Vishnudev Namboothiri @ Sri Yadugiri Yathiraja Mutt, 21 July 2018

Vocal : Vishnudev Namboothiri

Violin : B K Raghu

Mrudangam : B S Prashanth

List:

01 sarasUDA ( varNam ) – sAvEri – Adi – Kothavasal Venkataramana Iyer

02 telisirAma cintanatO – pUrNacandrika – Adi – Tyagaraja ( S )

03 ninna nODi dhanyanAdenO – tODi – Roopakam – Purandara Dasa ( A,N,S )

neraval & swaras @ dEsha dEsha tirugi nAnu Asha badhanAdE svAmi ‘

04 narasimha mAmava – Arabhi – Khanda Chap – Swathi Thirunal

05 venkaTa shailavihAra – hamIr kalyANi – Adi x 2 – Subbaraya Shasthri (  O )

06 kalayAmi hrdi nanda – kannaDa – Mishra Chap – Swathi Thirunal ( S )

07 shrI bhASyA kArasyatE – kApi – Khanda Chap – ??

08 mA jAnaki – kAmbOji – Adi – Tyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ rAjarAjavara rAjIvAkSa vinu’

09 gOvindA ninna nAmavE chanda – janasammOdini – Adi – Purandara Dasa

10 manda matiyu nAnu madana janakanu nAnu – durga – khanda chap – Purandara Dasa

11 mangaLam – saurAStram – Adi – Thyagaraja

What a stupendous concert. Pardon me is I use too many superlatives today.  Well, it was worth every words of it. The team today was brilliant. You may stop reading now 🙂

Reaching Malleswaram on a Saturday evening is a nightmare. The google map showed 1hr 18 mins and I thought I am going to miss the start. But, as it turned out, I reached before the main artist, who had a similar experience with the traffic. To attend this, I had to skip two of my favourite artists, performing at the nearby Belundur.

Concert started after the Swamiji of the Mutt, reached the venue and blessed the artists and the audience.  And credit to the organisers for having paid respect to the recently departed mrudangam maestro B K Chandramouli, before the concert. Swamiji, later in the evening spoke about Sri Chandramouli and their association at length.

Concert started with a brisk varnam and soon moved into poornachandrika. Some brilliant swaraprasthana at the end, gave an indication of what is going to come for the rest of the evening.  A fantastic thodi alapana came in soon. What a start, how beautifully he constructed and weaved the alapana with some mesmerizing phrases. Super class and one of the best I’ve heard in recent times. B K Raghu was equally fabulous in his turn, played many delectable phrases and added to the overall impact of the thODi hurricane. The kriti was even better. From the selection to the neraval and the two speed kalpana swaras were outstanding. I am very impressed with his diction, which seldom see in artists from Chennai when they sing Kannada Compositions. The thodi effect took a while to leave as he eased into an Arabhi and a very melodious hameerkalyani. Another couple of short pieces came in with kannaDa and kApi. Again, he sang some cracking swaras for kannada. The kApi kriti was on Ramanuja, which was apt for the place and occasion.

Kamboji affair was akin to the thODi one. Outstanding alapana from the main artist, equally measured and impactful approach from Raghu.  The power of the voice was at its best as he easily moved across the ‘sthAyi’s at will. The mandrasthayi long passages were a treasure in the beginning and the high octane output at the tArasthayi towards the middle phase were very appealing.  Superb alapana.  O rangashayi was ringing in my mind  ( Swamiji made a similar observation, later) but it was mA jAnaki. Again, no words to describe. He was in top form. The long neraval was superb. He was tracing many unknown paths, especially in the higher registers. I thought he even reached tArastAyi shaDjam at one place ( nishAdam for sure) in some of the breathtaking neraval phase. He continued on the same tempo with kalpana swaras, later switching back to the first ‘kAlam’ form some of the more intrinsic patterns. Outstanding.  Prashant had a field day. He is improving leaps and bounds every time I watch him play. Yesterday he played with a lot of elan, anticipated well, added to the overall effect of the concert. He also played a very commendable tani avartanam after the main.

Couple of devarnamas constituted the rest of the evening. Swamiji later blessed the artists with his knowledge and keen observations on the music. The supercharged atmosphere was visibly evident from the faces of the listeners and the artists. Audience thronged the artists to congratulate them. Brilliant musicians and an outstanding concert.

 

Vishnudev Namboothiri @ Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira, Banashankari, 01 Jan 2013

Vocal : Vishnudev Namboodiri

Violin : B Raghuram

Mrudangam : Cheluvaraj

List:

01  viribONi ( varNam) – bhairavi – Pachimirium Adiappa

02  pAlimparAvadELarA – Arabhi – Pallavi Sesha Iyer ( S )

03  parama purusham – laLitA panchamam – Swathi Thirunal ( S )

04  SrI rAmA saraswati – nAsAmaNi (nAsikAbhUshaNi) – Dikshitar ( A,S)

05  ranganAyakam – nAyaki – Dikshitar

06 nI chittamu nischalamu – dhanyAsi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘ guruvu chilla grija guruvE’

07  ashtapadi ( nAtha harE jagannAtha harE) – madhuvanti – Jayadeva

08  mandamatiyu nAnu – durga – Purandaradasa

09  jagadodhAraNa – kApi – Purandara Dasa

10  thillAna ( tom dhrudhru dhImta tadara ) – Sivaranjani – Maharajapuram Santhanam

11 mangaLam – saurAshtram/mdhyamAvathi – Thyagaraja

My wordpress account says I have attended only 32 concerts last year. Using our parlance, it is 8% lower than the previous year. One of my resolve this year is to make amends to that and go with the ‘industry growth targets’. That results in attending concerts from the day 1 of the new year.

Vishnudev Namboodiri rose to fame after winning the top spot in the 2012 Carnatic Idol telecasted by Jaya TV. I’ve heard a couple of his records and ther is no doubt about his talent and skills. I guess, this is his first concert after crowning the Carnatic Idol.

True to his reputation, he did present a god concert at Rama Lalita Kala mandira, making it a good beginning for the year. His choice of kritis were very intersting, his presentation of kritis were neat and appropriate. I would have preferred another alapana ( there were only two) and one more neraval for the day.

To me, the highlight of the day was the splendid Nasikabhushani alapana. Despite the continuous disturbances of the amplifier, he gave a brilliant alapana. Precise and clear in progression, impeccably developed alapana was a treat. The kriti was also pretty good.

Dhanyasi main was a plesant surprise. After the first phrase , giving the glimpse of Dhanyasi, the alapana drifted towards and unfamiliar zone for a short while. Some Punnagavarali-ish or Thodi-ish feel to my untrainsed ears. Luckily, it did not last too long, it came back to the groove and from then on it was a pretty nice alapana. Its a bold choice to take up ‘nI chittamu’ as main. Nedunuri’s and R K srikantan’s singing came to my mind. Vishnu, did a commendable job with the main. The neraval especially was very good. Kalpana swara singing had some interesting patterns ending the set of swaras with ‘pa, pa, pa’.  Cheluvaraj in his turn during tani avartanam, carried on with the same korvai (?), to some excellent effect.

While the concert from his side was good, the overall collective effort wasn’t all that impressive. Cheluvaraj was great in between, but most of the time he was too out of sync. Violin did not have a spirited response, while he was adequate. There is a lack of cohesiveness among the participants.

Post main was couple of devarnams’s of Purandara dasa and the misra sivaranjani thillana of Santhanam. Overall, it was a good concert and I wish the youngster all the very best; he has a bright future ahead.