Abhishek Raghuram @ Samyoga2019, Annual Festival of Ranjani Fine Arts 09-Feb-2019

Vocal : Abhishek Raghuram

Violin : Akkarai Subhalakshmi

Mrudangam : Patri Satishkumar

List:

01 inta mOdi (varNam) – sAranga – Adi – Thiruvottiyur Thyagayya ( O )

02 brOcEvArevvarE – shrI ranjani – Adi – Thyagaraja ( short Sketch, S )

03 jAnakI ramaNa – shuddha sImantini – Adi – Thyagaraja ( short Sketch, S )

04 shrI mAtrbhUtam – kannaDa – MishrachAp – Dikshitar ( A,S,T )

05 sumasAyaka – kApi – Roopakam – Swathi Thirunal ( A )

06 nannu brOcuTaku – thODi – Adi – Subbaraya Shasthri ( A )

07 tatvameruga taramA – garuDadhvani – Adi – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

08 murugA murugA enrAl – sAvEri – Mishra chap –  Periyasamy Thooran

09 suruTTi alapana

patiki hArati rE – suruTTi – Adi – Thyagaraja

10 nI nAma rUpamulaku – saurAStram – Adi – Thyagaraja

;——————-

*The downpour outside was paralleled with a downpour of musical swaras today.  Sriranjani and kannada swaras that was sung today has to be experienced. No words to describe.  If I am not mistaken, the kannada swaras were sung in 3 speeds.

*Sriranjani swaras had more interesting points, especially the way he prefixed raghupatE, ninnu vinA, srIrAma, sakala lOka nAyaka before ‘brOcEvarevvarE’ at different repeats. It was brilliant.

*First half, until kannaDa, there were no detailed alapana. KannaDa alapana was fabulous. Very typical of his style, which probably is a bit off-putting to some. Surprisingly, after some swashbuckling swaras, he asked PAtri to play the tani avartanam.

*He sang alapana ( fairly in detail way) for every thing that followed, including a teasing surutti  (for patiki harati rE).

* Sumasayaka, was sung like a varnam, with swara sahityam after chittaswaras, with some of his expressive twists and stretches.

*Garudadhwani alapana was also a novelty and the express-speed swaras.

*A very soulful sAvEri, among the forceful ( bit riotous, often) others, stood out.

*Both Akkari Subhalakshmi and Patri Satishkumar were excellent.

*I see a change in pattern in his singing, of late. Eager to see how it evolve. I like his concerts and his ability to inspire awe in me as a listener. It was no different,yesterday.

 

 

Ranjani & Gayathri @ Gayana Samaja 22nd Oct 2017

Vocal : Ranjani & Gayathri

Violin : H M Smitha

Mrudangam : Delhi Sairam

Ghatam : S N Narayana Murthy

List:

01 vanajAkSa (varNam) – hamsadhwani – Adi -Manampuchadi Venkata Subbaiyer ( O )

02 sakala grahabhala nInE – aThANa – rUpakam – khaNDachAp – Purandara Dasa (O,S )

03 inta parAka nIkinta – mAyAmALavagauLa – rUpakam – Anai Ayya ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘kaNNAtalli tanri sujanulanna tammu sati sutulE’

04 evaru manaku samAnam iLalO – dEvagAndhAri – Adi-Thyagaraja

05 shrI kAntimatim – hEmavati – Adi x 2 Dikshitar ( A,S,T )

06 niravadhi sukhadA – ravichandrika – Adi – Thyagaraja

07 RTP -hamsadhwani – khaNDa tripuTa x 2  +2.5or+3 eDuppu

pallavi line ‘dhwani, sad-dhwani,hamsadhwani.. nI nAdamE paramAnandamu

rAgamAlika swaras in kApi nArAyaNi, AbhEri, laLit(shrutibhedam to ShubhapantuvarALi)

08 abhang ( javu dEvachIya gava) – bhImplAs – Thukaram

09 mangaLam – saurAStram/madhyamAvati  – Thyagaraja

Inaugural concert of the 48th Annual Music Conference of Gayana Samaja. The hall was packed and over flowing. Having reached the venue 45 mins ahead of the schedule, we had to settle for the seats in the balcony. The influx of the fans continued well after the start time. A few plastic chairs was brought in, but the crowd continued to pour. Many had to sit on the floor, many moved into the stage and many stood through out the concert in the aisle. Heartening to see, such enthusiasm.

Concert was well planned and delivered and received with equal enthusiasm by the audience. Gayathri, was in super form through out. Her alapanas stood out for its variety and freshness. Her faster paced upper octave passages were delectable. The tanam was exquisite , so was the MMG neraval. So, if there is a ‘player of the match’ , it will go to her. HM Smitha played competently through out, her returns during the ragamalika were brilliant. Delhi Sairam was equally impressive.

