Kothapalli Vandana @ BTM Cultural Academy , 12 Jan 2019

Vocal : Kothapalli Vandana

Violin : Aditi Krishnaprakash

Mrudangam : Renukaprasad

Ghatam : Omkar G Rao

Theme : Harikeshanallur Muthaiah Bhagavathar Compositions

List:

01 mAtE malayadhwaja ( varNam) – khamAs – Adi – HMB ( O )

02 gam gaNapatE namO namO – hamsadhwani – Adi tisragati – HMB ( O, S )

03 Adityam dEvAdi dEvam – mAyAmALavagauLa – Adi x 2 – HMB  ( A )

04 bhuvanEshvariyA – mOhanakalyANi – Adi – HMB ( short alapana)

05 vAnca tOnu nA – karNaranjani – Adi tisragati – HMB

06 sudhAmayi sudhAnidhi – amrtavarSiNi -Roopakam – HMB ( A,S )

07 sharavaNabhava – pashupatipriya – Adi – HMB

08 ratna kancuka dhAriNi – kAmbOji – mishrachAp – HMB ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘mandagamanOllAsini dEvEndranuta mrdubhASiNi’

09 notes ( gA, maga ri gapa rIgasA) – tishra gati – HMB

10 shLOkam ( asAdhya sAdhaka svAmin) – chencurutti

shrI AnjanEya jagadEka vIrA – chencurutti – Adi – HMB

11 thillAna ( dhIm tana tArE dhiraNA) – hamsAnandi ?? – Adi – HMB

12 nI nAma rUpamulaku (mangaLam) – saurAStram – Adi – Thyagaraja

shLOkam ( shrIyay kAntAya) – madhyamAvati

 

*Good, albeit predictable, selection of kritis. Presented very well.  Apart from the ‘Aditya dEva dEvam’ and the hanuman kriti in chenchurutti, rest of them are regularly heard. Aditya dEva dEvam ( heard it only once from T S Sathyavathi ) made the evening for me.

*Top class alapana for kAmbOji, amrutavarshini and the shortish mayamalavagaula. Amrutavarshini, I thought was brilliant.

*Her swara singing worth a mention, especially the hamsadhwani and amrutavarshini. The way she alternated between two gatis for amrutavarshini was fabuloius. Renukaprasad rose to the occasion here and the combo was delectable.

* Liked the shlokam ( hanuman manthra) before the Chenchurutti kriti. I always like a shlokam ( or ugabhoga or viruttam) before a kriti especially if it goes in line with the context of the song being rendered.

 

Baby Sreeram @ BTM Cultural Academy , 27th Aradhana Mahotsava, 09 Jan 2019

Vocal : Vid Baby Sreeram

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : B S Prashanth

Khanjari : Latha Ramachar

List:

01 nannu brOva rAdA – janaranjani – Mishra Chap –  Shyama Shasthri ( O,S )

02 kAmAkSi ambA ( svarajati) – yadukulakAmbOji – Mishra Chap – Shyama Shasthri ( O )

03 trilOka mAtA nannu – paras – Adi – Shyama Shasthri

04 ninnu vinA marigaladA – rItigauLa – Roopakam – Shyama Shasthri (A,S )

05 ninnu vinA gamari – pUrvikalyANi – Mishra Chap – Shyama Shasthri (A,N,S )

neraval & svara @ ‘cinta dIrci vEgamE (nannu) brOcuTaku’

06 Emani migula – thODi – Adi x 2 – Shyama Shasthri ( A,N,S,T )

07 ennEramum un(dan) pAda kamala – punnAgavarALi – tripuTa – Shyama Shasthri

08 madhyamAvati sketch

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* A stupendous thodi for main. Superb alapana, Impressive selection of kriti, long neraval done in such fabulous way and an equally brilliant swaras.

* Impressive planning of concert. Progressed very well.

*Charulatha was in super form. Taking over from the main artist ( mostly helping her out in the higher register) she played some delectable alapana and swaras for reetigaula and thodi.

*Vid Baby Sreeram, restricted her singing to the lower and mid register through out, seldom venturing into the higher octave. Charulatha compensated for that. Clever way of passing between these two during the alapana and swaras.  Executed very well.

