S Sowmya @ Kanchi Mutt, Malleswaram 30 Sep 2017

Vocal : S Sowmya

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : H S Sudheendra

List:

01. pancmAtanga mukha – malahari – rUpakam- Dikshitar ( S )

02. bAlE bAlEndu bhUSaNi – rItigauLA – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

03. annapUrNE vishAlAkSi – sAma – Adi – Dikshitar

04. ekkAlathilum unnai maravAmalirukka – pUrvikalyANi – Adi x 2 -Thiruvarur Ramaswami Pillai ( O )

05. jAlandhara supIThastHitE – valaji – rUpakam -Muthaiah Bhagavathar ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ bhavarOga nivAriNi , bhaktajana paripAlini

06. sudhA mAdhurya bhASaNa – sindhurAmakriya – Adi – Thyagaraja ( S )

07. pArvati ninnu nE – kalgaDa – Adi tisranaDai –  Shyama Shasthri

08. sarasvati anniye – kharaharapriya – Adi – Papanasam Sivan ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘inchOl? shukapANi aLikula vENi’

09. himagiri tanayE – shudha dhanyAsi – Adi – Muthaiah Bhagavathar

10. karuNa jUDu ninnu nammina – shrI – Adi – Shyama Shasthri

11. mangaLam – saurAStram – Thyagaraja

On the ‘Vijayadashami’ day, one was expecting a concert mostly on the theme of devi, and there was no surprise there from Vidushi Sowmya, who presented a good concert at the ‘Kanchi Mutt’ yesterday. She was struggling a bit with her voice and it was evident in the initial part of the concert. It started off well with the malahari composition and the next two three pieces weren’t making any impact, apart from some spirited attempt from the accompanying artists.

Ritigaula alapana wasn’t any great to talk about, and despite one of my favorite kriti in that raga, and her attempt to sing in a very slow tempo, it did not make a lasting impact. Both annapurne and ekkalathilum was further dampened the evening.

However, it changed with valaji. Nice impressive alapana with some beautiful phrases, even bettered by Charulatha in her attempt, was the change in the tide. The corridor of malayamarutam/valaji is always tricky for me, but I got it right here. There was only jalandhara to sing. While the composition isn’t with any great lyrical beauty, it is very appealing musically. Neraval was superbly done, so was the kalpana swaras that followed. Charulatha excelled in her turn, with Sudheendra chipping in brilliantly. Two short kritis in quick succession came in, both were very impressive for their selection. Few rounds of swaras for sudha madhurya was nice.

Kharaharapriya alapana was grand. It started beautifully and despite loosing steam ( and voice a bit) in the middle she ended with some mesmerising phrases. Charulatha was again did a class act in her turn. I was trying to recollect a ‘devi kriti’ in kharaharapriya as the alapana was going on, could come up with ‘bhArati dEviya’ , the Purandara Dasa composition set to tune in kharaharapriya. Saraswathi Anniye was not in my mind and it was a pleasant surprise. Very well presented, nice detailed neraval and some impressive swara prasthana made it worth the effort. Sudheendra in a new appearance was doing a great job through out the concert, also presented a decent tani avartanam.

Post main was quickly wound up with himagiri tanaye and Shyama Shasthri’s Sri ragam composition. A good concert with the theme. Modest first half and pretty good second half , if I may say so.

 

Abhishek Raghuram @ Kanchi Mutt, Malleswaram, 02 Oct 2016

Vocal : Abhishek Raghuram

Violin : Vittal Ramamurthy

Mrudangam : Thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam

Ganjira : B S Purushotham

List:

01. valaci vaci (varNam) – rAgamAlika – Patnam Subramanya Iyer

02. dEva dEva kalayAmi – mAyAmALavagauLa – Swathi Thirunal ( S )

03. yOchana kamalA lOcana – darbAr – Thyagaraja (S )

04. shrI kAntimatim – hEmavati – Dikshitar ( Short sketch, S ,T)

05. shrI kAmakOTi pIThastHitE – sAvEri – Mysore Sadashiva Rao (A,N,S )

neraval & Swara @ ‘kdambavana nilayE kancha lOcanE bhavAni’

06. kAtyAyani mahAbhAgE – mishra bhUpALi – ?  ( O )

07.  mAyammA yaninE – Ahiri – Thyagaraja ( A )  –  started at anupallavi

08. tappunODadE bandeya – tilang  – Purandara Dasa

09. shrIrAma shrIrama manOharamA – sahAna – Thyagaraja (started at anupallavi)

10. thillAna – pUrvi – T Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar

11. mangaLam – saurAStram – Thyagaraja

Not a typical Abhishek concert. Probably he made it to suit the accompaniments at his disposal. For the lovers of excitement and exhilaration there was enough to rejoice. It was a riot out there. I am not hinting it wasn’t good, but at times it sounded too loud and intruding. Abhishek did his job well in the melee, but my sympathy goes to Vittal Ramamurthy.

On his part, Abhishek gave us enough ‘aha’ moments. The outstanding kalpana swaras he sang for hemavati is the case point. He must have sang it for 20-25 mins, only swaras. Possibly, there isn’t anything left to unearth. Awesome stuff. The only real alapana came after this. He sang a very moving alapana of saveri.  The early phrases of the alapana was one of the best I’ve heard in recent times. Very good neraval followed at ‘kadambavana nilaye’ and another great rounds of swaras to add.

He started the concert with the navaragamalika varnam. Some issue with his mike and there was 15 people talking to the mike-man with various ups and downs. Abhishek decided to sing with the cord-less mike used for announcements ( it was pretty good,though) and proceeded with mayamalavagaula with this mike as in a rock/films song show. While he was willing to continue with this arrangement, good sense prevailed and another mike was provided. He remarked, “let us do one more test” and sang yet another fast paced kriti with few rounds of swaras. By now, after all the adjustments things settled to some extend. Then came the hemavati.

There was no surprise to me on the percussion part. He was as usual loud and always involved. He did play some nice takes while following the kriti, but at times a bit sober hands would have made better impact. He had a field day during tani avartanam. It was fireworks by the duo, longish. There was always many supporters for this and he too received thunderous applause. Tani avartanam came too soon. The main, saveri was much leisurely done. Alapana was exquisite as mentioned. Vittal Ramamurthy ( the only chane he got to play an alapana) did a great job in his turn. Few takes during the neraval wasn’t very appealing with some awkward ‘word-split’ but the musical impact was very good.

I expected a pallavi since the concert had only one alapana and only one neraval. Disappointed at that. But his post main pieces were very very good. The ‘mishrapahadi’ piece ( correct me if it was not that) and the nice little alapana ( only by him) before mayamma were awesome. A devarnama, an utsava sampradaya kriti in sahana and super energetic purvi thillana were all very well received. The percussion riot continued even during mangalam.

I will wait for his next visit.