R.R. Sabha
Scintillating alapana
Speed with clarity
Virtuosity, not at the expense of melody or musical grammar, and speed with clarity are some of the valuable assets which have won flautist Shashank universal acclaim, and is the most sought-after artiste in the country and abroad.
After a spell of jet speed swaras, he would, in a trice, start a round of most slow paced phrases of depth on the long flute. A true art is concealing art and that is Shashank's prowess.
His programme at Rasika Ranjani Sabha revealed manodharma of a high order, and the RTP contained any number of flashy ragas rendered with such quickness - the raga swarupa was contoured well - that even the most discerning ears failed to keep track of - the RTP was in Misrachapu in Khanda nadai.
Lalita alapana contained all the nuances and Shashank tried to play (subject to the limitations of the wind instrument) all the idioms and syllables of the human voice, and strove hard to get as near as possible to it.
Poochi Iyengar's Kanada varnam was the rousing starter followed by a fashionable alapana in Mohanam for Tyagaraja's "Evarura" and swaras. It was a concert, which pleased both the laity and the learned. Violinist Anuradha Sridhar, without pretensions to match the talents of a genius, played her supporting role well enough, and when Shashank asked her to play Dharmavati alapana independently, she did a neat job. Percussionists Parupalli Phalgun (mridangam), M. Govindarajan (ghatam) and Mysore Gururaj (morsing) played an interesting tani avarthanam.
KSR
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