Vocal: Vid. Mahati
Violin: Vid. CharulataRamanujam
Mridanga: Vid. Prashanth BS
Khanjari: Vid. Anil Parashara
Ocassion: 25th Ramanavami Music and Dance Festival @ Vani School, Basaveshwara Nagar, Bangalore
01 mAte malaya daru varNa khamAs muttiah bhagavatar (O)
02-ninnE bhajana sEyu vADanu-nATa-Adi tyAgarAja (CS, S)
Swara @ sItA
Swara @ sItA
03 endarO mahAnubhAvulu andarIki vandanamu shrI tyAgarAja
04 Adaddella oLite Aayitu pUrvikalyANi Adi p.dAsa ( A S )
Swara @ AdaddellA oLitE Ayitu
Swara @ AdaddellA oLitE Ayitu
05-sItamma mAyamma shrI-vasanta-rUpaka tyAgarAja ( N S )
Nereval @ dharaNija bhAgavatAgre
Nereval @ dharaNija bhAgavatAgre
06-kaddnu vAriki kaddukaddani-tODi-Adi thyAgarAja (A, N, S, T)
Nereval @ baddu tappaka bhajiyincE
07 bArO krishNayya mAND Adhi kanaka dhAsa (O)
08 pavanaja stuti pAtra kuranji KhaNda Chapu thyAgarAja
09 shlOka rAgamALika
shAntAkAram bhujaga shayanam. . ShanmukapriyA
Vishwadharam gagana. .valaji
Lakshmi kAntam. ..SAranga
Vande vishnum. .. Sindhubhairavi followed by
10 tillAna sindhubhairavi Adi OVK
11 nInAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adhi thyAgarAja
Vid. Mahati started with the famous daru varNa of Mutthiah Bhagavathar in khamAs. This composition is rarely treated as an opening varNam; past masters like the late KVN invariably sang this as the 3rd or 4th piece in a concert. However, it was a refreshing change to see this first up and it set a brisk pace to the whole concert.
She then followed it up with the not so frequently sung ninnE bhajana of tyAgarAjaswAmi in nATa, with a sprightly chiTTaswarA passage and some rounds of kalpanA swarAs.
It has been a while since I heard one of the pancharatna kritis in a concert, and a rendition of endarO mahAnubhAvulu sans any kalpanA elements was very welcome.
The first major AlApanE of the day followed that in the shape of pUrvikalyANI. It was unambiguous pUrvikalyANI with no hidden shades of pantuvarALI. A purandaradAsA composition that I had not heard before was presented. In its musical setting, it was more like a bhajana sampradAyA composition. In fact, it reminded me very much of a bhadrAchala rAmadasa composition (iDigO bhadrAdrI in varALI) that Sri Balamuralikrishna has rendered. KalpanA swarAs were rendered for the Pallavi, but the structuring of the landing left something to be desired - the attempted poruttams did not flow seamlessly to the eDuppu.
sItamma mAyammA was rendered next - I found it a bit odd to heard vasantA immediately following pUrvikalyANI. Neraval and swarAs were rendered for dharaNija bhAgavatAgrE.
tODI was taken up for the main of the day. An elaborate edifice of tODI was built, with some interesting grahabhEda to mOhanakalyANI - CR in her response played mOhana in grahabhEda. The way the AlApanE was moving had me guessing it was going to be kaddanU vAriki; that proved right, but I was pleasantly surprised when she skipped neraval at the usual nIdurA nirAkarinchi and chose the next like paddU tappaka instead for elaboration.
Tani by the young percussionist was just apt.
An outline of mAnD preceded bArO krishNayya, and the kalayaNa utsava song sItA kalyANa vAIbhOgamE followed that.
A quickly rendered sloka in ragamAlika was rendered before OVK's Sindhu bhAIravI thillAnA. The younger generation of artistes need to be encouraged to spend more time on slokas / viruttam / ugAbhOgA - most treat this as a checkbox to be ticked and not exploit the musical potential of these pieces.
Overall, I would say it was a good concert, but it was missing some X factor that takes it beyond the pale of the ordinary.
CR as usual was impeccable in her ability to shadow the main artiste; she is really an asset to any main performer.
How was the concert?
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