Veena : Vid Bhagyalakshmi Chandrasekharan
Mrudangam : C. Cheluvaraju
Duration : 1.00 hrs
List:
01. sarasUDa (varNam ) – sAvEri – Kotthavaasal Venkatrama Iyer ( O )
02. gajAdhiSAdanyam na jAnE ham – nATakurinji – Mutthuswami Dikshitar ( A,S )
03. saraswati namOstutE – saraswati – N S Ramachandran ( A )
04. ceDipokE O manasA – laLita – Walajpet Venkataramana Bhagavathar ( A,t,S )
rAgamAlika swaras in kalAvati, gurjari thODi, dEsh
05. karuNA jaladhE – nAthanAmakriya – Thyagaraja
Arts for Life Foundation, a brain child of Arvind Brahmakal conducted a full day ‘IDEAS CONCLAVE”, yesterday at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, on “Karnatak Music- Towards a Mass Appeal”. This event conducted in association with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, was an after effect of the initial programe that was held at Chennai, which was on the ‘Social Relevance’ of carnatic music. I could be present during the first half of the proceedings where the eminent panel discussed about the importance of bringing the young people to familiarise with carnatic music ( many educationist participated) and the second on the ‘ corporate patronage’. While the attendance was moderate, there were many very high participation from the crowd, with some interesting suggestions.
Smt. Bhagyalakshmi Chandrasekharan’s concert was part of the morning session, immediately after the inaugural function. The concert itself was promoted as ‘meditation through music’, and that exactly what the vidushi did in the given 1 hr of time. Another gem of a concert from the vidushi, with apt selection of kritis and their treatment on a Sunday Morning, with some outstanding percussion support – nimble, sensitive, playing to the mood of the kritis – by sri Cheluvaraju.
Slotted for 1 hr, she made the best use of the time. Credit to be given to the percussion artist who subtly rejected the offer of the time for tani avartanam. We indeed congratulated him for his thoughtful gesture. Her selection of the ragam, the kriti for each of them, the appropriate expansiveness for each of them need appreciation. Every thing she played yesterday was top class.Few rare kritis , both the natakurinji as well as the lalita were new to me. Each of her alapana were brisk and the real essence, the tanam for Lalita, the ragamalika swaras that followed, each were refreshing. I thought she played shubhapantuvarali in the ragamalika, but she corrected me that it was ‘gurjari thODi’ ( shubhapantuvarali minus ‘panchamam’ ?) that came before desh. She concluded the concert with a emotive nathanamakriya. Fabulous concert yet again ..
PS : More info on Art For Life Foundation can be found here. www.artsforlifefoundation.org . I expect, the outcome of the IDEAS CONCLAVE will be available for larger rasikas for contemplation and continuation of the discussion. As and when I have the details, I can provide the link here.
Brain Drain 