Kalpakam Swaminathan, Nada Inbam

Smt. Kalpakam Swaminathan gave a beautiful veeNai concert at nAda inbam. she was accompanied by Smt S R Padmavathi also on veeNai and tanjavur Sri. R Kumar on mridangam.

viribhONi - bhairavi varNam
vallaba nAyakasya - bEgaDa - Alapanai, swarams.
mAmava satatam - jaganmOhini - tyAgarajA
dArini tElusukoNTi - suddha sAvEri - Alapanai, swarams in the caraNam line
tani
kOrinavara - rAmapriyA - Alapanai
kamalAmbA samrakshatumAm - Ananda bhairavi - Alapanai
inkevarunnAru - sahAnA - AlApanai
tani
EkAmranAtam - pUrvikalyANi - thAnam and swarams
tani
sharaNu sharaNu - chenjuruTi - AnaiyyA
AnDavan darisanamE - jOnpuri - HMB
pavamAna
small madhyamAvati AlApanai

The concert stArted with viribONi, the grand bhairavi varNam followed by a bEgaDa Alapanai and dikshitar's vallaba nAyakasya ending with kalpanai swarams. Next was mAmava satatam in jaganmOhini by tyAgaraja swami. the suddha sAvEri Alapanai was a rare treat and kriti dArini tElusukoNTi even less heard ended with nice swarams in the caraNam line and tani. the rAmapriyA Alapanai was a treat with kOrinavara to follow. Ananda bhairavi was elaborated for kamalAmbA samrakshatumAm to follow. kalpakam mAmi's sahAnA was simply brilliant followed a kriti by aNNaswamy sAstri. EkAmranAtam in pUrvikalyANi was the main piece with rAgam, thAnam and swarams. there one tani before and one after EkamranAtam. the tukkada section had two pieces one of which was chenjuruTTi (caraNam caraNam). the concert closed with pavamAna and a small madhyamAvati AlApanai

It was a bAkyam to hear such divine nAdam.

bharath

Vidya Sankar, Nada Inbam, Shyama Sastri Day

The kritis Smt. Vidya Shankar played (and sang) fully vocally accompanied by her sishyais (smt kalyani, smt radha, smt nithya, smt kadambari, smt uma) and Smt. N S Rajam on mridangam

nIvE gatiyani - kalyANi (varNam) - tisra matya tALam
jananI natajana paripAlini - sAvEri
taruNamidamma - gauLipantu - misra cApu
ennEramum un nAmam - pUrvi kalyANi(i guess)
pArvati ninnunE - kalgaDa
kAmAkshi lOkasAkhiNI - madhyamAvati (gItam)
shankarI shankari - kalyANi (mangaLam) aTa tALam

she played parts of the svara sAhityam/caraNam of the following pieces

durusugA kR_pa - sAvEri
sari yevarammA - bhairavi - khanDa jhampai
mAyammA nannubrova - nATakuranji
rAvE himagiri kumAri - tOdi
kAmAkshI bangAru - varALi
kAmAkshI nI padayugamu - yadhukula kAmbOdi

most kritis were in cApu/tripuTa tALam. Smt Vidya wanted to play a punnAgavarALi piece but did not bcoz of time constraints. She explained the intricate kaNakku involved in the way the sAhitya are set. the way in which the sAhityam is planned according to the swarams, giving kArvai at places where nEdil comes in the sAhityam. It was a delightful sunday morning. True to every word, it was a Lec-dem on rare kritis of shyAma sAstri.

Smt. Vidya Shankar gave a memorable lec-dem on Shyama Shastri's compositions at the Raagasudha Hall Sunday morning (April 25). She played on the veena, sang and spoke about salient aspects of SS' compositions, eg. the savara-sAhityas and metre of the svarajatis, the influence of Adi Shankara on SS (the sanskRt first composition on bhavAnI), and his Tamil compositions including a mangaLam in kalyANI. The program concluded with a felicitation by Smt. Vedavalli.

R Vedavalli, Narada Gana Sabha - Shyama Sastri Day

R Vedavalli - Usha Rajagopalan - mAdirimangalam swaminathan - Trichy Murali

The evening started with a lecture by Sri Rajam which i missed.

mari vErE gati (swarams at pallavi line)
shyAma sAstri namOstutE - sAmA - Dr. V Raghavan set to tune by Sri. Krishnamurthy (R)
durusugA kR_pa - sAvEri (R)
neraval and swarams at "parama pAvani" and "nArAyaNi" alternately
ninnuvinA - AbhEri (with Shuddha Dhaivadham)
brOvavamma tAmasamElE - mAnji
himAdrIsutE - kalyani (R)
neraval and swarams at "shyAmakrishNa sOdari"
Ema ninne - mukAri - subbarAya sAstri
ninnE nammi nAnu - tOdi (R)
neraval and swarams at "kAmAkshI kaNjadalAyatAkshI"
tani
rAgamAlika Slokam in praise of shyAma sAstri composed by Dr. Narasimachary(head, Dept of Vaishnavism, Madras University) for the occassion.
hamsAnandi, sahAnA, shamukapriyA, suruTTi

nice concert...

