Vocal: Vid. Dr.BabySreeram
Violin: Vid. Dr Chertalai Sindhu Dileep
Mridanga: Vid. K U Jayachandra Rao
Ghata: Vid. Omkar G Rao
Venue: Bangalore Gayana Samaja
Occasion: Monthly Concert Series
01 vIribONi varNa bhairavi khaNDa aTa pachchimiriam Adiappayya (O, CS)
02 shri mahA gaNapathE abhOgi k ChApu NS rAmachandhran (O, S)
swara @ tAmarasa dalanEtre
03 nidhi chAla sukhamA kalyANi chApu thyAgarAja ( A, N, S)
Nereval and swara @ sumati tyAgarAjunutuni kIrtana sukhama
04 dayalEni bradukEmi nAyaki Jhampa tyAgarAja (O)
05 enniDam irangiDalAgAdO valaji Adi Dr.GBabySreeram (O, CS)
06 Emani migula varNinthu thOdi Adhi shyAmA shAsthry (A, N, S, T)
nereval and swara @ sAramati nannu daya tOru
07 krishnA nI begane bAro yamuna kalyANi vyAsarAya
08 tillAna Ahir bhairav Adi Dr. GBabySreeram
In a casual discussion, when my music friends indicated that its Dr Baby Sreeram peforming at Gayana Samaja, I cancelled all my plans for the evening and rushed to the venue. I had heard her before at RLKM almost 18 months back and was thoroughly impressed by her vidwat.
The concert opened with all time hit varna viribOni. Vocalist added additional energy into it when she started singing the manodharma chitta swaras at the end of composed swaras. The violin returns were exact imprint of the vocalist. A fast-paced rendition to welcome the Lords above. Indeed, it was well responded by them as there was a brisk 10 minutes rain as an applause from the heaven above. As I mentioned earlier, " when the Gods stop doing their work !!", they were swayed by the class of the concert, and stopped to listen to it with pin drop silence.
A brief outline to ABhOgi, the vocalist dwelled into swaras of srI mahAgaNapate. It was an apt rendition for the evening deviating from the regular hamsadhwani / gaula to invoke lord Ganapathi. Excellent chemistry was demonstrated by the accompanying artists on Violin, Mridanga and ghata. There were many shabhash moments on stage while they complimented each other.
The sub main piece of the concert was all time KalyAni hit of st tyAgarAja nidhi cAla sukhama. Nereval and swaras were demonstrated with utmost ease and tranquility that the song deserved.
I doubt was it an indirect hint to the organisers who meted out a very poor treatment to the whole program. I could easily take a headcount the audience, while those who made it were those who were updated through word of mouth. I wish to say, Organisers need to use technology to reach out to masses to ensure the hall has a respectable attenandance and respect the vidwat and hard work put in by the artists. Sorry to say Bangalore Gayana Samaja is generations behind the rest. Please wake up !! Your approach is not only doing injustice to the institution, but also to the world of carnatic music.
After a brief filler in nAyaki, Vocalist performed her own composition in valaji. It must be appreciated, that the artist not only has a large repertoire of compositions from the yesteryear masters, she is also a vAggEyakAra in her own right and is using every concert platform to present her compositions. Very rare we get to hear the compositions from its composers.
tOdi, the main rAga for the evening was dealt in complete. The very first opening note was a deviation from the standard takeoff and the whole AlApane came out as completely new. The adage "tOdi eshtu tOdidarU sAladu" became a reality.
The percussion duet that followed the nereval and pretty new phrases for muktAyi, was unbelievably riveting and was worth a standing applause from the audience. The ghata artist matched mridangist in every beat with great ease.
The concluding pieces included a shlOka followed by krishnA nI bEgane bAro and her own tillana composition in Ahir bhairav.
As the evening drifted into silence after a full 3 hour concert, the tunes of the evening are still reverberating. The fortunate ones were present to have an experience of bliss. Hope the organisers do a better job of publicising and using technology to reach out so that the next such monthly concert would have a respectable audience.
