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.

 

Amrutha Venkatesh @ Ranjani Fine Arts, 12th March 2017

Vocal  : Amrutha Venkatesh

Violin : B K Raghu

Mrudangam :  B S Prashanth

List :

01.  karuNimpa ( varNam) – sahAna – Thiruvottiyur Thyagayya

02.  shambh) mahAdEva – pantuvarALi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘ shambhO mahAdEva sharaNAgata janarakSaka ‘

03.  nagumOmu galanEni – AbhEri – Thyagaraja

04.  bArayya venkaTaramaNa – sAvEri – Thyagaraja ( A )

05.  mAyamma shubhamimma – ranjani – M D Ramanathan ( A,S )

06.  riNa madanuta paripAlaya mAmayi – behAg – Swathi Thirunal

07.  kaligiyuNTe gada –  kIravANi – Thyagaraja ( A,S,T )

08.  ugabhOga ( ninnanE pADuvE ninnanE pogaLuvE ) – hamIrkalyANi

smarisO sarvadA hariya – hamIr kalyANi – Purandara Dasa

09. Aj AyE shyAm mOhan – mishra pahADi – Swathi Thirunal

10.  eppO varuvArO – jOnpuri – Gopalakrishna Bharathi

11.  tillAna ( dhIm nanana tittillAna tillAna) – brindAvani – Balamuralikrishna

12. mangaLAm – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

One of the important ingredient of any successful concert is the balance of the team. If that is set right, the concert will be one to cherish. Last evening’s concert at Ranjani Fine Arts was one such. There are many other aspect which made this concert a beautiful one, but the teaming definitely helped the cause. Amrutha was at her usual best. Very intelligent, clever and articulate in presenting a brilliant concert. But the supporting crew in Raghu and Prashanth, the concert rose to something special. Raghu, despite a personal loss, accepted the concert and played some delectable violin. His alapana for pantuvarali, ranjani and keeravani were top class and gave many aha moments. Prashanth, whom I first saw accompanying TNS at Sanjay Nagar, 5-6 years ago, has grown multi fold in his stature over the years.

Apart from a rare, interesting ranjani piece of MDR the overall concert was did not have any novelty factor. To my dismay ( not picking a defect here), there was only one neraval in the entire concert. Despite all this, the concert was of a very high standard. Her sahana varnam itself was brilliant with some very innovative takes and improvisations. Fabulous alapana for pantuvarali, largely on longer bhriga based phrases. Nice neraval ( singing neraval at the pallavi line – is this a new trend ?)  and some awe inspiring swaras to end, aptly supported by Raghu. A short saveri alapana did not really make an impact. But the “Dasara pada” was quite nice.

A brilliant ranjani alapana, mostly build through short nice phrases lifted it up again. Am I the only one noticing some Sanjay traces in her singing alapana ( the quick takes , even the facial gestures at times). Raghu was even better. Expected the GNB composition to follow, but she announced the MDR composition, which was a pleasant surprise. The swaras were impressive too, anchoring around ‘sa ri ga’ for a long time. Keeravani main, with a very refreshing alapana.  So much so that, for a moment I thought if it was ‘gowrimanohari’. Most of the alapana’s we here for keeravani are the same stale often chewed cud. This was indeed very different. Kaligiyunte was no surprise, what was surprising was her decision to skip neraval. There was elaborate swaras befitting the main. Prashanth, played a good tani avartanam, extending his good form through out the evening.

Post main is noted for the ugabhoga+devarnama in hamirkalyani and the mishrapahadi bhajan of Swathi Thirunal, set to tune by Sri Balamuralikrishna. The thillana and the jonpuri piece were ok. I haven’t been attending many concerts since the start of the new year, but this one was worth the time spent. Very well delivered concert.

 

Prince Rama Varma & Amrutha Venkatesh @ Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira, 1st january 2014

Vocal : Prince Rama Varma & Amrutha Venkatesh

Violin : Avaneeswaram S R Vinu

Mrudangam : J Vaidyanathan

Ghatam : Dr.S.Karthick

list:

01. viribONi (varNam) – bhairavi – Pachimirium Adiappa

02. mAyAtIta swarUpiNi – mAyAmALavagauLa – Ponnayya ( A,S )

03. Sankara nin karuNai purivAy – behAg – Neelakanta Sivan ( A,S )

04. jananI ninnuvinA – rItigauLa – Subbaraya Sasthri

05. rAmakriSNaru managE bandaru – tilang – Purandara Dasa

06. rAmA rAmA guNasImA – simhEndramadhyamam – Swathi Thirunal ( A,N,S,T)

neraval & Swara @ ‘muni mAnasa dhAma mrgamada sulalAma‘

07. pankaja mukha sankara hita – nottuswaram – Dikshitar

08. kshIra sAgara vihAra – Ananda bhairavi – Thyagaraja

09. thillAna ( tillAna nAdru dhim) – kuntaLavarALi – Balamuralikrishna

10. bhujaga SAyinO – yadukula kAmbOji – Swathi thirunal

I wouldn’t say I am superstitious, but one always like to start the year on a good note. I thoughtfully pick the book want to start reading at the beginning of the year which sets the tempo for the rest of the year ( it is Javiar Marias this year, if you are very curious) of my reading . Similarly, one hope for a good concert to kick start the year of concert listening. One can always take a CD or mp3 of probably MDR or GNB, but that not replace a concert ambiance or experience. An auspicious start, we believe, can take care of the rest of the year. This concert, did start with a bang, exceeding my expectations, giving my apprehensions a rest…but wait.