*B S Prashanth ( and  Latha Ramachar with some nice sound from the khanjari) did a commendable job.

*Thodi continue to linger in the memory.

 

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).

 

T S Sathyavathi, Special RTP Concert , BTM Cultural Academy 23 Aug 2015

Vocal  : T S Sathyavathi

Vocal Support : Anjana P Rao

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : K U Jayachandra Rao

Ghatam : Sukanya Ramgopal

List:

00 shrI gaNanAtha – malahari – Purandara Dasa    ( setting the amplifications)

01  praNavAkAram siddhivinAyakam – Arabhi – Oothukad Venkata Kavi  ( O,S )

02  RTP – shubha pantuvarALi – chaturashra triputa x 2 kaLai  +1 aksharam eduppu

parama karuNA sAgara, nannu brOva rAmA

rAgamalika swarams in malahari, bahudhAri, kApi, bEgaDa

03  thillAna ( nAdru dhIm nAdru dhIm, dhIm tana dhiraNA) – kAnaDa – tisra roopakam- Mysore Vasudevachar  ( O )

04  shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya) – madhyamAvati

The concert was announced as a special RTP concert. BTM cultural Academy conducts 2 such programs every year, one in Feb and the other in Aug. Each time, they bring artist of exceptional caliber to perform. Pallavi singing in the concerts have become a ‘tick in the box’ these days with artists unable to give it enough justice, after an elaborate main piece. The nuances and intricacies involved in singing a noteworthy pallavi is slowly loosing in the bargain. With the changing taste of the listeners, where virtuosity and speed/loudness receive maximum applause, it is not surprising that most of the pallavis are replication of another neraval singing. Only a few attempts the basic trikalam, and the creativity limits to singing ragamalika kalpana swaras.

Years ago, I had a chance to listen to a lecture demonstration of Vid Satyavathi at Indiranagar Sabha.  While the whole lec-dem had to be concluded without enough time for the pallavi part, it made a lasting impression on me. That memory, drove me towards BTM Sabha, in expectation of a grand pallavi.

A few lines of geetham was sung during the mike arrangements and tuning. She announced an Arabhi kriti of Oothukadu shifting through a few raga phrases to start the concert. Pranavakaram siddhivinayakam came with a few rounds of kalpana swaras. The ‘mike-asura’ played a few times, but settled as it progressed.

It was all set for the pallavi now. A grand 40 mins alapana came straight away. Starting at leisure, she slowly developed through building one passages to other many times to jaw dropping brilliance, many mesmerising sangatis after another , taking a break and letting charulata to go through them once again to recreate some of them. She allowed her disciple to start the phase two of the alapana. Ajana P Rao ( later announced) did a commendable job, before the boss took over the control and finished with a few cherish-able fast  phrases. Charulatha was up there with the main artist most of the time.

After a 40 min alapana, the tanam was shorter in comparison and my expectations – 15 mins or so, nonetheless. She demonstrated some of the trademark tanam singing ( I cant name all of them- ‘kukkuDa tAnam, mayUra tAnam etc ), each received enthusiastically by the audience.

Pallavi was set  to  Adi Tala in 2 kaLai. But the intricacies came in the way she explored the pallavi line neraval. She explained the neraval line will have a 3 stage ( or three part) elaboration. The ‘pUrvAnga’ was taken up in the first stage for trikAlam in the most common or traditional 4, 2,1 format moving up and down the speed. After the neraval and related kalpana swaras , she moved to the second stage. This time focusing on the ‘uttarAnga’, the same was done in tisra, khanda and misra ( 3, 5 and 7) variation and the related swaras.  The stage 3 of them, she said ( and did) , was by switching back to 1 kaLai, and doing the ‘pratilOmam’  ( if I understood it correctly) by doing the akshara based speed variations, again with its corresponding swaras. What was heartening to see was the entire team, including the young disciple, was prepared and delivered the whole concept impeccably. What a demonstration it had been. Brilliant stuff.

As expected there was ragamalika swaras to conclude the pallavi. The whole affair until now too nearly two hours. Jayachandra Rao and Sukanya Ramgopal, played a fitting tani avartanam after this. Again the focus was to keep the spirit of the pallavi intact. Some of the intricate patterns played was delightful.

