Paalamtv had recently organised Padmashree Srinivasan’s Carnatic vocal concert as part of Mudhra’s Navaratri vaibhavam. Padmashree’s concert was impressive without being ostentatious and was marked by a judicious blend of rare and popular kritis. She began her concert with ‘Amboruha padhame’ a vibrant varnam composed by G.
N. Balasubramanian in raga Ranjani. Following a verse from Mahalakshmi Ashtakam, she rendered ‘Paradevi tiruparkadal vanda dheerga lochani’ in Anandabhairavi by Neelakanta Sivan.
Padmashree’s delightful phrases such as ‘Pankaja mel valar thaye’, ‘Karinayaka nadaiyale’, and ‘Kanjanaabhan Manaiyaalae’, enhanced the appeal of the kriti. After a crisp alapana of raga Bhavani, Padmashree presented ‘Kanikarambutho kavave bhavani’, composed by Kalyani Varadarajan. A well-nuanced alapana of Kamboji preceded Tyagaraja’s Lalgudi Pancharatnam ‘Mahita pravrddha shrimathi’.
Padmashree presented the composition with due dignity. The niraval was at the phrase, ‘Pahi vadana jita sudhakare’, followed by a pleasing swaraprastara. The rare kriti ‘Sharavathi tata vasini, hamsini, saraswathi’, in raga Sharavathi by Muthuswami Dikshitar, was a pleasant surprise.
This short kriti, rich in lyrical beauty, ends with a lively chittaswaram. The centre piece was Mysore Vasudevachar’s ‘Shankari ninne ika chaala nammiti’ in raga Pantuvarali. The composer’s effortless flow of words packed with aestheticism could also be noticed in this.
