Venkatanagarajan makes good use of his voice

Srirangam R. Venkatanagarajan could do well with some gentle, emotive singing

Mudhra’s 27th Fine Arts Festival featured a virtual concert by vocalist Srirangam R. Venkatanagarajan. . The singer made good use of a voice that traverses the full range to render some unusual songs. He began with the Ata tala Muthiah Bhagavatar varnam in Mohana, ‘Mana Mohana’, in which musicians do not usually sing swarakalpanas, but Venkatanagarajan did.

‘Sriramam Ravikulapthi’ in raga Narayanagowla was sedate while the Varali raga exposition carried the conventional phrases with the kriti chosen being Tyagaraja’s ‘Ne pogada kunte’. The swaras were at ‘Neeraja nayana Tyagaraja’. Venkatanagarajan sang alapana for Ritigowla, Purvikalyani and Karaharapriya, which was the centre piece. The Ritigowla kriti ‘Manjanamaada nee vaarai kanna’ by Oothukadu Venkatakavi came with two catchy madhyama kala segments. He also rendered ‘Paraloka sadhaname’ by Tyagaraja in Purvikalyani with brisk swaras in the pallavi.