Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar, Nadasurabhi , Heritage Academy Hall, 21 Jul 2013

Flute : Mala Chandrasekhar

Violin : Nalina Mohan

Mrudangam : Sankaranarayanan

Ghatam : Sukanya Ramgopal

List

01. varNam – kalyANi –   ??   ( I came in after this)

02. mahA gaNapatim – nAta – Dikshitar ( S )

03. padavini – sALagabhairavi – Thyagaraja

04. sankari samkuru chandramukhi – sAvEri – Shyama Sasthry ( A,N,S )

neraval & swara @’ shyAmakrishNa sOdari..”

05.  nATi mATa marachitivO – dEvakriya * – Thyagaraja

06.  SrI subramanyAya namastE – kAmbOji – Dikshitar ( A,S,T )

07.  enna tavam seythanai – kApi – Papanasam Sivan

08.  RTP – kalyANi , vasantha , bhairavi – chaturasra triputa x 2

pallavi line “dEvi pAhimAm nityakalyANi, vasantha bhairavi”

tanam and pallavi in kalyAni, vasantha and bhairavi

ragamalika swaras in kalyANi, vasantha, bhairavi , kalyANavasantham and vasantha bhairavi.

09.  katrinilE varum gItam – sindhubhairavi ? –  Kalki Krishnamurthy

10.  nAnEke baDavanO – behAg – Purandara Dasa

11.  thillAna – khamAs – ?

12. bhAgyAda lakshmi bAramma – madhyamAvathi – Purandara Dasa

13.  maithreem bhajatha – rAgamAlika –

14.  mangaLam – saurAshtram  & Sri

Extremely pleasing concert yet again by Mala Chandrasekhar yesterday at the Nadasurabhi. I reached as the varnam was concluded. I guess it was Kalyani, from what she mentioned before the pallavi. Very well planned and executed concert, with some classy rendering of Saveri and Kamboji and to add to that a well crafted intelligently executed pallavi in three ragas.

The evening started for me with the Nata kriti, concluding with some nice set of swaras. She played a quick ‘padavini’ before launching a short nice alapana in Saveri. Shyama Sastry’s kriti was sung amidst some brilliant accompaniment. I especially liked the way Nalina Mohan played the neraval and kalpana swaras for Saveri.

Before the main, there was a quick filler of ‘nATi mATi’ in dEvakriya. Mala announced the kriti and said ‘kalAnidhi’ as the rAgam. I’m pretty sure she played nAti mAti ( in dEvakriya) and not ‘chinna nADEna’ in kalanidhi. I guess, it was a slip of tongue on her side.

Kamboji alapana was grand from her with an even better return play by Nalina Mohan. Sri Subramanyaya Namaste was classy affair. The kriti and the elaborated kalpana swaras that followed was fabulous. Percussion support was very good through out. Sankaranarayanan, I am seeing for the first time, did more than enough to lift the overall effectiveness of the concert. The duo continued with a spirited tani avartanam with some interesting pass of handle ( similar to what we see in panchavadyam) during the final phases. It could have been a bit shorter, though.

There was a request for a pallavi during the felicitation, which she obliged. Pallavi was intelligently crafted in three ragas. The alapana was very nice, especially the smooth transition from kalyani to vasantha and vasantha to bhairavi ( to a lesser effect by Nalina). The tanam and pallavi  ( singing in the same ragam as the line carry) was in all the three ragams which included trikalam. kalpana swaras was cleverly ( though predictable) in kalnai, vasantha, bhairavi, kalyana vasantham and vasantha bhairavi.

Post pallavi thukkadasa included a devarnama, bhagyada lakshmi, a thillana in khamas and maithreem bhajata done amicably. In all, a well balanced, complete in all aspect, highly satisfying concert which lasted nearly 3hr 30 minutes.

 

Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar @ Indiranagar Sangeetha Sabha, Annual Music & Dance Festival 10 Feb, 2013

Flute : Sikil Mala Chandrasekhar

Violin : Mysore Srikanth

Mrudangam : Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma

Ghatam : Ranganatha chakravarthy

List :

01 SLOkam ( vakratuNDa mahakaya)

sAmidaya jUDa (varNam) – kEdAragauLa – Thiruvottiyur Thyagayya

02  sidhi vinAyakam – mOhanakalyANi – Muthaiah Bhagavathar ( A,S )

03  marivErE gati – Anandabhairavi – Shyama Sasthry

04  rAma rAma rAma rAma, rAma ennirO – vasantha – Purandara Dasa ( S )

05  ranga pura vihAra – brindAvani – Dikshitar ( A,S )

06  bhAgAyanayya – chandra jyOthi – Thyagaraja

07 eDutA nilachitE – SankarAbharaNam – Thyagaraja  ( A,S,T )

08  jagadhOdhAraNa – kApi – Purandara Dasa

09 bhAvayAmi gOpAlabAlam – yamunA kalyANi – Annamacharya

10 tambUri mITi tava – sindhu bhairavi – Purandara Dasa

11  rAmam bhajE – durga – Swami Dayananda Saraswathi

12 bhAgyAda lakshmi bAramma – madhyamAvathi – Purandara Dasa

13  maitrIm bhajada – rAgamalika- Chandrasekhara Saraswathi

14 mangaLam – saurAshtram/SrI – Thyagaraja

“We are sold out”, said the organiser at the Ranjani Fine Arts concert. for once, I could not believe my ears, did he say we are sold out, as is the case of the new anticipated, to be block buster movie. Yes Sir, all the passes are already taken, and you may wait for a while, and see if any one has not claimed their tickets or occupied the seat. I observed very few ‘green cards’ on the table and decided to move from there. Ranjani ( the Sabha) couldn’t help Gayathri to listen to Ranjani-Gayathri concert.

Slightly disappointed, we were contemplating other options, Gayathri wanted to attend Sudha Raghunathan at Gayana Samaja. Driving towards that part of the town, I saw the message from Gayana Smaja. It said the hall was full by 4:45pm for the 6:00pm concert. For the third time, I had to change directions, and decided to give it a shot at the Indiranagar Sabha again. The previous day, the hall wsn’t crowded for Hyderabad Brothers concert.

I hadn’t listen to Mala Chandrasekhar, and instrument music isn’t my best choice. But, yesterday all that was forgotten. It was like boon in disguise. All the driving around and finally settling in at the Purandara Bhavan, possibly the best decision we’ve made. She was brilliant and presented a stupendous concert. Seldom we find the cohesiveness of all the participants in a concert and yesterday was one such concert. One should give special thanks to Sri Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma, for the way he supported the main artist. He had an outstanding day yesterday.

On her part Smt Mala Chandrsekhar, superbly played the instrument and presented every part of the concert with such a vigour. Her alapana of brindavani was classy , the short mohnakalyani was very good and the main Sankarabharanam was in all grandeur. What I liked the most was the swara singing especially for mohanakalyani, vasantha and brindavani.  Her selection of ragas for the evening, those she planned to do detailing, the measure of each kritis were very good. The mellifluous sound waves that came through the instrument with such a clarity in all octaves. The chain of beautiful songs she played post the main were equally good.

As said earlier, the accompaniment made the day special. Be it Mysore Srikanth , with a great brindavani, or Sri Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma , whose style of playing is always attractive to me, or the ghatam, playing a great tani avartanam with the main percussionist, all of them played to the occasion making it a wholesome concert. I don’t regret not attending the intended concert.