Ritha Rajan, Nada Inbam

Ritha Rajan - R K Shriram Kumar - Manoj Siva

Nada Inbam, Raga Sudha Hall.
31st July 2008. 6 pm

palukavEmi nA deivamA - pUrNa candrikA - Adi - T (short sketch, S)
nIlAyadAkshi - paras - tisra tripuTa - SS
paripUrNa kAmA - pUrvikalyANi - rUpakam - T (RNS)
sItAvara sangIta - dEvagAndhAri - Adi - T (R)
aparAdamula - rasALi - Adi - T
kaddana vAriki - tODi - Adi - T (RNST)
hastivadanAya - navarOj - misra cApu - MD
yAla padarE - bEgaDa - tisra tripuTa - K
vagalADi - bEhAg - rUpakam - TN
sAmi rADAyaganE - folk tunes - DS
mrudu hrudayE - slOkam from dayA satakam - sAvEri, varALi, sahAnA, suruTTi
kumara gurupara - kharaharapriyA - misra jhampai - Thiruppugazh
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTram - Adi - T

What a concert that was!
Smt Ritha Rajan, a senior vocalist from the Brinda-Mukta school stole the show at her recent concert at Raga Sudha. One wonders why she does not sing frequently. The concert began with a bang! palukavEmi nA deivamA, a Ramnad Krishnan benchmark, was rendered effortless with an elaborate round of kalpanai svarams and korappu.

The paras kriti which followed was amazing. The pUrvikalyANi AlApanai was done in a very elegant fashion. The kriti had to be paripUrNa kAmA, with elaborate neraval and svarams. The dEvagAndhAri AlApanai was perfectly fitting to the grandeur of the kriti that came up. Each phrase was just flowing and kept the audience captive. With a quick rasALi to follow, the main tODi AlApanai was very elaborate and there were many traditional phrases that were interwoven. While one thought it might be a little early for the main, the elaborate rendition of the alapanai, kriti and neraval and svarams made one realise it was not. The kriti was rendered with some awesome sangatis. The neraval and svarams also had quite some rare phrases sprinkled all over. For an example, This was probably the first time i heard somebody use the phrase 'r g s, s r n, n s' outside of the svarajati.

The post tani part of the concert had a moving rendition of hastivadanAya. The bEgaDa padam, a personal favourite, was rendered with amazing bhavam and control. The jAvaLis which followed were beautiful as well. The rAgamAlika slOkam from dayA satakam was rendered with absolute rAga bhAvam.

Smt. Ritha Rajan gave a very enjoyable concert. Each phrase was moving made one sit up and listen with more attention.

Sri Shriram Kumar followed the main artist like a shadow. All his replies were measured and nothing less than the best he could give. The kritis were also beautifully given by him. For a man of such a repertoire, following any kriti was not tough. He managed to pull a perfect show.

Sri Manoj Siva was not left out. He played with maximum anticipation and in tandem for each sangati that was sung. His playing for the neraval and svarams was also very enjoyable. The tani was nice as well.