Brain Drain

Sankaran Namboodiri , Sri Jayarama Seva Mandali, Jayanagar 18th Dec 2011 December 19, 2011

Vocal : M K Sankaran Namboodiri

Violin : C N Chandrasekhar

Mrudangam : M T Rajakesari

Ghatam : M A Krishnamurthy

List:

01  gajavadana pAlisO – hamsadhwani – Adi – Vijaya Dasa  ( S )

02  rAgi tandirA – Ahir bhairav/chakravAkam? – Adi – Purandara Dasa  ( S )

03  pAhimAm pArvati paramESwari – mOhanam – rUpakam – Dikshitar ( A,S )

04  chalamElarA – mArga hindOLam – dESAdi – Thyagaraja ( S )

05  paridAnamichitE – bilahari – khaNDa chapu – Patnam Subramania Iyer ( S )

06  rAma nAma pAyasakE – AbhEri – tisra gati – Purandara Dasa

07  himAchala tanaya – Ananda bhairavi – Adi – Shyama Sastry ( S )

08  sadAmatin dalatu – gambhIra vANi – Adi – Thyagaraja

09  tanayuni brOva – bhairavi – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T)

        neraval & swara @ ‘ vatsamu veNTa dhEnuvu canunO vAridamunu’

10  krishNa murAri bhavabhaya hari – Saibhajan -  ??

11  rAdhikA krishNA rAdhikA – vAsanti ? – Jayadeva

12 kanDEnA gOvindana – mAND – Purandara Dasa

13  kshIra sAgara – dEvagAndhAri – Thyagaraja 

       ( started at anupallavi)

14  dEva bandA namma ranga banda – bhAgEshrI ?? – Purandara Dasa

15  thillAna ( dhim tana ta dhim tana ) – pahADi – LGJ

16  SLOkam ( srI vidyA shiva vAma bhAga )  – madhyamAvati

        mangaLam – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

Sankaran Namboodiri gave another very good concert yesterday at SrI Jayarama Seva Mandali auditorium.  The elaborate Bhairavi and the chain of swara singing for most of the initial kritis were the highlights of the evening. He also chose to sing large number of Dasa compositions, which I thought was very apt for a non-Karnataka singer to do while perforning here.

Starting with a couple of kannada kritis ( rAgi tandirA was a bit awkward to sing so early in the concert), with some good round of swara’s set the tempo of the concert, getting the accompanying artists into the groove.  His first alapana of mOhanam came with some nice phrases,  and an intersting choice of Dikshitar kriti. While the kriti may not be a great one, it was interesting none the less. The swara that followed was appropriate and good.

A chain of various kritis followed before the main, each rendered pretty well and added with few round of swarams for most. The Gambhiravani kriti and the Anandabhairavi kriti stood out from the list. Ideally, I would have preferred lesser number of compositions at this stage, and another Alapana and a neraval.

The main bhairavi was brilliant, to say the least. After a couple of minutes, where I thought he wandered around, it settled into one superb alapana of Bhairavi filled with some great passages , traversing all three octave. Chandrasekhar was subtle and very emotive in his return adding to the overall effect of the alapana performed by the vocalist. Tanayuni brova ( what a welcome change!) came with all its grandeur with a brilliant neraval and some spellbinding kalpana swaras. Brilliant piece.

The percussion was good through out the concert.  Rajakesari and MA Krishnamurthy gave a spirited tani avartanam ( but was longish to my comfort ) adding to their already good show during the evening.

Post main was rather long, which seems to have included a couple of requests ( like the ksheerasagara, showing his mettle at the higher octave repeating 4-5 times at ‘tAraka rAmA’).  He concluded the concert with a thillana in pahadi.

Sankaran Namboodiri gave a very good concert yesterday. Look at the list above, it has all that variety that was needed.  Another alapana and a neraval is all I could have asked for, dropping a couple of kritis from the list.  But, that do not take away the good work he did last evening..