Saketharaman @ Nadasurabhi Annual festival, 19 Nov 2022

Vocal : Vid Saketharaman

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : K U Jayachandra Rao

Morsing : Bhagyalakshmi Krishna

List ( incomplete)

01 vandisuvadAdiyali gaNanAthana – nATTa – khaNDachAp – Purandara Dasa

02 yAriukku tAn teriyum – dEvamanOhari – Adi – Gopalakrishna Bharathi ( ? , S )

03 jambUpatE mAm pAhi – yamunA kalyANi – rUpakam – Dikshitar ( A )

04 baNTurIti kOlu viyavayya rAmA – hamsanAdam – Adi – Thyagaraja ( N, S )

neraval @ rAma nAma manu vara khaDgamivi

05 alapana – kharaharapriya ( grahabhEdam to chenchurutti)

viruttam ( nanmayum selvamum nALum nalkumE )

rAmA nIyeDa prEma rahitulaku – kharaharapriya – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval @ pallavi line – rAmA nIyeDa prEma rahitulaku nAmaruci delusuna O sItA

swara @ tana saukhyamu

06 yArE rangana yArE krSNana – hindOLam – khaNDachAp – Purandara Dasa

07 hariyum haranum onrE – aTHANa – Adi – MDR ( O )

08 RTP – shubhapantuvarALi – chaturashra aTa , +3 beat eduppu

ragamalika tAnam in shubhapantuvarALi , nATakurinji, kApi

pallavi line ‘ nAtHa harE, jagannAtHa harE, sadA jagannAtHa harE ; pashyati rAdhA rahasibhavantam(?) ‘

ragamalika swaras in shubhapantuvarALi, nIlAmbari and sindhu bhairavi

09 kaNNane ANbadeppO – rAgamAlika – Adi – ??

10 akka kELava nAnonda kanasa kaNDE ( vachana) – pahADi? – rUpakam – Akka Mahadevi

11 thillAna – pahADi – Adi – Lalgudi Jayaraman

12 mangaLam ( nI nAma rUpamulaku ) – saurAStram/ madhyamAvati – Adi – Thyagaraja

shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya) – madhyamAvati

I’ve reached late and might have missed the initial couple of kritis. He was into Devamanohari as I walked in. Jambupate was the real opener for me. Alapana was sung beautifully, very slow , many lower octave phrases ( where he had some difficulty with his voice at the low octaves, a bit strain could be observed) and maintaining the same tempo and mood into the composition. I really loved this. Charulatha was equally fabulous on her turn. Jambupate was masterclass. 180 deg shift to a super fast banturIti , immediately after the sedate jambupate. Neraval at a ‘breakneck’ speed at rAma nAma manu.

A very good kharaharapriya alapana , with a grahabhedam to chenchurutti, well transitioned to it and returned. Charulatha also played the same ( twice ? or was it because she missed the return and come back? ) in her turn. Typical progress in alapana, a few memorable phrases. A viruttam, leading into rAmA nIyeda was nice. He decided to do neraval at the pallavi line – the whole line that is – which was interesting. Switched back to the charanam for singing the kalpana swarams. Commendable, some intersting laya patterns. Jayachandra Rao played an exquisite tani avartanam, demonstration of skills, the ability to produce impressive ‘nAdam’ ( playing the kharaharapriya notes , the arohana and avarohana), and some great structures. This was a top class performance. Morsing by Bhagyalakshmi, as always, did receive enough applauses.

Shubhapantuvarali pallavi was good. Fairly longish alapana, fabulous tanam ( been witnessing some outstanding tanam singing in the last couple of days) by both the artists. Natakurinji tanam was really good. Pallavi line, most likely derived from Jayadeva’s Ashtapadi, was nice. Swaras were in Neelambari, which was very good and sindhu bhairavi. There was no trikalam.

A vachana of Akka Mahadevi was the highlight of the concluding pieces. Team gave a commendable concert, last night.

 

Ramakrishnan Murthy Nadasurabhi Annual Festival 2022, 18th Nov 2022

Vocal : Ramakrishnan Murthy

Violin : H M Smitha

Mrudangam : Arjun Kumar

Ghatam : Giridhar Udupa

List

01 shrI saraswati namOstutE paradEvatE – Arabhi – Adi – Dikshitar ( O, S )

02 kA vA vA – varALi – Adi -Papanasam Sivan

03 dhanyuDevvaDO dAsharatHE – malayamArutam – Adi – Patnam Subramanya Iyer ( A,N, S)

neraval @ ‘vara maddaLa tALAdi tampura vINa vAdyamula jErcukoni’