Kalpakam Swaminathan at Musiri Chambers

Smt. Kalpakam Swaminathan at Musiri Chambers on 9th April.

Varnam in Nattai (Ata)
Sri Mahaganapathe (Atana)
Intha Paraka (Maya Malava Goula)
Thyagarajaya Namasthe (Begada)
Etu Nammina (Saveri)
Devi Meenakshi (Kalyani)
Nee Padhamule (Bhairavi)
Inkevarunnaru (Sahana)
Ekamranatham (Poorvi Kalyani)
Pranatharthihara (chenchurutti)
Brihannayaki (AndhAli)
Neerajakshi Kamakshi (Hindolam)
Sri Viswanatham (ragamalika) and rounded off with Surutti.

She also sang some of the lines while playing, which enhanced the enjoyment.
Tanjore Kumar softly accompanied the music andn was self effacing to the extent of forgoing tani. Altogether a great musical experience.

T K Govinda Rao at Nalinakanti

T K Govinda Rao - V L Kumar - T K Murthy

at Dr. MGR-Janaki college under the auspices of Nalinakanthi on 3rd April

viribhONi - bhairavi - aTa - Pachimiriyam Adiyappaiya
apparAma bhakti - kAmavardhini - rUpakam - tyAgarAjA
ikanaina - pushpalathikA - Adi
paritAna michidE - bilahari - kanDa cApu - patNam subramaNiya iyer
tani
evaranI - dEvAmrutavarshini - Adi - tyAgarAjA
maravakavE - sAmA - rUpakam - tyAgarAja
RTP - sAvEri - misra cApu - "varaTTum varaTTum manamE varaTTum iru manamE varaTTum padarAdiru manamE varaTTum"
tani
bAro krshNayyA - rAgamAlikA - Adi - kanaka dAsar
jamunA kinArE - dhrupad by mahArAjA swAti tirunAL
manju nihar
pavamAna

The concert with Sri. K S Mahadevan talking about the two sangIta kalAnidis to perform on stage and announcing the 75th birthday of Sri. TKG on 04/04/04. Following this Sri. T K Murthy had enlightened all present on his first concert (arangETRam) in 1934 when he was less than 10 years old where he instead of his guru accompanied Sri. Musiri iyervAL and on the various incidents and musiri's contributions that lead to it. He also recalled his second concert at the mysore palace during the navarAtri festival where he had played with subbarAma bhagavathar on request of rAja krshNarAja wodeyAr. He also recalled the techniques used by iyervAL in singing and keeping the correct kAla pramANam. He even sang a snatch of what he recalled. He said that iyervAL had such a auspicious hand that has made me live in sowkyam till today and Govinda Rao is the only person who can sing the same way as iyervAL and has an equally auspicious hand.

viribhONi was beautiful. kAmavardini was a nice tempo setting piece for the concert. the neraval and swarams for the pushpalathikA piece were beautiful. the bilahari Alapanai, kriti rendition, neraval and swarams were tooo good. TKG asked TKM to play the tani ('nEnga nannA vAsippELE konjam vAsingO') and quite a few of the ppl started to leave without knowing what they would miss. the rare dEvAmruthavarshini piece was aesthetic too. the neraval and swarams of the sAmA kriti were again nice. then came the grand sAvEri RTP. though a simple pallavi in a normal tALam TKG's rendition of the rAgam, tAnam and the pallavi are still ringing in my ears. then was the second tani again on TKG's request ('innoru tadavai vAsingO'). Though i do not know much about playing the mridangam, i did realise that the first and second tanis were distinctly different with nothing in common. the dhrupad of ST, was something i had not heard(off) before. i dont remember what rAgam he rendered it. bArO krishnayya and manju nihar were also trademark of TKG. in the end one felt the true meaning of TKM's words at the beginning of the concert. The excellent violin support of sri V L Kumar is notable. His phrases were fitting replies to TKG. on a lighter note he ended up finishing a few of the sanchAras which TKG had left aloof.