Chennai-based Sruti journal not too long ago organised an occasion to seize the spirit of Holi by artwork. Chaitrra Sairam, a disciple of Bombay Jayashri, put collectively a distinctive set of ragas to painting the festival of colors. Apart from working with kids with autism, she teaches music in rural areas in Tamilnadu.
Chaitrra selected acceptable ragas to create a visible imagery of completely different colors. She introduced Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s nottuswaram to indicate white. The music of Western bands had impressed Dikshitar to compose the Sanskrit verse, ‘Shyamale Meenakshi,’ (Sankarabharanam). Her younger college students Shakti and Priya sang together with Chaitrra. She subsequent depicted the color yellow with ‘Tunga tarange’ (Hamsadhwani, Sadashiva Brahmendral). The sheen in her voice got here to the fore on this tune.
The spotlight of Chaitrra’s session, an try at grahabhedam (shifting the tonic word to a different in the raga and arriving at a completely different raga), received her appreciation from the viewers. Starting with Mohanam, she shifted the base word to rishabam (ri to ri) to succeed in Madhyamavati. Shifting the base to Gandharam (ga to ga), she sang raga Hindolam, and later shifting the base word to dhaivatam (dha to dha), she landed at Shuddha Dhanyasi. In this vibrant array of ragas, Chaitrra got here up with a string of melodies: ‘Swagatam Krishna’ (Mohanam), ‘Govardhana Girisham’ (Hindolam), ‘Narayana Ninna’ (Shuddha Dhanyasi) and ‘Karpagame’ (Madhyamavati).
The penultimate piece was ‘Kaakkai siraginile nandalala’, the place Mahakavi Bharati sees Nature’s colors in the dark-skinned Krishna. Her college students sang alongside too. Chaitrra concluded with a Meera bhajan, ‘Holi khelata hain giridhari.’
Srivatsan on the keyboard, and Ayushmaan Sairam on the mridangam provided good assist.
Sundaresan’s artistry
Bharatanatyam dancer P. Sundaresan
| Photo Credit:
R. Ravindran
The subsequent 30-minute noticed Bharatanatyam dancer P. Sundaresan showcase his versatility. He trains in abhinaya below eminent dancer Bragha Bessell. He is a educated Kalaripayattu artiste too. With a Master’s in Bharatanatyam, Sundaresan teaches dance and choreography.
His first presentation ‘Holi ayee re’ described Krishna taking part in Holi in Brij with Radha and the gopis. Sundaresan effused confidence and good approach. He subsequent introduced Sant Chokhamela’s common abhang ‘Abhir gulaal udhalita rang’, taking us on a journey to Pandharpur to indicate how Holi is well known in the city. Sundaresan, who started studying dance below Dhanalakshmi Shankar and later educated below V. Balagurunathan, was capable of evoke the pleasure as Panduranga dances amid vibrant powder strewn in the air. However, the artiste would have finished nicely by evoking bhakti bhava extra on this presentation. The dancer concluded with a Kuntalavarali thillana.
After the performances, the artistes and the viewers performed with colors.
Published – March 18, 2025 06:10 pm IST
