A well-balanced concert by Shertalai Ranganatha Sharma

Shertalai Ranganatha Sharma’s concert was pleasing not just for his selection of ragas and compositions but also in how he balanced the concert between the various songs.

Beginning his recital with G.N. Balasubramaniam’s Ranjani varnam ‘Amboruha padame’, he moved on to Dikshitar’s ‘Panchamathanga’ in raga Malahari. An essay in Abhogi with the kriti ‘Ni keppudu daya vachuno’ by Mysore Sadashiva Rao highlighted the raga’s charm.

Ranganatha Sharma provided a poignant niraval at ‘Samayamu juchi delpu vaarevaro’, embellishing it with a few rounds of kalpanaswaras.

An inspiring Begada

Begada, yet another inspiring melody, was taken up for detailing. The singer rendered Subbaraya Sastri’s ‘Sankari neeve’, with its chittaswaram and sahityam, with a great deal of depth. Ranganatha Sharma and violinist B.U. Ganesh Prasad exchanged some inspiring swara sallies here on the line ‘Kanakadri sadana dina’.

The concert’s highlight was raga Kalyani, which offers musicians immense scope to explore its nuances in individually distinct ways.

Ranganatha Sharma offered a powerful alapana of Kalyani, with Tyagaraja’s ‘Endugo nee manasu’ as the composition. He laid a great foundation with the exhaustive niraval and kizhkala swaras, allowing him to go on to powerful melkala swaras centered on ‘nishadam’ with multiple combinations. It was a rich exercise in every aspect — from raga essay to kriti rendition and niraval to swaraprastara.

Ganesh Prasad on the violin was equally sharp, and his responses to the vocalist’s projections were commendable.

Thanjavur Murugaboopathy on the mridangam and S.V. Ramani on the ghatam are well-known percussionists, and they made their presence felt. Their tani avartanam was smartly framed with an eye on the clock.

The concluding piece was Ambujam Krishna’s passionate piece ‘Enna solli azhaithal’ in Kanada.