Aishwarya Vidya Raghunath @ Nadaloka, Heritage Academy Hall 02 Jun 2019

Vocal : Aishwarya Vidya Raghunath

Violin : Vaibhav Ramani

Mrudangam : Guru Raghavendra

List

01  nera nammiti (varNAm) – kAnaDa – aTa – Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar

02  shrI mahAgaNapatim bhajEham – aThANa – Adi – Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar ( O,S )

03  shankari shankuru – sAvEri – Adi tisra gati – Shyama Shasthry (A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘jambUpati vilAsini jagada manOllAsini’

04  rAnidi rAdu – maNirang – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

05  ghananaya dEshikha gAna rasikA – riSabhapriya – Adi – Koteeswara Iyer

06 mariyEmi kAvalenu – kannaDa – Adi – Ambujam Krishna

07 evari mATa – kAmbOji – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja (A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘ bhakta parAdhInudanucu parama-‘

08 dEvakI nandana nanda mukundana – mAND – Adi – Purandara Dasa

09 sindhu taraN siya sOch haraN – sindhu bhairavi – Adi – Tulsidas

10 nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurAStram – Adi – Thyagaraja

shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya) – saurAStram

She sang a very good concert yesterday. Both sAvEri and kAmbOji are top class.

A tribute concert , remembering four titans whose birth centenary is celebrated this year – Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, Ambujam Krishna, D K Pattammal and S Rajam. This year is also the death centenary year of Ramanathapuram ( poochi) Srinivasa Iyengar.

The selection of kritis, thus, are carefully chosen with the theme in mind. Nice job done.

Saveri was grand. Super start of the alapana. Fabulous neraval. Especially the place she chose to do the neraval. Shyamakrishna sOdari would have bored me to death.

The manirang after that sAveri was , if I may borrow the expression from my boss, …  ‘nO mmAA’. She should have sung the alapana for the next, rishabhapriya. Again, liked the way she sang ‘ghananaya dEshikha’ , properly.

Good kAmbOji alapana. Again, a grand neraval, nicely done. Good rounds of swaras too.

Accompaniment was of good through out. Energetic Guru Raghavendra and an ever evolving Vaibhav Ramani.  Guru Raghavendra showed a lot of anticipation and barring a few occasional exuberance ( or lack of restraint) he was commendable yesterday.

 

 

 

Sumitra Nitin @ Sri Rama Seva Mandali , Koramangala , 19 Apr 2019

Vocal : Sumitra Nitin

Violin : Vaibhav Ramani

Mrudangam : Deepika Srinivasan

Ghatam : Ganesh Moorthy

List:

01 valaci vaciyunna nApai (varNam) – rAgamAlika – Adi – Patnam Subramania Iyer

02 shivatraya mahAgaNapaim – nATa – Adi – Swarna Venkatesha Dikshitar ( S )

03 paripAlayamAm – rItigauLa – rUpakam – Swathi Thirunal ( O )

04 nimmA bhAgya doDDadO – kalyANi – Adi, tishra naDai – Purandara Dasa ( A,S )

05 shLokam ( Ananda rUpE, nija bOdha rUpE ) – brindAvana sAranga

rangapura vihArA – brinAvana sArang – rUpakam – Dikshitar

06 vara rAga laya – cenchu kAmbOji – Adi – Thyagaraja

07 nagumO mu ganalEni – AbhEri – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & Swara @ ‘jagamElE paramAtmA evaritO moraliDudu’

08 parAku mADade parAmarishi – (hindustAni?) kApi – Adi – Purandara Dasa

09 shObAnE – pantuvarALi – rUpakam – Thyagaraja

10 thillAna ( tOm tatAra tani ta dhiraNA) – kAnaDa – Adi – Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar

11 nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurAStram – Adi – thyagaraja

shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya) – madhyamAvati

;——

*First concert for me in this Ramanavami season.

*Kalyani and Abheri at length. Liked both. Especially the initial phrases of kalyani were beautiful. So was some of her fast bhrigas at the higher octaves. Voice throw was a low at times. Even then, both the alapanas were pretty good.

