2016 Jun 08 RamakrishnanMurthy HKVenkatram ArjunKumar Guruprasanna @ NCJ

Vocal: Vid. RamakrishnanMurthy

Violin: Vid. HKVenkatram

Mridanga: Vid. ArjunKumar

Khanjira: Vid. Guruprasanna

Venue: Bangalore Lalitakala Parishat @ National College Jayanagar

Occasion: 876th program / H Narasimhaiah memorial cultural festival

01 shlOka sadguru gajAsya vAni in kalyANi followed by

EtA vuanrA nilakaDa nIku kalyANi Adi tyAgarAja (S)

Swara @ eta vunnAra

02 sAmaja vara gamana hindhOLa Adhi thyAgarAja (A,N, S)

Nereval @ yAdava kula muraLi

03 vazhi maraiththu nATakuranji CApu gOpAlakriShNa bhArathi

04 gItArthamu sangItAnandamu nI tAvuna jUDarA surUTi dEshAdi tyAgarAja (A, N, S, T)

Nereval @ vAtAtmajuniki

05 rAgamAlika shlOka (shrutvA guNAn)

repeated in Bilahari, VarALi, kEdAragauLa, darbAri kAnaDa

06 gOvardhana giridhara darbArikAnaDa nArAyaNatIrtar tarangam

07 dharmashravaNa vidEtake durgA Adi p.dAsa

08 dhirana tana dhImta TILLANA junjhUTi vIna seshaNNa

09 rAmachandrAya janaka mangaLam kuranji bhadrAcala rAmadas and mangaLam kOsalEndrAya in madhyamAvati.

The onset of monsoon was around the corner when I received the invite to this concert through snail mail, and I had the worst fears in my mind, both of which came true. Poor publicity to the program and a possible evening rain in Bengaluru to play spoilsport even on the genuine Rasika who want to be there at the venue to listen to the concert.

It was 18.10 when I reached the venue, to be the second audience to enter into the hall. The rain had already created havoc from 16.30 and I had taken sufficient precautions to reach dry at the venue. I could hear the tambUri being tuned in the green room and spotted worried organizers of a possible poor turnout due to rains. The 2 successive evenings before had good turnout due to dry evening weather.

(Pic: Weather on my way back from office !!)

The concert started almost 15 mins late, as probably the organizers wanted a respectable size of the audience to assemble. The delayed start was further delayed by a detailed and anecdotal introduction by Sabha President.

But as fortune favours the brave, there was a warm soothing treat waiting for the ones who dared the odds. What followed for next 2 hours was a feast of pristine classical music. It was music for the sake of purists, without gimmickry, devout and soulful throughout the stretch of the concert.

With a good rendition of shlOka (sadguru gajAsya vAni in kalyANi) Ramakrishnan Murthy and team quickly jumped into Eta vunnAra. A detailed presentation of swaras ensured complete justice to the delayed start. The varNa was a welcome skip as he could do justice here.

hindOla that followed was elaborated very well and carefully. It was the need of the hour. After rains, Bengaluru had almost turned Ooty cold. The presentation brought in warmth amidst the cold breeze drifting across the auditorium as the doors were kept wide open. Apt to its association with feeling of swinging outdoor uyyAle bedecked with freshness and colours of flowers, Ramakrishna Murthy and H K Venkatram brought out various hues of the rAga during  nereval and swaras at 'yAdava kula muraLi'. The swara korappu in 4th speed by both of them left butterflies in the stomach.

There were no embellishments to nAttakuranji krithi, but the very kAlaparamANa at which it was rendered was apt and mellifluous. The song from Nandan charitram, Nandan rues his fortune of not able to have the darshan of lord from outside the temple as nandi is right blocking his darshan view. The bhakti bhAva was well articulated.

The main for the evening, surUTi AlApane was embellished with a lot of innovation and the kAlapramANa in which he rendered it in a slow tempo was very good. It took a few phrases of surUTi to bring out the picture of surUTi and after that ideas came in like a whirlwind and bang!! It was gone too. I was left with wanting for more at the end of 9 minutes of blissful surUTi.

