Young Carnatic vocalist Kruthi Vittal navigated the tradition-rich path in her own distinct way

In a vocal performance that was arsenic befitting the juncture was arsenic it was aesthetically pleasing, Kruthi Vittal displayed her artistry with assurance. Anchored by elder accompanists L. Ramakrishnan connected the violin and Patri Satish Kumar connected the mridangam, the performance was held astatine the Kasturi Srinivasan Hall. 

Organised nether the auspices of Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer Golden Jubilee Foundation, V. Subramaniam Memorial Concert provided a cleanable mounting for a recollection of the doyen’s legacy. The repertoire, expectedly drawn from Semmangudi’s favourites, showed Kruthi’s grasp of the salient features of his euphony adjacent portion her presumption retained the requisite restraint. 

Navigating specified a tradition-rich path, without being carried away, is nary mean task. But, Kruthi was up to the situation successful offering her ain benignant of music. Only rarely — as successful the niraval for ‘Rama nee samanamevaru’ — did glimmers of the Semmangudi bani surface. If anything, those subtle touches served arsenic a piquant pickle, accenting a delicious meal. 

Kruthi’s leisurely tempo successful the opening velocity of the Saveri varnam, ‘Sarasuda’ by Kothavasal Venkatarama Iyer, allowed her to item the quality of the gamakas. During her measured exploration of Karaharapriya, she fto each operation look arsenic people arsenic a lotus bud unfurling its petals. Ramakrishnan’s melodious response was little a counterpoint than a seamless continuation of the aforesaid blueprint. The iconic creation successful Rupakam, successful which Tyagaraja extols Rama arsenic ‘peerless’, followed with its sangati-laden pallavi. Kruthi offered a well-modulated and energetic niraval and swarakalpana astatine ‘Paluku palukulaku tene’ successful the charanam. 

Patnam Subramania Iyer’s ‘Marivere dikkevarrayya rama’ (Shanmukhapriya-Desadi) was rendered adjacent with a lively niraval and swara passages astatine the customary operation ‘Sannutanga sri venkatesa’. Kruthi past sang ‘Paripalinchumani’, a uncommon kriti (Suddhasaveri-Khanda Chapu) by Thiruvisanallur Venkataramana Iyer, featuring a well-knit chittaswara. 

Varali was the raga chosen for the main piece. Kruthi’s elaborate effort captured its pensive mood, and Ramakrishnan’s reply sustained it. The vocalist’s rendition of Dikshitar’s ‘Maamava meenakshi’ successful Misra Chapu reflected the grandeur of the kriti, acknowledgment to the impeccable diction, the soulful niraval astatine ‘Syame sankari’, the mathematical articulation successful the swara exchanges, and the flowing sarvalaghu patterns culminating successful the korvai. Satish Kumar’s compact tani avartanam was marked by originative rhythmic patterns executed with verve, precision and tonal purity. 

A lengthy but neat alapana successful Sindhubhairavi, uncommon for a bhajan, introduced Ambujam Krishna’s ‘Aaja giridhar tu aaja’. Kruthi sang the verse ‘En thaayum enakkarul thandhayum’ from Arunagirinathar’s Kandar Anubhuthi in Kamboji, Kapi and Vaasanthi arsenic virutham, and concluded with Lalgudi Jayaraman’s thillana successful Vaasanthi, acceptable to Misra Chapu.