bhava-oriented. Even in the kritis of the master-composers like Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar, with a retinue of the post-Tyagaraja period, one may find oft-repeated phrases and phases. Such being the case, Devamanohari would have been and was a challenge for the vocalist, although it was managed skillfully for time to pass. However, the Pallavi, 'Raghukula bhooshana Sriramachandra' in Tisra Triputa, Khanda gati, was taken at a convenient point in the schedule.
     

Varadarajan won the admiration and appreciation of the listeners for his exquisitely beautiful following. He never fell short of anything anywhere. However, while executing in the higher regions the tone of the violin was a little screechy and could have had some aesthetic excellence.

Arunprakash, who was on the mridangam, richly deserves a shining career by virtue of his marked talents. Karthick on the ghatam, exhibited a dexterously clean performance, proving an equal match to the mridangist.

Posted on 22nd December 2000

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