Kasim and Babu, Music Club IIT Madras

Sri S Kasim and Sri S Babu - nAdasvaram
Udumalaipettai Sri M Angusamy and Trichy Sri S Senthil Kumar - thavil
G Nagaraj - tALam

Music Club IIT Madras 4th April 2005 7:15 pm

gajavadanA - srIranjanI - Adi - pApanAsam sivan (AlApanai, svarams)
duDugukala - gauLa - Adi - tyAgarAja
vijayAmbikE - vijayanAgari - Adi - muttaih bhAgavatar
ranganAyakam - nAyaki - Adi (2 kaLai) - dIkshitar (AlApanai)
bhOgIndra sAyinam - kuntaLavarALi - kaNDa cApu - svAti tirunAL
mAtangi srI rAjarAjEsvari - ramAmanOhari - rUpakam - dIkshitar (AlApanai, svarams)
srI raghuvarApramEya - kAmbhOji - