Umayalpuram and youth to the fore
By Lavanya Narayanan
3 November 2016
The second day of the festival began with Sant Pravaham ‘Part II,’ presented by vocalists Vasudha Ravi, Savita Sreeram, and Suchitra Balasubramaniam. Able accompaniment by violin, mridangam, harmonium, and tabla highlighted the Carnatic and Hindustani music on offer positively and were complementary to the vocal presentation. As the vocalists took the audience on a journey of compositions by various saints instrumental in the compositional evolution of music, the katha kutcheri was a hit with the audience, captivating their attention. Most noteworthy among the artists was abhang artist Savita Sreeram whose razor-sharp voice and command over layam facilitated an energetic performance.
Suchitra Balasubramaniam’s engaging katha kutcheri did not go unnoticed, however, and was later highlighted in the second programme of the evening by Umayalpuram Sivaraman, the curator of the programme. The event saw Sikkil Gurucharan, B Vijayagopal, Nagai Sriram, and B. Sivaramakrishna Rao collaborate under the guidance of Sivaraman to create Ekam-Bahuvidam, a celebration of the interaction of melody in rhythm. The presentation heavily utilized rhythmic patterns from Harikatha as well as kanakkus based in a traditional Carnatic music kutcheri.
The evening presentation, Naughty Naradarin Pattimandram showcased the creative interests of Subhasree Thanikachalam with seasoned dramatic artist Y Gee Mahendra to produce a musical debate, supervised largely by Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Kumaresh, and Gangai Amaran. The debate centered on music in different environments, comparing and contrasting the music in film to music on a sabha stage to form a thought-provoking performance for the audience.
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