Sangeetha Shivakumar in EKM

Sangeetha Sivakumar, wife of T.M. Krishna, migrated to Chennai from Kochi as budding vocalist and became the disciple of Charumathy Ramachandran. Her concert in connection with the 26th Rama Navami Celebrations in Kochi showed that rigorous practice, efficient coaching and an environment conducive to the development of her innate flair for music, have made her performance worthy of note. Lack of clear diction when rendering the compositions of any language has been a malady inflicted on Carnatic music and Sangeetha took care not to fall prey to it. This was very evident in the way she sang Swaminatha at the very outset of the programme. Nannu vidachi was presented with a savouty version and in a reposeful tempo. Panthuvarali was breezy and Enna Gannu by Bhadrachalam Ramadas had an enlightened niraval. The swras tapering down to coverge with a ‘Mohara’ and expanding itself again had a touch of M LV in it. After Sarasasaama in Kaappinarayani, Kharaharpriya appeared in a garb of ‘bhrigas’ and that too used very sparingly. Effortless traversing of the upper regions added luster to her style in general. Chakkani Raja is reflective of the vedantha– bhaava and in the rendition of such a krithi the tempo should be chosen should also be appropriate, according to Tiger Varadachari..Sangeetha sang it beautifully, with a niraval of a high order. The swaras gave her the scope for a little bit of ‘vyavahara’ that merged well with the ‘padhathi’ adopted for it. Narayana came out with its melody and content hand in hand and Ramanaamathe composed by Rajani Viswanath in Vasantha turned out to be a surprise item. Pibare (Sadasivabrahmendra) in Ahirbhairav Radhasametha in Misrayaman and the Swathi thillana helped her to wrap up the concert. Thiruvizha Ullas played the violin with enthusiasm and veteran Parassala Ravi showed how an experienced mridangist should support a comparatively younger centrestage artiste. Nellai Santhosh (ghatom) and Sakthidharan with Mukharsanghu were the other side-men during the concert that took place on May3, 2002.