Concert started with a brisk varnam in hamsadhwani. Nice atana piece before Ranjani sang the alapana for Mayamalavagaula. Good effort, and the selection of the kriti was more impressive. Neraval was top class,  especially from Gayathri. Good rounds of swaras continued. Nice little dEvagandhari kriti, not often heard these days was appreciated before the main.

Gayathri sang a detailed alapana for hemavati, with a grahabhedam to rEvagupti and it had to be Dikshitar’s master piece. No neraval , but an elaborate swara prasthana, which was very good. Delhi Sairam played an impressive tani avartanam, with some support from NArayana Swamy. A pallavi was in the offing. A quick ravichandrika found its way before.

Pallavi was probably the best of the evening. Beautiful alapana, especially the second part from Gayathri, outstanding tanam by all three and some cracking ragamalika swaras in the end. Pallavi line by itself wasn’t all that great, but it was structurally constructed well. Here again, Gayathri performed a shrutibhedam in the swaras from laLit to shubhapantuvarali. Overall a well executed pallavi.

There was no time left to sing all the ‘abhangs’ that was on request. However, the conceded to the request of the organiser and sang a shorter one, and concluded the concert.

The ‘Yellow brigade’ must be very pleased. They thronged the stage at the end. Guess, we are likely to see more of these ( of fan club banners, garlands to the hoarding, cheering etc) in classical concert in the coming days. So long as the quality of the delivery is maintained, there is no reason to complain.

One request to the organisers : When the hall is full, the place is very difficult to breathe. Personally I suffered nausea yesterday. Some thing needs to be done to improve the air circulation in the hall. This was an issue before, and it continued even after renovation.

 

 

 

Ranjani & Gayathri , Nadasurabhi Annual Festival 07 Nov 2015

Vocal : Ranjani & Gayathri

Violin : H M Smitha

Mrudangam : Delhi Sairam

Ghatam : G Omkar Rao

List:

01.  sAmi ninne kOri ( varNam) – sankarAbharaNam –  ??

02.  sharavaNabhava guruguhAm – rEvagupti – Dikshitar ( O,S )

03.  rAmAbhi rAma manasu – dhanyAsi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘sangItamu bADumaNi’

04.  vanajamukhi ena manadISThArthava – kAnaDa – Kanaka Dasa

05.  pAhi jagadjanani – vAcaspati – Swathi Thirunal ( A,S,T )

06.  sEvikka vENDum ayya – AndOLika – Muthu Tandavar

07. RTP – dwijAvanti – khaNDa jAti triputa x 2 , starting at +1 and tisra jAti jhampa tisra gati

varashailarAjasutE shAradE | jayajayavanti pAhimAm

rAgamAlika swaras in bhUpALam , neelakurinji 🙂 , sunAdavinOdini, darbAri kAnaDa

08.  bannisi gOpi harasidaLu – kalyAnavasantam  – Purandara Dasa

09.  mAtA kAlika – darbAri kAnaDa  or aDANa – ??

10.  pag gunghurU bandh ( meera bhajan) – shuddh sArang

11. mangaLam – saurAshtram+madhyamAvati – Thyagaraja

The hall was full and the crowd stayed almost near full until the end. From the number of ‘request chits’ that were on the stage, I deduct that most of them were waiting and hoping that their request will be honoured. Had they been kind enough and sing those few request up front, would these crowd have stayed till the end ? Interestingly, despite singing for nearly 3 hours of classical fare, the artists got maximum appreciation ( only from the decibel levels of the applause) for the last two relatively lighter pieces. There was no abhang with the ‘bolava vittala’ chant, but it was replaced with almost similar trance like ‘meera nAchoongi’ upping the tempo taking the audience into delirium. So much was the effect, few elderly gentlemen seated ahead of me were standing towards the end and clapping hysterically to the beats. Another couple of minutes, they would have been dancing. Needless to say, the song was received with standing ovation and thunderous claps around the auditorium. Let me not get paranoid about these behaviours and appreciation. Each has their own taste and preferences and clearly, mine is not there. So, here is what I thought was the highlights of the concert.

For most part it was a good decent concert. Like in the case of Saketharaman, this duo too cherished in faster tempo rendering of kritis. Somewhere the ‘sowkhyam’ wasn’t felt. Interesting choice of a varnam, sang it in two speed, as some one remarked we dont see them doing it often. Another nice pick of revagupti kriti. Good rounds of swaras too. First dhanyasi alapana was ok, nothing to rave about. Short neraval line was done very well playing around the ‘sangItamu’ for some time. Good rounds of swaras to add to the impressive neraval. A short Kanaka Dasa devarnama came in before the main.