With choices between tyAgarAja and dIkshitar, it was tyAgarAja who continued to rule the roost for the evening with gItArthamu kriti. The AlApane, neraval, and swaras were done true to textbook prayOga and carefully showing the quintessential pa ma ri s prayOga of surUTi time and again and last few halting on ma alone. It was nicely rendered with neraval and swara at 'vAtAtmajuniki'. With a lot of vintage sanchAra and swara patterns, the long kOrvai was quite different from the regular one added to final finishing touches as the concert drifted into a rather melodious tani.

'sowkhya' - describes the percussion team for the evening. I was wondering the sparse audience in the hall would add to amplified effect of a usually high-decibel tani. But this was an exception on the pleasant side. I have heard several live concerts of this team before but, never have I come out with this feeling of sowkhya ushered in by the same percussion duo. Both being seated across the vocalist, they enjoyed themselves with many mutual applauses "bhale bhale". They did not resort to loud banging the drum to produce more noise than music. The Audience would have thumbed it down. It was plain and simple, enriched the music that was being presented.

The concert concluded with 4 short pieces as listed.

HK Venkatram played to his potential in the solo versions of the rAgas and swaras. Having played to veterans like Semmangudi, he timed his AlApane to be brief but, captured the essence of the raga in them.

Ramakrishnan Murthy with an ideal team of accompanists, presented a nectar concert to remember for the fortunate audience who assembled. He was in best of his form, so were the accompanists who were all charged up, fed back to the main artiste went into a spiral and as a team, they delivered the best. The end result was rich and complete music. Thanks to Karnataka Lalita Kala Parishat for organising this team to perform. After listening to such performances, one is happy for our spiritual forutunes for bestowing us an ear for music and ability to take time out from our hectic vocational obligations.

PS:
I'm flabbergasted by the quality of the simple and vintage sound system at the hall. It has reproduced glitch free audio all through, as against complicated sound systems that had their own woes during Ramanavami season !!

2016 June 5 Mysore Nagaraj, Mysore Manjunath., KUJayachandraRao, Giridhar Udupa, PramathKiran, ArunKumar @ kalArNava

Violin: Vid. Mysore Nagaraj, Dr. Mysore Manjunath
Mridanga: Vid. KUJayachandraRao
Ghata: Vid. Giridhar Udupa
Congo: Vid. PramathKiran
Drums: Vid. ArunKumar

Ocassion: Kalarnava 2016
Venue: Dayanadasagar Auditorium. Bangalore

01. Drum Ensemble

02. AkhilAndEshwari dwijAvani m.dIkshitar

03 . RTP Shanmukhapriya , Tani

2016 rAmanavami Season Review

Here is a take representing the best of best of the concerts that I attended during rAmanavami 2016 :

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Being one of the busiest for me (I could cover around 25 concerts in 30 days - 20 odd posts [few combined] and 5400 visits to my page), I had to take a break from both music and work to return to my regular schedule. Hence you see a long break from my previous post to update the whole season experience.

The best part of the season in Bangalore in contrast to Margazhi is that all the concerts are held in evening, barring the budding artists who occupy the first evening slots early. Inspite of early office schedule, I have foregone the whole junior artist concerts and their reviews. That is a great miss as SRSM this year conducted RTP concerts as a competition for the title "pratibhAkAnkshi". Attending them would have helped me add new artists to my "To Attend" list for future.

Soaring heat during the day time ensured smooth traffic as people sought shelter to roads and did drain my energy too. It was for the first time in these many years of listening, I started carrying water to the hall instead of wincheater / rain coat! 

With many artists on my list clashing on few days, I had to make a tough choice to cover the concerts in atleast 1 sabha during the season. 

I regret missing Malladi @ Vani School, MS Sheela @ Vani School, Saketaraman @ SRSM, Mysore Brothers @ SRSM and Aruna Sairam @ SRSM.

Disclaimer.

This is a ranking of my experience. The categories listed well before the season, and few added on the go during the season, considering the charm out of the performance. I may have certainly missed a better one for the very reason of being possible to attend at one place.