*Nata swaras, the concluding part were awesome.

*Only one neraval, for abheri, which was good. I always prefer neravals.

*Nimma bhagya doddado, set in kalyani. She mentioned it was tuned by her guru T.Rukmini. I’ve heard bEgaDa, pantuvarALi and aThANa versions before. Kalyani version was for the first time.

*Another devarnama was heard in a different tune. She said, it was from the creative genius of Neela Ramgopal. I thought, this was done very well. It brings out the essence of the lyrics very well.

*Vaibhav Ramani ( auto correcting to Remain ), played very well through out. Young lady on mrudangam is a welcome addition ( I’ve only seen Ranjani Haridas , in this part of the world ). May their tribe increase. I am not forgetting the stalwarts like Sukanya Ramgopal etc.

 

S R Maruthiprasad at Sri Rama Seva Mandali, Koramangala 26 March 2018

Vocal : S R Maruthiprasad

Violin : R Achyutha Rao

Mrudangam : V R Chandrashekar

Ghatam : S Srishylan

List:

01 shLOkam ( praNAmya shirasA dEvam gaurIputram vinAyakam) – gauLa

praNamAmyaham shrI gaurIsutam – gauLa – Adi -Mysore Vasudevachar ( S )

02 nAda sudhA rasambilanu – Arabhi – rUpakam – Thyagaraja ( O )

03 ETi janmamiti hA rAmA – varALi – mishrachAp – Thyagaraja ( A,N )

neraval @ ‘ sAgarashayanuni tyAgarAjunutuni’

04 shrIpatiyu namagE sampadavIyali – shrI – khaNDachAp – Purandara Dasa

05 dAsharathi mahanIya – kEdAragauLa – Adi – P T Narasimhachar (Pu Thi Na ) ( A,S ,T )

06 shLOkam ( kUjantam rAma rAmEti madhuram madhurAkaram) – shubhapantuvarALi

rAma rAma rAma sItA rAma ennirO – shubhapantuvarALi – Adi tisragati – Purandara Dasa

07 rAmanAma pAyasakkE – jana sammOdini? – Adi – Purandara Dasa

08 elli nODidaralli rAma – pantuvarALi – mishra chAp – Kanaka Dasa

09 shLOkam ( shrI vatsAnkita shrI kaustubhadhara)

gOvardhana giridhara – darbAri kAnaDa – Adi – Narayana Theertha

10 tUgiri raghurAmana ghanashyAmana –  hindustAni kApi  – mishra naDai – P T Narasimhachar ( Pu Thi Na )

11 mangaLam – saurAStram – Thyagaraja

shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya) – madhyamAvati

What a fine musician he is. This isn’t first time I am listening to him, but it indeed was for the first time I am attending his concert.  I’ve listened to him multiple times in the Bangalore FM amrutavasrhini program and each time, he has impressed me. So, this was an occasion I was looking forward to and he did not disappoint me.

Solid voice, excellent at the lower octaves. Absolute beauty in his diction and the way he split the lines to get the absolutely correct meaning of the kritis.  Very high on emotive scale – I don’t deny his handicap is adding to our appreciation. I could see visible movements of emotions around me when he was singing the varALi kriti and the shubhapantuvarali. That aside,  he sang brilliantly. Super selection of kritis including some beautiful devarnamas, which is his forte.

Took a while to settle, with the lack of feedback and some balancing of volumes. That largely impacted the Arabhi piece after a good gaula. Violin volume continue to be on a lower side through out, which not only affected the overall listening pleasure, but his interest in the scheme of things. Percussion support was a surprise package. Sri S R Chandrashekar played very well through out the evening, including a nice little tani avartanam.

Only two alapana , in varALi and kEdAragauLA, pretty good on both occasions. Kedaragaula was done in a relatively faster tempo. Violin was even faster, loosing some of the sheen out of the same.  Pu Thi Na’s composition was a good choice, not heard before.

