Cherthala Ranganatha Sharma @ Nadasurabhi Cultural Association 23rd July 2023

Vocal : Cherthala Ranganatha Sharma

Vocal Support : Mrs Mohana Sharma

Violin : R Raghul

Mrudangam : N C Bharadwaj

Morsing : Bhagyalakshmi Krishna

List:

01 chalamEla (varNam ) – shankarAbharaNam – aTa – Swathi Thirunal

02 lambOdarAya namastE – varALi – khaNDachAp – Dikshitar ( A )

03 shAradE vInA vAdana vishAradE – dEvagAndhAri – Adi – Papanasam Sivan ( A )

04 ninnu vinA gamari – pUrvikalyAni – mishra chAp – Shyamashastry ( A,N,S )

neraval @ ‘nannu brOcuTaku cinta dIrci vEgamE’

05 varasikhi vAhana – supradIpam – Adi – Thyagaraja

06 tyAgarAja yOga vaibhavam – Ananda bhairavi – rUpakam – Dikshitar ( O )

07 sharaNam vijaya saraswati mAyE – vijaya saraswati – Adi – Muthaiah Bhagavathar ( S )

08 shankarAchAryAm – shankarAbharaNam – Adi – Subbarama Dikshitar ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘ parama jnAna lata-Ala vAlam’

09 sAgara shayana vibhO – bhAgEshrI – Adi – M D Ramanathan ( O )

10 thillAna ( taka dhIm tadhIm nAdru dhIm tadhOm) – dEsh – Adi – Lalgudi Jayaraman

11 shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya ) – dEsh

 

Archana & Samanvi @ Nadasurabhi Youth Festival, 15 Feb 2020

Vocal : Archana & Samanvi

Violin : Anirudh Bharadwaj

Mrudangam : Trichy G Aravind

Ghatam : Sharath Kaushik

List :

01 viribOni ( varNam ) – bhairavi – aTa – Pachimiriam Adiyappa

02 kancadalAyadAkSi – kamalAmanOhari – Adi – Diksitar ( A,S )

03 nanda sukumAra krSNa – darbAr – Oothukkad Venkata Kavi

04 apamAnavAdadE oLLidu ?? – pUrvikalyANi – Adi – Purandara Dasa ( A,S )  – set to tune by Prof. Aravida Hebbar

05 smarAmi sadA kSitijA ramaNam – gambhIravANi – Adi – Chitraveena Ravikiran

06 nanu pAlimpa – mOhanam – Adi x 2  – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘karamuna shara kOdaNDa kaNTitO’

07 eShTO kAla hambalisiyu?? ( kavana) – khamAs – rUpakam – Subraya chikkadi  ( set to tune by Prof. Aravinda Hebbar )

08 kAnaDa rAja puNDarIcha ( abhang ?) – hindOLam – Adi – ??

09 thillAna ( tana dhImta dhImta dhiraNA) – mAND – Adi – Lalgudi Jayaraman

10 ugAbhOga ( naguvu sahajada dharma ) – bihAg & kAnaDa

ellarigu eega nama ? – bihAg – Adi – from mankuthimmana kagga ??

11 nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurAStram / madhyamAvati – Adi – Thyagaraja

The young girls definitely made an impact yesterday. The  competence, maturity and confidence were beyond their age. The duo presented a brilliant concert yesterday to start the 2 day Annual Youth Festival of Nadasurabhi.

I understand that they hail from South Canara and was under the tutelage of Prof. Aravind Hebbar and now taking advance training under Chitraveena Ravikiran. Their music indeed shows that they had been in good hands. It was evident from the way they sang the varnam. Even the stage composure, the sharing of parts, the smooth takeovers, the sense of proportion shown , selection and detailing of kritis were all noteworthy. I’m sure we will see them more often in the years to come.

Poorvikalyani was the first test of their mettle for me. They sang a measured alapana, the elder one ( they are not sisters by birth) sang the early stages and most of the lower and mid registers and the younger one did a splendid second part.  Anirudh had some good phrases in his return, but thought he should play it a little slower. Purandaradasa devarnama, set to tune by their Guru was very good. Good rounds of swaras too.  Ravikiran’s influence was shown through the Oothukadu composition and one of his own creation in Gambheeravani. Apart from the Thyagaraja kriti ‘sadA matin’ and a thillana of T K Govinda Rao, I’ve not heard any other composition in this ragam.

Mohanam alapana was again very well done. As in the previous case, the early part was done by the elder one and the later half by the younger ( and some bit of back and forth towards the conclusion). Anirudh did a good return , especially with some fast paced plays, in his turn. Skillful neraval and very good kalpana swaras in two speeds as expected. Trichy Aravind and Sharath ,after a slow start to adapt to the scene, had covered a great bit. They percussion duo also played a nice little tani avartanam.

post main had a poem of Subraya Chikkadi tuned in a style of a javaLi by their Guru. A marathi song, played in line with the Ranjani&Gayathri style. They concluded the concert with what I guess is a kagga from the ‘mankuthimmana kagga’ of DVG.

