Sriranjani Santhanagopalan 2 SAMYOGA, Ranjani Fine Arts Annual Festival, 09 Feb 2020

Vocal : Sriranjani Santhanagopalan

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : Sai Giridhar

Ghatam : S Karthik

List

01 tAmasincu (varNam) – asAvEri – Adi – Patnam Subramanya Iyer ( O )

note : She announced it as a composition of Kothavasal Venkataramana Iyer. I’m not sure, which is right.

02 rAmA nI pai – kEdAram – Adi – Thyagaraja ( O,S )

03 ugabhOga  ( nitya upavasittu hasidu) – shuddha dhanyAsi

nArAyaNa ninnA nAmada – shuddha dhanyAsi – khaNDachAp –  Purandara Dasa

04 bhajanasEya rAdA – dharmavati – rUpakam – Mysore Vasuevachar ( A,N,S )

neraval & swaras @ ‘niravadhi sukhadAyakuni paramAtmuni bhaktapAluni’

05 Edayya gati – chalanATa – Adi – Koteeswara Iyer

06 kArtikEya gAngEya – thODi – Adi x 2 – Papanasam Sivan ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swaras @ ‘viravu kOl mayUrApuri vaDi vEl maruvum amalakara kamala’

07 viruttam ( namyaum selvamum ) – mAND

rAmanai bhajitAl – mAND – Adi – PApanasam Sivan

08 thillAna ( ni ri ni ri ga ma ga ri sa ) – pUrvi – rUpakam – Thirugokarnam Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar

09 sUryamUrtE namOstutE – saurAStram- chaturashra dhruva – Dikshitar

10 nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurAStram – Adi – Thyagaraja

shLOkam ( ArOgya pradava?) – saurAStram

She has progressed leaps and bounds since the last time I’ve heard her live. The confidence , poise and control was evidently improved.  The team presented a very good concert yesterday at Ranjani Fine Arts.

The significant improvement was observed in her swara singing. It was moulded in the familiar TNS/NSG style, phrases landing and culminating at a point, the intricate variations of laya oriented exercises, measured karvai and the conclusions ; each had the marks of the school, which I always liked.

Very good dharmavati alapana. Charulatha’s return was even better ( as I told her later, that was the best moment for me in the concert ). Very impressive singing of kriti and neraval. Build beautifully and concluded with some class. So was the swaras.  The conclusion was equally brilliant. I wanted her to give the chance for Charulatha to do her turn ( since she was brilliant through out the dharmavati), but it wasn’t to be. I could see Karthik indicating the same to the main artist, so I wasn’t the only one, who thought so.

Impressed with her chalanata, which came before the main. Thodi alapana was good, karthikeya gangeya was also very good. It had been a while since I listened this in a concert.  Interesting line for neraval. A mix of two lines from charanam, not sure if this make any better literary or musical sense ( or completion). However, it was done competently well. Another well executed kalpana swaras for main.

The percussion team had a field day. At times, one felt if they are somewhat overdoing things. But Sai Giridhar and Karthik did enhance the concert experience with their active play. The tani avartanam also was good. She had to conclude the post main pieces fast as there was a follow on dance performance, which she did well within the time and scope.

 

Kumaresh & Jayanthi Kumaresh @ SAMYOGA, Ranjani Fine Arts Annual Festival, 08 Feb 2020

Veena : Jayanthi Kumaresh

Violin : Vid. Kumaresh

Mrudangam : K U Jayachandra Rao

Tabla & Morsing : Pramad Kiran

List :

01 Own Composition  – chakravAkam – Adi ( O,S )

02 paripAlayamAm – rItigauLa – rUpakam – Thyagaraja ( S )

03 mA jAnaki – kAmbOji – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A, S )

04 sari evvaramma – bhairavi – khaNDa tripuTa – Shyama Shastry ( A )

05 rAgam & tAnam – pantuvarALi

tani Avartanam – Adi

own composition – pantuvarALi – mishra chAp ( S )

…… the End …….

