Unnikrishnan @ Nadasurabhi Concert , Koramangala 12 Nov, 2008

Vocal :  P Unnikrishnan

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : A V Anand

Ghatam : Srishylan

Songlist:

01 sAmi ninne ( varNam) – pantuvarALi – Shatkala Narasayya (?)

02 suguNamule – chakravAkam – Thyagaraja ( O,S )

03 karuNa ElAgaNTe – varALi – Thyagaraja ( N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘paramAtmuDu jIvAtmuDu yokaDai’

04 bAlakrishNan pAdamalar – dhanyAsi – Papanasam Sivan  ( A )

05 brOva bAramma – bahudAri – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

06 kaligiyuNTegada – kIravANi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T)

neraval & swara @ ‘ bAguga shrI raghu rAmuni padamula’

07 chidambaram poi nIr varumayyA – SAma – ?   ( O )

08 nAthaharE jagannAtha harE ( sAi bhajan) – sindhu bhairavi – ??

09 eppO vAruvArO – jAunpuri – Gopalakrishna Bharati

10 jagadOdhAraNa – kApi – Purandara Dasa

11 mangaLam – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

Third day of the Nadasurabhi annual festival. Having missed the first two days of the event, I managed to reach the concert during the swara singing of Chakravakam. Overall, I was left with  a mixed feeling. Few krithis were good and some where a bit below my expectations. Especially, the dhanyAsi was a big let down. Some how, it did not create the effect in me , as I was hearing thODi alapana at most of the places.  Bahudari alapana was slow and very good. Keeravani, one of my favorite, started at an unfamiliar space, but gradually developed and was quite enjoyable at the end. The swara singing for the main kaligiyunte was very good, so was the return by Charulatha.

Tani avartanam was elaborate and quite admirable by the veteran percussionist , aptly supported by Srishylan. Overall, it was not one of those concerts which you remember for a long time.

 

Unnikrishnan @ Odukathur Mutt 26 Aug 2007

Yesterday’s concert by Sri Unnikrishnan was the BEST OF THE SERIES so far.  He was in amazing form and was in no mood to stop.

Here are the details..

Vocal : Unnikrishnan

Violin : B U Ganesh Prasad

Mrudangam : K V Prasad

Ghatam : A S N Swamy

01 viribONi ( varnam ) – bhairavi –  Pacchimiriyam Adiyappa       O

02 guruvAyUrappA  – chakravAkam – Papanasam Sivan   O, S

03 bhagAyanayya – chandrajyOthi – Thyagaraja               A,S

     first detailed Alapana and what a marvel.

04 srI venkata girIsham – surutti   – Muthuswami Dikshithar     A

    Another beautiful alapana of Surutti Ragam

05 jaya jaya padmanAbha murAre – chArukEsi – Swathi Thirunal      S

06 pankaja lOchanA – kalyANi – Swathi thirunal                   A,N,S,T   

      Neraval at vridAvanAntha krithavi vidha sukha vihara 

07 RTP – kApi –

pallavi lines ‘mOhana muralIdhara gOpala murahara …’

Ragamalika swaras in kApi, ranjani , bahudAri ,kuntaLavarALi , ranjani , kApi

One of the best RTP I’ve heard in recent times. Beautiful raga alapana by both vocalist and the violinst followed with some outstanding ragamalika swaras.

08 nArAyayaNathe namO namO – behAg – Annamacharya     O

09 vittala talagO swAmI  – dEsh – Purandaradasa        O

10 pAvanaguru pavana – hamsAnandi –  Lalithadasa

11 mangaLam – sourAshtram – Thyagaraja

I would say, this was the best of the series so far.  Look at the selection of Ragams, the composers, the way he choose to detail each krithi .  Beautiful kalyani and a what a ‘kapi’ it was.  Secratary Ramesh aptly summarised this as an ‘Onam Sadya’ by Unnikrishnan and such was the treat for the packed audience.