Dr. Ushalakshmi Krishnamoorthi is an accomplished Carnatic vocalist and an ‘A’ grade AIR artist.

Considering her talent, Dr Ushalakshmi krishnamurthy keeps a very low profile. But when given the opportunity, hits sixers and fours! In this concert for Ramapriya Arts Foundation sponsored by Shanti Arts Foundation and Endowments, she exhibited her ability to execute complicated swaras with utmost ease. Her repertoire is vast and varied and thus offered the audience the taste of rare ragas like Vanaspati and Bhavani. She was accompanied with full gusto by Vidwan B. Ananthakrishnan, Vidwan Arjun Ganesh and Vidwan Trichy murali who combined forces with Dr. Ushalakshmi to keep the kutcheri full of life and vibrance.

The third day of the three-day Ragam Tanam Pallavi Series of Saraswathi at the Narada Gana Sabha Mini Hall featured two artists — V.K. Manimaran and Ushalakshmi Krishnamoorthi.

RTP, which has been reduced to a 15-20 minute affair in most of the kutcheris today was given a 90-minute span so that the artists could do full justice to their creativity. Ushalakshmi’s choice of Begada RTP was voluble and confident. The raga was presented in two instalments with a few repetitive phrases. The thanam was vibrant and the pallavi, set in Chatusra Rupakam, went like this: ‘Gananatha gunaboda malarpatham kanamum maraven.’ The pallavi not fixed on ‘sama eduppu’ was given several tough combinations of the rhythmic variations. In the ragamalika offering Ushalakshmi moved on to Tisra Triputa in Saranga and once again swung back to chatusra rupakam. Apart from Saranga, the appended ragas were Dwijavanthi and Revati. The accent was more on demonstrating rhythmic cycles. When the focus falls on kankku-vazhakku, melody automatically takes a backseat. That happened here too. It was once again Thiyagarajan who accompanied Ushalakshmi on the violin. Manikudi S Chandrasekharan provided adequate support on the mridangam.

A strong voice and the ability to view melodic intricacies from a wide perspective were the advantages that Ushalakshmi Krishnamurthy, disciple of T.R.Subranmaniam, made the most of in her recital at the Ramana Kendra. Ushalakshmi’s Subhapantuvarali alapana abounded with aesthetics of a subtle nature highlighted by flowing glides with a view to bringing out the poignant flavour of the raga without lapsing into the maudlin. The violinist’s version was a hurried exercise that set great store by technique rather than bhava. Tyagaraja’s “Ennalu” (misra chapu) came in for detailed treatment with kizh and melkala neraval and kalpanaswaras at “Sati Maata,” the melkala swaras fitted with poruttams and calculations in apt measure. The rarely heard Muthaiah Bhagavathar kirtana, “Saravanabhava” in raga Pasupathipriya with its invigorating chittaswara emerged crisp as a newly minted note. In the main raga, Bhairavi, fortified by a solid bulwark of traditional pidis, sancharas progressed to a prolonged halt at the tara sthyai shadja to generate vibrant passages.

From time immemorial, temples in our country have played an important role in promoting the fine arts. For several years the Sri Subbha Siddhi Vinayaka Mandir Society of Mayur Vihar Phase I in East Delhi has been involved in promoting South Indian arts, particularly Carnatic music in the trans-Yamuna areas. The Carnatic vocal concert of Ushalakshmi Krishnamoorthi from Chennai this past weekend was yet another effort aimed in this direction.

Ushalakshmi began her concert with a kriti of Muthuswami Dikshitar, “Raktha Ganapathim”, in the raga Mohanam, set to Adi tala. This song, especially with the crisp swaraprasthara in a quick tempo, provided a bracing start to the concert and was indicative of Ushalakshmi’s manodharma talents.

Next was a fine presentation of Tyagaraja’s composition, “Suki Yevaro” in the raga Kanada, also set to Adi tala, in which she meticulously brought out not only raga bhava but also the emotional contents of the sahityam (lyrics) to the fore. This was preceded by a fine alap of the raga and ended with neraval of the pallavi line as well as swaraprasthara. Another impressive rendition.

Ushalakshmi’s main presentation was a ragam-taanam-pallavi in the raga Subha Pantuvarali. While the alap and the taanam had considerable fluency the pallavi, “Needhu Paadhame Gathiyeni Nammine Ramachandra” in Adi tala with edduppu (starting point) at the veechu point of the tala (constituting ateetha graha, in which the words of a composition start before the sam) was complete with the required technicalities. This was followed by an enthralling ragamalika presentation of the pallavi and swaraprastharas in Attana, Kanada, Dwijavanti and Brindavan Saranga. Nevertheless, the swaraprasthara of Subha Pantuvarali was shorter than the others.

Delhi’s V.S.K. Annadurai on the violin and P. Jayabhaskar on the mridangam provided good support throughout.

From time immemorial, temples in our country have played an important role in promoting the fine arts. For several years the Sri Subbha Siddhi Vinayaka Mandir Society of Mayur Vihar Phase I in East Delhi has been involved in promoting South Indian arts, particularly Carnatic music in the trans-Yamuna areas. The Carnatic vocal concert of Ushalakshmi Krishnamoorthi from Chennai this past weekend was yet another effort aimed in this direction.

Ushalakshmi began her concert with a kriti of Muthuswami Dikshitar, “Raktha Ganapathim”, in the raga Mohanam, set to Adi tala. This song, especially with the crisp swaraprasthara in a quick tempo, provided a bracing start to the concert and was indicative of Ushalakshmi’s manodharma talents.

Next was a fine presentation of Tyagaraja’s composition, “Suki Yevaro” in the raga Kanada, also set to Adi tala, in which she meticulously brought out not only raga bhava but also the emotional contents of the sahityam (lyrics) to the fore. This was preceded by a fine alap of the raga and ended with neraval of the pallavi line as well as swaraprasthara. Another impressive rendition.

Ushalakshmi’s main presentation was a ragam-taanam-pallavi in the raga Subha Pantuvarali. While the alap and the taanam had considerable fluency the pallavi, “Needhu Paadhame Gathiyeni Nammine Ramachandra” in Adi tala with edduppu (starting point) at the veechu point of the tala (constituting ateetha graha, in which the words of a composition start before the sam) was complete with the required technicalities. This was followed by an enthralling ragamalika presentation of the pallavi and swaraprastharas in Attana, Kanada, Dwijavanti and Brindavan Saranga. Nevertheless, the swaraprasthara of Subha Pantuvarali was shorter than the others.

Delhi’s V.S.K. Annadurai on the violin and P. Jayabhaskar on the mridangam provided good support throughout.