Cherthala Ranganatha Sharma , Gayana Samaja 11 July 2010

Vocal : Cherthala K N Ranganatha Sharma

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : A V Anand

Ganjira : Guruprasanna

Song list:

01 pranatOsmi dEvam vinAyakam – nAtta – Tulaseevanam  ( S )

02 shAradE vINA vAdana vishAradE – dEvagAndhAri – Papanasam Sivan

03 sharaNam vijaya saraswati – vijaya saraswati – Muthaiah Bhagavathar ( S )

04 kAmAkshi ambA – bEgaDa – Shyama Shastri  ( A,N,S )

      neraval & swara @ ‘ shyAma krishNa sOdari sukha sAmbhavi ninnE kOrina.? ‘

05 smaranE ondE sAladE – malayamArutam – Purandara Dasa

06 ninnu vinA gati gAna – kalyANi – Subbaraya Shastry ( A,S )

07 bhAgAyanayyA – chandrajyOthi – Thyagaraja

08 shrI kAmakOTi pIThasthitE – sAvEri – Mysore Sadashiva Rao ( A,N,S,T )

        neraval & Swara @ ‘ kadamba vana nilayE ambA kanchalOchani’

09 bhaja bhaja mAnasa – sindhubhairavi -  Swathi Thirunal

10 SlOkam ( shiva shaktya yuktO) – madhyamAvathi -  ( from Saundarya lahari??)

11 mangaLam – saurAshtram -Thyagaraja

Sri Ranganatha Sharma presented a beautiful concert today evening at the Gayana Samaja, excptionally supported by Charulatha Ramanujam.  One look at the song list can be a good indication of how well the concert was prepared. The team executed them in fantastically well.

The take of the day for me was a fantastic sAvEri alapana. The initial phrases itself was so captivating. A rarely heard krithi ( for me , at least), of Mysore Sadashiva Rao was a welcome change. The neraval and seara was good too. Earlier, Begada and Kalyani was taken up for detailing.  Begada krithi had some fantastic set of swara singing. Kalyani Alapana was long and detailed , with the krithi followed by some good set of swara singing.

Charulatha Ramanujam was amazing in her support. She followed  the main singer exceptionally well, and her return alapana for Kalyani and Saveri were excellent. Percussion handled by vetaran Anand and Guruprasanna did their part well.

The feedback speakers seems to have been in some trouble. Every one on the stage was requesting to increase the volume,  as a result the overal decibel level was a couple of notch higher in the auditorium. This was felt during the tani avartanam, bordering towards a noisy affair.

While the concert was very good, with such a variety of compsitions from different vaggeyakaras presented, I noticed that almost every krithi ( 100% ??) were set to Adi tala.  Not sure if this was deliberate or overlooked. Irrespective, the concert was very very good.

 

Cherthala Ranganatha Sharma , Nadasurabhi Cultureal Academy , 11 Oct 2009

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 – madhuvanti – Purandara Dasa

11 rAma manthrava japisO – jAunpuri - Purandara Dasa

12 thillAna ( tana dhimta dhimta dhiranA )- mAND – Lalgudi Jayaraman

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.