Others can pitch in with their attendance / experience. 

Particular Concert (= Man of the Match)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Best Vocal (solo / duet): 

Vijay Siva @ SRSM

TMKrishna @ SRSM

Malladi @ Seshadripuram

Best violin accompaniment: 

Charumathi Raghuraman for Vijay Siva

HK Venkatram for TMK @SRSM

Best Mridanga accompaniment : 

K U Jayachandra Rao -(ChitavINa ravikiran @ Vani School)

R shankranarayanan ( K-JK @ Vani School)

Best Upa pakkavadya accompaniment : 

Giridhar Udupa - with Sowmya

S Krishna - with Vijay Shiva

Whole Season (Player of the Series)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Best violin accompaniment : Charulatha Ramanujam

Best Mridanga accompaniment : K U Jayachandra Rao

Best Upa pakkavadya accompaniment : Giridhar Udupa

Best Songs of the Concerts

Best opening

Best opening piece: TMK tODI (ShrI kriShNam bhaja mAnasa)

Best Sub Main

Sanjay - kArubAru (mukhari) @ SRSM

Malladi Brothers - nI maDi challaga ( Anandabhairavi)  @ sEshAdripuram

Best main 

?? - tough choice

Most intricate pallavi / Tala

Vijay Siva (7*7 - there were plenty of 8*5s)

Neraval is really tough! 

A tie between 

Aragimpave (Malladi @ Seshadripuram ) with 

mANikya makuTa hAra valaya dhara (VS @ SRSM)

Best non rAma main song

Vijay Shiva with best non Rama main

Best stand alone item: 

Bhairavi swarajathi  (TMK @ SRSM)

Best short AlApanE: 

nAyakI  (Sowmya @ SRSM)

Best violin response to an AlApane : 

Gaula by HK Venkatram (TMK @ SRSM)

Best mELakarta of the season

Quite difficult to zero on one,  many familiar and repeats.. diluted this category

Surprising mELakarta of the season

None worth the mention, many familiar and repeats..

Best each grama janya rendition

A test for myself.. I have not yet put a thought about it

Best Swaras 

nATTakuranji RTP JK @ Vani School 

kharaharapriya ( Nagavalli Nagaraj - Vani shcool)

Best tani

K U Jayachandra Rao  / N Amruth - wtih ChitavINa ravikiran @ Vani School

R shankranarayana / Giridhar Udupa ( K-JK @ Vani School)

ArunPrakash / SKrishna (TM Krishna @ Seshadripuram)

Ranked Double Headers

1. TMK

2. RKM

3. Malladi 

Best Fillers / Best tukkada

guru karuNa honduvudu parama durlabhavayya kIravANi Adi p.dAsa (KJY @ SRSM)

yAre rangana - (K-JK @ vANi SChool)

karuNinchi brOva rAda bangALa Adi mysUru vAsudEva AchArya  (Nagavalli Nagaraj @ Vani School)

Best Viruttam / sloka: 

Tie between S Shankar  and Vijay Shiva

best R .. best T..  best P

Raga: Mohana by Sanjay @ SRSM

Tana: shanmukhapriya by Sowmya @ SRSM

Pallavi : Vijay Siva  @ SRSM

Most seen artist 
Charulata Rmanujam - 7 concerts

Best veteran of the season
K J Yesudas @ SRSM

Best Kannada song rendition by a non kannada mother tongue artist - 
RKM @ sEshAdripiuram and 
RKM @ SRSM

Best main worth song rendered in short
pakkala nilabadi (Malladi @ SRSM), (TMK @ SRSM)

Best vilambakala krithi

Sri Krishnam bhaja mAnasa by TMKrishna @ SRSM

Best leisurely ending - 

Mangala by Nagavalli Nagaraj @ Vani School

Most repeated Raga 

(madhyamavati , shankarabharana , manirangu, .. the list goes on..)

Least repeated popular Raga

shankarabharana !

