V R Dileepkumar @ Kurissathamanna , Palakkad 24th Jan 2011

Vocal : V R Dileepkumar

Violin : Edappally Ajith

Mrudangam : Palakkad Maheshkumar

Ghatam : Sreejith

Songlist:

01.  ninnE bhajana – nAtta – Thyagaraja  ( S )

02.  SrI vaLLi dEvasEnApatE – naTa bhairavi – Papanasam Sivan

03.  evarUrA ninnu vinA – mOhanam – Thyagaraja

04.  SrInivAsa tiru venkaTa – hamsAnandi – Papanasam Sivan ( A,S )

05.  kanna tanri nApai – dEva manOhari -  Thyagaraja

06.  SaraguNa pAlimpa – kEdAragauLa – Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar ( A,N,S,T)

neraval & swara @ ‘ manmadha janaka maharshamunaku nikEtana mahanIya srInivAsa ninnu’

07.  bArO krishnayya – mAND – Kanaka Dasa

08. nanda nandana nanda nagarE – dEsh – Lalita Dasa ( A )

09. thillAna ( taka tajanu dhImta) – mOhana kalyANi – Lalgudi Jayaraman

10. slOkam ( mangaLam OsalEndrAya) – surutti

Third concert of his, this month each being very good in its own way. This concert at a private function started earlyin the morning, concluded before noon.

Dileep started the morning with the natta kriti, pretty effortlessly and followed up with few rounds of kalpana swarams, with some nice return by Ajith. Natabhairavi and mohanam came soon, however, I thought his voice opened up only during the hamsanandi alapana that followed ( could be because of the early morning concert and his all night travel). The second half of the detailed alapana was very good, so was the kriti and the detailed swara that followed. After a quick filer, came the grand kedaragaula. A detailed alapana and my personal favorite ‘saraguna palimpa’ in its majesty. Both neraval and swara were fabulous.

The accompanying artists did a good job in ‘scorching sunlight’ on their faces and not so comfortable seating. Ajith was following Dileep in all his contours of exposition and Mahesh showed a lot of anticipation.

Post main had a short alapana of desh and a not heard before kriti of Lalita dasa. Ha concluded the concert with a thillana  in Mohanakalyani before the mangala slokam.

 

V R Dileepkumar at Madampu, Thrissur 16th Jan 201

Vocal : V R Dileepkumar

Violin : Edappally Ajith

Mrudangam : Palakkad Maheshkumar

Ghatam : Sreejith

Songlist:

01  srI raghukula – hamsadhwani – Thyagaraja  (S )

02  paripAlayamAm – rIti gauLa – Swathi Thirunal

03  sItApathE nA manasunA -  khamAs- Thyagaraja ( N, S )

neraval & swara @ ‘ prEma jUchi nApai pedda manasu jEsi ‘

04  AnandAmrutakarshiNi – amrutavarshiNi – Dikshitar ( A,S )

05  sakala graha bAla – aTANa – Purandara Dasa

06  kripayA pAlayA – chArukESi – Swathi Thirunal ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & Swara @ ‘ tapanIyanibhacela tuhinAMshu suvadana’

07  muralIdhara gOpAla -mAND – Periyaswamy Thooran

08  alarSara paritApam – surutti – Swathi Thirunal

09  mangalam ( mangalam kOsalEndrAya ) – madhyamAvati

Dileep and team gave another beautiful concert on Sunday at Madampu, during a private function. Concert started early in the evening with a hamsadhwani kriti, followed by reetigaula. Partly because of the settling time and the stabilisation of the amplification , the concert took off after this. Khamas kriti, was sang very well with some fantastic neraval and swara singing.  Amrutavarshini alapana was at its best. One of the best I’ve heard in the recent past, aptly supported by Ajith on his return. The kriti and the swara singing, added to the affair.