The young ladies sang a brilliant concert, and all the wishes to them for a great musical career.

 

Vinay Sharva @ Nadasurabhi , 15 Dec 2019

Vocal : Vinay Sharva

Violin : Mathur Srinidhi

Mrudangam : K U Jayachandra Rao

Morsing : Bharadwaj Satavalli

List

01 sarasUDA ( varNAm) – sAvEri – Adi – Kothavasal Venkataramna Iyer  ( O )

02 aruNAcala nAtHam smarAmi – sAranga – rUpakam – Dikshitar

03 marivErE dikkevarayya rAmA -Shanmukhapriya – Adi – Patnam Subramanya Iyer ( A,N,S )

neraval & swaras @ ‘sannutAnga shrI venkatEsha nIvu nannu brOvakayuNDuta nyAyamA’

04 jananI ninnuvinA – rItigauLA – mishrachAp – Subbaraya Shasthri ( O )

05 shrI ramaNa vibhO kalayAmi – Arabhi – Adi – Swathi Thirunal ( O )

06 nAdOpAsanace – bEgaDa – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A,S,T )

07 manavE manthrAlaya – shuddha sArang?- Adi – A V Krishnamachar(Padmacharan)

08 shankara shrIgirinAtHa prabhu – hamsAnandi – Adi – Swathi Thirunal ( A )

09 tambUri mITi tava – sindhubhairavi – Adi – Purandara Dasa

10 patiki hArati rE – suruTTi – Adi – Thyagaraja

shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya ) – suruTTi

I haven’t listened to Vinay Sharva in a live concert for a while. But, I’ve listened to him in a few AIR concerts. What impressed me the most was the clarity in his singing. The diction was clear, the stress, split and the completeness of the words were noteworthy. He also has very strong voice, especially in the mid and lower registers, which makes listening to him a pleasure.

The shanmukhapriya was the high point for me in the concert. Very well done alapana, especially the early phase where he sang in the low-mid range. He has a tendency to add bhrigas ( the vibrato one) at odd places. I saw that not only in his alapana ( including begada), but during the kriti singing as well . At times, it wasn’t very appealing to me.  Otherwise a top class alapana, with an equally brilliant return by Srinidhi. Srinidhi also added a couple of ‘awe’ moments from his side. I love a longish neraval. Can be a little tricky  at times, but he did a great job here.

Janani Ninnuvina was ok, nothing great to talk about. Intersting to hear, Shree Ramana Vibho again in a concert after a long long time. I liked the variations at ‘shree-ee-ee’.

Begada main. Another elaborate alapana. Decent effort. Lot more ‘tArasthayi’ phrases. Srinidhi, again , was very good. Nadopasanace, it had to be. He dwelt into some explanation of the composition and theme. Not sure, what prompted it. There was no neraval, but he did a very detailed swara prasthana, in two speeds as usual, as pretty good.

Post main, had the composition popularised by his Guru Sri Shankar. But what impressed all was the Swathi Composition ‘shankara sreegiri’. Nice interplay with the percussion at ‘dhrukuTaddhIm tadhIm tAdhIdhrunna’. Good concert, impressive shanmukhapriya an hamsanandi and a good begada.

 

Mysore Nagaraj & Mysore Manjunath @ Nadasurabhi Annual Festival, 3rd Nov 2019

Violin : Mysore Nagaraj & Mysore Dr.Manjunath

Mrudangam : Tumkur Ravishankar

Ganjira : N Amrit

Ghatam : Giridhar Udupa

List:

01 mahAgaNapatE pAlayAshumAm – naTanArAyaNi – Adi – Dikshitar ( A )

02 shrI varalakSmim namastubhyam – shrI – rUpakam – Dikshitar ( O,S )

03 appa rAmabhakti – pantuvarALi – rUpakam – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘kapi vAridhi dATunA.. ‘

04 mAyamma yani nE – Ahiri – Adi – Shyama Shasthri

05 bAlagOpAla pAlayAshu mAm – bhairavi – Adi x 2 – Dikshitar ( A )

06 RTP – kApi – khaNDa tripuTa , pUrvAngam in caturashra naDai, uttarAngam in khaNDa naDai.  Samam eDuppu

Pallavi line ‘ shrIdEvi tripurasundari gauri, bhakta jana rakSaki

Swaras in kApi. No rAgamAlika swaras

06b tani Avartanam

07 mAdhava mAmava dEvA – nIlAmbari – Adi – Narayana Theertha ( O )

08 nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurAStram / madhyamAvati – Adi – Thyagaraja

Couldn’t ask for a better birthday treat. What a cracker of a concert.  One always expect the high energy , exhilarating affair in their concert. So, on that count there was no surprise. The early part of the concert, in fact, was exactly that. The shrI rAgam swaras and the pantuvarali followed were all on the high-octane affair. Not that I did not like it, but I am going to talk about what followed after that.

