Seetha Rajan, Nadopasana

Smt. Seetha Rajan - Vocal
Dr. Narmada - Violin
Sri Skanda subramanian - Mrudangam
Trichy Sri Murali - Ghatam

nAdOpAsanA, PS School, 13th Feb 2005, 18:30 hrs

Era nApai - tODi (varNam) (rAga sketch)
sankaram abhirAmI manOharam - manOhari - rUpakam - dIkshitar (svarmas at pallavi line)
nAmakusumamulacE - srI rAgam - dEsAdi - tyAgarAja (rAgA sketch)
nE pOgaDA kuNTE - varALi - kaNDa cApu - tyAgarAja (AlApanai, neraval and svarams at 'nIrajanayana srI tyAgarAjanuta rAmA')
vA murugA vA - bEgaDA - rUpakam - spencer venugopal (AlApanai)
padavini - sALagabhairavi - Adi - tyAgarAja
shR_ngArAdi - dhavalAnga - kaNDa Ekam - dIkshitar
giripai nElakonna - sahAnA - Adi - tyAgarAja (AlApanai, neraval and svarams at 'nilapaTi')
taniyAvardanam
Atana pADuvE - hamsAnandi - Adi - purandara dAsA
bAjat muraLi murAri - sindubhairavi - tisra gati - svAti tirunAL
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshtram - Adi - tyAgarAja

The concert started off with a small sketch of tODi followed by the Era nApai varNam in two speeds. The kamalA manOhari kriti that followed was well rendered with beautiful svarams at the pallavi line. Then came a short sketch of shrI rAgam and nAmakusumamulacE was nicely rendered.

The first elaborate piece of the evening was nE pogaDa kuNTE in varALi. The AlApanai was very good and inspiring. The kriti, which is listed as dEsya tODi in some sources, was rendered beautifully with a structured neraval and svarams. The elaborate bEgaDA AlApanai was lovely. There were a lot of sancArams in which every svaram could show the complete form of bEgaDa. The kriti, which was rather a low-profile one for the elaborate AlApanai, was well rendered as well with a brisk padavini to follow.

The rare dIkshitar kriti in dhavalAnga, 49th mELam of the asampUrNa mELam, was next in line. The main sahAnA AlApanai was so good that one is in search of adjectives. The kriti was given full justice and the neraval and korappu svarams in 'da' were nice. The way Smt. Seetha showed the different gamakams on dhaivadham and the special attention on the gandaram, which it warrants, were all true exhibition of vidwat. The purandara dAsa kriti had a few lines from one of his devarnAmAs to preceed it.

Dr. Narmada on the violin, was good, though she had interevened a few gimmicky phrases during her parts of the manOdharmam, which were no match to the main artist. Sri Skandasubramanian on the mrudangam was good all thro' the concert and in the tani, but for a few parts which were quite loud. Sri Murali provided good accompaniment to the conert.

A very fulfuling concert, with a traditional touch, exhibiting quite a few rare kritis.