Through her rendition of heavyweight compositions firmly rooted in patanthara, backed by a conservative yet exuberant approach to manodharma elements, vocalist Aishwarya Vidhya Raghunath ensured an absorbing recital. The madhyamakala gait of ‘Ninnuvina’ (Poorvikalyani, Syama Sastry ) supported niraval at ‘Nikhilaloka Janani’ which built kizh kala atmosphere at the tara sthayi shadja and gandhara suites, accelerating to a fluent melkala flow with punch and grip. A melange of crisp veena-syle phrases and vistara-unfurling passages paved the way for a natural progression to the panchama and shadja. At the tara sthayi gandhara, anuswara-rich janta prayogas kick-started a brief, effective round of brigas. Sarvalaghu kalpanaswaras, particularly those centred at the tara sthayi gandhara made a telling impact, as did the steady rain of variety-laced permutations in the kuraippu at the panchama.

Source: The Hindu February 02, 2017 10:18 UTC