Vacaspati alapana from Gayathri was very good and H M Smita was even better. A clever grahabhedam to vAsanti was nice well received by the audience. She, of course explained this later, to the rescue of many who were scratching their heads to figure out. Pahi jagadjanani, the navarathri kriti of Swathi Thirunal was to be the main. There was no neraval, but an elaborate two speed kalpana swara followed by tani avartanam.

Concert actually improved with the pallavi. The initial phase of alapana from Ranjani was ok, but Gayathri added much needed life to the whole thing. From here on, it was a much improved affair. Tanam was exquisite from all three artists. Again Gayathri took the lead with some brilliant display of tanam singing. H M Smitha was fabulous in her returns. Tanam indeed was on of the high points of the concert. Pallavi line had a cleverly stitched in ragamudra. I remember them singing ‘jayajayavanti rAganutE’ in one of their pallavi neraval ( I think it was Ranjani). There was no standard trikalam, but a good shift to ’tisra jhumpa in tisra gati’ for the second part of the pallavi. Ragamalika swaras were impressive, especially the shrutibhedam Gayathri did from Natakurinji to Neelambari. H M Smitha, impeccably replicated the vocalists sojourn with her own ( my Neelakurinji above came from Neelambari+ Natakurinji). Both artist alternated between the rAga through the shrutibhedam very effectively.

The rest is already written above. I am definitely impressed with the selection of kritis and the pallavi.

 

Ranjani & Gayathri , Sheshadripuram Rama Seva Samiti, 20 Apr 2013

Vocal : Ranjani & Gayathri

Violin : H M Smitha

Mrudangam:  H S Sudheendra

Ghatam : G Omkar Rao

List:

01 intha mODi ( varNam) – sAranga – Thiruvottiyur Thyagayya

02 rAmachandram bhAvayAmi – vasantha – Dikshitar ( S )

03  kaNTa jUDumi – vAchaspati – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘ alanADu soumitri pAdasEva’

04  hecharadali naDE manavE – mukhAri – Purandara Dasa

05  kaligiyuNTE gada – kIravANi- Thyagaraja ( A,S,T )

06  RTP – janaranjani – Tisra Triputa , 2 Kalai , tisra gati  starting at +1/2 after samam.

pallavi line ‘smaranE sukhamu rAmanAma, shravaNamE bhAgyamu raghukula sOma

ragamalika swaras in ‘gauLa, darbAr, chandrakauns, behAg

07 jagadISwari brahma hrdayESwari – rAgEshri – Ramamurthy Rao

08  janm janhi AgE ?? (abhang) – dEshkAr – Sant Eknath

09 mangaLam- saurAshtram – thyagaraja

SLOkam ( mangalam kOsalEndraya) – madhyamAvathi

The first concert of the Ramanavami season for me and it wasn’t a disappointment. The duo did present a good concert at the Seshadripuram College premises. Interesting selection of ragams and kritis wih some not heard before made the day.

Amidst some hic-up with the mic and amplification ( which has become a regular affair in concerts these days), varnam and a quick vasantha with few round of swaras came in. Luckily the issues did not prolong, as it somewhat settled during the vachaspati alapana. Ranjani sang a neat vachaspati alapana similarly followed by the violin artist. Kanta Judumi came and went through the predictable routine with a smart neraval at ‘alanADu’ and kalpana swaras. Neraval was very good and the concluding kalpana swaras from Ranjani was brilliant.

A beautiful Purandara Dasa kriti came in next. Whoever had set this to tune had done an amazing job. It had all the beauty of mukhAri and the duo gave a very emotive presentation of this kriti. Kiravani was to be the main, with Gayathri doing the alapana. It was very good as always ( one cant go wrong with Keeravani, can they). Kaligiyunte came in the typical style, however they changed the tempo to a higher speed starting at charanam. Surprisingly, there was no neraval. The organiser in her pre-written speech did talk about the neraval, not sure if she heard something that I missed 🙂 .The intermission came in with some confusion. I guess those behind the stage weren’t ready with the garland/presentations. The sponsors of the evening was also called on to the stage and had to be seated there for a while. Citing ‘technical reasons’ they requested the artists to continue.

Pallavi was in the offing and it was janaranjani. I wsa confused for a while with Poornachandrika, until the artists clarified. Tha alapana largely revolved around the key phrase, presented in various forms cut, stretched, different speeds, 3 octaves and ‘akara’ singing. Tanam was much better. Pallavi was interestingly composed. The ‘pUrvAngam’ from the popular kriti and uttarangam on their own. There was no trikalam. Ragamalika swaras were good, especially the chandrakauns and behag were brilliant.