New Songs of the season

- - - - - - - - - - - -

viribONi kEdAragauLa miSra jhampe rudrapaTNam venkaTaramaNayya 

srImati janaka jAte rAmAyana guNa bhUte darbAri kAnaDa Adi Dr shatAvadhAni Ganesh

tillAna sumanEsaranjani Adi Dr shatAvadhAni Ganesh

Trivial:

- - - - - - - - - - - -

1. Best on time delivery sabha

SeshAdripuram

SRSM - Fort High School

Vani School

2. Best ambience / Background Stage Setup

Vani School

SRSM

Seshadripuram (too much background light)

3. Best sound system engineer

Vani SChool

Seshadripuram

Fort High SChool

4. Most interesting vot

By Dr Shatavadhani Ganesh @ Vani School after Dr. Nagavalli Nagaraj concert.

5. Refreshing changes of the season

a. pendal at vani shcool- saved atleast 3 concerts from washout in the last leg of this season

b. improved sound system at Seshadripuram

c. canteen at SRSM

6. Desiring for more

a. leakproof SRSM pendal

b. ontime closure of junior concerts at Vani School (to provide full slots for seniors)

It was quite a miracle for organizers and artists to keep performing despite all the soaring heat at Bangalore. The regular rain coat in my bag was replaced by a full water bottle.

The season also introduced me to a couple of new friends who are in touch with me even after the season has ended. The organisers at SRSM made an announcement of start of the next season - Apr 5th 2017. Looking forward for an engaging season and more coverage for larger rasika community.

2016 May 07 Chitravina Ravikiran Charulata Ramanujam KU Jayachandra Rao Amruth N @ Vani Shool

ChitravINa: Vid. Chitravina N Ravikiran (CNR)

Violin: Vid. Charulata Ramanujam  (CR)

mridanga: Vid. KU Jayachandra Rao 

Khanjari : Vid. Amruth N 

Occasion: 25th Ramanavami Music and Dance Festival @ Vani School, Basaveshwara Nagar, Bangalore

01 ninnu kOriunnara vasantha varNa Adi thachur singracharyalu (O)

02 raghuvIra raNadhIra rArA husEni rUpaka tyAgarAja (O, S)

swara @ raghuvIra

03 mAmava mInAkshi rAjamAthangi varALi mishra chApu m.dhIkshithar (A, N, S)

nereval @ shyAMe shankari

04 vAchAma gOcharuDani nIpAdamulaku aTANA Adi mysUru sadAshiva rAo (A, CS)

05 raghuvamsha suDhAmbudhi chandhra kadhanakuthUhala Adi patNam subrahmaNya iyer

06 tAyE yashOdA tODi Adi UthukADu venkaTa kavi (A, N, S, T)

nereval @ bAla ennai

07 RanjaniMala (rAgamAlika) Adi TanjavurShankaraIyer

08 vishwEshwara dharushanu kar sindhubhairavi rUpaka swAthi thirunAL

09 nInAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adi thyAgarAja

It was a no brainer as I had to make a decision on attending one of the Brinda/ Mukta school prodigies. When more pristine music v/s long speech is the option on hand, ChitravINA ravikiran got my vote for attendance.

Dark clouds over Bangalore did not deter me / the artists to reach the venue on time. The concert started after a brief introduction to the artists at 19.00 hrs. I was praying atleast today, the concert should start on the scheduled time, the prayer which was not answered too !

Introducing the composition, the concert started with a beautiful sketch of vasantha and a varna set the tone for the rest of the concert to unfold. A very rarely heard composition on the concert stage, my memory goes back to Malladi Bros concert in 2014 / CNR concert in RLKM Spring festival of 2015. So many concerts in between, but this did not find a place.

The husEni outline brought out my worst fears. Such a majestic outline, could have been rendered for hours together, yet one would be left wanting for more. The sowkhya in the short outline indeed cannot be explained in words. The kriti "raghuvIra raNadhIra" was rendered beautifully with nice swarAs at pallavi.

The varALi AlApane that followed was as grand as it could be. manOdharma elements wre pristine. At one point, the single pluck and quick mTu created a long lasting breathless expression of varALi chAya across the 3 registers. There was brief thunder in the applause from the audience. (May be that affected/ created the unpredicted downpour 45 mins later in the concert). 

