by Dr. SurySekar (ks.sekar@mgt.gatech.edu)
On Sunday, the 22nd of March, 1998, the Carnatic Music
Association of
Georgia (CAMAGA) organized a veena concert by Smt. Rajeswari
Pariti,
accompanied on the veena by her daughter Smt. Swati Dokka, and on
the
mridangam by Dr. Ram Sriram, at the Hindu Temple of Atlanta in
Riverdale,
Georgia.
Smt. Pariti presented this concert in the traditional cutcheri
format. She
opened with a varnam in Saveri, followed by "Vatapi
Ganapatim", the
Dikshithar piece in Hamsadhwani. She then rendered Saint
Thyagaraja's
Pancharatna kriti "Entaro" in Sriragam. She followed
with two more
compositions of Saint Thyagaraja - "Banturithi" in
Hamsanaadham and
"Nagumomu" in Aabheri. Smt. Pariti then played an
alapana of Bhairavi, and
followed it up with the Thyagaraja kriti "Upacharamu".
Next was the Patnam
Subrahmania Iyer composition in Kathanakuthookalam,
"Raghuvamsa". Smt.
Pariti then played a detailed ragam-tanam-pallavi in
Shanmukhapriya in Adi
talam. The pieces that followed included "Venkatachala
Nilayam" in Sindhu
Bhairavi, an Annamacharya composition in Behag, a Telugu folk
song, a piece
in Punnagavarali, and a Sanskrit slokam.
I felt that Smt. Pariti's playing was marked by adherence to
tradition. To
me, her Bhairavi and Shanmukhapriya alapanas were chaste and
well-structured. I found her playing of kalpana swaras to bring
out the
beauty of the raga, without undue emphasis on complexity of the
patterns.
In particular, I liked the way she did "justice" to the
ragam-tanam
pallavi, developing the ragam and tanam in a deliberate and
methodical
fashion.
Dr. Ram Sriram, as he always does, enhanced my listening
experience
considerably with his soft touch on the mridangam, emphasizing
naadam more
than display of mathematical wizardry. In my view, he contibuted
a
precise and well-structured tani avarthanam after the ragam tanam
pallavi.
Overall, I found this concert to be a rewarding three-hour
musical
experience on a Sunday afternoon.