2014 Jan 25 Hyderabad Brothers and Team @ yAMini, IIM Bangalore

A review will follow soon... Quick list is here.

01 chalame nattakuranji varna
02 teliya leru dhenuka 
03 kedaragaula abhayambikayaya
04 tarunam idamma gaulipantu
05 kalyani. ..eta vunnara tani
06 jalajanabha hari ranjani
07 matada baradeno kamas javali
08 mansa sancharare sama
09 sarvam brahmamayam Ahir bhairav
10 madhyamavati tune to indicate mangala

2014 Jan 25 Dr L Subramaniam , Ambi Subramaniam and Team @ yAmini, IIM Bangalore

The annual cultural affair of IIM Bangalore had a promising list of artists, of whom I planned to attend the first 2. 

The evening that was supposed to start at 6.00 as per the advertisement online, did not even give a hint of starting at 6.45. Many ontime rasikas were left drooling seeing the fuss of the main artists on the love for Base and reverb adjustments that consumed more time than the concert itself.

Violin Duet : Dr L Subramaniam, Ambi Subramaiam
Mridanga: Vid V V Ramana Murthy
Ghata: Vid Giridhar Udupa
Khanjira : Vid Sateesha Pathakota
Morsing: Vid Sateesh Sai

The evening started with a kalyANi varna that was improvised further and a kApi composition (?) with rAgamAlika swaras.

My efforts of annoying my people at home to attend a concert of an artist of this caliber was all went in drain !!.

Poor accompaniments.. they did not even get a chance for a tani.

For an artist who is in the music circle for such a long time, the amount of fuss only indicated that there is a long way to go in demonstrating the professional aspect of the art. No doubt about the mastery on the instrument, but listening to 45 mins of concert was not worth it.

However, whatever was performed was worth listening.

Indeed the whole evening affair was totally drained out by the poor audio system and ind adequately skilled sound engineers on the job. The grand old concert of the same duo that i heard at the Mysore Palace premises almost a decade ago was far more soothing than this one.

Organizers have a long way to go to claim this as their flagship cultural programme. The various advertisements contained various (conflicting) start time. I could overhear someone saying that it was at 7.00 pm as he read in the news paper. Upcoming management graduates cannot set this as an example in their professional career ! poor respect for time 

This leaves me with a question. Answers as comments to this post is welcome. Do we, as we grow, complicate and create a complex personality for ourselves ??

2014 Jan 19 Ranjani Gayathri Mattur Srinidhi KU Jayachandra Rao @ guDiya sambhrama, Bull Temple

Concert organised in first weekend of the 5 weekend long guDiya sambhrama in a serene ambience of open air auditorium right in front of Bull Temple gALi gOpura.

Vocal      : Vid(s) Ranjani and Gayathri

Violin     : Vid Mattur Srinidhi

Mridanga   : Vid K U Jayachandra Rao

01  himAdri sutE pAhimAm  kalyANi  rUpaka syAmA sAstri

02  bhOgIndra  shAyinam  kuntalavarALi  jhampa swAthiThirunAL

03 hamIr kalyANi AlApane followed by venkata shaila vihAra  hamirkalyANi  Adi subbaraya shastri

04  gOvardhana girIsham  hindOLa  rUpaka  m.dIkshitar

05 mAyAmAlavagauLa AlAPane followed by mEru samAna DhIra  mAyAmALavagouLa  madhyAdhi  thyAgarAja and tani

06 shrI rangapuravihAra  brindhAvana sArangA  rUpaA m.dikshitar

07 nIlagiri mama arasi mAnasam rAgamAlika Adi (khamAs, vasantha, AbhEri)

08 venkatAcala nilayam  sindhu bhairavi  Adi purandaradAsa

09 mAtA kALikA ( durga ?? composer??)

10 chalo mandira abhAng

11 nI nAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adhi thyAgarAja

The series is themed under parvata, and what more could I expect when the artists come on stage with a strong history of excelling in thematic concerts. They had done their homework. I was very sure that the concert is going to be a pure bhakti affair right in front of the temple.

When Ra Ga started  the concert with "kalyAni "that too "himAdrisutE pAhimAm" one had the feeling that have RaGa started following a trend that is being set now a days ? No except the unusual start with "himAdrisutE pAhimAm" which was apt for the theme of the festival.

The niraval line they selected was also  in  anupallavi "sumErumaddhya vAsini (amba) shrI kAmAkSI"  to coincide with the theme of the concert"parvatha"instead of normal charanam "shyama krishna sodari"

Brilliant kalyANi krithi with nereval and swara built the apt mood for the evening. Even the bystanding  bhaktas who had come for temple visit started pouring into the mats that was organised for rasikas to occupy in front of the stage. The bhakti bhAva was very evident from the very first krithi.

From misty himalayas they moved to kerala beach!!!yes maharaja swathi thirunal "kuntala varali" composition "bhOgIndra ShAyinam " on padmanabha swammi. Rasikas would wonder how this composition fits to "parvatha" theme",the charanam lines "mahEndra trikUTavara malayAcalEndra vinutam" which indicate" podigai malai "which was once the boundary of trivancore samasthanam would have prompted Ra Ga to select this krithi.

How one will leave our beloved "malayappa" or "venkatavan" lord of seven hills in a thematic concert on "parvatha"?the lord of seven hills was praised by so many composers from tyAgarAja, MD, aNNamayya, purandara dasa, alwars etc to 20th centurary rajaji, But RaGa selected majestic "venkata saila vihara" master piece of subbraya sastri in mesmarising "Hamir kalyani",the raga alapana was by Ra.

Another beauty of their presentation was this song was sung as a slow number, straight sahithyam with out niraval and swara.

Venkata giri to govardanagiri, hamir kalyani to hindolam, but this song "govardana girisham" will be remembered for the speedy swaras shared by Ra Ga and violinist. Violinist could have done a better job here.

Each song presented had the apt lenght and elaborations to meet the rasikAs heart.

I was wondering why mAyAmAlavagaula is still missing. The sisters had a better plan than me. The most popular mmg krithi mEru samAna was presented with the grandeur that it needed.  The main was "mEru samAna" of saint tyAgarAja where saint tyAgarAja compare sri.rama's parakrama to meru parvatha.

They concluded the concerts with their trade mark bajans on ma durga and abang.

Srinidhi on violin  could have been better considering his potential and KU Jayachandra Rao on mridangam was at his best to follow the artists path wherever they lead.

Post main composed of rasika request who forced the artists to dilute the theme. Gayatri submitted that prayers are more important than the theme itself.

They also presented a raga malika  poem in ragas khamAs,vasantha and Abheri specially composed for this series about  queen of hills "Nilagiri". However, they did not mention the name of the composer. Inputs welcome.

rasikAs applauded for every song that began as per their request.

It was a warm ending for a very chilly and windy evening on top of a small hill where the bull temple is situated.

Overall it was a brilliant concert with all aspects of music finding its right place.