A day long ‘Akhandam’ was organized by the BSV from 9 am to 9 pm, where a number of renowned artists presented many Dikshitar kritis- quite a number them being rare ones. The packed audience at the Kasturi Srinivasan Hall of the Music Academy sat glued to their seats right through and were enjoying every minute, engulfed in the richness of the kritis.

The function got off to a beautiful start with an emotional speech encompassing the various aspects of the greatness of Dikshitar’s kritis by Octogenarian Sangita Kala Acharya Sri S.Rajam (himself a disciple of Ambi Dikshitar, among others). Painter as he is, that day he painted with words such a beautiful picture of the great saint composer’s creative genius that the audience listened to him in rapt attention and were awe struck by the various episodes from Dikshitar’s life he so interestingly portrayed. Sri N.Murali, President of Music Academy, dwelt briefly on the birth and greatness of Dikshitar.

The music session started off with Neyveli Santhanagopalan beautifully unfolding the first kriti composed by Dikshitar—Sri Nathadi Guruguho Jayati—with explanation of the entire scale of Mayamalavagowla, adeptly brought out in the very first line of the song itself by the composer. Accompanied by his disciples, he presented the songs of Dikshitar in Carnatic as well as Hindustani ragas and crowned it with songs based on Western music, known as ‘Notes’, all in Sankarabharanam raga, the predominant scale of western music.

Smt. Rama Ravi who followed was accompanied by her daughter Nandita Ravi. Among the kritis rendered Balambikaya in Sriranjani and Sri Rajarajeswari in Poornachandrika made good impact. One however wished her presentation could have included some more weighty songs of Dikshitar for which their school is well known.

As against this SP Ramh who has a voluminous voice, confined himself to singing commonly heard songs like Panchmatanga and Hiranmayeem that got only a pedestrian treatment.
K. Gayatri’s presentation was well received although one felt her singing could have been invested with more weighty phrases.

The Lecdem by Dr. Radha Bhaskar provided a welcome change and her scholarly exposition of the in depth analysis of Dikshitar’s compositions gave good enlightenment to the discerning audience.

Rich fare was provided by seasoned singers Malladi Brothers (senior) whose leisurely singing of the compositions prefixed by short slokas on Dikshitar created a very great impact on the listeners. The rare raga Raghupriya ( Ravikriya) with interesting explanation by Suri Babu revealed in depth ‘gnana’ and a command over the presentation of the vivadi raga. The coordination between the brothers resulted in rich output of the melodies presented by them.

Smt. Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam invested her presentation with a freshness, which was very much welcomed by the audience. Many of the compositions rendered by her were rare pieces like Palayamam (Kannada), Govindarajam( Mukhari), Kalavati( Kalavati) and Matangi( Dhoutapanchamam). The alapana of Saveri though brief, reflected good gnana bhava and a high sense of aesthetics. It was suffixed by the well-known kriti ‘Kari kalabha mukham’ that reflected an old world charm of its own.

Compared to the leisurely pace maintained by many of the other singers, Vijay Siva’s concert in general, was fast paced. Among the songs rendered by him, Sivakami pathim chintayeham(natakurinji) Kanaka Sabhapathim( Malavasri) and Krishnananda Mukunda( Gowlipanthu) came up for pleasant treatment.
The accompanists enriched the presentations with a deep sense of involvement.

BSV’s initiative in getting up an Akhandam function like this deserves to be very highly complimented. The concern they had for the audience was amply revealed by their making excellent arrangements for food and beverages all through the day.