Mysore Nagaraj& Mysore Manjunath @ Gayana Samana, Sri Rama Lalitha Kala mandira Annual Festival, 12 Jan 2020

Violin Duet : Mysore Nagaraj & Mysore Manjunath

Mrudangam : Umayalpuram K Sivaraman

Ghatam : Giridhar Udupa

List

01 chalamElA ( varNam) – nATakurinji – Adi – Rangaswamy Nattuvanar

02 mAravairi ramaNi – nAsikAbhUSaNi – rUpakam – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

03 kanjadalAya dAkSi kAmAkSi – kamalA manOhari – Adi – Dikshtar  ( O )

04 nAdupai balikEru – madhyamAvati – khaNDachAp – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

05 niravadhi sukhadA – ravichandrika – Adi – Thyagaraja

06 O rangashAyi – kAmbOji – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja ( A,S,T )

07 nAnoru viLayaTTu bommayA – navarasa kannaDa – Papanasam Sivan

08 RTP – brindAvana sAranga – khaNDa tripuTa, chaturashra naDai, + 1 eDuppu?

pallavi line ‘ kamalAsani sundari candravadani karuNArasa vilOcani’

rAgamAlika swaras in Anandabhairavi, jayantashrI ?, kannaDa , sindhubhairavi

09 krSNA nI bEganE bArO – yamunAkalyANi – mishrachAp – Vyasaraya  ( A )

10 nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurASTram/madhyamAvati – Adi – Thyagaraja

Back to their exhilarating style. Too much of adrenaline rush to the artists as well as the listeners. It was a riot out there – musical riot.  Too much to my comfort at the end. There indeed was good music, aplenty.  No taking away that. But..

The memory of the kApi and bhairavi at Nadasurabhi is still active in my memory cells. Hence expectations were in those lines. There were moments in yesterdays concert which is reminded of those, but the other aspect has taken over at most part.  There is no doubt about the skills and mastery they have. The excitement started with the swaras of nasikabhooshani. With the legendary UKS at the percussion, there was ample ‘strike rotation’ , especially with Manjunath, during kalpana swaras, They were, as expected with UKS, were exemplary.

Madhyamavathi alapana had moments of beauty, especially with Nagaraj’s turn. The alapana itself was very very long, alternating between both the artists. Nadupai was nice, so was the early takes of the kalpana swaras before the speed took over. Kamboji too, went in a similar fashion.  The duality of mellifluous phrases with those aggressive takes continued, repeated during kalpana swaras.

The tani avartanam was really grand. Done in multiple smaller rounds with the characteristic brilliance of UKS, humbly followed on ghatam by the disciple. There was no loud strikes this time. Short pallavi was announced, in brindavana saranga. Nice little alapana, good tanam and a pallavi suggested by UKS ( as mentioned). Kalpana swaras followed the same pattern of the evening, concluding with sindhubhairavi. Interestingly, they did stop after singing the swaras in sindhubhairavi, without either going back to the main raga swaras or concluding with singing the pallavi line.

Felicitation of UKS by Ex-CM S M Krishna, a short speech ( very short by his standard) by UKS followed, before they concluded with a devarnama, indicating to the dignitary as a homage to him.

 

Amrutha Venkatesh @ Gayana Samaja , Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira Music Festival, 11 Jan 2020

Vocal :  Amrutha Venkatesh

Violin : L  Ramakrishnan

Mrudangam : Nanjil Arul

Morsing : Bhagyalakshmi Krishna

List:

01 mAtE malayadhwaja ( varNam) – khamAs – Adi – Muthaiah Bhagavathar

02 mUlAdhAra kSEtra stHita – mAyAmALavagauLA – rUpakam – E S Sankaranarayana Iyer ( O,N,S )

neraval & swaras @ ‘vimala kamala mrdula caraNa vighna haraNA suguNAbharaNA’

03 lALisidaLu maganA – Arabhi – Adi – Purandara Dasa ( A,S )

04 kUDArai vellum (tiruppAvai) – pUrvikalyANi – mishrachAp – Andal ( O )

05 niravadhi sukhadA – ravicandrika – Adi – Thyagaraja ( S )

06 dEva dEva mAm pAlaya – thODi – mishrachAp – Swathi Thirunal ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swaras @ ‘vAraNa bhayahara vanajanAbha mAdhava’

07 RTP – bihAg – chaturashra tripuTa x  2 kaLai , 1 beat / 4 aksharam  eDuppu

pallavi line ‘ navanIta cOra pAhimAm, nanda gOpAla’

rAgamAlika in valaji/ malayamArutam, nATakurinji , navanItam, shivaranjani

08 ugabhOga ( dIna nAnu samasta lOkake dAni nInu ) – durga

manda matiyu nAnu madana janakanu nInu – durga – khaNDachAp – Purandara Dasa

09 muddugArE yashOda – kurinji – Adi  – Annamacharya

10 thillAna ( tOm tanana dhiraNa dhiraNa dhiraNA) – hamsAnandi – Sreemushnam Rajarao

11 nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurAStram / suruTTi – Adi – Thyagaraja

A brilliant concert, moved from strength to strength as it progressed. Wonderful team effort, with the percussion and the violin jelling well to the overall experience.

