Sri R K Srikantan inagurated the new initiative by Vid G.Ravikiran called Guruguhaamrta. Vid R K Padmanabha, and the secratary of Ananya Malleswaram and Program Director of Shruthi were among others who spoke to congratulate Ravikiran and wishing him success. The program followed by 2 short concerts.

Vocal : Aishwarya Vidya Raghunath

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : Cheluvaraju

Song list:

01 Slokam in praise of Dikshitar ( sngeetha navapara..) – bhairavi

      chintayamAkanda mUlakandam – bhairavi    ( S )

02 vINA pustaka dhAriNi – vEgavAhini

03 rAmE bharata pAlita rAjyam – jyOti

04 srI rAjagOpAla – sAvEri  ( A,N,S )

         neraval @ ‘ nArAyaNa tAraka divya nAma’

05 srI kamalAmbikE  – thODi

Highlight of the concert was the bhairavi kriti and the not often heard jyothi kriti. Inspite of being  a shorter concert, Aishwarya managed to package a well constructed concert.

Vocal : Master Harishankar

Violin : Govindaswamy

Mridangam : V Krishna

Songlist:

01 srI mahAgaNapati – gauLa ( S )

02 chEtAsrI bAlakrishNam – dwijAvanti  ( O,S )

03 maragatha lingam – vasanta

04 srI subrahmanyAya namastE – kAmbOji ( A,N,S)

….  ( not sure if there was another piece, I left at this time)

Very confident performance. While there are issues because of his experience and age, he gave a superb display of knowledge and stage presence. A very good talent to look forward to in the coming years.

Note:  This venture is started by G.Ravikiran. You can read more about this at http://guruguhaamrta.blogspot.com

Vocal : Cherthala Ranganatha Sharma

Violin : B Raghuram

Mrudangam  : B S Anand

Ganjira : Guruprasanna

Song list :

01 karuNimpa ( varNam) – sahAna – Thiruvottiyur Thiagayya

02 bhaja mAnasa vighnEswara – bahudAri – Tulaseevanam ( A,S )

03 tAnDava dariSanam tArum – rItigauLa – Gopalakrishna Bharati ( A )

04 sObhillu saptaswara – jaganmOhini – Thyagaraja

05 shAradE vINA vAdana vishAradE -  dEvagAndhAri – Papanasam Sivan ( A )

06 bhOgIndra shAyinam – kuntaLa varALi – Swathi Thirunal

07 ennALu Urake – SubhapantuvarALi – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

08 nanu brOva laLithA – laLitha – Shyama Shastry

09 swara rAga sudhA – SankarAbharaNam – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T)

      neraval & swara @ ‘ paramAnandamE kamalamupai’

10 narajanma bandAge – ? – Purandara Dasa

11 rAma manthrava japisO – jAunpuri - Purandara Dasa

12 thillAna ( ta da dhim ta dhim ta dhiranA )- hamsAnandi ?? -

13 mangaLam – saurAshtram, madhyamAvathi – Thyagaraja

Cherthala Ranganatha Sharma gave a good performance today at the nadasurabhi Monthly concert held at Heritage Academy Hall. Shankarabharanam ( the main) was the take of the day. Very well executed alapana , the krithi ( swara raga sudha) and the neravl marked the performance. Earlier, he did some good alanana for devagandhari and shubhapantuvarali.

There was no neraval for any other krithis sparing the main. Another neraval , for Shubhapantuvarali or devagandhari would have lifted the concert to a higher level. Two and half hour concert without an RTP , is not satisfying with only one neraval.

After the initial hiccups with the amplification settings, he settled in with the reetigaula krithi. This concert was also noted for many not often heard krithis ( atleast to me). The Bahudari kriti of Tulaseevanam, the reetigaula krithi and the devagandhari krithi were all quite unheard in the regular concert circuit.

The accompanying artists were just ok. Raghuram was very good during his return for Shankarabharanam. The Tani Avatranam was a high octane excitement by the young artists.

