Gayathri Venkataraghavan @ Rama Seva Mandali, Fort School – 28 Mar 2018

Vocal : Gayathri Venkataraghavan

Violin : Mysore Srikanth

Mrudangam : K V Prasad

Ganjira : Guruprasanna

List:

01 shLOkam ( vighnarAja krpAsindhO )

evaraNi – dEvAmrtavarSiNi – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja

02 kallu sakkare koLLirO  – kalyANi – mishra chAp -Purandara Dasa ( O, S )

03 jAlandhara supITHastHitE – valaji – rUpakam – Muthaiah Bhagavathar ( A,S )

04 kSIra sAgara shayanA -dEvagAndhAri – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja

05 rAma kathA sudhArasa – madhyamAvati – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & svara @ bhAmAmaNi jAnaki saumitri bharatAdulatO bhUmi velayu sItA’

06 RTP – dharmavati – khaNDa tripuTa , dwi nadai ( pUrvAngam in chaturashra naDai, and uttarAngam in khaNDa naDai)  +1 akSaram eDuppu, arudi after rAmuni 6 akSaram

pallavi line ‘ bhajana sEyavE O manasA rAmuni, paramAtmuni bhakta pAlini

rAgamAlika svaras in vAsanti, candrajyOti and nAgasvarALi

07 mAnasa sancararE – sAma – Adi -Sadashiva Brahmendra

08 shLOkam ( mAtA rAmO mat pitA rAmachandrah: ) – darbAri kAnaDa

rAma nAma bhajisavarigE uNTE bhavada bandhana – darbAri kAnaDa – rUpakam -Purandara Dasa

09 rAmanai bhajitAl – mAND – Papanasam Sivan

10 shLOkam ( gOpAlaratnam bhuvanaika ratnam ) – yamunAkalyAni

bhAvayAmi gOpAlabAlam – yamunAkalyANi – khaNDa chAp – Annamacharya

11 thillAna ( dhIm tana udara tarana ) – behAg – Adi – Papanasam Sivan

12 mangaLam – saurAStram – Adi – Thyagaraja

shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya ) – suruTTi

Concert started very late ( around 6:53 pm) despite the artists arriving on stage at 6:25. There were tuning of two tanpuras , probably there was a shruti box too. Getting all of them in sync and sing the same  sa pa sa, was taking eternally long. In the meanwhile, one saw the percussion artists leaving the stage and going back ( It was later announced that Sri K V Prasad was unwell and was infact unable to start the concert. However, he came back and continued for next 3+ hours with his usual style, which should be appreciated).   After singing some kEdaram raga sketches, Vid Gayathri Venkataraghavan also left the stage for a while.  However, concert started around 6:55 and she did sing for more than 3 hrs ( beyond 10:00pm), in spite of the dwindling audience.

And, some of the best music came towards the later half of the concert.  The early part of the concert wasn’t all that great. Valaji and kalyani were ok, devagandhari wasn’t moving at all.  It was with the main madhyamavati, the whole concert lifted itself out of the drab, more precisely from the neraval. Not surprisingly the first real ‘active applause’ of appreciation was for the neraval. Kalpana swaras were pretty good too. K V Prasad and Guruprasanna played a commendable tani avartanam.

The concert peaked at its best in the pallavi. Tanam was exquisite. Srikant played some delectable tanam here. Super class. Structuarally complicated talam with two different nadai for khanda triputa with a shift in eduppu was impressively executed. The trikalam was smooth. Nice rounds of ragamalika swaram,  the one in vAsanti was beautiful.

She sang a quick short ‘mAnasa sancharare’. I thought  she was quickly filling up the sheet to fill the number of compositions. But the rest of them were very nice, including the request ‘bhavayAmi gOpAlabAlam’ and the devarnama , each preceded with a nice shlokam. Good concert, with a brilliant pallavi from vid. Gayathri venkataraghavan.

 

Ramakrishnan Murthy @ Sri Rama Seva Mandali, 19th Apr 2017

Vocal : Ramkrishnan Murthy

Violin : B U Ganesh Prasad

Mrudangam : Bangalore V Praveen

Ghatam : Giridhar Udupa

List:

01 shLOkam ( sadguru gajAsyavANi) – shankarAbharaNam

02 chalamElA (varNam) – darbAr – Thiruvottiyur Thyagayya

03 budhamAshrayAmi satatam – nAtakurinji – Dikshitar

04 vAdErA daivamu manaA – pantuvarALi – Thyagaraja  ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘dhAtru vinutuDaina thyAgarAjuni ‘

05 rAmakathA sudha – madhyamAvati – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @bhAmAmaNi jAnaki saumitri’

