Mandolin : U Shrinivas
Violin : H K Venkatram
Mrudangam : Srimushnam Rajarao
Ghatam : Giridhar Udupa
List:
01. chalamEla (varNam) – darbAr – Thiruvottiyur Thyagayya
02. bhajamAnasa vighnEshwaram – bahudhAri – Tulasivanam ( O,S )
03. kAmAkshi (swarajati) – bhairavi – Shyama Shasthri
04. parandhAmavati – dharmavathi – Dikshitar ( A,S )
05. telisirAma – pUrNachandrika – Thyagaraja ( S )
06. nagumOmu – AbhEri – Thyagaraja
07. RTP – kalyANi, kIravANi, malayamArutam – chaturashra tripuTa , 2 kaLai
tani Avartanam
08. thIrAtha viLayAttu piLLai – rAgamAlika – Subramanya Bharati
09. bhajan – ?
10. bArO krishNayya – rAgamAlika – Kanaka Dasa
11. thillAna – rEvati – Lalgudi jayaraman
12. mangaLam – saurAshtram , madhyamAvati – Thyagaraja
After missing the first week, yesterday was my first concert at this series at Unnati. As expected, Mandolin Shrinivas gave his customery high standard concert with some spirited support from the accompanying artists, especially veteran Srimushnam Rajarao. Concert progressed in a typical style with varnam , ganesha kriti pattern. Bahudhari kalpana swaras very very apt with all the constituents of the evening gelled well. A moving bhairavi swarajati came in before the first alapana of the day in dharmavathi. The kriti – I am pinning it for ‘parandhamavati’ against bhajanaseya rAda for both the kritis are set to ‘roopakam’ – was beautifully played, so was the short kalpana swara that followed. Two short kritis, were marvellous. Purnachandrika with its swaras and nagumOmu with some mesmerising sangatis he played with Srimushnam Rajarao.
He announced the main pallavi for the evening, in the form of kalyani, keeravani and malayamarutham. An interesting combination to choose. A rasika, landed on the stage at this juncture with a huge list of her preferences, causing some jovial moment. Acknowledging her, he said there has to be another concert to fulfill al her requests, but for time being he would like to continue with the pallavi.
The three raga alapana, from one to the next with violin taking turns was decent. Few catchy phrases with the fast paced sancharas was impressive. Venkatram was much more sedate and appealing, especially his keeravani and malayamarutam. There was no TNS style mixing or cross combination of alapana. Tanam sequenced in the reverse order with malayamarutam leading the fare. Here, he did some nice progression from one to the other. Overall tanam from both the instruments was very good with both receiving ample appreciation from the audience. He did not ‘sing’ or announce the pallavi line, but from the structure, it is evidently one of the popular ones, set to adi talam in 2 kalai. Ragamalika swara followed the same pattern not expanding beyond the pallavi ragas.
What followed was a scintillating tani avartanam. Despite the higher decibel levels, it was an awesome fare. The veteran percussionist leading the charge and Giridhar Udupa measuring upto every challenges thrown at him. There was an outstanding interplay towards the end, with one taking the lead while the other played the ‘takadhimi’ on his instrument. The duo received a standing ovation in the end for their outstanding contribution.
Post main, again had the known set of kritis. Baro Krishnayya, was one to pick for if I had to make a choice from the list. The concert concluded with a revathi thillana before the mangalam. Concert of an expected level from Shrinivas , with an exceptional support from Srimishnam rajarao.
Brain Drain 