POOR TIME MANAGEMENT AT MUSIC ACADEMY BY SUDHA RAGHUNATHAN
Sudha started her concert with the same Bhairavi Varnam 'Viriboni' that her predecessor, R Vedavalli sang. This was in total contrast to the mode of rendition by Vedavalli. Besides, Sudha seemed a little out of breath during the second degree of speed and the swallowing of vowel extensions was quite apparent to the listeners. 'Varana mukhane' in Nata was next, in which the single avartana kalpanaswaras were really crisp.
Sudha seems to be partial to Prati madhyama ragas. Even before taking up a tri-raga Pallavi which included Kamavardhini, she sang Ramamanohari, Hamirkalyani, Chintamani and Rasikapriya. It was too much of an imposition. There have been great vidwans who maintained concerts of longer duration without resorting to even a single Prati madhyama raga. Anyway, Dikhitar's 'Matangi' was rendered in Ramapriya, a full-fledged sampoorna raga, which goes against Dikshitar's adopted raga system. Ramamanohari is only a shadava-sampoorna raga with the Kaisika Nishada absent in the arohana.
'Nagumomu', in Abheri had its own appeal and Hamirkalyani (Gangeya vasana) was rendered attractively too, though with an occasional touch of Saranga here and there.
Sudha elaborated Kambodhi at length and rendered Tyagaraja's masterpiece 'Evarimata'. As a matter of fact, this item could have been skipped when there was already a tri-raga pallavi on the agenda. For an artiste with Sudha's concert experience, the poor time management was glaring.
Embar Kannan, the violinist of the day, holds rich promise as an accompanist of high calibre. He plays the ragas with correct sense and taste. Such accompanists are boons to the main performers. Palladam Ravi is a highly talented mridangist, who gave beautiful finishing strokes for every item as also an excellent Tani avartanam with Nemani Somayajulu (Ghatam), who has a long experience behind him.