‘We are extending our conversations at home’ , musical conversations he hastened to add, ‘to the listeners’, said Kumaresh after the first piece of the evening. It indeed sounded so, with the deliberations over the compositions , especially those which are composed by them for ‘strings attached’, – as they are promoting it now.  Those conversations, if one might call it so, were enthralling to the audience, going by the reception they received at the end. There were deliberations, those fast paced to and fro ( or the question and answers ) between the two, those sweet passing of the mantle from one artist to the other, those little add-ons to the part being played by the other, those ‘if you do that, I can also do this’ type of showmanship , those collective crescendo and exhilaration that seems to have taken over the music of late.  There was exhibition of skills, knowledge and capabilities of both the artists as well as instruments they handle at galore, which connected with the audience immensely,  or that is what was evident going by the standing ovation and the applause and appreciation they received.

Beyond these, exuberance and high octane playing, there were indeed many moments of brilliance, to please my musical aesthetics. Leaving aside the first piece, the reetigaula was very traditional and played with such a pleasing ‘bhava’. Kamboji alapana had some mesmerizing phrases, especially on the veena. Tanam for pantuarali was again exquisite. As is expected, the Veena had some delectable playing of tanam. So, the traditional compositions were played withing the usual norms, and the improvised compositions of their pursuit had the highs and lows that titillate the listeners. Personally,  my tastes are with the former.

Interestingly, immediately after the tAnam, the percussion duo took up their solo. Jayanthi had announced the composition to be in mishra chAp, however the tani avartanam was in Adi. Jayachandra Rao and Pramad Kiran was really superb in their turns.  During his turn, Jayachandra Rao even played the arohana-avarohana scale on the ‘thoppi’ perfectly in unison with Veena. Pramad kiran started with Table, switched to Morsing, combined both, settled back to Tabla and played some impromptu duet with mrudangam by alternating sides – both a vusual and musical treat. Pramd’s Table accompaniment was top class through out.

The concert closed with the main piece, with no winding down at the end. MAy be they could have given 5 mins or so for a proper close down. One must also extend the credit to the organiser who spoke eloquently, adding wits and humour in right measure, summing up the ‘strings’ &  ‘ beats’ attached duos performance. Seldom we hear such a commendable effort from the organisers.

* ————–

In the follow on concert, Vidhushi Sangeetha Katti sang a brilliant Bhoop for an hour and a melodious ‘nAyaki kAnaDa’ for nearly 30 mins.

 

Vrinda Acharya @ Ranjani Fine Arts , 9th Jun 2019

Vocal : Vrinda Acharya

Violin : Aditi Krishnaprakash

Mrudangam : Adamya Ramanand

List :

01 chalamEla jEsE ( varNam) – nATakurinji – Adi – Rangaswamy Nattuvanar

02 mahA gaNapatim – nATa – Eka/Adi – Dikshitar ( O,S )

03 nArAyaNa ninna nAmada – shuddha dhanyAsi – khaNDa chAp – Purandara Dasa ( A )

04 marivErE dikkevarayya rAmA – SaNmukhapriya – Adi – Patnam Subramanya Iyer ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ sannutAnga shrI venkaTEsha nInu’

05 anurAgamulE nI manasuna – saraswati – rUpakam – Thyagaraja

06 rA rA rAjIva lOcana – mOhanam – Adi x 2 – Mysore Vasudevachar ( A,S ,T)

07 jagadOdhAraNA – kApi – Adi – Purandara Dasa

08 thillAna – dhanAshrI – Adi – Swathi Thirunal

Good concert by Vidushi Vrinda Acharya, yesterday at Ranjani Fine Arts

Commendable shanmukkhapriya and a very good mohanam.  Detailed alapana for both. Some good impressive phrases. The start of Mohanam was very good. Aditi, started off her mohanam alapana beautifully.

As expected, shanmukkhapriya neraval was the mega affair and she did it with elan. No, neraval for mohanam, though. Probably, because of the time as it was a 2 hr concert.

Nata swaras were good too.  Shudhadhanyasi was ok. So was her jagadodharana.

This was supposed to be a thematic on ‘The musical depth in popular compositions’. There wasn’t anything exceptional to justify the theme. She did not explain/elaborate any of the musical or lyrical aspects of the compositions she presented.  To me, it was like a usual concert, with or without the announcement of the theme. I might have gone with some insightful explanations and delineations from the artist in line with the theme.

Adamya played very well, both while following the kritis and during his tani avartanam. Good to see the young vidvan progressing to a senior percussionist with credentials.