06 svAmi mukhyA prANa – yadukulakAmbOji – Purandara Dasa

07 RTP – thODI – khaNDa tripuTa x 2 kaLai +1 eDuppu

rAgamAlika tAnam in thODi,nAgasvarALi, behAg, surutti

pallavi line ‘tArayasadA rAmachandra mUrtE toDita shiva chApa kIrtE’

rAgamAlika swaras in aThANa, kApi, nIlAmbari, darbAri kAnaDa

tani avartanam

08 mAtADa bAradEnO – khamAs – Narahari Dasa

09 shAradE karuNAnidhE – hamIr kalyANi – Chandrasekhara Bharati

10 thillAna ( tOm tOm tadara) – pUrNachandrika – Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar

11 mangaLam – saurAStram – Thyagaraja

shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya)

Brilliant concert from the young man last evening at the Mandali. It left me with a feeling of completeness in the end. Beautifully conceived and managed concert, with every element included. Everything presented to its fullest. Very measured , very classy.  Loved it.

The pantuvarali made the change. The alapana was good, but wasn’t an awe inspiring one. But the selection of the kriti, the neraval he sang and the swaraprasthana that followed were super class. Without much ado, he launched into an elaborate madhyamavati alapana. Very well done. BUG was equally brilliant in his turn. Ramakatha was my prayers and so it was. Another top notch neraval and fantastic rounds of swaras. The percussion duo played out a rather short tani avartanam. PRaveen was in high spirits, occasionally going over the comfort zone. Udupa as in his usual best through out.

A pallavi was sure to come. But there was a devarnama just before that, set to tune ( rather nicely) by his current guru R K Sriramkumar.  Majestic thOdi alapana started soon. The alternating , multi phase alapana between vocal and violin was real treat. Pallavi was even special. He glided from thOdi to nagasvaravali ( as in grahabhedam) moved to behag and a fleeting moment of surutti. BUG did the same in his turn. Interesting pallavi line, nice round of ragamalika, no trikalam were the highlight of the pallavi. There was another short tani avartanam at the end. Post main had a very moving mAtADa bAradEno, among other things.

A complete package, beautifully presented.

 

Bharat Sundar @ Sri Rama Seva Mandali, Fort School , 10 Apr 2017

Vocal : Bharat Sundar

Violin : Mathur Srinidhi

Mrudangam : S Ashok

Ghatam : B R Ravikumar

List:

01 evaraNi nirNayincirira – dEvAmrtavarSiNi – Thyagaraja

02 marivErE dikkevaru – latAngi – Patnam Subramanya Iyer ( N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘monarimpa vinavE nI varada venkaTEshvara ‘

03 sharaNam sharaNam enrAnE – saurAStram – Arunachala Kavi ( A )

04 ninnADa nEla – kannaDa – Thyagaraja ( O,S )

05 koluvai unnADe kOdaNDapANi – bhairavi – Thyagaraja ( A, N, S, T )

neraval & swara @ ‘ toLi karmamanaga jUtamu rArE ‘

06 rAmanai bhajitAl – mAND – Papanasam Sivan

07 venkaTAchala nilayam – sindhubhairavi – Purandara Dasa ( A )

08 mangaLam – saurAStram / surutti – Thyagaraja

This was the second concert of the evening. I reached while Ritwik Raja was having an elaborate neraval for munnu rAvaNa. Both Bharat Sundar and Ritwik Raja were awarded this years Yuva Puraskar by the Mandali. Good choices and my congratulations to both the recipients.

Bharat Sundar’s concert started on a low key but steadily progressed very well. Like all the youngsters, he too had his inclination towards speed. If he had dropped the speed by a pint or so, this would have been more appealing.

He did not have cracker of a start. evarani was a dampner, some how it did not really impressed me. Had he started at anupallavi, it might have made some impact. Then came the  Latangi Express, fast neraval and faster kalpana swaras. Hmm.

Now he did a wonderful thing. Started alapana for Saurashtram. Despite being on a faster side, I liked it. One, no one sing saurashtram alapana these days. Second, he chose a kriti which isnt heard even if some one takes up saurashtram in a concert. Good job. Commendable.  Another fast paced Kannada kriti came, but I will let it pass.

Bhairavi was main. Long alapana, lot of fragmented intelligent phrases. Some fantastic passages creating aha moments. But, I am yet to recover from the previous days effect created by Abhishek at Seshadripuram. So, there. Koluvai Unnade again, second day in succession. Again, retention power to blame.  Having said that, Bharat Sundar sang a tremendous neraval at toli karmamanaga followed up with a decent kalpana swaras. Bangalore Brother S Ashok, this time on stage with Mrudangam played an impressive tani avartanam with Ravikumar. Percussion was on a lower volume level, but did accompany neatly through out.