04 viruttam ( UrilEn kANi illai uRavu maTTravarillai )

nArAyaNa ninna nAmada – shudha dhanyAsi – khaNDa chAp – Purandara Dasa

05 padavi nI sadbhaktiyu – sALaga bhairavi – Adi – Thyagaraja

06 taLLi ninnu neranammi nAnu – kalyANi – mishra chAp – Shyama Shastry ( A,N,S,T )

neraval @ ‘shyAma krSNa paripAlini shUlini’

07 RTP – rEvati – tishra tripuTa x 2 , +2 beat eDuppu

‘rEvatidhavAnuja shrIkrSNa mAm pAhi sadA’

rAgamalika swaras at shrI and kuntaLavarALi

08 vaddani nEnaNtika ( javaLi) – kApi – Adi -Patnam Subramanya Iyer

09 suTTum vizhi cuDar dAn kaNNammA – rAgamAlika -Adi tishra gati – Subramanya Bharati ( thank you Raghunandan)

10 thillAna – dhanAshrI – Adi – Swathi Thirunal

11 mangaLam ( nI nAma rUpamulaku) – saurAStram – Adi – Thyagaraja

shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya) – madhyamAvati

Stellar concert by the team yesterday. Impressive selection and performance. The whole concert came alive with the malayamarutam kriti, a tad faster in tempo, but it did lift the concert up. Very good alapana, super neraval at the vara maddala, elaborate swaras at the second speed.

Kalyani, with usual flair. Neraval at the usual place, which I do not prefer. Short line neravals aren’t my favorites. Kalpana swaras were very good. Some interesting ‘kanakku’ and a beautifully conceived ‘karvai’ to end the swaras, despite some small mix up, were well executed.

Revati pallavi, arguably the bext part. Alapana was rather short and sweet. They duo compensated it with a brilliant tanam. Elaborate, exploring the possibilities at both higher and lower octaves, out-smarting each taking it to some mesmerising heights. The audience too seems to have liked it. Interesting ( and new to me) pallavi line, incorporating the ‘ragamudra’. Similarly ragamalika swaras were done at appropriate place. At ‘ShrIkrSNA mAm pAhi’ while singing swaras in ShrI ragam and at ‘mA(m) pA hi’ for kuntalavarali, as the swaraksharas for ‘sa ma pa dha ni’ arohana swaras.

Percussion team were as expected from Arjunumar and Udupa, at their elements. Adding the verve and vigour as demanded. Smitha played good through out,and was excellent during Tanam.

 

Vignesh Ishwar @ Nadasurabhi 16th Oct 2022

Vocal : Vignesh Ishwar

Violin : H M Smitha

Mrudangam : Anirudh S Bhat

Ghatam : Sukanya Ramgopal

List :

01 telisi rAma cintanatO – pUrNacandrika – Adi – Thyagaraja ( S )

02 himAdri sutE pAhimAm – kalyANi – rUpakam – Shyama Shastry ( A, N )

neraval @ shyAmakrSNa sOdari gauri paramEshvari girijA

03 Adi varAhana celuva pAdava – shrI – mishra chAp – Purandara Dasa ( set to tune by R K Shriram Kumar) ( A )

04 shrI gurunA pAlitOsmi – pADi – rUpakam – Muthuswami Dikshitar

05 orajUpu chUceDi nyAyamA – kannaDagauLa – Adi – Thyagaraja ( S )

06 dinamaNi vamshA – harikAmbOji – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A,t,N,S,T )

neraval 1 : nirvikAra guNa nirmala karadhrta

neraval 2 : sarva vinutA nanu samrakSincanu

07 nI mATalE mAyanurA – pURvikayANi – Pattabhiramayya

08 rAsE hari miha ( ashtapadi)- rAgamAlika – Adi – Jayadeva

09 paNDari nivAsa sakhya pANDuranga ( abhang) – Adi – Namdev

10 tillAna ( tadara tAni tOm tarana tana dhiraNa) – suruTTi – Adi – Mysore Vasudevachar

11 shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya ) – suruTTi

Despite some initial hiccups due to mic-asura acting up, the concert did really picked up the steam and the team delivered a stellar concert. Many good points to talk about. The harikAmboji as it should be was the main attraction of the evening. Tanam was exquisite. Smitha, chipped in or added to the impressive singing of Vignesh with her own. Very short alapana for a main piece, but the long elaborate tanam did cover for the lack of alapana. He started at the anupallavi ( I am not a great fan of this) and teased at that for a while, building the anticipation before arriving at dinamani vamsha, the impact wasn’t bad. Sang neraval ( and the subsequent swaras ) at two places. ‘Nirvikara guna’ was mostly sung at the higher octave and the ‘sarva vinuta’ line at the standard. Little bit of alternating between the lines, a bit clunky at times, but did fall in place soon. Good work, in the end. Swara patterns were repeated in similar way, ‘nirvikara’ at the higher sthayi and the ‘sarva vinuta’ at the regular. He also smartly incorporated swarakshara at both ‘ni’ and ‘sa’ for the respective lines.