Usually a concert to me have a “bell curve” effect. It would start slow in engagement (with the fellow artists and the audience, that is me), lifting to higher plain as in the curve, stay there during sub-main, main, RTP, and taper off post main (in most of the cases I find the post main is poorly thought out and executed by the artists). However, yesterday’s concert was a kind of “reverse bell-curve effect”. It started on a high note and went to become dull and dragging in the middle, recovered a bit towards the end. Probably the “talking” took an uper hand and music stayed behind.

This was the first time, Prince Rama Varma and Amrutha Venkatesh singing together in concert. He said, usually they sit face to face and there is eye contact while teaching and this is the first time they are sitting side by side. and he hoped the concert will go well till the mangalam. It did go well from that perspective, there was complete understanding and symmetry between the singers. Even the different ‘shruthi’ of the singers did not create any listening discomfort.

The initial part of the concert had less talk and more music. Mayamalavagaula , probably took the maximum time, was grand, with some outstanding swara patterns, alternated by both the musicians, with very high sense of understanding by J Vaidyanathan ( Karthick did not appear till behag), and the classy reproduction by Vinu was a pleasure to listen.  I was fearing they will get carried away and the proportion might be missing, but it was not the case. Before it become an exercise of mind, they decided to stop aptly and to an incredible finale of swaras.

Behag alapana of Rama Varma was ok, probably the distraction of sudden appearance of Ghatam Karthick in the midst of the alapana disrupted the flow. Karthick, apologized profusely to the artists on the stage and to the audience ( an appropriate gesture done with utmost prudence on his part) before settling in behind the main artist. Rama Varma, joked that Kartick felt a little out of place among AV,AV,RV and JV ( the initials of the rest of the artists) hence the delay. Later, Sri Krishnaprasad of SRLKM informed that Karthick had a program at the Music Academy, Chennai in the morning and he drove down to Bangalore to make it to this concert. Salutes to him.

Behag alapana from Vinu was far more simple and elegant ( bangaru behag – remarked Prince Rama Varma later) and the kriti from Neelakanta Sivan was new to me in a concert. The kriti to me, did not have the weight and class, and was more suited as a post main item. However, the kalpana swara was done at a very interesting place ( some kinky sounding words, I fail to recollect) and was again very very good.

Janani Ninnuvina, was started with explaining the musical lineage of Subbaraya Sasthri. One of the luckiest musician / vaggeyakara as he was learned from both Muthuswami Dikshitar and Thyagaraja, and being the son of Shyama Sasthri, he had the best of all the trinity composers, in his music. Janani Ninnuvina started in MDR style, almost imitating the master. Prince said earlier that once you learn a kriti of Subbaraya Sasthri, you wouldn’t want to listen to any other kriti in that raga. I might add, after listening to MDRs ‘janani ninnuvina’ , I have exactly the same opinion.

Until here the concert was fabulous and the ‘talking’ started from here and was the low point of the concert begun from here. Both tilang devar nama, the main simhendra madhyamam alapana and the kriti were not something to cherish. There was a huge intermission after the two-pronged alapana of simhendra madhyamam, with introduction and praise of the artists on stage, which went on and on. The kriti as well as the neraval wasn’t anything great either. The kalpana swaras, somewhat redeemed the main, playing the ‘passing the parcel (of swaras) ‘ game among the five participants on the stage for a long time.

J Vaidyanathan was a pleasure to watch. He, probably, was the main attraction of the evening. Never intrusive, never trying to muscle his way above the music, he played with such sensibility and impact through out the day. The effect seems to have transmitted to Karthick, who took no time to settle in despite his late arrival. They both played on a delectable tani avartanam, sans noise. Avaneeswaram Vinu, was a shadow of the main artists.Barring a few glitches he played well. His behag alapana was top class, so was the returns of mayamalavagaula swaras.

He announced the post main will have a one minute kriti of Dikshitar, a two minute kriti of Thyagaraja and a thillana. The dikshitar’s nottuswaram, and the utsava sampradaya kriti in anandabhairavi for the one and two minute connection.  BMKs kuntalavarali thillana was good, getting all the participants back in action. He said, the sahitya for this thillana is written in 5 languages and they will sing the kannada version here. Some one need to help me here. There was only one line of sahitya, which included the raga mudra and the vaggeyakara signature. It can be the same in any language and I found nothing specific in kannada here.

The concert was webcasted live by Shaale.com. Kudos to the team for bringing the concert to the wider audience. The short hall was overflowing and there was no place to sit or stand. The narrow hall , almost parallel to the stage (in width) had two cameras up in front ( about 5 feet from the stage) and the camera operator from shaale.com blocking the audience from watching the concert. The video telecast guy was standing most of the time irking the audience ( after repeated requests he would sit down for a while, before jumping back to fiddle with the settings), at times giving free advertisement of the product made in India by Page industries. I was left with no choice, but to look at the small screen of the ‘laptop computer’ of the broadcasters, to see what is happening on the stage most of the times. The hall is small and narrow, and I hope the organisers and the telecasters will look into this and make the situation better. If not, I am probably better off staying at home and watching the telecast in my PC at home, than venture into the hall to have the ‘darshan’ of the behind of a camera guy.