The first of the VD school composition came in form of "vAchAma gOcharuDani nIpAdamulaku " after a brief AlApane. CNR took time to explain the difference in presentation styles in various schools, and what he would render in this concert. Another rarely heard composition marked the highlight of the evening. It was rather mid paced kAlapramANa than the usual hurried one.

The popular kriti raghuvamsha (rasika request) took the spot of the filler, rendered with much finesse and evoked a lot of appreciation from everyone. 

The tODi AlApane was done flowed with effortless ease. It was a class apart from what I heard yesterday in the same venue ( though its not logical to compare voice v/s vINA). It was elaborate with all the essentials of aesthetics, sowkya and bhAva thrown in. CR responded with confidence and fluency. 

Rain Gods wanted to witness the magic unfold. The sound engineer who doubled up as groundsmen (with other support staff), noiselessly reorganised the speakers and lights to be saved from the downpour. They resembled the pit crew in a F1 race in their speed and finesse. Manodharma was not affected as the artists continued to explore tODi. As the grand alapana was taking shape, my thinking for the song was one of three possibilities: either a tyAgarAja -rAma krithi,  or shyAmA shAstri swarajati (to mark his star birthday /an RTP. But it was none of those,  OVK's krithi as OVK is CNR's favourite composer too the prime slot of the concert. The choice was excellent.

tAye yashOda is a beauitful song, isn't it? What a gift from the composer!. Of all the forms of rendition, vINa is best suited for presentation of this song, and oh boy! what a combination for the day ?? (this is my personal feeling though)

KUJ and NA where was subtle and supportive all through the concert. The thani avarthe between them was good, the thIrmAna being quite interesting (which was also highlighted during the VOT - rendered by a musicologist who was present all through). The sound I felt the mike volumes were perfectly balanced, even with percussion duo being young and energetic, the sound was tuned to a low volume to guarantee sowkhya even during tani.

2 fillers occupied the post main slots.

On the whole, although the ragas were common ones, the rendition and choice of krithis made this concert a perfectly enjoyable one. I think the days of extraordinary violin accompaniments have come with the likes of Charulata ( AKkarai / HM Smitha / HN Bhaskar / BU Ganesh Prasad) getting many opportunities with the masters enabling them to hone their skills. CR has been the player of the series, with me attending 6 of her concerts, each being top class. This one was exceptional.  CR was good in all parts as usual. With every concert she is proving her capabilities of playing as one needs to play accompanying the main artist. She stood up to the main artist all thro' the concert. 

KUJ and NA were quite playing all the kriti on the mridanga / Khanjari. They played with such anticipation and was very good even while accompanying the neraval and swarams. 

The concert was simply electrifying. Each artiste gave his best for a thoroughly enjoyable concert. Though CNR can deliver a standing ovation worthy A-Capella concert,  the accompanists today added their contribution and made the big difference to the whole evening. 

The GRAND FINALE concert of the season was very good and filled with classicism from the word go. Starting though a tad of time late, CNR was in no mood to dilute the music for the accommodating the delay. He was still his fullest.

What a way to end a 25 concert long season with such a high note !!

PS: Season review coming up shortly

2016 May 06 Mahati CharulataRamanujam Prashanth BS Anil Parashara @ Vani Shool

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 

03 endarO mahAnubhAvulu andarIki vandanamu shrI tyAgarAja

04 Adaddella oLite Aayitu pUrvikalyANi Adi p.dAsa ( A S )
Swara @ AdaddellA oLitE Ayitu 

05-sItamma mAyamma shrI-vasanta-rUpaka tyAgarAja ( N S ) 
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.

