NEWS - VIEWS - REVIEWS
   

REFRESHING ATTITUDE FROM NANDITA RAVI
   
It was a quiet afternoon, the atmosphere unlike the usual season afternoons. The lobby of the Music Academy on 19th December 2000 was relatively free of activity and as one went into the hall, one was pleasantly surprised to see a reasonably good crowd for the newcomer on stage. The youngster was none other than Nandita Ravi, the daughter of the classy singer, Rama Ravi and the disciple of the veteran musician-guru Bombay S Ramachandran. It was apparent that most of the people had come there out of curiosity, to see if the daughter lived up to the promise that her background indicated.

      

Well, Nandita didn't disappoint the audience. As a matter of fact, she showed a great amount of maturity in her restrained and unhurried approach, a commendable thing in the face of the fierce competition in the field today. Her music stood out for the attitude itself.
    

It was of course, by no means, a perfect concert. In fact, there were several patches of imperfection, which also revealed her lack of experience. But it was quite obvious that she was on the right track. Endowed with a lovely voice, which, in spite of its limited one and a half octave range, was able to execute the necessary gamakas and speed, she began with a Varnam, I was told. The second piece, during which I went in, was 'Tulasidala' in Mayamalavagowla. Her patanthara and style has its own charm as it reminds one of her mother, who in turn, seems to have imbibed the essence of T Brinda's music. For Brindamma fans it was indeed like an oasis in the Sahara desert! The neraval at Sarasiruha in the charanam was particularly good.
    

She then sang Poorvikalyani. It wasn't a very good choice after Mayamalavagowla and the raga alapana was also so-so. Her kriti was a rare choice and one had to admire her guts to sing it in her debut concert at Music Academy, where most upcoming musicians are usually preoccupied with earning a good name and becoming popular (by choosing popular items!). Well, coming to the kriti, it was Pallavi Seshayyar's 'Maguvaneeku mariyadana' in Adi tala. There were a couple of rare but brilliant sangatis as also a quaint chittaswara. However, the frequent varjya of panchama was not too happy a feature. She then rendered Gopalakrishna Bharati's 'Adiyapadar' in raga Durbar - just the kriti without any unnecessary frills or attachments. The rendition was neat.

The main raga was Todi. The alapana once again was rather patchy since she couldn't traverse much below Sa and had to quickly shift to the middle octave. Her voice was also not too smooth in the higher octaves as it was earlier. However, she didn't indulge in too many unnecessary displays of brigas and other fireworks, which have made the music of most musicians indistinctive today. The violinist, Suresh Babu, in his turn did a very remarkable thing. He played the entire alapana in the lower octave! Kakali nishada (the wrong note in this raga) made a frequent appearance in all his forays! Tyagaraja's 'Dachukovalena' was the kriti that she took up for elaborate treatment with neraval and kalpanaswaras at the usual point, 'Sowmitri tyagarajuni'. Gopalakrishnan on the mridangam was unobtrusive. Much to everybody's happiness, Nandita then sang a not very popular javali in Bilahari, 'Paripovalara'. The concert concluded with a nice composition of Bhadrachala Ramdas in Khamas, 'Dasarathe'. Finally one came out of the hall satisfied that here is a promising youngster who will keep the torch of tradition alive.
  

Posted on 21st December 2000

Photo Gallery