By now, he was settled. I liked the next couple of pieces the best. Ramanai Bhajital was very good. The sindhu bhairavi alapana to me was the best of the evening. Mathur Srinidhi , who was having an excellent day added to the main artists alapana with his own impressive play.

Very talented youngster, excellent musical ideas. I am sure I will listen to many more of his concert in the years to come.

 

S Sowmya @ Sree Ramaseva Mandali, Fort School Grounds 05 May 2016

Vocal : S Sowmya

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : H S Sudheendra

Ghatam : Giridhar Udupa

List :

01. vanajAkSirO (varNam) – kalyANi – Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar ( S )

02. alakalalla lAdaga – madhyamAvati – Thyagaraja (S )

03. mAyUranAtham anisham bhajAmi – dhanyAsi – Dikshitar ( A )

04. manavinAlakinca rAdatE – naLinakanti – Thyagaraja ( S )

05. amba mInalOcani Ashrita – nAyaki – Mayuram Viswanatha Shasthri ( A )

06. vandE sadA padmanAbham – navarasa kannaDa – Swathi Thirunal

07. RTP – SaNmukhapriya – khaNDa triputa x 2 , +1.5 Eduppu

pallavi line ‘shrI rAma raghuvarA sadA mAmpAhi

tani Avartanam

rAgamalika swaras in ‘valaji, sunAdavinOdini ? , rEvati , surutti

08 bAgilenu teredu – rEvati – Kanaka Dasa

09. chaliyE kunjan mE – brindAvan sArang- Swathi Thirunal

10. mangaLam – saurAshtram

inally rain gods were happy and lashed the city. So was the musical showers at the Mandali last evening. Sowmya, whom I am listening live after a long gap, presented a scholarly concert in not so comfortable environment. Her voice seems to have lost some power and there was mild strain at higher octaves, but she sang very well within her limitations.  What impressed me immensely was the selection of kritis, not often ones in common ragas.

Kalyani varnam, vanajakshirO of Poochi Iyengar was a bright start, adding a few rounds of Kalpana swaras. A unexpected madhyamavati, a rather obscure kriti ( these days at least, not withstanding the MDR rendition available) was very well received. She did made few points regarding this kriti at the end, bringing references to the meaning ( mild movement of the lock of hair in the forehead of Lord Rama in breeze, musically represented by the composers in some flowing sangatis). She also mentioned the way MDR sing those sangatis bringing out the subtle beauty of the composition.

A classy dhanyasi alapana came in next. Long, elaborate and bringing out the shear beauty of the raga. Charulatha played an equally good alapana in her turn. Again, the selection of the kriti was highly appreciable. The only recent reference of some one singing mAyUranAtham is by Vid.Vijay Siva. One was hoping for a neraval and few rounds of swara , but she decided otherwise. She did amends with the next one, where she sang some mesmerising swaras, which also brought in thunder showers to the location. First signal came in with a stream falling on to  my right hand. Soon, there was multiple drops around, including a few on stage directly impacting Charulatha. She shifted two steps behind (from forward short leg position to squareleg) and Sowmya , who was already singing very close to the mike, inched forward a little. Few vessels ( basins) brought in and placed on stage for capturing the water. The whole melee took a short while, and finally the team moved to the right readjusting themselves to most suitable positions. The team on stage, were generally in good humour and not complaining.

Once settled, the concert resumed with a fabulous nAyaki alapana.Another not much heard kriti of Mayuram Viswanatha Shasthry was presented. A short navarasa kannada composition paved way to the main.Shanmukhapriya alapana was decent, but the tanam that followed was probably the best of the evening. Outstanding piece of singing by Sowmya with an equally brilliant violin support. Good pallavi line,deploying ‘swarakshara’ in the uttarangam ( sa da ma pa). Interesting trikaalam, where instead of the usual half speed ( 2 tala cycle) and multi speed ( two pallavi cycle in same tala cycle), she did 2 tala cycle and 3 tala cycle for pallavi.

Sudheendra and Udupa was in good form. Sudheendra probably was a little too excited through out the day. The duo played an entertaining tani avvartanam. Sowmya continued the pallavi with ragamalika swaras post the tani avartanam. Post main was again nothing noteworthy. But the concert despite the unforeseen circumstances was still a top class one.

