Clarinet : A K C Natarajan
Nadaswaram(support) : Tirupati Ramesh?
Thavil : Mannargudi Vasudeval
Thavil : Kovilur K G Kalyanasundaram
Song List:
01. sidhi vinAyakam sEvEham – mOhanakalyaNi – Dikshitar ( S )
02. kadalE vADu gAdE – nArAyaNagauLa – Thyagaraja
03. challaga nAthO – vEgavAhini – Thyagaraja ( A,S )
04. kripa jUcuTaku – chAyAtarangiNi – Thyagaraja (A )
05. ennEramum un nAmam – pUrvikalyANi – Shyama Shasthri ( A,S,T )
06. bhOgindra shAyinam – kuntaLa varALi – Swathi Thirunal
07. ?? – sindhubhairavi – ? ( A )
08. tirupugazh
Rain was lashing on the make shift structure in the small remote town , interior of Palakkad district. Late morning of a Saturday, veteran master of the wind instrument held the audience captive with a mesmerizing performance. He was supported onto the elevated stage by someone, seated him on a chair, while the rest of the crew sat on the stage around 11:00 in the morning. Initial few notes, of testing the system were very awkward the blowing sound was amplified and not the musical notes. All that was quickly evaporated. What followed since then was an outstanding fair of pure melody and classicism.
Rain continued its dance on the tin roof, but no body knew. He catapulted into ‘sidhi vinayakam’ with no other preparatory attempts, no varnam no playing a few sketches of raga or testing the rest of the system. Nudged his able deputy who was on a shortish nadaswaram to join him. Played few rounds of swaras, starting a single note at a time, stretching to a phrase and into an avalanche to conclude. The deputy shadowing the master.
Kadale vadu was a surprise. Narayana gaula itself is rather rare these days, and probably after Chittoor Subramanya Pillai not many have sung this effectively. Keerthi was mentioning about the Vegavahini kriti of Thyagaraja, which he had heard AKC play. He might have read our minds, and started the alapana of vegavahini. Splending alapana was followed with the kriti we were talking ‘challaga natho’. Another cracking swara prasthana followed. A short alapana and chayatarangini kriti came in as a filler before the main.
A classy purvikalyani alapana came in deliberate detailed exposition joined by the nadaswaram vidwan. Shyama Shasthri’s tamil kriti was grand in presentation adorned with some splendid kalpana swaras. Two champion percussion team on thavil, played out a spirited tani avartanam , spellbinding the listeners who acknowledged the effort with a thunderous applause.
Swathi Thirunal’s kuntalavarali kriti and a beautiful sindhubhairavi piece constituted the post main, the later started after a short little alapana. A fast paced tirupugazh concluded the concert. An outstanding concert by the senior vidwan.
Brain Drain 