Post pallavi, there was a rageshri kriti on goddess Sharadambal and the staple abhang. Overall, I thought it was a good concert. H M Smitha was competent and supported pretty well. H S Sudheendra and Omkar was apt in their percussion support. they did present a short but good tani avartanam, but there was no enthusiasm from the audience for their efforts.

A good concert to start the season for me. Hopefully one get to listen to some cracking ones soon.

 

Ranjani & Gayathri, Nadasurabhi Annual Festival 24 Nov, 2011

Vocal : Ranjani & Gayathri

Violin : Charulatha Ramanujam

Mrudangam : Tumkur Ravishankar

Ghatam : Tumkur Sashishankar

song list:

01  sAmi ninnE – SankarAbharaNam – Veenai Kuppaiyer ( S )

02  sarasijanAbha sOdari – nAga gAndhAri – Dikshitar

03  ninnu jeppa kAraNamEmi – mandAri – PAtnam Subramanya Iyer ( A,S )

04  vazhi maraittirukkudE – nAtakurinji – Gopalakrishna Bharati

05  kaligiyuNTE gada – kIravANi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘ bAguga srI raghu rAmuni padamula’

06  mAra vairi ramaNi – nAsikAbhUshaNi – Thyagaraja

07  RTP – sahAna – khanda jati triputa  ( purvangam in tisra gati and uttarangam chaturasra gati)

pallavi line ” ‘ ini oru kaNam unai maravEn, inakula tilakA’

ragamalika swaras in sahAna, srI ranjani , mOhanakalyANi, hindustAni kApi, sindhu bhairavi’

08  viruttam ( nADiya poruL kai koodum) – shaNmukhapriya, vasantha, dEsh – ?

rAma nAmamE tudi manamE – dEsh – Tanjavur Shankara Iyer

09  srI kAntha enagistu – darbAri kAnaDa – Purandara Dasa

10  abhang (sadA majhE DOlA ?? ) – misra malkAuns – Thukkaram

11 mangaLam – saurAshtram / madhyamAvati – Thyagaraja

I missed the first 4 days of the series and was hoping to listen to a good concert at the new hall.  I should say, the concert was pretty impressive. Sankarabharanam varnam was accompanied with a short rounds of swaras. Naga gandhari kriti was sung beautifully, immediately after the varnam.  First alapana of the day came very soon. Initially, I thought it was poorvikalyani and the confusion of pantuvarali was always there. It took a while for me eliminate the possibility of both pantuvarali and purvikalyani. To me, the third choice was mandAri and that , it was. Alapana, was just ok ( or I was too pre-occupied with Purvikalyani and Pantuvarali to enjoy) and so was the violin return. It was Patnam Subramanya Iyer’s ‘ninnu jeppa’ was good and the faster round of kalpana swaram was very good.

Gopalakrishna Bharati’s natakurinji kriti was announced next, and she explained the legend about the nandi blocking his view from the seeing the deity. Kriti was rendered very slow, with full beauty of natakurinji. To my displeasure, the duo selected to sing in two shruti, one at the lower octave and the other at the higher. Some how, it lost the aesthetic appeal and was more of a distraction. This was done at a couple of places, to my discomfort.

Keeravani was the main. Gayathri ( I think the one sitting near the violin is Gayathri), presented an outstanding alapana of keeravani. Very melodious, bhava-laden singing of alapana , was one of the best I’ve heard in the recent times. Charulatha, on her turn was equally brilliant. No surprise on the selection of kriti. The kriti was sang very well, neraval was again outstanding, kalpana swarams were very well executed. Tumkur Ravishankar with his brother ( that makes two sets of siblings on the stage) gave a good tani. Ravishankar was very good through out, with a lot of anticipation, following the kritis. I still think the amplification level of the mrudangam was a dot higher.

Requests poured on to the stage from all directions, with young boys and girls were marching up and down with piece of paper. Some of the requests were a bit off-timed like ‘pankaja lochana’ etc. However, they obliged singing nasika bhushani kriti ‘mara vairi rmani’ before the pallavi.

Sahana alapana was good, but wasn’t as great as the previous keeravani. tanam was pretty good. Pallavi was slightly tricky with two different nadais in the ‘purvangam’ and ‘uttarangam’. The nadai change was only for the pallavi, and they moved to the regular nadai with the swaras. Ragamalika swaras were again brilliant, especially the kApi and sindhu bhairavi. Charulatha’s playing of sindhu bhairavi was also great.

Post main, possibly, would have been dedicated to the requests. Desh and darbari kanada kritis were pretty good. Their concert can not end without an abhang. There might have been many requests for one. Luckily, this one was not the typical ‘vittala vittala’ trance singing. A good concert with an outstanding ‘keeravani’ and a good pallavi.