She started with an aplomb, with the daru of HMB and the mayamalavagaula composition. Early neraval will always win me over. Not a regular composition, but had a nice tempo to it, especially the neraval line. She did use the wordplay with repeated consonant in the line to some great effect.  Next couple of them were a bit dampener for me. Arabhi was ok , so was the tiruppavai in pUrvikalyANi.

I wasn’t all moved until she started the ravichandrika composition. It was brisk and have all that needed to wake you up from the slumber. But what was most impressive was the chitta swaras she sang. I’m not sure if artists in general sing this regularly. Some of them were , for sure, aren’t often heard in the concert. That definitely needed to be applauded. She also added few short rounds of kalpana swaras at the end.

Thodi alapana was very good. Early stages weren’t super, but it did pick up very well. Her voice was impeccable and she used it to some grand result at the upper octave during the alapana with some mesmerizing takes. Deva deva mam palaya was a pleasant surprise. Long composition, very elaborately sang.  Neraval was superbly done. I loved the way she concluded the neraval peaking at the typical high octane singing, and returned to the normalcy by singing the line again easing both the exhilaration and the tempo, before the start of swaras at the first speed. It avoids the sudden change in the tempo from the neraval  to the first speed swaras. Good rounds of swaras as well.

Nanjil Arul, who replaced B S Prashant as the lead percussion suopprt had a tremendous day. His anticipation, his interludes, the  refrain were notable. The duo aso played an impressive tani avartanam. On the same note, L Ramakrishnan, whom we hardly see in Bangalore, also was super impressive, be in his return for alapana’s or the repeat of neraval or swaras.

Bihag pallavi was again grand. The alapana was fabulous , by both vocal and violin. Nothing to talk about the tanam, nor the pallavi. Simple tala, no great shakes with the pallavi line, no trikalam  to make it as a structurally complex and innovative. However, she made it up with some impressive ragamalika swaras, each of them were very good.

Standard fair towards the end which included a thilana by Sreemushnam Rajarao, after an ugabhoga and devarnama.  3rd time in a row, the concert here had been over 3 hours. Each artist is giving enough time to each of the compositions and include a pallavi in their concert. Sri Krishnaprasad,on his part makes the felicitation interlude super short, to give more time to the artists and the audience. I appreciate this gesture.

 

Cherthala Ranganatha Sharma @ Gayana Samaja, Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira Music Festival , 09 Jan 2020

Vocal : Vid. Cherthala Ranganatha Sharma

Violin : Vid. H K Venkatram

Mrudangam : Tumkur Ravishankar

Morsing : Bharadwaj Shatavalli

List

01 sarasijanAbha ( varNam ) – kAmbOji – aTa – Swathi Thirunal

02 gaNapatiye karuNAnidhiye – kharaharapriya – Adi – Papanasam Sivan ( A,S )

03 ennaDu jUtunO – kalAvati – Adi – Thyagaraja

04 parimaLa ranganAtham bhajEham – hamIr kalyANi – rUpakam – Dikshitar ( A,N,S )

neraval & swaras @ ‘gagana sadrsham abjakaram gajarAjakSEmakaram’

05 natajapAlini naLinakAnti – naLinakAnti – Adi – Tanjavur Sankara Iyer ( S )

06 dhyAnamE varamaina – dhanyAsi – Adi x 2  – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swaras @ ‘dharanu velayu shrI rAmuni kOri’

07 dEvAdi dEva shrI vAsudEva – sunAda vinOdini – Adi – Mysore Vasudevachar

08 RTP – nATakurinji – khaNDa tripuTa , khaNDa naDai , +3 aksharam eDuppu

pallavi line ‘ sharavaNanai muruganai guhanai ninai nI, orArumuganai dEvAdi dEvanai ‘

rAgamAlika swaras in  dEsh?, behAg, sahAna, sindhubhairavi

tani Avartanam

09 nAri maNi ( jAvaLi) – khamAs – Adi – Dharmapuri Subbaraya Iyer

10 Ongi ulagaLanda uttaman – Arabhi – Adi – Andal

11 bArO krSNayya – mAND+rAgamAlika-  Adi – Kanaka Dasa ( A )

12 thillAna ( takadhIm tadhIm ) – dEsh – Adi – Lalgudi Jayaraman

—

I close my eyes and hands and whispered ‘parimaLa ranganAtham, please’. He couldn’t have heard me, but it worked.  I did not want to listen to another  ‘shailavi hArA’ (sic) again. Would have accepted a gAngEya vasanadhara, reluctantly. Parimala ranganatham is seldom heard in concerts these days. When you have it with all that additional garlands added in the form of a grand alapana, fabulous neraval and swaras,  the effort one takes to make time and attend a concert on a week day, suddenly made a lot more sense.  It was beautifully delivered. I cherished every bit of the hamirkalyani.

