The Concert SceneBy Ramaswamy Narayanan
It was one of those concerts where the wow factor ran right through.
I said wow when Nisha Rajagopalan began with the Maharaja's invocation, Jaya jaya Padmanabha Murare.
I said wow again when she concluded with Dikshitar's Krishna Jayanti song in enchanting Kurinji, Sri Venugopala sri Rukminilola.
In between, my eyes stayed closed in sheer enjoyment of quality music and technical brilliance that did not overwhelm visranti.
The wow factor stayed because Nisha instinctively guarded against monotony at any point in the concert. (She must be listening very closely to her own singing, I thought).
For example, after etching a strong Kapi as the second number, she sang the Saint's Mee valla guna doshame. Sensing the dominant melkalam rendering of the sahityam, she balanced it with a series of keezhkala kalpanaswaras which added freshness and variety. Similarly, Simhendramadhyamam came next with Dikshitar's Kamakshi kamakoti peetha vasini and closed in a crescendo of kuraippu reminiscent of MLV. Sensing it, Nisha balanced it again with the Nandan charitram Vazhi maraikkudu rendered in an absolute vilambam that brought tears to the eyes. I could give two more examples, but you get the idea! Not only between songs, but within each song as well, the artist has to keep balancing for the sake of freshness and variety, and this Nisha did fairly effortlessly.
