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.

 

Sriranjani Santhanagopalan @ Ramaseva mandali 12th April 2016

Vocal : Sriranjani Santhanagopalan

Violin : Parur M S Ananthakrishnan

Mrudangam : Tumkur Ravishankar

Ghatam :  B R Ravikumar

List:

01 shLOkam ( apAra karuNA sindhO) – nAtakurinji

chalamElA jEsE (varNam) – nAtakurinji- Rangaswamy Nattuvanar

02 aparAdhamulanOrva – rasAli – Thyagaraja ( S )

03 rAga ratna mAlikacE – rItigauLa – Thyagaraja ( A,S )

04 annapUrNE vishAlAkSi – sAma – Dikshitar

05  rAmanukku mannan muDi – hindOLam – Arunachala Kavi

06 anjinkin yAtakayyA sajjanarigE – kalyANi – Purandara Dasa ( A,N,S,T)

neraval & swara @ ‘purandara viTTalana pUjeya ADuva – anjinkiyatakayya sajjanarigE ‘

07 viruttam ( nanmayum selvavum) – dEsh

rAma nAmamE tudi manamE – dEsh – Tanjavur Shankara Iyer

08 mangaLam – saurAStram – thyagaraja

shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya ) – surutti

One of the new rising stars of youngsters in the carnatic music arena. With a solid lineage, and an established credentials, the expectations were high. The concert scheduled between 7:30 – 9:30 was apt for us the working people to reach on time. New generation of Mysore Brothers ( sons of Nagaraj and Manjunath respectively) were performing as I entered the hall.

Sriranjani started at 7:30 settled into the rhythm with a few adjustments to the amplification, which continue to torment the artists as well as the listeners well into the concert. The frustration was visible in every ones face. Artists were asking the operators to stay out of the system and the audience constantly complaining about poor volume in the hall. Two ‘apprentices’ were fiddling with all possible knobs even when things were in control. They should do something about this immediately.

Brisk natakurinji varnam was followed by the rasali kriti. She sang some nice rounds of swaras at the end,  good stuff. Reetigaula alapana was very good, she could have wounded it up a minute of two early ( bit dragging towards the end).  Raga ratna malikace was sung well. But her kalpana swaras were exquisite. Very novel, very fresh approach. Impressive grouping of swaras in some brilliant patterns were awesome.

Two fillers that came in before main were dampeners. Some how, annapurne vishalakshi did not come out well ( to me). She stumbled a few times, her pAThAntaram( version) wasn’t very appealing. Probably some of the sangatis did not come out as good as they were intended. I could be biased against it, having listened a masterful rendition by KVN on Sunday, which included detailed alapana and neraval at pAyasanna’.  I might be judging her harsh. The hindolam too was feeble.

Kalyani alapana started off with some brilliant slow melodic phrases, which grew into some fast paced bhriga laden singing at middle and high octaves. She did a commendable job.  Looks like, Kalyani does not go well with many others as well ! There are constant exodus since she started her alapana. Personally, this is very disheartening to see. I am not advocating , they should have waited till tani avartanam :-).

Brave attempt to sing a Purandara Dasa kriti as main, that too one that is hardly heard. Nambi Kettavar and Kallu Sakkare are heard occasionally ( as the moderator during the speech mentioned), but this was awesome. She did a great job with it, which included some classy neraval as well as fitting swara prasthana.

Parur Ananthakrishnan did slip occassionally, but was living up to his families reputation. His reetigaula and kalyani alapana were competent. He played well for the intricate swara patterns she exhibited for reetigaula and kalyani. Tumkur Ravishankar ( continued from the previous concert – with a changed mrudangam) was in his elements. I always like his accompaniment. The duo, played out a decent tani avartanam. There was not enough time to do anything worthwhile post the main and felicitations. She concluded the concert with Tanjavur Shankara Iyer.

Very good concert amidst poor acoustics. Reetigaula swaras and the main kalyani kriti were the highlights of the evening.