After a quick atana kriti of Purandara Dasa, he was off to an outstanding alapana of charukesi. Traversing at ease at the higher octaves effortlessly, moving down to the lower part with some intersting bhriga laden sangatis, the charukesi alapana stood out. Ajith followed the same route and pattern to the delight of the listeners. The popular Swathi Thirunal kriti was also a treat by itself. Detailed neraval and a long sets of swara in 2 speed was enjoyable before Maheshkumar started his tani avartanam. The percussion team had been supporting very well, especially for the neraval and swara singing of khamas, amrutavarshini and charukesi. Mahesh, with some intricate left hand play was very good.

concert concluded with a Mand kriti and the audience requested padam in surutti, before mangalam. Overall a very good concert by the team.

 

tapanIyanibhacela tuhinAMshu suvadana

 

V R Dileepkumar at Sri Rama Lalita Kala Mandira, Banashankari, 3rd Jan 2011

Vocal : V R Dileepkumar

Violin : Avaneeswaram Vinu

Mrudangam : Nanjil Arul

Songlist:

01  sAmi daya jUDa  ( varNam )  -  kEdAragauLa  – Thiruvottiyur Thyagayya

02  garuDa gamana samayamidE – nAgasurAvali / nAgasvarALi -  Patnam Subramanya Iyer   ( A , S )

03  sarasa sAmadAna – kApinArAyaNi – Thyagaraja  ( S )

04  sarasijanAbha sOdari – nAga gAndhAri – Dikshitar

05  marivErE dikkevaru rAmayya – latAngi -  Patnam Subramanya Iyer  ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘ daralOna nI saTi daivamu nE kAna’

06  shAradE vINA vAdana vishAradE – dEvagAndhAri – Papanasam Sivan

07  rAga sudhA rasa – AndOLika – Thyagaraja  ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & Swara @ ‘ sadAshiva mayamagu nAdOmkAra swara’

08  sLOkam ( kastUri tilakam)  – brindAvana sArang

kamalApta kula kalaSAbdhi – brindAvana sArang – Thyagaraja    ( started at anupallavi)

09  bhajata muraLI murAri – patdIp – Swathi Thirunal   ( A )

10  karuNA cheyvAn enthu tAmasam – yadukula kAmbOji – Irayimman Thampi

11  eppO varuvArO – jAunpuri  – Gopalakrishna Bharathi

12  sLOkam ( jayatu jayatu manthram janma sAbhalya manthram ) – madhyamAvathi

sLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya )  – madhyamAvathi

V R Dileepkumar and team gave a fabulous performance yesterday at the Ramalalita Kala Mandira.  An outstanding latangi and surprise main AndOlika stood out from an overall brilliant concert.

Started with a varnam in kEdAragauLa, he quickly started his first major alapana of the day in nAgasvarALi. The violin return was fantastic by Vinu, before the Patnam Subramanya Iyer  kriti garuDagamana. He continued with a short set of swaram. A fast paced, kApi nArayani with another round of swara at ‘hitavu matadendO’ was to come. Nagagandhari filler was very good, before a fantastic alapana of latangi. This was the best part of the concert. Outstanding alapana, beautifully executed neraval and very good kalpana swarams, very well supported by Vinu.

Main was a surprise. Andolika alapana was detailed great. Violin reply, I thought had glimpses of madhyamavati.  The grand Thyagaraja kriti was renederd with all its beauty with a detailed neraval and 2 speed swaras. I liked the take on neraval from ‘OmkAra swara’ , which gave a very different feel to the neraval.

Avaneeswaram Vinu was very good in his accompaniment. Nanjil Arul was good enough, but was a bit off during the swara patterns of both Latangi and Andolika. However, he gave a spirited tani avartanam, and continued the same vigour till the end of the concert.

Post main, had few not often heard kritis. Brindavana Sarang kriti of Thyagaraja, which he started at the anupallavi ( kamalA kaLatra kausalyA suputra) and the Swathi Thirunal kriti in Patdeep, were new to me. On request to sing a Malayalam kriti, he sang ‘karuNa cheyvAn’ , immortalised by Chembai, in yadukula kAmbOji.

Overall a fantastic concert, and a very good way to begin 2011.