The dhanyasi main was continued from where he left us at hamir kalyani. Some of the early phrases of the alapana were absolutely moving. This is how one has to build on. Soak us in the nester of the raga, take us through the journey, through the contours and ups and downs of the valleys, those mesmerizing heights, the dissents to a perfect landing.  Venkatram was also brilliant yesterday.  On the other hand, it was easy to predict the composition knowing his preference for this kriti. Another classy neraval, a bit longer than the one for hamirkalyani, followed with the standard two speed kalpana swaras befitting the main.

There was more to come in the form of Pallavi. Natakurinji alapana, standard fair for 7-8 minutes. Decent tanam by both the artists. A little complex structure of the  pallavi – the mix of talam, nadai, eduppu and arudi, making it a bit interesting to see them mastering.  Trikalam, especially was found the supporting artists trying to measure up to the main artist as he paved his way through in various speeds.  Ragamalika swaras were good,with the sindhubhairavi part receiving a lot of applause. The percussion duo had a second go, albeit shorter,  with their tani avartanam. The main avartanam after the dhanyasi was a commendable effort, especially from Tumkur Ravishankar.

Earlier, the concert jumped to a serious phase with the second kriti itself. He had a short alapana of kharahapriya and a rather heavy rounds of swaras at the end, setting the stage for the grander things to come.  Post main included a short alapana of mAND for before bArO krishnayya.  Interestingly, he closed the concert with the thillana.  There was no mangalam, as one would expect.

It was another top notch concert for me, yesterday. The hameerkalyani and the dhanyasi alapana made my evening.

 

Pantula Rama @ Gayana Samaja, Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira Annual Festival, 05 Jan 2020

Vocal : Vid Pantula Rama

Violin : H N Bhaskar

Mrudangam : Patri Satishkumar

Ganjira : B S Purushotham

List

01 vanajAkSi (varNam) –  hamsadhwani – Adi – Manambuchavadi Venkate Subbaiyer

02 vallabha nAyakasya – bEgaDa – rUpakam – Dikshitar ( S )

03 sogasujUDa taramA – kannaDagauLA – rUpakam – Thyagraja

04 sakala garaha bala nInE – aThANA – khaNDa chAp – Purandara Dasa ( A )

05 pAlintuvO pAlimpavO – kAntAmaNi – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

06 bhajarE rE mAnasa – AbhEri – Adi x 2 – Mysore Vasudevachar ( A,N,S )

neraval & swaras @ ‘rAjakumAram rAmam pavanajAtmam avanijA manOharam’

07 palukavEminA deivamu – pUrNacandrika – Adi – Thyagaraja

08 AragimpavE pAl AragimpavE – thODi – rUpakam – Tyagaraja ( A,N,S )

neraval & swaras @ ‘raghuvIra janajakAra pavitratamu venna’

09 RTP – kannaDA + kAnaDa – chaturashra tripuTa, mishra gati, 5 aksharam eDuppu

pallavi line ‘rAmA shrI rAmA kannaDa valadayyA(?) , inta parAkA naDaci vaci nannu brOvavayyA’

09b tani Avartanam

10 shLOkam ( hE gOpAla)

Ehi murArE kunja vihArE – yamunAkalyANi? – Adi – Jayadeva

11 tambUri mITi tava – sindhubhairavi – Adi – Purandara Dasa

12 thillAna ( tadhIm dhImta tara nom) –  parash – Adi – Patnam Subramanya Iyer

13 nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurAStram – Adi – Thyagaraja

She was the last minute replacement for Bombay Jayashri, who was supposed to start the month long festival of Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira, yesterday at Gayana Samaja. This year, the usual two phase – one as sankranti festival at their own premise, and the Spring Fesitval in Feb at Gayana Samaja – are combined and will have a long season of music , by the Mandira. The line up of artists are also impressive.

Pantula Rama’s announcement prompted me to change my plans ( of skipping the day 1) and I made it to the samaja. The hall was full, the concert started promptly at 5:45, as the audio checks and corrections were done in advance. Concert progressed in an uncertain way, not in her usual confident way, until the aThAna kriti.