2016 May 05 Dr S Sowmya CharulataRamanujam HSSudheendra GiridharUdupa @ SRSM

Picture Courtesy: VS (Rasika friend of mine)

Vocal: Vid. Dr S Sowmya 

Violin: Vid. CharulataRamanujam 

Mridanga: Vid. HSSudheendra 

Ghata: Vid. GiridharUdupa

01 vanajAkSirO I viraha kalyANi varNa Adi rAmanathapuram srInivAsa iyengAr (S)

02 alakalalla lAdaga madhyamAvathi rUpaka thyAgarAja (S)

03 mAyUranATham DhanyAsi chApu muththuswAmy dhIkshithar (A)

04 manavi nAlakicha rAdhaTE naLinakAnthi Adhi thyAgarAga (S)

05 amba mIna lOchani nAyaki mAyAvaram vishwanAtha shAstri (A)

06 vande sadA padmanAbham navarasakannaDa Adi swAthi thirunAL

07 RTP shaNmukhapriyA khanDa tripuTa, 1.5 beat edupu after smamam

swarAkshara pallavi line: srI rAma rAgahuvara ... sa dA mA pA hi

tani followed by rAgamAlika swaras in   valaji  sunAdavinOdini rEvati suruTi

08 bAgilanu teredu rEvati kanaka DAsa

09 chaliye kunjanamO brindAvana sArang swAti thirunAL

10 nInAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adhi thyAgarAja

Light showers around 14.30 hrs in Bangalore already provided the signs of what is going to be in store for the evening. With Vid. Sowmya (SS henceforth) landing in Bangalore, had carried good omen of a peace and prosperity in Bangalore through the showers, which continued in patches throughout the city through the night.

Devoid from my routine which I had to urgently attend to, I reached venue late. Parking was full at the sabha indicating the support that had already gathered inside the pendAl. naLinakAnti was concluding with a flare of short tani as a took my seat amidst the beginning of downpour at sabha area. The concert had a brief interruption to accommodate the artists (wet pitch and players unable to play - in cricket parlance)

She had already served a treat of KalyANi, madhyamAvati, dhanyAsi and naLinakAnti to the delight of the almost full house audience (from the beginning moments of the concert). As I heard from my friend who luckily had a seat empty next to him, varNa was more a warm-up piece rendered leisurely. madhyamAvati had long swarAs which occupied most of the time of the 14 minutes rendition, which was followed up by an explanation of the krithi presented. My rasika friend felt it was hurried. however, the temp if she had sung in the tempo used in demo it could have been fantastic. The beginning notes tA ra na na during AlApane had crystal clear dhanyAsi chAya. Her lower notes were very clear. 

Back to the live show, the nAyaki AlApane was a sedate presentation, contradicting the performance till then. It resembled poise and composure of Rahul Dravid in the middle overs. With a small introduction to the krithi, she presented it without any embellishments. 

Vande sadA padmanAbham was a perfect filler to take off into the main section of the concert. It was very well rendered.

With an eclectic mix of 5 composers till then, she dwelled deep into a long shaNmukhapriya AlApane. There was no clue till the completion of another mind blowing response from CR what was in store for us. Was the voice/ breath not co-operating  to sing higher octaves - I felt so?. But this did not deter her from exploring the bhAva of the rAga in the mid and lower octaves. Elaborate lower octave sanchArAs, vintage and salient pidis of shaNmukhapriyA interpolated between intricate freewheeling passages were the hallmark of the presentation. It was indeed breathtaking and I was left guessing what possible song there could be with rAma as the central figure.

After a brief chat with violinist (lip reading indicated - Pallavi pAdlAma ??) she burst into short cycles of tAna and an equally energetic response from CR delighted the audience. Each cycle of tAna by both the artists.

Pallavi presentation was interesting. With 1.5 atIta eDupu, she dwelled elaborating the Pallavi line: " srI rAma rAgahuvara ... sa dA mA pA hi" nice aligned to swarAkshara in the second half. Elaborate treatment in 3 kAlAs, while the eDupu aligned to samam was an interesting take. Tani occupied a leisurely slot (as though you are chasing at a run rate of 3 or 4 RPO). As the tani came to a conclusion, Vid SS took off to sing a few rAgamAlikAs. Tani once again at the end of rAgamAlika ended the show on a high note.

A detailed VOT followed, including thanking the team of organisers who are running the show behind the scenes. The audience who stayed till then did not miss to applaud their contribution. I feel missing out the SOUND ENGINEER who has been doing a great job this year was a big let down from the organisers.

