Dr. Ganesh impresses with his mature presentation

R. Ganesh’s concert was marked by diligent choice of ragas, free-flowing alapanas and well-executed kalpanaswaras

Dr. R. Ganesh’s recital for  Mudhra reflected the singer’s artistic maturity and thoroughness in concert presentation. A diverse selection of ragas, songs, languages and composers helped him steer the performance effectively. He was accompanied by Gayatri Vibhavari on the violin, J.P. Suriya Nambisan on the mridangam and N. Sundar on the morsing.

The raga alapanas presented by Dr. Ganesh were fluid and free-flowing. They were marked by sweeping akarams and ikarams, which created a lasting impact in the minds of the listeners. Each of the kalpanaswara suites had requisite proportions of sarvalaghu and kanakku. The ragas taken up for swaras were sensible choices to demonstrate his innovative thinking. Accurate pronunciation of sahityam is one of his strengths.

While attempting an alapana in Malayamarutham, he intelligently used the structure of the raga to showcase his vocal range. Gayatri brought out the flavour of the raga well during her turn. A lesser-known kriti byAnnamacharya, ‘Nee dasula bhangamulu’ was performed with well-executed kalpanaswaras.

Dr. Ganesh chose Latangi as one of the ragas for elaboration. A detailed alapana was followed by Yaazhpanam Veeramani Iyer’s kriti on the deity at Nallur, ‘Kandhanidam enna kantham’. The niraval at ‘Arugil anaya manam’ was short but potent with brisk mel kala swaras, where the percussionists provided efficient support. Dr. Ganesh capitalised on certain characteristic phrases like ‘NRN’ in Latangi, which enhanced the quality of the niraval. His swaras that circled back to the panchamam and certain endings filled with kanakkus were particularly stimulating. Gayatri’s contribution was significant in this section with apt replies.

After presenting a brief sketch of Atana, ‘Todu rara raghuveera’, a speciality of Dr. Ganesh’s guru Maharajapuram Santhanam, was sung as a precursor to the main piece in Thodi. An alapana that concisely displayed all the hues of Thodi made way for Dikshitar’s ‘Sri krishnam bhaja manasa’. The kalpanaswaras were once again weighty and in sync with the overall flow of the concert. The tani avartanam by Suriya and Sundar was impressive.

By not keeping the length of his individual presentations unduly long, Dr. Ganesh made sure that the audience paid full attention. In this day and age of easy distraction, this approach works well for both kalpitam and manodharmam.

Lalgudi Jayaraman’s varnam ‘Neeve gatiyani’ in Nalinakanti, a composition by N.S. Ramachandran, ‘Sri maha ganapate’ in Abhogi and ‘Darisikka Venum’ by Gopalakrishna Bharati in Nattakurinji were some of the other pieces presented in the pre-main section.