Saralaya Sisters @Sri rama seva mandali, Koramangala 15th Apr 2016

Vocal : Saralaya Sisters

Violin : Kalpana Kishore

Mrudangam : Anoor Vinod Shyam

Morsing : Lakshmi Nayarana

List :

01 shLOkam ( AchAryA pavanO) – nATa

namO namO raghukula nAyaka – nATa – Annamacharya ( S)

02 shObhillu saptaswara – jaganmOhini – Thyagaraja

03 eLA nI dayarADu – aThANa – Thyagaraja (O)

04 rAmachandram bhAvayAmi – vasanta – Dikshitar ( A,S)

05 bhAvayAmi raghurAmam  – rAgamAlika – Swathi Thirunal

06 rAma nAma bhajisita – hindOLam – Gopala Dasa

07 parama pAvana rAmA – pUrvikalyANi – Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar ( A,N,S,T)

neraval & swara @ ‘kanakAmbaradhara  karuNAnvita sura’

*I had to leave at this time

I had a bus to catch, travelling overnight. Planning to attend this was an after thought, to squeeze in an hour or two of listening, before rushing home and pack and leave. Inaugural concert of Sri Rama Seva Mandali ,Koramangala. I was pleasantly surprised to know that they have been conducting Ramanavami programs for the last 39 years.

Concert started 30 mins late, due to power unavailability. Every one including the artists waited patiently , entertaining ourselves with the game of ‘machar-catch’.  A sparce crowd at this time, but filled as the concert began.

I had to leave as young Vinod Shyam started his tani avartanam. Hence, this is an incomplete report and my opinion is based on what I heard, while there. Firstly, artists seems to have been finding it difficult with no feedback speakers. That would have impacted their overall performance.

I found most of the kritis were presented on a faster tempo. Speed in general was the essence. Even the short vasanta alapana was super fast. Having said that, the main pUrvikalyANi was presented very well. The alapana, kriti , neraval and Swara ( looked like they cut short a bit) were done in a pleasing manner. I am expecting that the remaining of they concert would have been just as great if not better.

Other trivial observation was the selection of tala. One could name this as a thematic ‘rUpaka tALa kacheri’. If I remember correct, 5 of the first 6 kritis were set to roopakam. So much so that i started searching for roopakam compositions in purvikalyani while the alapana was going on. I could have mistaken and I am open to corrections…

One takes from this concert was the new violinist on stage. I was given to understand that she has returned from US and this is her first concert in Bangalore since. She did a good job and some of her play during pUrvikalyANi were delectable.

I am listening to ‘Rama nAma bhajisita’ for the first time. I heard, Smt. Seethalakshmi Venkateshan has set this dasar pada ( Gopala Dasa) to tune. Similarly, the opening nATa kriti too was one that is not often heard.

Note: This is prepared and written using my handheld device. No proof read done. Many mistakes can be found. I will edit and correct those on my return.

 

Saralaya Sisters, Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira 04 Jan 2013

Vocal : Saralaya Sisters

Violin :  Mathur Srinidhi

Mrudangam : R S R Srikanth

Morsing : Pramad Kiran

List:

01  SLOkam ( achArya pavanO smAram? ) – chalanAtta

Ee nAdamulO ( varNam ) – chalanAtta – Balamuralikrishna

02  gajavadanA karuNA sadana – SrI ranjani – Papanasam Sivan ( S )

03  kshIrasAgara shayanA vakshasthala nivAsinIm – mAyAmALavagauLa – Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar ( N,S )

neraval & swara @ ‘ kumbha sambhava lOpAmudrArchana tOSinIm’

04  narasimha mAmava – Arabhi – Swathi Thirunal ( A )

05  chandra chUDa siva sankara pArvati – rAgamAlika – Purandara Dasa

06  raghupatE rAma rAkshasabhIma – sahAna – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

07  pAhiAm SrI rAjarAjESwari – janaranjani – Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer

08 RTP – shaNmukhapriya – khanDajAti triputa, tisra gathi)

pallavi line : ‘raghu vadana ni nagumukhamu jUpumA vEgamachi ??

rAgamAlika swaras in shaNmukhapriya, sAvEri, varALi and bEgaDa

08b  tani Avartanam

09 bhOgindra shAyinam – kuntaLa varALi – Swathi Thirunal

10 jagadOdhAraNa – kApi – Purandara Dsa

11 dAsana mAdikO enna – nAthanAmakriya – Purandara Dasa

12  sItA kalyANa – kurinji – Thyagaraja

13  thillAna ( dhIm na na na tillilAna) – brinDavani – Balamuralikrishna ?

14  maithreem bhajatha – yamunA kalyANi – Chandrasekhara sarasvathi

15  mangaLam – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

mangaLam kOsalEndra – madhyamAvathi

I haven’t attended their concert before. Being the first concert, I was impressed with their selection of kritis and the general presentation. The alapanas in general was ordinary, through the standard phrases and techniques, there was no innovation of something to make an impact. I am not saying their alapanas were bad, but there was no punch in neither Arabhi nor sahana. Shanmukhapriya was much better.

Concert had a lot of new or not regularly heard kritis. Started with the BMK varnam in chalanata, the Wodeyar’s composition in mayamalavagaula were new to me. The mayamalavagaula kriti especialy was sang very well. The neraval was good and so was the single speed kalpana swaras. Sahana was a disappointment, barring a short alapana from Srinidhi. A fast paced filler in janaranjani was brilliant with those takes at ‘pAhimAm’ were very appealing.

However, the main pallavi was conceived and delivered to perfection. Alapana , alternating between the vocalists were good, especially the second half. Tanam was very good. Pallavi set to khanda triputa in tisra gati was done with trikalam, with some good support by the percussion team. Ragamalika swarams were good too.

The main percussionist did a fairly decent job. He played with soft fingers and was following adequately ost of the times. Their tani avartanam was also decent, without any banging the poor instrument.

Post main had a long tail, with 3-4 kritis came in succession setting in ‘madhyama shruti’. In all a farily decent concert with a huge variety of talams ( I guess there were at least 3 set to khanda chapu) and good mix of composers.