Other tail lamps (highlights) were a sedate rEvati ("bAgilanu teredu" of kanaka dAsa - emulating PB Srinivas who sung this song for Dr. Rajkumar movie in name of the composer - Bhakta Kanakadasa) and brindaAvana sAranga (" " of swAti thirunAl).

Excellent concert, the lady is in fine form ! And boy... she sure did not disappoint!

I came in dry, challenging varuNa to be faster than me to reach the venue, but got washed away with the pristine music of the evening. An unconventional song list (devoid of her staple list) with a couple of  unfamiliar items (at least to me), yet presented in a manner that appealed to lay rasikAs and connoisseurs alike.  All south Indian crowd (not justTamill Tamil afficionados who had added to the audience strength to what I saw last 2 days) would be extremely pleased with the song selection of most south Indian languages, and to top it, conversed with audience in tamizh. The crowd was very interactive during the key moments in the concerts.

As I rode back in cool breeze in empty roads of Bangalore (Believe me - yes it was empty!), shaNmukhapriyA tAna still lingered in my ears. I only regret, I missed her concert at sEshAdripuram due to other personal engagements that I could not withdraw from.

As the season comes to an end in a couple of days (I plan to attend: Mahati, ChitravINa ravikiran and Visaka Hari) the toughts are lining op for a season review. This concert has entries to be remembered in the 'season's best' sweepstakes. 

2016 May 04 MS Sheela Nalina Mohan HS Sudheendra B Rajashekar @ SRSM

Vocal: Vid. MS Sheela  (MSS)

Violin: Vid. Nalina Mohan  (NM)

Mridanga: Vid. HS Sudheendra (HSS)

Morsing: Vid. B Rajashekar  (BR)

Occasion / Venue: 78th Ramanavami National Music Festival, Sree Ramaseva Mandali, Fort High School 

01 ninnE kOriyunnadi mA nElATa i vEla tAnavarNa kAnaDa Adi tiruveTTiyur tyAgayya (O)

02 garuda gamana samyamidhE nAgaswarAvaLi Adhi patNam subrahmaNya iyer (O S)

swara @ garuDa gamana

03 Emani pogaDudurA shrI rAma nI vIravasantam Adhi tyAgarAja

04 nAradamuni veDalina kAmavardhini Adi thyAgarAja (A N S )

Nereval @ narAyAna nAmamulanu

05 paTTi viDuva rAdhu nA chai manjari Adhi thyAgarAja

06 sarasvatIm bhagavatIm namAmyaham hamsavinOdini Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar (A)

07 telialEru rAma Bhakthi mArgamunu dhEnuka Adhi thyAgarAja (S)

Swara @ teliya lEru rAma 

08 vara rAga laya chenchu kAmbOdhi Adi thyAgarAja (CS)

09 shrI chAmundEshwari pAlayamAm bilahari Adhi mysUru vAsudhEvAchAr (CS)

10 rAma kathA sudhArasa madhyamAvati Adi tyAgarAja (A, N, S, T)

Nereval @ bhAmA maNi 

11 hAgE irabEku samsAradhalli mOhana Adhi Purandhara dhAsa

12 mEluko srI pendEvu manavALa baULi jhampe Composer ??

13 karuNA jaladhE dhAsharaThE pIlu Adhi thyAgarAja (indeed not in regular nAdanAMakriya !!)

14 bhAgyAda lakshmi bAramma madhyamAvati Adhi purandaradhAsa

15 nInAma rUpamulaku mangaLa sourAshtra Adhi thyAgarAja

Date: Sometime in Sept 2012

Opponent : New Zeland

A star batsman walks into the crowd carrying country's expectations and scored 34 off 26 balls in a T20 Match. Later that year, he ended up being the highest wicket taker for India in the tournament though he could not match up to the expectations with his bat. The star player was none other than Yuvraj Singh who returned to International cricket after almost a year+ break.

Today seemed to be a similar day at SRSM. The main artist of the evening, battling her own challenges took on the stage after a hiatus, yet delivered a stellar performance. 