A kAnada thillana of Vasudevachar was the only other kriti that was sung, which again being set in tisra roopakam was another speciality.

I am no expert in this subject and some of aspect she explained and demonstrated were beyond my grasp. I hope some one who attended this could throw some light on this in a better way. The mistakes here are my own, and if identified, I stand corrected.

All I can say is this, what an amazing artist and what an exhibition of knowledge, skills, preparation and meticulous execution.

 

O S Thyagarajan @ BTM Cultural Academy 25,May 2013

Vocal : O S Thyagarajan

Violin : S R Mahadeva Sharma

Mrudangam : M T Rajakesari

Ganjira : B N Chandramouli

List :

01.  erA nApai (varNam) – thODi – Patnam Subramanya Iyer ( O,S )

02.  evarani – dEvAmrutakarshiNi – Thyagaraja

03.  dEva dEva kalayAmi tE – mAyAmALavagauLA – Swati Thirunal ( N,S )

neraval&swara @ ‘ jAtarUpa nibhacEla janmArcitam mamAkhila‘

04.  evarUrA ninnu vinA – mOhanam – Thyagaraja  ( A,S )

05.  aTu kArAdani – manO ranjani – Thyagaraja

06.  paridAnamichitE – bilahari – Patnam Subramanya Iyer ( S )

07.  ekAmrESa nAyaki – chAmaram (shaNmukhapriya) – Dikshitar ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘ kAnchi nagara nivAsinim kaivalya pradAyinim naLinim’

08.  sadA enna hrdayadalli – behAg – Vijaya Vittaladasa

09.  mangaLam – saurAshtram/madhyamAvathi – Thyagaraja

Listening to OST is driving through a road after the rush hour. There are no noisy , screechy maneuvers, no sudden speed bumps, no honking from the sides and you enjoy the ride. There are no exhilaration or rush of adrenalin. The so called ‘Bangalore season’ is now over and the concert scene is silent past two weeks. It was thus the right unwinding after the month long ramanavami season.

But, it wasn’t one such. While the characteristics of his concert was intact, in general it sounded like a hurried affair. Speed was the essence,  most of the kritis were fast paced, madhyamakala rendering. Both Mohanam and shanmukhapriya alapana had aggression and force as virtue rather than the normal slow, melodious meticulous build up. They were good, no doubt, and had some nice posture which aren’t usually seen ( especially the mohanam alapana), but was done in fast paced phrases.

Concert started fabulously with the thOdi varnam. The short sketch set things up beautifully and the swara , albeit very short, was indeed very good. Devamrutavarshini was quick as it is known to be, followed by Swathi kriti in Mayamalavagaula. The neraval was classy affair and so was the fast swaras culminating with some brilliant rounds of swara singing. Mahadeva Sharma was equally brilliant.

Mohanam was the first detailed alapana. As mentioned earlier, it was a done through fast short phrases, with some nice takes. A different mohanam was unveiling due to this. It was interesting. It had to be a fast tempo kriti and evarura was apt. There was no neraval but had some nice rounds of swaram added.

Two quick fillers before the main, mano ranjani and bilahari. There weren’t slow pieces either. Shanmukhapriya alapana was grand. Again, short fast paced phrases, a bit of to and fro with akara singing, but overall it was impressive. Ekamresa Nayaki was very good. As a welcome change, it was in the slow , befitting the 2 kalai adi. Neraval was fabulous, so was the detailed kalpana swara. Mahadeva Sharma was very good in general. His alapana and the neraval and swara accompaniment was very good. On the other side, percussion was a let down. Two senior vidwans on stage, but there was some alignment missing with the rest. There was an issue of overall balanceof the amplification, which would have caused this discomfort. He was playing his part, but it wasnt going in line with the vocalist. Tani Avartanam was decent.

Post main was very short and non-impressive. As the speeches were over, the secretary mentioned that the concert will continue. OST was quick to correct saying “not continue, but to conclude as he has to catch a train”. He sang a quick devarnama in behag and closed with the mangalam. A decent concert, but wasn’t a typical OST affair, which one hoped for.