 

V R Dileepkumar , Bheri concert @ ECA Hall 08 Aug 2010

Vocal: V R Dileepkumar

Violin: Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : B C Manjunath

Songlist:

01 sarasUDa ( varNam) – sAvEri – Kothavasal Venkatarama Iyer

02 gurulEka eTuvaNti – gauri manOhari – Thyagaraja ( S )

03 annapUrNE visAlAkshi – SyAma – Muthuswami Dikshitar

04 aTu kArAdani – manO ranjani – Thyagaraja  ( A,S )

05 marivErE dikkum vara – latAngi – Patnam Subramanya Iyer

06 pArvati ninnu nE – kalgaDa – Shyama Shastri

07 dinamaNi vamSa – harikAmbOji – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T)

       neraval & swara @ ‘ sarva vinuta nanu samrakshinchanu’

08 RTP – behAg – khanda triputa tisra nadai

      pallavi line ‘ harE rAmachandra raghu vIra sItA vallabha’

      no rAgamalika Swaram

09 eppO varuvArO – jAunpuri – GKB

10 alarSara paritApam – surutti – Swathi ThirunAl

11 mangaLa slOkam ( srI rmachandra Srutha..) – surutti – Purandara Dasa ?

V R Dileepkumar did present a very good concert yesterday at the ECA hall for Bheri.  The concert is noted for a beautiful rendering of manOranjani ragam and a brilliant harikamboji apart from the spirited accompaniments.

Concert started with a short delay, with the sAvEri varnam. Quickly moving into gaurimanohari and a short set of swaras. A beautiful manoranjani was the first alapana of the day. Not often heard Thyagaraja krithi followed with some interesting swara singing set the concert to the next level. Two short krithis followed before the main. Harikamboji alapana was elaborate and  had some great phrases. Charulatha’s return was also very good. Dinamani Vamsa was detailed, both neraval and swara singing were fantastic.

Behag alapana started immediately, and there was a short RTP. Charulatha was outstanding in her return and in her follow for behag.  Shortage of time ( as Manjunath had to take a train for Hyd) prevented us from a detailed Pallavi. There was no trikalam , nor was there any raamalika swaras. Post pallavi had a high octane ‘eppo varuvArO’ and a popular Swathi Thirunal Padam.

Both Charulatha and B C Manjunath were very good through out. Manjunath , on his turn, did a good tani avartanam, apart from showing some great anticipation.

 

V R Dileepkumar – Private Concert

Vocal : V R Dileepkumar

Violin : Palakkad Swaminathan

Mrudangam : Palakkad Maheshkumar

Ghatam : Elamkulam Deepu

Concert Song list:
01 sAmi daya jUda ( varNam ) – kEdAragauLa – Thiruvottiyur Thyagayya

02 ninnu jUchi – saurAshtram ( S ) – Patnam Subramania Iyer

03 mIna lOchana ( A,N ) – dhanyAsi – Shyama Shastri

neraval @ ‘sAmaja gamana nIvu dAmasambhu sEyaka’

04 dayarAnI dayarAnI – mOhanam – Thyagaraja

05 akhilAndEswari ( A, S ) – dwijAvanti – Muthuswami Dikshitar (?)

06 sAdaramava – saraswati – Swathi Thirunal

07 swara rAga sudhA – sankarAbharaNam – Thyagaraja

Neraval & swara @ ‘mUlAdhAra nAda merugutE mudamagu’

08 slOkam ( vaidEhI sahitam) – dEsh

rAma nAmame stuti manamE – dEsh – Thanjavur Sankara Iyer

09 karuNa cheyvAn ( O )- yadukula kAmbOji – Irayimman Thampi

10 mangaLam kOsalEndra – madhyamAvati

What a concert in front of the invited audience. He had a group of dedicated listeners glued to their seat,  in spite of the functions and other ceremonies, and he did not disappoint them. To the accustomed audience of Kathakali music, he had carefully chosen the ragams that are popular among kathakali audience and entralled them with his Alapana and rendering. To start the concert with Kedaragaula varnam itself was a testimony to that. The famous vandana slokam ( mAthangAnana) in kathakali, was selected for the start of this concert too. Other popular ragams in Kathakali like DhanyAsi , dwijAvanti, sankarAbharanam were all taken for elaborate detailing and was supported superbly by the supporting performers. He concluded the concert with Karuna Cheyvan , a popular krith by Irayimman Thampi, on the request of the ‘person of the occasion’ before the winding up with the mangalam in Madhyamavathi.