2016 Jul 16 RamakrishnanMurthy HKVenkatram AVAnand Phandindra Bhaskara @ PAC, Our School

Vocal: Vid. RamakrishnanMurthy 

Violin: Vid. HKVenkatram

Mridanga: Vid. A V Anand

Ghata: Vid. Phandindra Bhaskara

Occasion: Thaalavaadyotsava, Percussive Arts Centre, 

Venue: Srividya sabhangana, Our School

01 nera nammithinayya VarNa kAnaDa k aTa pUchi shrInivAsa iyengAr

02 vAtApi gaNapatim bhajEham hamsadhvani Adi m.dIkshitar (S)

Swara @ vAtApi gaNapathim 

03 ShObillu saptaswara jaganmOhini rUpaka thyAgarAja (A, CS, S)

04 marivEre gati evarammA mahilO nannu brOcuTaku Anandabhairavi CApu syAma sAstri (A)

Started from anupallavi 

05 padavinI sadbhaktiyu galguTe sAlagabhairavi Adhi thyAgarAja

06 O rangashAyI  kAmbOdhi Adhi thyAgarAja (A, N, S, T)

Nerval @ mutyAla sahurula

07 vinAyakuni valenu brOvavE madhyamAvati Adi tyAgarAja

Started from anupallavi 

08 rAgamALike viruttum followed by 

jagadOddhArana kApi Adhi Purandara dhAsa

09 rAmachandrAya janaka mangaLam navrOj bhadrAcala rAmadas

While the concert was organized at a venue that is a stone's throw away from my house, perhaps it is my home ground like what Wankhede is to Sachin Tendulkar. I was fortunately pretty early to the concert to attend an ongoing Special Thani Avartanam - Dandamudi Sumathi Rammohana Rao 

It was followed by an another erudite "Anandalaya" lecture demonstration Vid. K Arun Prakash. It was so technically intensive; I could hardly appreciate with my novice understanding of laya. However, an interesting outcome was a small quiz question at the end of the demo, though I did not answer it loudly, I was almost correct. I could recognize the 4 akshara eDupu, albeit he wanted a complete answer of Tisra Nadai, 4 akhsara eDupu. 45 mins of lec dem was too short for all the information he had to share for us. May be that’s for another sunny day.

Minutes later the concert team billed for the evening occupied the stage with a special welcome to Vid. AV Anand who was delivering his 80th birthday concert. More about that later.

With a minimal setup (courtesy simple sound system and professionals manning the equipment) the artists were all set to deliver a stellar concert of the evening. I had a concert friend VS who had accompanied me to listen in spite of all the other engagements (that were kept aside for a few hours) made it all the more an interesting evening, which gave opportunity to exchange immediate views on performance we heard.

The first 2 songs were fairly aligned to the text book format. Nothing exceptional except the "shruti shuddate" demonstrated in the 2nd speed rendition of the Varna.

Customary 3rd song AlApane was a clean start with the distinct rAga swarUpa of jaganmOhini, reminding the way MS started her AlApane with a straight rAga chAya delineation in max 10 seconds to reach a perfect 10. I bet nobody expected an AlApane for jaganmOhini as now a day it’s hardly sung on the stage, even though rendered - only as a filler. An additional embellishment with kalpana swarAs added scholarly touch to the whole presentation. Vid HK Venkatram who had the opportunity to conclude replicating the last set of swarAs replicated vocalist manOdharma to the dot. Quite some goosebumps all around.

Without wasting time on the next filler, Vid. Ramakrishnan Murthy dwelled into a fairly elaborate pristine Anandabhairavi (did not allow my mind to think of rItigaula / any other similar ones), the ShyAmA shAstri's masterpiece was my guess in the making. Taking off from anupallavi, the vilambakAla krithi "marivere" was presented in apt tempo. There was no sense of hurriedness / drowsiness.

SAlagabharivai krithi was a filler, yet presented slower than the current generation shatabdi express deliveries heard commonly.

The next kAMbOdhi had an elaborate AlApane stretching into breadth and depths of the rAga. Though I’m not a fan of kAMbOdhi, he made me swing my head to the melodious presentation. I guessed it could be a tyAgarAja masterpiece (don't know why, but it turned out so). Gradual progressive sangati of "O ranga sAyi" was sufficient enough for the prayers to reach the lotus feet of the lord at "Devagiri Varaprada Venkateshwara Temple" which is situated across the road by 300 mts.

Open throated singing throughout the concert, his voice held well to dwell into detailed neraval. The neraval was very good with one exceptional Mega surprise at unique place " mAtula sahurula", yet brought out same grandeur as it would have at "bhUlOka vaikunta". A special Tani, longest piece of the day that followed was also to celebrate the virtuosity of the Octogenarian Master. Phanindra Bhaskar was the "non striker" end all through the concert, paving way for the mridangist to set the first imprint of laya throughout the concert.

Vinayakuni was yet another song started from anupallavi- presented as the organizer persuaded for a longer concert in spite of a train to catch.

The rAgamALika viruttam was very good with the last of them being kApi, paved way for a shorter presentation of "JagadOdhArana". It was presented leisurely though.