Concert started amidst the power and mic issues with a brisk purnacandrika. He wanted to repeat the swaras once again, after the mic/feedback etc was somewhat restored. Kalyani also had troubles with the amplification, for the remainder of the kriti, it was sung mic-less. Strain on the singers and on the listeners. Good sense prevailed. The order was reset and restored and we were treated with a beautiful dasar pada in shrI ragam. Again, Smitha played some delectable takes in her turn. Fabulously set to tune by Shriram Kumar and sung equally well. Not often heard pAdi composition of Dikshitar was sung before main ( I have an affinity towards the pADi used in kathakali, which is entirely different from this).

Anirudha Bhat, standing in for his Guru Jayachandra Rao ( as originally announced) did a commendable job. Played with a lot of restrain and a noteworthy tani avartanam with the veteran Sukanya Ramgopal.

 

Sanjay Subrahmanyan @Gayana Samaja, Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira Concert, 23rd Feb 2020

Vocal : Sanjay Subrahmanyan

Violin : S Varadarajan

Mrudangam : Neyveli Venkatesh

Ghatam : N Guruprasad

Morsing : B Rajashekhar

List :

01 kAmajanaka ripuguNA – gauLA – Adi – Swathi Thirunal

02 rAmA ika nannu brOva rAdA – sahAna – rUpakam – Patnam Subramanya Iyer ( S )

03 EkAmranAtHam bhajEham – gamakakriya / pUrvikalyANi – Adi x 2 – Dikshitar ( A )

04 kOri sEvimparArE – kharaharapriya – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S )

neraval & Swaras @ ‘( paramAtmuni haruni) kOri sEvimparArE kOrka lIDEra’

05 ambara cidambara – janaranjani – Adi – Muthu Tandavar

06 kaLabEDa kolabEDa – gOpikAtilakam – khaNDachAp – Basavanna ( A )

07 RTP – nATakurinji – caturashra tripuTa , 2 kaLai , 2 aksharam eDuppu

pallavi line ‘ nATTaikurinji enbAr siraindu engaLadu’

rAgamalika swaras in nATa, kurinji, sAma , navarasa kannaDa and jOg

tani Avartanam

08 nArAyaNa tE namO namO – bihAg – Adi – Annamacharya

09 viruttam ( tIrthakaraiyinilE ) – rAgEshrI

ninnayE rati enru – rAgEshrI – mishra chAp – Subramanya Bharathi

10 kaLilO hari smaraNa – kApi – Adi – Muthaiah Bhagavathar

11 nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurAStram – Adi – Thyagaraja

The concluding concert of the long Annual Festival of Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira, scheduled after almost a month after the series. And what a way to finish.  Sanjay ( and the team) once again gave a fitting finale to the festival, to an overflowing audience.  This being the weekend of Shivarathri, there were many compositions on Shiva in the menu.

Beautiful start with the gauLa composition of Swathi Thirunal, nice rounds of swaras for sahana. Hearing the poorvikalyani/gamakakriya composition for the first time from Sanjay – alapana was very good.  Kharaharapriya alapana was in a different terrain. Some of the not so usual phrases, and he also ended with some stylish hop-skip-jump mode. Kori sevimparare ws classy. Neraval at the pallavi line,  a couple of times he ‘prefixed’ the last lines of the charanam. Liked it. Good swaras too. Ambara chidambara, I think, was set to tune by Sanjay himself in janaranjani.

When he started gOpikatilakam, the hopes went high. I thought he is taking this up as main and predicted Shudhananda Bharathi’s  ‘Ananda naTanam’ or so to follow. The alapana was for 7-8 minutes and he chose to sing the Basavanna Vachana, instead. Beautiful lyrics, dense in meaning.. one needs to give credit to the artist to bring such gems to the forefront.

When he started the Natakurinji alapana, I was dividing the remainder of the time to fit in a main and a pallavi.  Long alapana and as is his wont, a fabulous tanam. Parring the main artist, Varadarajan played exceptionally well through out the evening. Stanard setting for a pallavi, but he did try  trikalam or something of that sort. Again, as expected some memorable ragamalika. The 4-5 minutes of jOg, indeed stole the show. I guess, it is jog from the short ‘pramadavanam’ like phrase played by Varadarajan.

