Bellary Raghavendra @ BTM Cultural Academy , 27th Aradhana Mahotsava, 08 Jan 2019

Vocal : Bellary Raghavendra

Violin : Mathur Srinidhi

Mrudangam : Tumkur Ravishankar

Ghatam : Ranganatha Chakravarthy

Theme : Thyagaraja Aradhana

List:

01 shrI gaNapatini – saurASTram – Adi x 2  – Thyagaraja ( S )

02 shrI raghukula munDubuTTi – hamsadhvani – Adi – Thyagaraja ( O,N,S )

neraval & svara @ ‘paramabhaktuDanu pAlanamu sEyu’

03 shLOkam ( vyAsO naigama carcayA) – nATa – Walajpet Venkataramana Bhagavathar

jagadAnanda kArakA – nATa – Adi – Thyagaraja

04 sItamma mAyamma – vasanta – Roopakam – Thyagaraja ( A-short, S )

05 mApAla velasi ika – asAveri – Adi – Thyagaraja

06 nAradamuni veDalina – pantuvarALi – Adi tisragati – Thyagaraja ( O,S )

07 kOri sEvimparArE – kharaharapriya – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja ( A )

08 baNTurIti kOlu – hamsanAdam – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

09 hari bhajanamE jIvanamu – sAma – Adi –  Bellary Seshagiri Achar

10 Isha pAhimAm – kalyANi – Roopakam – Thyagaraja ( S )

11 mOkSamu galadA – sAramati – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja ( O )

12 pAlintuvO pAlimpavO – kAntAmaNi – Adi – Thyagaraja

13 dAchukO valEna – thODi – Mishra jhumpa – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & svara @ ‘ soumitri tyAgarAjuni’

14 sItAkalyANa vaibhOgamE – kurinji – Khanda Chap – Thyagaraja

15 nI nAma rUpamulaku ( mangaLAm) – saurASTram – Thyagaraja

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* He hasn’t recovered completely from illness, evidently. But despite that he presented a good concert selecting varying compositions of the saintly composer.

*Many short alapanas of 1-2 minutes. Thodi was a little more elaborate.

*Impressed with the svaras of hamsanadam , where he sang it as ‘atheetham’ at varakhaGgamivi ( rAmanAmamanu at samam). Similarly ( and more predictable) for kalyANi kriti at jagad-Isha pAhimAm.

*A variety of composition. 12 of them before the main. Nice mix. Personally, I would have liked if he had taken a couple of them in a more detailed presentation. May be the physical condition would have been behind this.

*One kriti, in sAma, I haven’t heard before. Not sure, if this is the composition of Thyagaraja ( remember hearing the ‘mudra’ in the song).

 

Bellary M Raghavendra @ Ranjani Fine Arts, 11th Oct 2014

Vocal : Bellary M Raghavendra

Violin : Mathur Srinidhi

Mrudangam : Tumkur Ravishankar

Song List:

01.  taruNi ninnu (varNam) – kAmbOji – Fiddle Ponnuswamy

02.  gam gaNapatE namO nmO – hamsadhwani – Muthaiah Bhagavathar ( short sketch,S)

03.  sItamma mAyamma – vasanta – Thyagaraja ( O,S )

04.  shankari sadAnanda lahari – mALavi – Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar

05.  dhanyuDa vaithini(?) shrI thyAgarAjuni – vAchaspati – ??   ( A,S )

06.  hari bhajanamE jIvanamu – sAma – ??  ( O )

07.  kAyalAdenO krishNa kaNDavana? – hamsAnandi – Purandara Dasa

08.  AnjanEyam upAsmahE -thODi – Bellary Seshagiri Achar ?  ( A,N,S,T )

neraval @ ‘ tAraka manthOpAsakam shrIrAma hrdayE nivAsam ‘

09.  RTP – kAmbOji – tisra triputa x 2 kaLai  , 1/2 from samam

pallavi line ‘ Ananda naranam ADinAr , tadimi tadimi enru kanaka sabhayil’

swara in kAmbOji , no ragamalika swaras

short tani avartanam

10.  thillAna ( dhim ta dhina dhiraNA tana dhiraNA) – kuntaLavarALi – ?

11. mangaLam jayamangaLam – madhyamAvati – Purandara Dasa

Very good concert by Sri Bellary Raghavendra on many counts. Powerful voice, even at the high octave, which he frequented regularly both during the alapana and swaras, the throw of voice was untiring and very appealing. Not a hint of falsetto,  no slips of sruti even at the high speed swaras or alapana. Secondly, his selection of kritis and raga. Many new ones to me. Brilliant alapana for Vachaspati and kAmbOji. Very good kalpana swaras through out.

Concert started with the regularly taught and rarely sang kamboji varnam, slightly longish one. Muthaiah Bhagavathar’s hamsadhwani kriti came in with some outstanding swara kalpana, show asing what is to expect for the rest of the evening. Another quick rendition of sitamma mayamma came in. I was little uncomfortable with this speed of singing. Not sure if it has any GNB influence. Personally prefer a little slow on this. Few rounds of swaras came in break-neck speed, but was impressive. A rare mALAvi kriti of Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar came in soon.

