Enthralling ‘Arangetram’ performance by Shayaree Priya

Shayaree Priya presenting ‘Bharatnatyam Arangetram’ at Dr Vasantrao Deshpande Hall on Saturday. (Pic by Satish Raut)

Staff Reporter :

Shayaree Priya, daughter of Neelima and Adv Prakash Meghe, and a disciple of Rathnam Janardhanan, presented the ‘Bharatnatyam Arangetram’ performance at Dr Vasantrao Deshpande Hall here on Saturday. Shayaree Priya performed for more than two-and-a-half hours and enthralled the audience. Setting a traditional tone to the repertoire with a prayer song, the performance opened with ‘Ganesh Krithi’ set to ‘Ragam Chakravagam’ and ‘Thalam Chatusra Ekam’ in praise of Lord Ganesh.

It was followed by the customary invocation ‘Alarippu’. ‘Swara Jathi’ in ‘Ragam Kamas’ and ‘Adi Thalam’ followed the invocation. It was followed by ‘Abhang’, a Marathi composition by Sant Chokhamela in ‘Ragam Bhoopali’. Then, Shayaree Priya presented ‘Varnam’ in ‘Ragam Valachi’ describing Devayani, wife of Lord Muruga, telling the swan how Valli bewitched her husband. In this performance, she exhibited her mastery and depth in understanding the ability to emote and react to music and rhythm. She then continued with ‘Shakti Koothu’ in praise of Lord Shiva.

The second half of her performance comprised an excerpt from ‘Kurathi’, a folk dance; and a dance on Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Rabindra Sangeet’. She concluded her performance with ‘Kalinga Nartana Thillana’ of Oothukkadu Venkata Subbaiyer’s composition in ‘Ragam Gambheera Nattai’; ‘Adi Thalam’, a lively depiction of young Krishna’s triumph over the multi-hooded snake Kalinga. A traditional ‘Mangalam’ brought the performance to an auspicious conclusion. Guru Rathnam Janardhanan led the orchestra with ‘Nattuvangam’, supported by her senior disciple Pooja Hirwade.

Vishnudas S Manalar (vocal) along with Gunwant Ghatwai (Marathi ‘Abhang’), Sharmishtha Dasgupta (Rabindra Sangeet), Sakkthydharan R (Mridangam), Shirish Bhalerao (violin), and Kumar Babu (flute) provided exceptional musical support. Janakiraman Iyer took care of make-up, and Sunil Michael of light effects. Manish Naidu looked after sound system. Kumkum Boratkar conducted the proceedings and Shireen Priya proposed a vote of thanks.