As requested by the organiser, he sang a lot of devarnama in the concert. The ‘shrI patiyu namage’ still linger in mind. Even the others were sung with  a lot of elan, soaked in ‘bhAva’ , clear articulation of words so that the meaning comes out clearly.  It is always a pleasure to listen to Karnataka Artists singing devarnamas.

If you look at the list with a typical concert scheme, there are a lot of missing things ( only two alapana, one neraval, only a couple of kalpana swaras at the end of the kriti etc). But if you are one who experienced this last evening, you probably carry the music with you beyond the music hall and there in lies the success of a good concert.

 

Kanchana Sisters @ Sri Rama Seva Mandali , Koramangala 25 March 2018

Vocal : Kanchana Sisters ( Sriranjani & Shrutiranjani )

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma

Morsing : Bharadwaj Satavalli

List:

01 jaya jaya jaya jAnaki kAntA – nATa – khaNDa chAp – Purandara Dasa ( S )

02 sarasa sAmadAna – kApinArAyaNi –  Adi – Thyagaraja ( N,S )

neraval & svara @ ‘hitavu mAtalendO bAga baliktivi’

03 mOkSamu galadA – sArAmati – Adix2 – Thyagaraja  ( started at ‘sAkSAtkAra’ )

04 apparAma bhakti entO – pantuvarALi – rUpakam- Thyagaraja ( A,N,S )

neraval & svara @ ‘kapi vAridhi dATunA kaliki rOta gaTunA’

05 nannu pAlimpa -mOhanam – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja ( A,S,T )

06 shiva shiva shiva ennirO – rEvati – kanaka Dasa

07 hanuma bhIma mAdhva muniya – hamsAnandi ? – rUpakam -Purandara Dasa

08 jagadOdhAraNa – kApi – Adi x 2 – Purandara Dasa

09 shrIrAmachandra krpAlu – yamunAkalyANi ? – mishra chAp – Tulsidas

10 bhAgyAda lakSmi bAramma -madhyamAvati – Adi – Purandara Dasa

I am attending their concert for the first time ( vaguely remember listening to them on a telecast) and they did make a good impression on me yesterday. Very energetic concert, no drag, no unwanted musical ‘show off’, very refreshing singing. Senior accompaniment support by Charulatha and Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma did help to lift the concert.

I am impressed with their presentation, the way they sang kalpana swaras, the ease with which they traversed , shared the alapana, the clarity with which sangatis were sung, some innovative bhrigas ( some of them weren’t all that appealing) , or not traveling the often repeated paths.

The antenna went up with the kalpana swaras for nATa, especially the rehearsed joint-effort to conclude the piece. Short outline of kApinArAyani, and sarasa sAmadAna was good with neraval at hitavu mAtalento. some verbal gymnastics, at hitavu and matalento was ok. Very refreshing start of kalpana swaras and the ending of the kriti with ‘chatura- daNDa caturA – bhEda daNDa caturA – dAna bhEda daNDa caturA – sAma dAna bhEda daNDa caturA – sarasa sAma dAna bhEda daNDa catura ‘ sequence.  Interesting, but did not really have any musical appeal. Saramati sketch followed with the sAkSAtkAra’ start. Not very great, probably because their voice is not that powerful to create that impact.

Shared alapana of pantuvarali was good. Good pick of apparama bhakti. Typical neraval and kalpana swaras. PAntuvarali neraval and swaras can never disappoint me. Elaborate mOhanam alapana, again shared by both the sisters. Some nice phrases, good at the higher registers, and those fast ‘akara’ takes. Charulatha started with the nannu palimpa movements in her alapana, which was very good. The hint was indeed right, nannu palimpa was sung well. No neraval, but some intricate laya play in the kalpana swaras. Unlike other swaras, this was sung in two speeds. I liked it. Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma played yet another commendable tani avartanam with Bharadwaj.

nice selection of devarnamas in the post main too, some of them aren’t heard much in concert. The jagadhOdharana started as an ugabhOga like start at ‘aDisidaLu yashOdA , magana’  repeated a few times before singing the composition. Not sure what was the idea, but it would have been better with out that. A Tulasidas bhajan before the closure of the concert with bhAgyAda lakSmi.