Apart from a short sketch of hamsadhwani there was no alapana until now. And here comes vachaspati. Beautifully executed alapana from Sri Raghavendra and an equally impressive return from Srinidhi. Another unknown kriti came in again. There was no neraval but was another commendable rounds of swaras. A beautiful sAma kriti was sung. What was impressive about this was the very nice sangati for the pallavi line when it was repeated after every charanam. A hamsanandi devarnama was the filer before the main.

Thodi alapana had all the standard phrases, meticulously and impressively delivered with ample excursion to the higher octaves with some great impact. Srinidhi played a sedate thodi in his turn. Anjaneyam upasmahe, I think, is his ‘chittappa’s composition. Musically very appealing, not so sure about the lyrics. Detailed neraval and fitting kalpana swaras for a main. Tumkur Ravishankar, handling the percussion department alone, did a commendable job through out, and played an elegant tani avartanam post main.

A pallavi was announced and it was kAmboji, the same as the varnam. Brilliant alapana by both followed by  a good, albeit short, tanam. No real testing talam or gati variations, but the team sang a brilliant pallavi with splendidly executed trikalam. Kalpana swara was limited to kamboji, there was no ragamalika swaras. Concert came to a close very soon with only a thillana before the mangalam.

Many a kritis are new to me , probably a few of them are composed by his guru. Despite the general unfamiliarity of the kritis, the concert was very enjoyable.

 

Bellary M Raghavendra @ Sri Rama Seva Mandali , Koramangala , 10 Apr 2014

Vocal : Bellary M Raghavendra

Violin : M S Govindaswamy

Mrudangam : B C Manjunath

Ghatam : N S Krishnaprasad

Song list:

01.  vanajAkshi ninnE kOri ( varNam ) – kalyANi – Pallavi Gopala Iyer  ( O )

02.  SLOkam ( rAmAya rAmabhadrAya rAmachandrAya vEdhasE ) – nATa

jaya jAnaki kAntha – nATa – Purandara Dasa ( O )

03.  SrI raghukulamaNDu putti – hamsadhwani – Thyagaraja ( A ,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘ parama bhaktulanu pAlanamu sEyu’

04.  rAma rAma yani chintincha rA dA – yAgapriya –  Bellary Raghavendrachar  ( A )

05.  banTu rIti kOlu – hamsanadam – Thyagaraja ( O,N,S )

neraval & swara @’ rAma nAmamanE vara khadgamivi ‘

06.  sujana jIvanA – khamAs -Thyagaraja

07. dwaitamu sukhamA – rIti gauLa – Thyagaraja  ( A )

08.  pAlintuvO pAlimpavO – kAntAmaNi – Thyagaraja ( O,S )

09.  nannu brOchutakevarunnAru – SankarAbharaNam – Mysore Vasudevachar ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘ karunAkara akhila jagadAdhAra SrI raghuvara ‘

10.  rAmanukku mannan muDi – hindOLam – Arunachala Kavi

11.  rAma rAma rAma rAma rAmA yennirO – shubha pantuvarALi – Purandara Dasa

12.  rAm nAm rasa pIjE – ? – Meera Bhajan

13.  tAnOm nOm tadara thilAna – rAgamAlika – BMK

14. mangaLam jayamangaLam – madhyamAvati – Purandara Dasa

I wonder, why the organisations in Bangalore continue to parade artists from other states when Karnataka has abundance of talent within its shore. I continue to see the same predictable names performing over and over again. My issue is not with that, but in not seeing these hugely talented musicians from Karnataka regularly in the events here in Bangalore. This is probably the third time I am listening to Sri Raghavendra in a live concert and each time, the same question has propped up again. One can understand the commercial aspect of organising events and a “performer” is a safe bet over a “musician”.

Sri Raghavendra gave a splendid concert yesterday at the Ram Seva mandali concert at Koramangala. A well balanced and cleverly crafted concert with appropriate spread and selection. What was impressive to me was his ability to fit in as many alapanas, the mix of kritis in its speed, tala and the relative rarity in concerts. I also observed his interesting deploy of ‘eduppu’ on swara singing often shifting one or two beat after samam. Alapanas were all delectable, neravals were energetic and kalpana swaras were brilliant. The accompaniment added flair ( especially B C Manjunath) to the whole evening.

After a few minutes of sound hiccup , until they more or less got it right, the concert proceeded without much trouble. He seems to be having issues with the feedback ( in the absence of feedback speakers) for a while. However that did not hinder the proceedings. After the kalyani varnam and a qucik nata, he sang a short alapana of hamsadhwani. We dont usually see neraval done for hamsadhwani, and the ‘parama bhaktulanu pAlanamu sEyu’ did enough justice to that. A short round of swara followed. Yagapriya ( Mela 31 ) was the first longer alapana. The composition of his grand father ( ? ) , was very good. The change of gear to a faster hamsanadam with neraval and swara ( short though) came in before a slow khamas. Expecting the main to start, as he launched into a sweet alapana of reetigaula, gave some expectations of a rare feat. It wasn’t to be. Another filler came in a rare kantamani ( heard often from Malladi Brothers) before the main.