 

 

 

Trichur Brothers @ Samyoga 2019, Ranjani Fine Arts 10 Feb 2019

Vocal : Trichur Brothers

Violin : L Ramakrishnan

Mrudangam : Trichur R Mohan

Ghatam : Kovai Suresh

List:

01 sumukhA EkadantA (varNam) – sarasvati – Adi – Keshavananda Bharathi

02 girirAja sutA tanaya – bangALA – Adi – Thyagaraja

03 jaya jaya jaya jAnakI kAntA – nATa – khaNDa chAp – Purandara Dasa ( O,S )

04 bhArati maddhiSaNA – dEvamanOhari – rUpakam – Dikshitar ( O )

05 kamalAptakula kalashAbdhi – brindAvana sAranga – Adi – Thyagaraja

06 sItamma mAyamma – vasanta – rUpakam – Thyagaraja ( N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘dhara nija bhAgavatAgrEsarulu evarO vArellaru’

07 RTP – cArukEshi – mishrajAti jhumpa, tisra gati  +1(3 akSaram) eDuppu

pallavi line : ‘maragata maNimaya vilasita rAmayyA, maravAda guNa’

rAgamAlika swaras in ‘kAnaDa, behAg, ??, ??

08 tAL bOlE  chipali lA ? (abhang) – ? –  Thukaram?

09 shLOkam – madhyamAvati

;—————–

*One of the largest crowd I’ve seen in this part of the town for a concert. The duo, certainly had a huge fan following here.

*Concert started 25 min late – arrival + long sound setting ( which they excused and sought in advance). That , coupled with some confusion on the ‘end-time’ caused some disarray in their concert planning.

*Until the Vasanta kriti, it was somewhat unappealing to me, despite a ‘first time listening’ of a sarasvati varnam comprised of the 12 names of Ganesha, and some nice rounds of nATa swaras.

*There was no alapana, except for the pallavi. After about 5 compositions, they were planning to go for the pallavi, but some reconfirmation of the time/duration salvaged the situation. They sang a delectable sItamma mAyamma with the newly ‘obtained’ extra time.

*Super duper neraval by both with equally brilliant support from L Ramakrishnan. Fitting swaras too.

*Tani Avartanam was taken after vasanta, with the audience putting tAlam ( on request by the artists, easy as it was in Roopakam) , reminding me the Viking Clap. Good engagement idea.

*The sole alapana was for cArukeshi, shared between the bros. Fairly elaborate, many impressive phrases, very well done by all three. Impressive rAgamAlika tAnam, seamless transition from one to other, again pretty impressive. Similar fair during the ragamalika swaras as well. I couldn’t figure out if this was done as ‘grahabhedam’.

*Abhang followed, with the audience in ‘trance’ clapping ( this time involuntarily ) to the song and reaching near ecstasy during the chants ‘pANDuranga, pANDUranga’ and ‘viTTHala viTTHala’.  I am not a great fan of this.

*Good concert, especially the vasanta and pallavi. But I still feel a little bit of planning ( or re-planning) would have made it a lot more ‘complete’.

 

Vasudevan Ram, Guru Utsava @ Ranjani Fine Arts, 21 Jul 2018

Vocal : Vid Vasudevan Ram

Violin : Anand Viswanathan

Mrudangam : Rakshit

List:

01 shLOkam ( guru brahmO gurur viSNO ) – kalyANi  ( O, violin return )

gaNapatE mahAmatE – kalyANi – Roopakam – Dikshitar  ( Ambi?? )

02 paripAlayamAm – rItigauLa –  Roopakam – Swathi Thirunal ( A )

03 viruttam ( en tAyum enakkaruL tantayum nI ) – kApi – Arunagirinathar ?

kArtikEyanai kaNNAra kANAvENDumE – kApi – Roopakam – Mayuram Viswanatha Shasthri

Shri Vasudevan presented the inagural concert of the 2 day long Guru Utsava of Ranjani Fine Arts. A short half an hour concert, which was planned beautifully. It is difficult to plan and control a short duration concert. You have to omit or miss more than what you could incorporate.

He started appropriately with the guru vandana shlokam, sang beautifully. Anand played a nice little alapana of Kalyani before the kriti. Nice idea of including the Guru and Ganesha in one piece. Another good alapana of reetigaula, with some innovative takes by Vasudevan, followed by Anand with a short reply. The time was running out and I could see Vasudevan was stepping up the tempo. Paripalayamam was sung at a pace faster than usual tempo.

A short viruttam from Kandar Anubhooti ( ?) before Mayuram Viswanatha Shastri’s composition to conclude the short but pretty nice concert.