Ramani Narayanan, Nada Inbam

Smt Ramani, vINai
Trichur Sri Narendran, mrudangam
Pudukkottai Sri Ramachandran, ghaTam

May 14 2004

sAmi ninnE - sankarAbharaNam - vINai kuppaiyer - varNam
gaNanAyakam - rudrapriya - muthuswAmi dIkshitar
Ananda naTana prakAsam - kEdAram - muthuswAmi dIkshitar
sankari samkurU - sAvEri - shyAma sAstri
paluku kanDa - navarasakannaDA - tyAgarAjar
hEccarikagA rAra - yadhukula kAmbhOdi - tyAgarAjar
kA vA vA - varALi - pApanAsam sivan
EmAnaticcEdavO - sahAnA - tyAgarAjar
pAlincu kAmAkshI - madhyamAvati - shyAma sastri
(with tAnam in bEgaDa, pUrvi kalyANi, nATTakuranji, kEdAragauLa, danyAsi)
tani
rAmacandra nIdaya - suraTTi - tyAgarAjar
parulAna mATa - kApi - dharmapuri subbarAyar - jAvaLi
pavamAna - saurAshtram

The concert stArated with the sankarAbaraNam varNam which is only found in varNa books and not heard in concerts followed by another rare piece gaNanAyakam in rudrapriya. With a short AlApanai, Ananda naTana prakAsam was well rendered. The first elaborate piece of the evening was sankari samkurU with AlApanai and swarams. yadhukula kAmbhOji AlApanai was good. varALi AlApanai and swarams were beautiful. sahAnA elaborations made rasikAs stick to the seats. The main piece madhyamAvati was rendered in a way that completely brought out the rAga bhAvam. tAnam was also excellent. The AlApanais in suraTTi and kApi were also good. The sruti box served as the villian for the evening by going haywire whenever it wanted that at one point, Smt ramaNi switched it off. The 15 minute tani was very good. Sri Narendran and Sri Ramachandran gave good accompaniment in following the kriti and also showed their capabilities in the tani.

Trivandrum Venkatraman, Nada Inbam

Trivandrum Venkatraman - vINai
Vellore Ramabhadran - mrUdangam

May 8th

the song list:

sarasuda - sAvEri varNam
sarasIruhAsana priyE - nATTai - puliyur duraiswamy iyer
dEva dEva - mAyAmALavagauLa
mundu vEnukA - darbAr
cEta sri - dvijAvanti
gAnamUrthE - gAnamUrthI
gAngEya - hamIr kalyANi
mInAkshi mE mudam dEhi - pUrvi kalyANi
tanayuni brova - bhairavi
panimathi mukhi bAlE - Ahiri - padam - swati tirunAL
mArubAri - khamAs
nI nAma rUpamulakU - saurAshtram

the concert was very beautiful. he elaborations of darbAr, dvijAvanti, hamIr kalyANi, pUrvi kalyANi and bhairavi were truely a class apart. but for gAnamUrthE and the tukkadAs all the pieces had some neraval and/or vibrant swarams. a very remembarable concert. vellore ramabadhran was literally playing all the kritis. it would be more apt to call it a vINai mrudangam duet than to call it as an accompaniment.

T K Govinda Rao, Nada Inbam

TK Govinda Rao, MA Krishnaswamy, Melakaveri Balaji. May 9th

nyanamosagarAdA - pUrvikalyANi (n,s)
abhimAnamen - bEgaDa(s)
parithanamichidhE - bilahari(r,n,s)
saravaNa bava - kannaDa - papanAsam sivan
pAhimAm ratnAcala nAyaka - mukAri(r,n,s)
tani
maravaka vE - sAmA(n)
manju nihar
tillAnA - gambIravANi
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshtram

a good concert for those who strive constantly for good quality music. i reached late and do not know if he did an Alapanai for pUrvikalyANi which was apparently the first piece. the accompanists i personally felt could have done a bit better job. his expansions of mukhAri and rendition of the kriti constantly reminded on of musiri's renditions.