With a brief outline of kAnaDa, MSS started off the brisk-paced Adi tALa varna. Today being tyAgarAjA's gregorian birthday, I was expecting all tyAgarAja concert, however, this was a fine twist to bring in a composition of a vAggEyakAra of a similar name. Since the initiation itself was brisk, the whole composition was rendered in same pace.  Though a bit shaky in the beginning, it ended well

A brief outline of nAgaswarAvaLi paved way for another fast paced performance of garuDa gamana. She refrained from presenting her favourite Sri shankara guruvaram. The swaras were interspersed intelligently directly in the second speed.

The birthday treat came in form of vIravasantha composition. Though the current generation artists present this in brisk pace, today's presentation had all the bhakti bhAva aptly gelled with the slow pace presentation. Though it lasted for about 5 minutes, this subtle difference made it a rendition to remember.

First pratimadhyama came in form of pantuvarALi AlApane followed by nAradamuni. Though this was the first ANS krithi of the concert, it took full 30 mins to be treated as the sub-main of the concert for me to realise at the end of the concert. Kriti was well rendered and the swarAs which followed were too good mostly in the same pace as that of the krithi, except for the conclusion. 

A series of fillers occupied some prime time slots of the concert. PaTTi viDuvaradu in manjari was presented in viLamba kAla, another deviation from the fast paced current generation.

A detailed AlApane in between the fillers for hamsavinOdini was backed up with a JCW composition. No embellishments through swaras / nereval. One of the rare krithis to be presented today. My memory goes back to a couple of years, when Abhishek Raghuram had presented this (source: My concert notes). Hardly remember the rAga traces as it was my initial days into listening. However, this rAga has a unique resemblance to ravichandrika. Any small deviation can tread into ravichandrika zone. However, today it was blissfully controlled. Had a kind of feeling that it could be ravichandrika.. but it is not (as it had something more). As stated in the LINK, "The ragam is quite similar to the ragam Ravichandrika though a genius could discern the difference."

The dhEnuka kriti had a few nice swaras was rendered. It was a kind of wake-up call for NM as she was just bowing only shadja at some points of the krithi..

Vara rAga laya was brisk and resembled GNB's original rendition, probably the same way he wanted it to be rendered by other fellow artists.

Audience request for a bilahari composition was honoured. What a masterly acceptance. There was a momentary thought (recapitulation) and outflowed the rendition. No hesitation what so ever in accepting the challenge.

The main madhyamAvati AlApane was rendered with a lot of classism and showing essential parts of the rAga. The kriti through each sangati kept reminding one of the renditions of old masters. The neraval and swarAs at "bhAma maNi" were very good, with neraval done in 2 kAla. The swara patterns were measured and good. The volley of swaras was very rich in manodharma which was aptly reproduced even by the percussion team.

Vid. NM was good in all parts as usual. Though there were few slack moments in following the artist, her skills/ capabilities of playing to the main artist is unquestionable. She stood up to the main artist most of  the concert. 

Vid. HSS demonstrated his skills in playing the kriti on the mridanga. He played with such anticipation (many bhale-bhale moments and exchange of broad smiles through the concert) and was very good even while accompanying the neraval and swarAs. His tani was outstanding as solo and with Vid BR during the final paired conclusion. There were demonstration of some new stroking and rubbing techniques on mridanga, while BR did not stop showing his blowing (without plucking the morsing) techniques to create different sound effects. It was received with an instant appluase by the audience.

At the end, it was a concert full of learning experience (1. New rAga for the audience- unlike treading the safe waters using tried and tested ones, 2.Change of speed for the fast paced generation etc). MSS repertoire is amazing which was evident in today's concert. The execution, stage presence and mannerisms demonstrated by the team was a lesson worthy of emulation. 

Not a dull moment in the 3 hr 15 min recital, inspite of all the challenges off stage. I would like to end this experience report with a philosophical quote: "our talent and your intelligence don’t play nearly as big of a role as you might think. What makes a bigger impact than talent or intelligence? It’s “mental toughness.” "