The bhairavi alapana they played yesterday was so moving, so melodious almost brought me to tears of joy. One of the best bhairavi alapana I’ve heard in the recent past. From all that verve exhibited during the pantuvarali to a total shift to this was awesome. Manjunath, who took the lead – or played the larger share of the alapana, was at his mellifluous best.  He announced bAlagOpAla and said, they will only sing the kriti, as they have a pallavi planned post this. I would have loved it to continue for a while more.

“Kapi ?” he asked through the mike and no one had a different of opinion. Quickly looked around his co-artists and joked Giri(dhar Udupa) wanted ‘filter kApi’. What followed was one of the finest grade filtered kApi. Another outstanding alapana, this time lion’s share was done by Nagaraj. Goosebumps, thinking about the initial phase of the alapana. Beautiful stuff.  The excitement came back during tanam. I hoped they do the tAnam also in that leisurely way. But the speed caught on as both tempo and the range moved up.  Bit tricky talam with the nadai variations for pallavi. The percussion team is experienced and they dealt with it an abandoned ease.  Surprisingly, no ragamalika swaras, probably owing to the time. Now, it’s the turn of the percussion trio to run riot. Riot was a wrong word to use, there was no chaos, but some classy work lead by Ravishankar. The ending ‘mohra’ was of course a bit loud. But a commendable effort, considering the complexity of the talam they were thrown at.

There wasn’t much time left after all these. They closed it with a neelambari piece. To me, those two alapanas of bhairavi and kApi is enough to remember.

 

T V Sankaranarayanan @ Nadasurabhi annual Festival , 03 Nov 2019

Vocal : T V Sankaranarayanan

Violin : Nishant Chandran

Mrudangam : C Cheluvaraju

Ghatam :  Omkar G Rao

Morsing : ‘Sangeethasurabhi’ L Bhimachar

List:

01 viruttam ( kazhaliNai kANa vandEn ) – hindOLam

Eka radanam vAraNA vadanam – hindOLam – Adi – Tulaseevanam ( S )

02 viDajAladurA nA manasu – janaranjani – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

03 murugA murugA enrAl – sAvEri – mishrachAp – Periyasami Thooran ( A )

04 samAna rahitE – sArangatarangiNi – rUpakam – G N Balasubramaniam ( A,S )

05 ODi bArayya vaikuNThapati – bhairavi – Adi – Purandara Dasa ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘mangaLAtmaka mOhanakAya ranga’

06 mOhana rAma – mOhanam – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja ( A,S,T )

07 kA vA vA – varALi – Adi – Papanasam Sivan

08 viruttam ( kaNNA kArmukil vaNNA + paNNAl unnai tudikkum pAmaran nAn + karpUram nARumO + vandAn en manam pugandAn )  –  behAg, dEsh, hamsAnandi

tirupati vAsA venkaTEshA – hamsAnandi – Adi – Indira Natesan ?

09 eppO varuvArO – jOnpuri – Adi – Gopalakrishna Bharathi

10 Notes ( ga ma ga ri ga pa) – Adi – Harikeshanallur Muthaiah Bhagavathar

11 nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurASTram – Adi – Thyagaraja

shLOkam ( mangaLam jaya mangaLam) – surruTTi

Felicitation concert for the newly crowned ‘Sangeetha Surabhi’ Sri L Bhimachar, and who is better that Sri TVS to honour on such an occasion. One will say, the master is at work.

The morning concert had many of his usual compositions. A Tulaseevanam kriti to start with and the entire post main is in the predictable lines with kA vA vA, the eppO varuvArO, the Notes. Again and again, people request him to sing those and he always obliges. That part is not of our interest here.

He sang some interesting ragas in the middle. Started ‘janaranjani’ alapana, mentioned his uncle/guru rarely sung janaranjani, but he is in the mood to sing viDajaladura. Short alapana, but the typical sarvalaghu swaras added at the end. Sang another 4-5 minutes of saveri with some nice takes. Started the kriti at anupallavi ‘orukAl urai seidAlum’ and sang that beautifully. Ended with calling ‘murugA’ in a dozen variations. I found it very appealing. Sarangatarangini was a surprise. Don’t remember listening to it in a concert. Nice alapana again. Nishant Chandran played this very well too. He was always playing a bit short, allowing the veteran singer more time to sing. Appreciative effort.

Fairly detailed bhairavi. Standard alapana, time tested patterns and passages, that establishes the raga credentials with ease.  Interestingly, Odi bArayyA was taken. Neraval at mangalAtmaka was very good, so was the swaras. Quickly started the mOhanam alapana, at a tricky take , before moving to the melodic mohana phrases. Even the kriti was started with a different style, the start of ‘Mohana rAma’, from the often heard one.  Percussion team played a short tani avartanam, including the 88yr young Bhimachar, who has not lost any of his touches.

The main attraction was the viruttam. Viruttam singing is slowly disappearing from the concert scene. Even those sing it occasionally, sing a short piece and move on to the composition. Today, he sang an exquisite viruttam. This also included one that was written by starting with words ‘paNNAl unnai tudikkum pAmaran nAn’. Beautiful stuff. Loved it. Rest of the tail pieces, as mentioned was easy to guess.

His music, especially while singing the swaras, just flows, endlessly.