It was  with the kAntAmaNi, the whole scene changed. A profound alapana, though it kept us guessing,  beautiful presentation of the kriti followed with a stupendous kalpana swaras. Some of the laya variations during the swaras were super impressive. I still think, this has propped the concert up. A beautiful alapana of abhEri, and predictably Mysore Vasudevachar’s masterpiece came in. Tricky neraval, with some stretches around rAmam and rAjakumAram, elaborate, whilst technically brilliant.

Thodi alapana started well. Did not have those slow, deliberate short phrases which I like, but had a lot of fast paced vocal gyrations, which of course was good. She did a smooth grahabhedam to hindOlam( i think) and back. H N Bhaskar in his turn did a shift to mOhanam, but the return was a bit abrupt, lacked the smoothness. Expected a big one, but she decided on Aragimpave. Slightly shortish neraval, albeit done well. Very short rounds of swaras, done in the second speed, giving us the hint of a pallavi in the offing.

She announced a dwi-raga pallavi in kannada and kaanada. Good alapana done separately for both ragas, no intermixing of them as we see with TNS and others. Tanam was also largely done individually, but did have alternating phrases between the ragas towards the conclusion.  Pallavi line had the ragamudra incorporated for both. Overal a good pallavi, not a super duper one. The percussion champs did an energetic tani avartanam, as one would expect from them.

Short intermission, before she continued the concert with a chain of short pieces. The ashtapadi, woth the shloka preceded, stood out. Concert lasted 3hr 20 mins, and in all, I liked it.

 

Vinay Sharva @ Nadasurabhi , 15 Dec 2019

Vocal : Vinay Sharva

Violin : Mathur Srinidhi

Mrudangam : K U Jayachandra Rao

Morsing : Bharadwaj Satavalli

List

01 sarasUDA ( varNAm) – sAvEri – Adi – Kothavasal Venkataramna Iyer  ( O )

02 aruNAcala nAtHam smarAmi – sAranga – rUpakam – Dikshitar

03 marivErE dikkevarayya rAmA -Shanmukhapriya – Adi – Patnam Subramanya Iyer ( A,N,S )

neraval & swaras @ ‘sannutAnga shrI venkatEsha nIvu nannu brOvakayuNDuta nyAyamA’

04 jananI ninnuvinA – rItigauLA – mishrachAp – Subbaraya Shasthri ( O )

05 shrI ramaNa vibhO kalayAmi – Arabhi – Adi – Swathi Thirunal ( O )

06 nAdOpAsanace – bEgaDa – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A,S,T )

07 manavE manthrAlaya – shuddha sArang?- Adi – A V Krishnamachar(Padmacharan)

08 shankara shrIgirinAtHa prabhu – hamsAnandi – Adi – Swathi Thirunal ( A )

09 tambUri mITi tava – sindhubhairavi – Adi – Purandara Dasa

10 patiki hArati rE – suruTTi – Adi – Thyagaraja

shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya ) – suruTTi

I haven’t listened to Vinay Sharva in a live concert for a while. But, I’ve listened to him in a few AIR concerts. What impressed me the most was the clarity in his singing. The diction was clear, the stress, split and the completeness of the words were noteworthy. He also has very strong voice, especially in the mid and lower registers, which makes listening to him a pleasure.

The shanmukhapriya was the high point for me in the concert. Very well done alapana, especially the early phase where he sang in the low-mid range. He has a tendency to add bhrigas ( the vibrato one) at odd places. I saw that not only in his alapana ( including begada), but during the kriti singing as well . At times, it wasn’t very appealing to me.  Otherwise a top class alapana, with an equally brilliant return by Srinidhi. Srinidhi also added a couple of ‘awe’ moments from his side. I love a longish neraval. Can be a little tricky  at times, but he did a great job here.

Janani Ninnuvina was ok, nothing great to talk about. Intersting to hear, Shree Ramana Vibho again in a concert after a long long time. I liked the variations at ‘shree-ee-ee’.

Begada main. Another elaborate alapana. Decent effort. Lot more ‘tArasthayi’ phrases. Srinidhi, again , was very good. Nadopasanace, it had to be. He dwelt into some explanation of the composition and theme. Not sure, what prompted it. There was no neraval, but he did a very detailed swara prasthana, in two speeds as usual, as pretty good.

Post main, had the composition popularised by his Guru Sri Shankar. But what impressed all was the Swathi Composition ‘shankara sreegiri’. Nice interplay with the percussion at ‘dhrukuTaddhIm tadhIm tAdhIdhrunna’. Good concert, impressive shanmukhapriya an hamsanandi and a good begada.