Vocal :Hemmige S Prashanth
Violin : Jyothsna Srikanth
Mrudangam : K U Jayachandra Rao
Ghatam : Phanidra Bhaskar
List:
01. nera nammiti ( varNam) – kAnaDa – Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar
02. nIkELa dayaraDu – sarasAngi – Ramaswamy Sivan ( S )
03. koluvaiyunnAdE – bhairavi – Thyagaraja ( A,S )
04. nannu viDachi – rItigauLa – Thyagaraja
05. sItApatE na manasunA – khamAs – Thyagaraja ( A,N )
neraval @ ‘ prEma jUci nApai pedda manasu jEsi ‘
06. tatvameruga tarama – garuDadhwani – Thyagaraja
07. rAmA rAmA guNasImA – simhEndra madhyamam – Swathi Thirunal ( A,N,S,T )
neraval & swara @ ‘muni mAnasa dhAma mrgamada sulalAma‘
08. kaNDu dhanyanAdE – behAg – Kamalesha Vittala
09. gOvardhana giridhara – darbAri kAnaDa – Narayana Theertha ( O )
10. SLOkam ( srI rAghavam daSaratha tanujam) – sindhubhairavi
yAkkE bandidiva lOkara anubhava – sindhubhairavi – ? (mudra was Sridhara vittala)
11. mangaLam – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja
Cherthala Ranganatha Sharma was scheduled to perform as per the original notice. One had to sneak out of the neighboring hall where Gayathri Venkataraghavan was singing, to listen to Ranganatha Sharma. Only then, I noticed the small white sticker covering the name of Ranganatha Sharma, which had a hand written name Hemmige Prashanth. I’ve heard his name many a times, but haven’t listened to him before. A touch disappointed by seeing the change of name, but have decided to give him a try. Had I not stayed back, the loss would have been mine. What a splendid concert he gave with the equally brilliant accompaniment. In the fottball parlance, he is the ‘Super Sub’ scoring goals and securing a permanent seat ( in my mind at least).
However, the concert scheduled to start at 6:30 did not begin in time, thanks to the non-arrival of the violinist. I was wondering if this calls for another substitute for violin as well. Now the concert is delayed, I went back to listen to Gayathri Venkataraghavan ( by then the tani avartanam and the short speech was over) and completed the remaining pieces of her concert.
The violinist hadn’t arrived even now, and the organiser informed that she is stuck in traffic and should reach in next 10 min. The wait was long and there was no sign of she turning up. The rest of the artists took podium and settled themselves. As appropriate, they began the concert sans the violin accompaniment. A varnam and a short Sarasangi kriti came with few rounds ( cant say rounds as he was singing it alone) came. Stopping for a brief period after each kriti, with many eyes turning to the direction of the entrance, they team continued the concert with the third piece. A short little alapana in bhairavi came, with no sign of the violin. As he started the kriti singing pallavi and anupallavi, Jyothsna rushed in to join the team. A brief stoppage was filled in with the percussion artists, allowing her time to settle on stage and get her instrument tuned.
While I would not know the real reasons for her delay, coming in 45 minutes from the scheduled time does not go well with the professionalism. I should add in haste that she played beautifully from the moment she joined the team, thus elevating the concert to a different level.
A melodious nanu vidachi had all the participant coming together. This paved way for a delectable concert then on. A classy khamas, with a shortish alapana and a splendid neraval ( he did not sing kalpanaswaras here to my disappointment) had some of the characteristics of his guru. After a fast filler in Garudadhwani, he started the main alapana of the day.
My heart skipped a beat after the initial phrases. I shared a quick glance with Phanindra on the stage. I just had two back to back Keeravani as main in less than 24 hrs and was in no mood to listen to a third in less than 2 hrs. Luckily, he chose the ‘pratimadhyama’ ragam of keeravani. Simhendramadhyamam alapana was decent, could have been a bit more elaborate considering it the main. His effort was complimented well by Jyothsna with a brilliant alapana. To me this was one of the highlight of the concert. Swathi Thirunal’s kriti was sung well with very well executed neraval and kalpana swaras. Tani Avartanam was fabulous. Both Jayachandra Rao and Phanindra excelled in their turns, apart from providing apt support for the overall impact of the concert.
Post main was superb. Behag devarnama was classy. The darbari Kanada with a short mesmerising alapana he gave before the kriti for Govardhana Giridhara was great and a stupendous Sindhu bhairavi slokam followed with another kannada kriti ( not heard this before) concluded the concert.
At the end of the concert, one might even thank Ranganatha Sharma for not appearing. “Hemingway” Prashanth ( as one colleague heard me) made the day.
Brain Drain 