M S SHEELA AT KAPALI FINE ARTS
M S Sheela, who is a disciple of the veteran vocalist R K Srikantan, performed wonderfully at Kapali Fine Arts on 22nd December 2000. She was accompanied by V V Srinivasa Rao on the Violin and Melakkaveri Balaji on the Mridangam. Her concert began with the majestic Varnam in Sriraga, 'Sami ninnekori', a composition of Karur Devudu Iyer. She then gave an outline for raga Hamsadhwani and rendered the kriti 'Vandeham jagat vallabham', a composition of Annamacharya set to Khanda Chapu tala.
After a crisp delineation of Sriranjani, she rendered Tyagaraja's masterpiece, 'Sogasuga' with neraval and kalpanaswaras for the Pallavi line itself, both of which were really good. Then she presented another Tyagaraja kriti, 'Nenarunchara' in the raga Simhavahini. The bright and majestic Atana set a good pace for the concert when she rendered the popular kriti 'Neeyirangai'. The main raga of the concert was Pantuvarali. She has a natuarally high-pitched and shrill voice, and the alapana in Pantuvarali with a free flow in all octaves, sounded wonderful.
V V Srinivasa Rao made a significant contribution the success of the concert. The song in Pantuvarali was 'Ramanatham Bhajeham' and the neraval and kalpanaswaras were appended to the usual line 'Kumara guruguha mahitam'. Tani Avartanam by Melakkaveri Balaji, added charm to the concert. The spontaneity and creativity in her raga alapanas once again came to the fore when she rendered a viruttam in ragamalika. The concert came to a close with a ragamalika and a Tillana in Brindavanasaranga. She maintained the same enthusiasm from the beginning to the end of the concert.
One Mr. Anantharaman from the audience said that he had enjoyed some melodious music and that her elaboration of Pantuvarali was particularly excellent. He added that nowadays everything in life has become hasty, even singing raga or swara. But Sheela is never hasty and renders raga alapanas in a very traditional way, he remarked. Mrs. Shankari said that the sruti of the Tambura merges very well with her voice and that her pronunciation is perfect. Mrs. Ambujam Vedantam felt that she sang melodiously and that her pronunciation was very clear. Mrs. Sharada felt very sorry that she has not been recognized by many Sabhas.
When I asked the artiste herself what she felt about her concert, she said that it was good and that the audience response is generally good at Sastri Hall.
