S. Srivathsan’s unique ‘Ragam Tanam Mallari’ heightened the appeal of his concert

S. Srivathsan with Vaibhav Ramani (violin), L. Sudarsan Srinivas (mridangam) and K.R. Sivaramakrishna (kanjira).
| Photo Credit: Courtesy: Mudhra

With a mallari taking cue from ragam-tanam, S. Srivathsan’s 35-minute suite after a neat centrepiece emerged as the highlight of his performance. Beyond the novelty of intoning the patterned item of the nagaswaram repertoire, the youngster’s impulsive innovations generated a range of ornamentations. All the same, the obvious pre-planning around the RTM in Gambhiranattai along with an array of other melodies showed his respect for tradition.

To go for a fairly long piece with no lyrics is challenging for a singer. The mallari, which is typically played on the wind instrument when the deity is taken out on a temple procession, builds up solely on syllables. Srivathsan opted for a slow-tempo adi tala of 16 beats, further colouring the swara cycles with a flurry of ragas — Hindolam, Anandabhairavi, Poorvikalyani and Kalyani, before measured dashes of Nattai and Sri. The last two were a reminder of the first and last of the five ghana ragas sequenced in Tyagaraja’s famed Pancharatna kritis. Crypically, ahead of the mallari, the fag end of tanam, too, did surf along with them all, including Gowla, Arabhi and Varali. The alapana, however, stuck solely to the focal Gambhiranattai, even as it conjured up a couple of phrases that hinted at a mallari coming.

Such details may give the impression that the RTM was heavy on technicalities. It wasn’t so, thanks to Srivathsan’s vivacity as well as the solid support from his accompanists: Vaibhav Ramani (violin), L. Sudarsan Srinivas (mridangam) and K.R. Sivaramakrishna (kanjira). Together, the team’s two-and-a-half-hour kutcheri at Mudhra exemplified the synergy between youngsters in the field.

The pivotal package was in Kanada, spanning an hour. If the alapana was a purist’s delight, the kriti was suitably substantive. ‘Sukhi evvaro’ opened placidly, but  gained frills on entering the anupallavi portion, where the percussionists complemented promptly. The solfa stretch profiled a steady climb; what’s more, the notes of the coasting line rose correspondingly. The 20-minute tani avarthanam was graceful sans aggression.

Earlier, Srivathsan began with a breezy rendition of Sarasuda varnam in Saveri. Particularly appealing were the microtones while ascending ‘Karunincha’. The subsequent presentation of Tyagaraja’s ‘Teliyaleru rama’ (Dhenuka) was testimony to the vocalist’s grooming under A.S. Murali. The resultant allegiance to the Semmangudi school was especially clear in the sarvalaghu moments woven down the kalpanaswaras. Next, the springiness of raga Mohanam came to the fore right from the alapana, with the niraval around ‘Viravara’ (in Dikshitar kriti ‘Narasimha agaccha’) tracing stylistic links to Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer. Kanmani solladi in sturdy Saranga was the filler.

The post-RTM bit comprised a soulful Kavadi Chindu (‘Villinai’ of Subramania Bharati) as well as a Purandaradasa  ragamalika lining up Kurinji, Kapi and Sindhubhairavi ahead of the Mangalam.