 

Bangalore S Shankar @ Sree Ramaseva Mandali, 03 May 2016

Vocal : Bangalore S Shankar

Vocal Support :  Ramani Shankar

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : K U Jayachandra Rao

Ghatam : B R Ravikumar

List :

01 chalamEla jEsEvura (varNam) – shankarAbharaNam – Swathi Thirunal ( O )

02 siddhi vinAyakam anisham – SaNmukhapriya – Dikshitar ( A,S )

03 bhajarE rE mAnasA – AbhEri – Mysore Vasudevachar ( O )

04 shrI venkaTEsham varam – thODi – Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘mArajanakam mAdhavA nAmakam ‘

05 shrIdhara kEshava nArAyaNa – kalyANavasantam – Nadopasana Srinivasan

06 pakkAla nilabaDi – kharaharapriya – Thyagaraja  ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ tanuvuchE vandana monarincucunnArA ‘

07 akhilANDEshvari rakSamAm – dvijAvanti – Dikshitar

08 RTP – shankarAbharaNam – Chaturashra Triputa x 2 , +3/4 eduppu?

pallavi line ‘dAsharathE karuNA, payOnidhE inakula tilakA’

no rAgamAlika swaras

08b. tani Avartanam

09 navarasa shLOkam ( shringAram kshiti) – khamAs (shringAram), aThANa ( veeram) , sahAna ( karuNam), rEvati ( adbhutam) , mOhanam ( hAsyam), ranjani (bhayAnakam/bhIbhatsam) , kApi (raudram/shantam)

09b  charaNamulE nammitE – kApi – Bhadrachala Ramadas

10 shringApurAdhIshvari shAradE – kalyAni – Padmacharan ( A V Krishnamachar)

11  manavE mantrAlaya – suddha sArang – Padmacharan ( A V Krishnamachar)

12 tirupati venkaTa ramaNA – sindhu bhairavi – Purandara Dasa

13 thillAna ( dhIm na na na tillillAna) – brindAvani – Balamuralikrishna

14 mangaLam – saurAshtram/ madhyamAvati – Thyagaraja

Vid Shankar’s concert is like a cool breeze on a hot summer evening. It can have such a soothing effect on you. Very traditional, very involving, subtle ascend through the concert and ,though predictable a nice rounded off wind up. It might not give you the exhilaration or an adrenalin rush like ‘performers’ but will give you a sense of completeness. I particularly likes his concerts, largely because of the ample neravals he plans in his concerts.

Yesterday’s concert was no different. It did have a breezy start with the shankarabharanam varnam ( not often heard these days) and reached the top with a classy pallavi in the same ragam , as is the wont in the older tradition. He did  sing some ineffective pieces in the middle, like the Nadopasana Srinivasan’s composition and not so emotive akhilandeshwari, but otherwise it was one of the top class effort from the team.

One should also give a lot of credit to the supporting artists on the stage. K U Jayachandra Rao played with such brilliance ( with some on stage prompting and gestures from Shankar) through out the evening. His following for the composition was such a delight to watch last evening. Charulatha was her usual high standard, probably over did a bit during alapana a couple of times. His son Ramani who sang along and also shared alapana of kharaharapriya and thodi(?) pretty decently.

Shankarabharanam pallavi was the best of the evening. Beautifully delineated two stage alapana from Shankar and an apt return from Charulatha. Tanam was even better singing with a lot of deliberation and done in two speedss, with a few aha moments. Pallavi neraval again was classy. I thought he did a splendid job at the pallavi, with some interesting sangatis thrown in. Very elaborate trikalam was done by both vocalist as well as violin. Swara was rather short for not having ventured into typical ragamalika swaras of pallavi. The percussion duo played a good tani avartanam.

Shanmukhapriya ( albeit short) and kharaharapriya alapana were good. Thodi alapana was even better. Neraval for both thodi and kharaharapriya was very well done. Kalpana swaras were sung for all three, but I thought they were rather shorter affair. Ramani chipped in for all neravals and kalpana swaras with his guru.

Navarasa shlokam was the highlight of the post main group. Some interesting selection of ragams to each ‘rasa’. I especially liked the choice of aThANa for veera, mOhana for hAsya and sahAna. This was again very very impressive. He sang a couple of compositions of Padmacharan. Having concluded a workshop on the compositions of Padmacharan ( a week ago) by Vid Shankar, I was expecting one or two to feature in the concert. Felicitation and Vote of Thanks was done at this time and the artist concluded the evening with a devarnama and a thillana.

Very traditional, well conceived and planned, complete in every aspect,  concert from Vid Shankar and team.

PS : While the concert was in full swing, the audience as well as the artist on the stage were involved  in another entertaining game. Picking and removing a small black insect from body.