Tani Avartanam started with Venkatesh playing out the entire ‘phase one’ on the thoppi side. Guruprasad, who was the star of the evening, couldn’t fall behind, unbuttoned himself and played out his turn with ‘closing the aperture’ of the mouth of the Ghatam with his body, to an outstanding result. Now, Rajashekhar had to measure up and he did the same by blowing / without using his fingers for the same take. In fact, he was deploying the same technique for larger part of the evening, blow into the instrument rather than plucking. Noisy conclusion to the tani avartanam, overall excitement and decibel increase as well as the swaying of heads prevailed. But there was thunderous applause and a few cat-calls. All is well which appeals to the audience.

Quick formalities by the organiser ( used up 2-3 mins maximum) before Sanjay concluded with 2-3 short pieces. It had already over 3:15 hrs since the start.

 

D S Srivathsa @ Gayana Samaja, 16 Feb 2020

Vocal : Vid D S Srivathsa

Violin :  S Yashasvi

Mrudangam : S V Balakrishna

Morsing : D V Prasanna Kumar

List:

01 shLOkam ( mauna vyAkhyA prakaTita parabrahma) – rEvati

02 ErA nApai ( varNam) –  thODi – Adi – Patnam Subramanya Iyer ( O )

03 shrI mahAgaNapati ravatu mAm – gauLA – mishra chAp – Dikshitar ( A,S )

04 varadarAja ninnukOri – svarabhUSaNi – rUpakam – Thyagaraja

05 kAmAkSi ambA ( swarajati) – bhairavi – mishra chAP – Shyama Shasthri ( O )

06 en nenjil paLLikoNDavan shriranga nAyakan – kalyANi – Adi tisragati – Salem Eashwar (  O )

07 shrI rAjagOpAla bAla – sAvEri – Adi x 2 – Dikshitar ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & Swara @ ‘nIrasampUrNa haridrAnadItIra mahOTsava vaibhava mAdhava’

08 cAla kallalADu konna – Arabhi – Adi – Thyagaraja

09 pAlisamma muddu shAradE – madhuvanti – Adi – Purandara Dasa ( O )

10 sAramaina mATalentO – bihAg – rUpakam – Swathi Thirunal

11 muddu tArO rangA – pUrvikalyANi – Adi – Purandara Dasa

12 pAlincu kAmAkSi pAvani – madhyamAvati – Adi x 2 – Shyama Shasthri ( A )

13 thillAna ( tana dhImta dhImta dhiraNA ) – mAND – Adi – Lalgudi Jayaraman

14 indina dinavE shubha dinamu – madhyamAvati – Adi – Purandara Dasa

What a voice. The first sound from him, the majestic ‘Dakshinamoorhty Stotram’ hit me with such a force, getting everyone’s attention immediately. Vey powerful, ease at every register, clarity and precision and rare open throat singing. That would hook you to his music. His presentation were in similar lines. Chaste , ‘traditional’ singing, sans any unwanted ornamentation to it. The kriti singing were also with clear diction, perfect ‘padachheda’ and right emphasis on words. His experience with the dance, probably would have helped here.

Crisp thodi varnam, in his majestic style started off the evening. An immediate alapana, fairly detailed one for Gaula followed. One of my wishlist to the artists for a long while had been a detailed Gaula alapana, and it comes from a very unexpected place. Alapana had a nice return to the signature gaula phrase after each avartana, which was interesting. Vid YAshasvi in his turn deployed the same style.There was no surprise on the kriti. He also sang some good rounds of swaras.

Rare svarabhooshani composition of Thyagaraja was a surprise before the bhairavi swarajati. It is always a pleasure to listen to the bhairavi swarajathi from singers with such baritone voice. The kalyani kriti, listening to it for the first time in a concert,  sounded more like a ‘light music’ one.

Another compelling alapana for saveri, refreshing, some often heard phrases and a few innovative takes. Solid, high pitched fast movements were impressive. Rajagopala , after a long time for me. Super neraval at neerasampoorna and brilliant swaras in the usual two speed. Vid. Yashasvi was very impressive through out the evening. His return alapanas the following of composition, the immaculate reproduction during neraval and swaras were great to watch.  Percussion team had a mixed day, to me. He was good at certain times but was left wanting at many a times. The duo played an ‘extended’ tani avartanam, after the main.

There was time for a pallavi even after the percussion duo dragged their affair a bit. However he sang a few kritis ( 4 of them) before having a thought on the time at hand. That triggered a FABULOUS alapana of madhyamavati. It probably cast shadow over every thing else of the evening. Such delightful alapana. I was expecting a short pallavi, but he chose to sing palinchu kamakshi instead.  Concert concluded with a thillana.