Chaitra Sairam’s musical ode to the goddess

As part of the Navarathri Vaibhavam, Mudhra presented the vocal recital of Chaitra Sairam, a disciple of Bombay Jayashri. The highlight of the concert was a detailed Bilahari alapana that had glimpses of creative music. The chosen kriti was Dikshitar’s ‘Kamakshi varalakshmi’. Chaitra rendered swaraprastara at the pallavi.

Shraddha Ravindran’s violin accompaniment brought her best to the fore. She shone in both solo and accompanying segments. The mridangam thani by 13-year-old Ayushmaan Sairam (son of Chaitra and mridangist Delhi Sairam) was impressive. His commendable sense of anticipation enriched the recital.

Chaitra next came up with another extensive alapana in Thodi for ‘Ninne nammi naanu’ (Misra Chapu) by Syama Sastri. The niraval and kalpanaswaras were at ‘Kamakshi kanjadalayadakshi’. Shraddha’s responses for the alapana and swaras helped keep up the tempo.

Chaitra opened her concert with ‘Tharunam en thaye’, the Sama varnam by Lalgudi Jayaraman. This was followed by the evergreen ‘Sarasiruhasana priye’ by Puliyur Doraiswamy Iyer in Nattai. It had swaras at the pallavi. After raga alapana in Dharmavati, Chaitra rendered ‘Paranthamavati yuvati’ by Dikshitar. The niraval and swaras were at ‘Paranjothi vikasini’ (in the charanam).

‘Kamalacharane’ in Amritabehag, a composition by the legendary G.N. Balasubramaniam has a beautiful chittaswaram and Chaitra handled it with aplomb. She concluded her recital with two bhajans — ‘Jaya Durge’ by Swami Brahmanand in Hamsanandi and ‘Kathyayani mahabhage’ in raga Durga (Misra Chapu) from the Bhishma Parva from the Mahabharata.