Violinist HK Venkatram played well throughout, the rAga AlApane of jaganmOhini, Anandabhairavi and kAMbOdhi were the highlights, bringing all the sowkhya.

2 manOdharma I experienced for the first time were the take away from the evening.

It was an evening to remember, just for the pristine music from all the artists.

2016 Jul 01 GayathriGirish NalinaMohan BSPrashanth VSRamesh @ Bangalore Lalita Kala Parishat

Vocal: Vid. GayathriGirish 
Violin: Vid. NalinaMohan 
Mridanga: Vid. BSPrashanth 
Morsing: Vid. VSRamesh 

Prog No 878
Bangalore Lalita Kala Parishat / National College Jayanagar

01 Sri mahAgaNapathiravatumAm gaULa misra cApu muttuswAmi Dixitar (S)

02 rA rA mA intiki dhAka asAvEri Adhi thyAgarAja

03 vAnchathOnu nA vagalu dhelpave karNaranjani Adhi muttaiah bhAgavathar (A, CS)

04 sadA shivEna shankarENa sindhuramakriya m.dikshitar 

05 enduku peddalavale buddhi shankarAbharaNam Adi tyAgarAja (A, N, S, T)
nereval @ vEdashAstra purANa

06 RTP dhanyAsi tiSra tripuTa khaNDa naDai edupu 1 akshara after samam
Pallavi Line : dhanyAsi shiva jaTa madhyaye gange tunga tarange
Ragamalika in nATTakuranji, hEmavati

07 sadhA enna hrudhayadhalli bEhAg rUpaka vijayaviTTala dhAsa (O)

08 shrI venkata girIsham AlOkayE surati Adhi mutthuswAmy dhIkshithar

09 shiva panchAksari mantra (nAgEndra hArAya) rAgamAlika Adi Shankara

10 nI nAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adhi thyAgarAja

Having experience of previous concert being washed out, I started off early from office to be at the venue on time. Though the stage was ready and the artists too were raring to go, the audience were still pouring in.

Vid. Gayathri warmed up the evening directly with an invocation through gaULa kriti. Since there was no varNa, i was expecting swara prastara on this, which happened as expected.

The asAvEri piece was a straight forward filler which was presented at apt kAlapramANa 

A short sketch of karNaranjani was good and the kriti was rendered well. There were no further embellishments other than the original chitta swaras.

Vid. Gayathri has presented many lecture demonstrations and her repertoire on rare krithis is well appreciated . Today she took up a sindhu rAmakriya composition of muttuswAmi dIkshitar where she demonstrated the rAga mUrchana before dwelling in a sedate presentation of the krithi. The krithi was beautiful, there were no frills attached to it.

The first long AlApane was nice and done leisurely in shankarAbharaNa. The sedate AlApane was followed with a beautiful rendition of the kriti enduku peddala with neraval and swaras at 'vEdashAstra purANa. The sama kAla neraval part was rendered very well. Percussion duo  who had been hitherto rendering perfect accompaniments, explored their potential in a not so long tani. It was ended with full rendition of second chanraNa. The tani they shared was nice and the last kOrvai was strikingly fitting to the starting of the line in which neraval and swaras were sung.

Without a filler , she announced that she would be presenting a RTP in dhanyAsi. The rAga AlApane traversed the crests and trough of the rAga to bring out the essence. With an eDupu of 1 akshara, the presentation of pallavi went on in quick succession of sAhitya elaboration and rAgamALika in nATTakuranji and hEmavati. An interesting aspect of rAgamAlika was after the violin returns on nATTakuranji, she once again started dhanyAsi, nAttakurani and went on into hEmavati, which was once again returned on violin. All in all it was a soothing presentation at an apt speed.

With a surUTi short sketch, a nice rendition of the kriti sRi venkata gIrisham AlOkaye... was the lead composition amongst the bEhAg, rAgamAlike shloka and mangala.

Vid Gayathri Girish gave a brief and a memorable concert. Her AlApane (though only 3 ) were good and showed essential phrases to show the rAga bhava. It was nice to hear a heavy ragas handled at ease interspersed with simpler renditions. It was also apt choice of m.bhAgavatar's krithi as a mark of respect around his remembrance day (Jun 30). Her kriti renditions were aptly pced and did not show a sign of hurriedness. The sangatis fell in place with the correct gamakas and brigas. Tutled by Vid. TNS, she showed her own singing style which dd not have an evident trace to one school. The neraval and swaras were in right proportions.

Vid Nalina Mohan, was matching to the level of the Vocalist all through. She was a replacement artist to originally billed BK Raghu, did not disappoint to what rasikas expected. 

Percussion duo BSPRashanth and VSRamesh did a good in job in accompanying the concert. Following all the pieces and played sahitya according to the mood of the concert was very evident. They played for all the sangatis enhancing the spirits of the rest of the artists. 

The concert went on without a hitch on the part of the sound system. I had a word of praise to the sound engineer Mr. Keshava Murthy who was too humble to accept his contribution. Though the concert was not that well publicized by the sabha, the audience strength was comparable to the previous concert that I attended here 2 weeks ago.

It was a memorable evening indeed.