Vocal : Saketharaman

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : Tumkur Ravishankar

Ghatam : Tumkur SashiShankar

Songlist:

01 sAmi ninne (varNam) – Sri – Garbhapurivasar

02 jalAndhara – valachi – Muthaiah Bhagavathar ( O , N, S )

        neraval & swara @ ‘bhava rOganivAriNi bhaktajana paripAlini’

03 SivakAma sundari – mukhAri – Papanasam Sivan ( A )

04 yArE rangana yArE krishNana – hindOLam – Purandara Dasa ( S )

05 kamalAmbAm bhajarE – kalyANi – Muthuswami Dikshitar ( A,N,S,T )

     neraval & swara at pallavi line

06 RTP – saraswati – Tisra Ata

     pallavi line ‘ vANi saraswati aruL puriyavANi vINA pustakadhAriNi’

    ragamalika swara in dhanyAsi, hamIr kalyANi, sindhubhairavi

07 srI jagadISwari durga – Ahir bhairav – Lalgudi Jayaraman

08 thillAna ( tada dhim ta dhim dhiraNA ) – mAND – Langudi Jayaraman ?

09 mangaLam – saurAshtram, madhyamAvathi – Thyagaraja

Saketharaman gave a very good concert yesterday at Gayana Samaja. As expected, Kalyani krithi of Muthuswami Dikshitar was taken up as main and it was splendind ( despite my non-preference to kalyani).  There was ample time for a pallavi and Saketharaman did not disappoint us. Saraswathi was the raga for Pallavi, and a first time for me.  Charulatha Ramanujam, who did a brilliant job through out, was outstanding in her retun for saraswati. The pallavi with tripalam, the ragamalika swaras were also very good.

Earlier, he started the concert with Sri raga varnam, followed with a superb valavhi krithi. The neraval and swara was very good. The detailed mukhari alapana was also pretty nice. Tumkur brothers was very good at the percussion. Ravishankar, especially, was superb. 

Now, the complaints.. Concert started at 5:15 and was wound up by 7:45. I guess, Saketharaman was in a hurry to catch a train or so. There was a kind of hurry through out. While , he did not speed up the krithi rendering, there was no gap whatso ever from one krithi to the next. The short pauses between pallavi and anupallavi or between charanam were also missing.  The pallavi ragamalika came to an abrupt end after he finished the sindhubhairavi swaras, without a violin reply or an adequate closure of the pallavi.  The post felicitation krithis before the mangalam was also done, for the sake of it. This could have been an outstanding concert, otherwise. Having said that, he was brilliant yesterday.

Vocal  : Sanjay Subrahmanyan

Violin :  H K Venkatram

Mrudangam : H S Sudheendra

Morsing : B.Rajasekhar

Songlist:

01. nI vaNTi  daivamu ( varNam) -  nIlAmbari – Taragampadi Panchanada Iyer

02 paralOka sAdhanamE – pUrvikalyANi – Thyagaraja ( S )

03 laLitA paramEswari jayati – surutti -  Muthuswami Dikshitar ( A )

04 rAmA lOkAbhi rAmA – bhairavi – Krishnaswamy Ayya ( A,N,S )

     neraval & swara @ ‘ Emi gatilEdani prEmadAsudavi’

05 paramAnandna natana – kEdAram – Swathi Thirunal ( O,S )

06 nannu viDachi – rIti gauLa – Thyagaraja

07 evvarE rAmayya – gAngEya bhUshaNi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

    neraval & Swara at the pallavi line

08 Sindubhairavi malika

      08a  harivAsarada – sindhubhairavi – Purandara Dasa

      08b  ithuvO thillai chidambara kshEtram – sindhubhairavi – Gopalakrishna Bharati

      08c thillAma ( nadru tha dhim) – sindhu bhairavi – S.Kalyanaraman

09 slOkam ( shrutwA gunAl bhuvana) – rAgamAlika ( patdIp, kEdAragauLa, khamAs)

