T M Krishna at Sringeri Madam, Rama Navami Series

30th March sri rAma navami

TM Krishna - S Varadarajan - K Arunprakash

at Vardhandhi and Sri Ramanavami Utsavam
Sringeri Madam, T Nagar.

sujana jEvanA rAma suguNa bhuUshaNa - khamAs - Tyagarajar
sanAdana - phalamanjari - Tyagarajar
pAhi sri girirAjasutE - Anandhabhairavi - shyAmA sAstri (with Alapanai and swarams at pAhi sri)
mAyammA yani nE - Ahiri - shyAmA sAstri
nannu brOvumani ceppavE sItamma - kalyANi - bhadrachalam rAmadAsar (with Alapanai, neraval and swarams at adrija vinutuDu)
tani Avardanam
shAradhE vINAvAdana vishAradhe - dEvagAndAri - papanAsam sivan
sri rAmam - nArAyaNa gauLa - muthuswAmy dikshitar
sri rAmachandra krupAla bhajamana - yamunakalyANi - tuLasidAsar
jAnaki ramaNa - kApi - vAnamAmalai jIyar swAmi
mAmava pattAbirAma - maNirangu - muthuswAmy dikshitar
maNgaLam kosalEndra

the starter sujana jEvana was rendered nicely and the slow tempo of the concert was well set. the phalamanjari piece was just a variety of pace in the concert. the Anandhabhairavi Alapanai was normal for Krishna. the kriti is hardly heard these days. the first time i have heard in a concert. it was well rendered. the slow mAyamma in vilamba kAlam was good. the piece was of a different flavour with the mridangist having to play to that tempo was going the slow way with a noticeble gap between two beats on the mridangam. kalyANi was again a slow rendition and the kriti a rare piece which i have not heard before. the neraval and swarams were also good. the dEvagAndhari piece had a short Alapanai before starting. nArAyaNa gauLa was beautiful. the yamunakalyANi and kApi were also very well rendered. maNirangu was brilliant and the sancharas were very aesthetically handled. varadarajan was very good in replying to all the phrases of krishna. Arunprakash was doing very good with the mridangam. the tani Avardanam was also good.

SP Ramh IIT Madras on 9th March

SP Ramh IIT Madras on 9th March

varNam - nIlambari - LGJ
gaNanAthanE - sArangA
seethamma mAyamma - vasanta
inkevvaru unnAru - sahAnA
marivere -latAngi
adikAdu bhajana - yadukula kAmbodhi
viruttam/slokam in bEgada, kalyANi, bhairavi, sindhubhairavi to be followed by a well known bharatiyAr piece and a madhuvanti piece
khamAs tillAna
pavamAna

SP Ramh gave a nice concert with rare kritis at CLT, IIT Madras on 9th March. The evening started off with a varNam in nIlambari by LGJ (i guess) to follow this was gaNanAthanE in sArangA. The vasantA piece seethamma mAyamma was next. To follow this was a sahAnA alApanai to be followed by a kriti by Annaswamy Sastri. The two rAgAs that were elaborated with alApanai, neraval and swarams were latAngi and yadukula kAmbodhi the kritis being marivere of patnam and adikAdu bhajana of tyAgaraja swami resp. The latAngi though was good left a lot of unexplored parts. The yadukula kAmbodi was well rendered. the violinst gave a good support and was sparkling in parts of the concert. the tani was also good. its been a week since the concert and with due apologies to the accompanists, i dont remember their names. the tukkadA section started off with a viruttam/slokam in bEgada, kalyANi, bhairavi, sindhubhairavi to be followed by a well known bharatiyAr piece and a madhuvanti piece. The concert ended with a khamAs tillAna and pavamAna. All thro' the kutcheri one felt that Ramh and his throat were not commuting to each other's needs.

bharath

Gayathri Venkataraghavan at Triplicane Rasika Samaj

13th Feb Triplicane Rasika Samaj

Gayathri Venkataraghavan

varNam -ninnE kori - vasantA - Adi
sarasvatI annaiyE - kharaharapriyA - PS
sEshAchala nAyakam - varALi - MD (RNS)
paripAhimAm - jagan mOhini
ninnu sEvichina - yadukula kAmbodhi (R)
bAlakrshNan - danyAsi
kaligiyuNTE gada - kIravANi - T (RNS)
tani
pAsuram (i guess one belonging to the pachai mA malai pol mEni series though not sure it had arambaiyar, vanalavu selvam and words of that kind)
tirupati malai vAsA - hamsAnandi
thillAna - bEhAg
pavamAna - sourAshtram

the kutcheri was well handled by Gayathri who had all thro' sang only kritis which are rarely/never heard on stage these days and for the same reason i m not sure of the starting of the jagan mOhini, yadukula kAmbodhi pieces which had very beautiful citta swarams. thanks to the acoustics and/or the sound system of the venue the words were not easily deciferable. the short sweet yadukula kAmbodhi alapanai was vintage to hear. the two main pieces varaLi and kIravANi were well handled. A planned two hour concert. the violinst was a young girl who i guess was substituting for someone else as the listing had a male violinst. Though substituting some one else, she had a lot of rasikAs for she is from triplicane. the mAmA next to me said, she is a sishyai of TNK and had filled me with "Oh my god" level info on the girl just hindering my attention to the stage as freqently as possible. in fact he went to say about her past concerts and so on. Also in the passing mentioning about Gayathri's guru who apparently was his collegue at work(?) The tani was also very good. an entertaining saturday evening in all ways :d

bharath