 

Ashwathnarayanan @ Ramaseva Mandali, Koramangala 08 Apr 2017

Vocal : Ashwathnarayanan

Violin :Pappu Gyandev

Mrudangam :-H S Sudheendra

Ghatam : Phanindra  Bhaskara

List :

01 nera nammiti (varNam) – kAnaDa – Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar

02 varAlanDu kommani – gurjari – Thyagaraja ( S )

03 jaya jaya jaya jAnaki kAnta – nAta – Purandara Dasa ( O,S )

04 jnAna mosaga rAdA – pUrvikalyANi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara  @ ‘paripUrNa niSkaLanka niravadhi sukhadAyaka ‘

05 mAmava pattAbhirAma – maNirangu – Dikshitar

06 rAma rAma rAma rAma, rAmA yennirO – vasanta – Purandara Dasa ( S )

07 nA moravina rAdA – gOpriya – Dr S Ramanathan

08 ELa nI dayarAdA – aThANa – Thyagaraja

09 nannu pAlimpa – mOhanam – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘karamuna shara kOdaNDa kAntitO’

10 bArO krSNayya – rAgamAlika – Kanaka Dasa ( Short sketch of mAND)

11 anri ulagam ( tirupavai) – bhImpLAs? – Andal

12 thillAna – chenchurutti – Veena Seshanna

13 srIrAma chandranukku jayamangaLam ( mangaLAm) – madhyamAvati – Arunachala Kavi

Proximity is not the only reason I decided to attend to Ashwathnarayanan today over other established artists at other venues. This year, I have decided to listen to as many youngsters as possible. His name has been coming up for a while as a name to watch out for. And yesterday’s concert fit that bill, perfectly well.

He has a strong powerful voice, with ease of deployment. Very clear diction, synonymous to the school and lineage he belong to, and a solid stage presence. He is very young and a bit of experience and polishing can catapult him into the big league.

He and the crew did a commendable concert yesterday. Very interesting choices of raga, some memorable swaraprasthana for the main, very moving melodious gurjari and some classy neraval for both Purvikalyani and Mohanam.

The area he might need to focus on ( for that matter most of the youngsters) is the kalapramanam. I guess, they carried away with the excitement and tends towards speed over ‘soukhyam’. Manirang, vasanta and aThana suffered from this. It could also possibly due to an over enthusiastic percussion support. Many times, I found HSS playing the beats different from the sahitya pattern, unsettling the flow. Also, each song ended with an unnecessary longer ‘theermanam’ ( or whatever it is called).

Only two alapana ( barring a short mAND sketch) in the evening. He can definitely organise it better. But both were scholarly. Mohanam especially was very good. These youngsters have a lot of ideas, but will have to sort of ‘organise’ these into a smoother delivery. Neraval for both purvikalyani and mohanam were very good. He has such a strong control over the laya, which was evident even in the singing of ‘sahitya’. His kalpana swara patterns were also very impressive, especially the mohanam.

Mamava Pattabhirama was all over the place. For one, he started with some unusual sangatis. The whole song was a bit ‘aggressive’ to my taste. It lost its natural beauty, which is not expected/accepted from some of of KVN’s lineage. He introduced the raga gOpriya to the audience, paying tribute to Dr.S.Ramanathan, whose birth centenary was yesterday. Gopriya is an interesting raga, with notes spread evenly across, making it impossible to do a grahabhedam.  A janya of Rishabhapriya, and not many composition available, apart from the one by Dr.SRamanathan. A nice gesture from the young lad.Post main was a beautifully rendered bAro krSNayya , a tirupavai and Chenchurutti thillana, before mangalam.

Very talented singer with a good voice, clear diction and well groomed manodharma. We will hear more from him and about him in the future.