      09b Ehi mudam dEhi srI krishNa – khamAs – Narayana theerthar

10 paniyin vinDuLi polai  ( thirupugazh) – harikAmbOji 

11 mangaLam – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

Another fantastic concert yesterday by Sanjay, to conclude the 40th Ganakala Parishad’s annual music Festival.  This will be in the talk of the music circle for few days. Another vivadi raga was taken up as main and Sanjay did a fantastic job. An outstanding alapana of Gangeya bhushani, equally brilliant violin return by H K Venkatram, superb rendition of the kriti with a intersting take of neraval ( wasn’t the traditional neraval) and some good swara prasthana.  Overall, the main piece of the day was worth all the trouble of reaching the venue.

Entire concert was with not often heard krithis. Started with Neelambari Varnam, followed with purvikalyani with a quick sets of swaras Surutti was the first alapana and another not rare krithi followed. Bharivi alapana had few different takes. R K Padmanabha in his felicitation speech , did mention the same. The neraval and swara was very good. Kedaram has become a staple diet in every concert. However, it was again a not  often heard krithi of Swathi thirunal.

Sudheendra was all excited and did some wonderful job in accompanying the main artists. He and Rajasekhar continued it with a good tani avartanam. The falicitation after the main krithi, started with a recital of verse by R K Padmanabha , in gangeya bhushani praising Sanjay for the concert ( it too too long , denying a RTP to the audience). He said this evening belongs to Sanjay ( or somthing to that effect in kannada using the words like ‘Sanjayina sanje’).

It was 9:00 pm by the time the speeches and garlands were over, and obviously the RTP was out of question. Sanjay started a Sindhubhairavi chain with 2 songs and a thillana. There was a ragamalika slokam which was outstanding ( especially the kedaragaula) before the mangalam.

Vocal : Bangalore S Sankar

Violin :  Mysore Nagaraj

Mrudangam : N Vasudeva

Songlist:

01 vanajAkshirO ( varNam) – kalyANi -  Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar

02 mAmava sadA janani – kAnaDa – Swathi Thirunal ( A,S )

03 ratna kanjuka dhAriNi – kAmbOji – Muthaiah Bhagavathar ( A,N,S )

     neraval & Swara @ ‘ mandagamanOllAsini dEvi’

04 mAyammA – Ahiri – Shyama Sasthri

05 nI bhajana gAna – nAyaki – Thyagaraja

06 manavichE koNavayya – sarasAngi – Patnam Subramanya Iyer ( A,N,S)

        neraval & swara @ ‘ varada vankatEshudanutu birudu.’

07 pAlinchu kAmAkshi – madhyamAvathi – Shyama Sasthri ( A,N,S,T)

       neraval & swara @ ‘ kAntamagu pEru ponditivi kAruNya mUrti vaijagamu’

08 slokam ( kAlamEle malagi) – hamsAnandi – Purandara Dasa

       lALisidaLu makanA – hamsAnandi – Purandara Dasa

09 mangaLa slOkam ( kausalyA garbha sampUtam) – rAgamAlika

Fantastic concert.  Sri Sankar was in fine form yesterday.   Every kriti sang was dealt with utmost involvement and in a unhurried mellifluous way.  Kanada alapana by both Sankar and Nagaraj was very good, and the swara kalpana followed a beautiful krithi was brilliant.  What followed next was the best of the concert. Outstanding  alapana of kamboji, a not often heard krithi of Muthaiah Bhagavathar, fantastic neraval and detailed swara singing made this the best of the concert. It was very classy and majestic.  There was a short and crisp alapana for sarasangi as well.  Neraval again for this was a pleasant surprise.

Madhyamavathi was the main piece of the day. A very meticulous, detailed alapana with all the nice intricacies were very nice. Nagaraj , on his turn added some flavour with few fast paced phrases. Neraval and swara was elaborate fitting to the krithi. Vasudev played a good tani avartanam , before Sankar concluded the concert with a dasarnama in hamsanandi and the mangala slokam in ragamalika.