Sankarabharanam alapana was classy and with the credit due to a main. Detailed , with traditional phrases, traversing all the octaves, the ‘bhriga’ laden druta-passages, it comprised all that was expected for a main and a major raga of Sankarabharanam. The selection of kriti was splendid. Another rare gem of Mysore Vasudevachar, including all the chittaswarams was a real treat. The start itself was very captivating, and at every charana interval, he came back to the pallavi line with a new ‘sangati’. Brilliant neraval and a good kalpana swara in two speed was beautifully delivered.

Manju was the livewire. He accompanied superbly through out the evening and with his percussion assistant played out a crisp but class tani avartanam. Krishnaprasad on ghatam was also very impressive in the evening. Post main had few kritis, in which the devarnama and the thillana stood out. Rama rama rama rama , usually heard in tilang or vasantha was sang in shubhapantuvarali, which probably gave it more ‘bhava’ than the other versions. Similarly, the looong thillana of BMK was interesting.

A very good concert with a fabulous selection of kritis by Sri Bellary M Raghavendra. I hope to see and listen to him more often.

 

Bellary Raghavendra @ BTM Cultural Academy – Aradhana Mahotsava, 21 Jan 2013

Vocal : Vid Bellary Raghavendra

Violin : K V Krishna

Mrudangam : Tumkur Ravishankar

Ghatam : M A Krishnamurthy

Ganjira : Vyasa Vittala

Theme : Purandara Dasa Aradhana

List:

01. ??

02. SrI patiyu namage sampadAviyal – SrI – Purandara Dasa ( ? , S )

03  pAlisamma muddu SAradE – mukhAri – Purandara Dasa ( O )

04  SrI purandara gurum namAmi – hrudini – Bellary Seshagiriachar  ( A )

05  nArAyanimba nAmava – bilahari – Purandara Dasa ( O )

06  kAyalAkenO krishNa kandavaravakilanO ?? – hamsAnandi ? – Purandara Dasa ( A ) – had to step out for a while !

07  haridAsara sanga – Arabhi – Purandara Dasa

08  yArE ranganA yArE krishNana – hindOLam – Purandara Dasa ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ harirAja varadana parama purushana’

09  guruvina gulAma – ??  – Purandara Dasa

10  dayamADO ranga dayamADO  – kalyANi – Purandara Dasa ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘ harirAja varadana kAmita phalada’

11 nInE bandidanO ninna – rEvati – Purandara Dasa

12  ta tha dhimiki tadhimiki – hamsAnandi? – Purandara Dasa

13 mangaLam jayamangaLam – madhyamAvati – Purandara Dasa

I had been to many Purandara Dasa kritis concert and never ever, I had experienced one like this. Mixing some melodic kritis in Mukhari , Arabhi etc and choosing some heavy, rich ragas for mains , while choosing a mix of familiar kritis ( that are often heard in concerts) and getting some gems of kritis which are rare, Vid Bellary Raghavendra presented a brilliant concert yeasterday at the BTM Annual Aradhana Mahotsava. I have been waiting to listen to this artist for a while, and it was my loss that I did not attend any of his live concerts for this long. A man with rich voice, with some great timber at the lower octaves, such command over the verse and the raga, never going too long in any of his alapanas, while retaining all its beauty, he was very very impressive yesterday.

As I entered the hall, I was treated with Sree ragam, soon starting the swara singing, in line with the cittaswarams we are familiar with the ‘Pancharatna Kriti’. I am not sure what was sung before this, but the Sree Raga swaras was a great welcome. A familiar pAlisamma came soon. I prefer the mukhAri version, which the Karnataka artists sing, over the sri ranjani/abhogi versions which I heard few others use. The alapana of hrudini had me scratch my head over and I gave up too soon. I later googled and found that this was in Hrudini, and the kriti was composed by Bellari Venkateshachar.

A great hindolam and the main kalyani were indeed the pick of the day. Hindolam alapana albeit short stood out, with some great violin return by Krishna. The neraval and swara were very well executed. The main Kalyani too went in similar line. Both hindolam and kalyani had the neraval and swara sung at the faster speed. I am not sure why there wasn’t a low ‘kAla’ neraval for the main.  Interstingly, both had a similar neraval line.

A large number of unheard kritis, beautifully paced and mixed with faster and slower kritis were the highlights of the evening. I loed the way he sang guruvina gulAma. While  I still can not recollect the raga, it had a folk-ish touch and was far better that the versions I’ve heard Yesudas sing. Similarly, Arabhi kriti too had a lot of emotive value.

Percussion was complete on stage with three instruments. Despite the crowd on stage, they did a commendable job, while accompanying, never sounding too loud or playing together causing a chaos. The tani avartanam, hence was little high on decibel level, but did it with well planned brief plays between the three.

A couple of ‘devarnAmas’ concluded the concert, post a slightly longer felicitation and thanks giving to the artists and the days sponsors. Very good concert, learned a few new kritis and a new raga.