K. Gayatri brought alive her guru Suguna Purushothaman’s diverse oeuvre in her tribute concert

Few modern Carnatic musicians person the privilege of serving arsenic custodians of their guru’s compositional legacy, and presenting concerts drafting wholly from that repertoire. K. Gayatri, the main disciple of musician-composer Suguna Purushothaman (1941–2015), offered a heartfelt tribute to her guru, enriched by the versatile ensemble of R. Hemalatha (violin), N.C. Bharadwaj (mridangam) and S. Sunil Kumar (kanjira).

Organised by the Indira Ranganathan Trust astatine Sunaada Lahari, the memorial performance was some an affectional homage and a showcase of Suguna Purushothaman’s singular creativity. A pioneering pistillate vaggeyakara, she near down astir 150 songs, predominantly successful Tamil, spanning varnams, kritis, thillanas, ragamalikas and compositions featuring nadai variations and adjacent talamalikas. Her songs are marked by lyrical felicity, melodic charm and rhythmic vitality. An exponent successful the realm of tala, she specialised successful Dwi-tala Avadhana — the analyzable creation of singing portion keeping 2 antithetic talas simultaneously — a accomplishment she imparted to Gayatri.

Variety defined the concert’s 12 compositions, galore of them carrying peculiar significance. The Mukhari varnam ‘Rama raghava rajeeva’ — which the vocalist mentioned she learned aft a accidental find of its manuscript — interestingly contained the connection ‘Purushothaman’ though her guru’s mudra was ‘Suguna’. The blend of Valaji’s melody and tisra jhampa (tisra gati) successful ‘Thirumagale kadaikkan’ was a delight, portion lyrical quality stood retired successful the Navagraha kriti ‘Thannoli pozhiyum thingale’ successful Mohanakalyani. It is noteworthy that Suguna has composed kritis dedicated to each the 9 celestial bodies.

Gayatri’s Kokilapriya alapana flowed soothingly, filled with the raga’s diagnostic phrases, a temper mirrored by Hemalatha successful her violin solo. The kriti ‘Arangaa nee irangayenil’ and the niraval thereupon evoked a yearning for divine grace. The charanam opening ‘Andaalai thirumanam kondaay; azhwargalin manam kondaay’ made a chiseled content for its subtle wordplay.

‘Srinivasan sridevi nesan’, a lilting swarajathi successful Kedaragowla, was rendered next. Its symbolic operation saw successive charanams instrumentality disconnected from a higher starting constituent successful the raga’s ascending scale, musically mapping the ascent to the Lord’s hilltop abode. The travel past descended to Thiruvallikkeni with ‘Parthasarathiyai orumurai’ successful Salagabhairavi-Misra Chapu, a opus Gayatri rendered with keen attraction to the raga’s distinctive hues.

Ramapriya, chosen for the cardinal suite, proved to beryllium the recital’s precocious point. Fluency reigned and sublime phrases rained done the raga effort arsenic Gayatri’s manodharma took a measured flight. Hemalatha responded with matching poise and silken touch. The creation ‘Rama namame thunai’ served arsenic self-counsel connected holding connected to the Lord’s sanction for solace. The squad seamlessly launched into the niraval and swara exchanges astatine ‘Raghava ravikula aadhava’ successful the charanam, wherever the second-speed exploration was vigorous, yet polished. Percussionists Bharadwaj and Sunil Kumar, who provided fantabulous enactment throughout, delivered a precise and lively tani avartanam successful two-kalai Adi tala.

This was followed by ‘Garuda vahana’ successful Bhavapriya (on Kanchi Varadar) and ‘Navamanigalile’ successful Yamunakalyani (on Sarada Devi). ‘Chaturmukhan nayaki’, a kriti aptly tuned successful Saraswathi and acceptable to Chaturmukhi tala (an anga tala of 28 syllables: 1 guru + 2 laghus + 1 plutham), was a logical inclusion considering the guru’s rhythmic mastery. The disciple navigated the situation with easiness and grace.

Gayatri past presented different innovative kriti ‘Panchabhuta thalangalil vaazhum’, a raga-tala malika connected the Shiva shrines corresponding to the Five Elements. The pallavi of this Panchabhuta Linga Malika is acceptable successful Sankarabharanam-Misra Chapu, portion its 5 charanams — each dedicated to an element, tuned successful antithetic ragas, but each acceptable to Adi tala — correspond to: Earth (Kanchi Ekamresa, Bhupalam), Water (Thiruvanaikka, Amrutavarshini), Fire (Thiruvannamalai, Chandrajyothi), Air (Kalahasti, Malayamarutam) and Space (Chidambaram, Nilambari). Notably, the names of the chosen ragas aligned symbolically with the elemental quality of each kshetra.

The ragamalika thillana successful Valaji, Varamu and Hamsanadam, acceptable to the expansive Simhanandana tala, the longest 1 (128 aksharas per avartanam), brought a memorable and thoughtfully curated recital to a close.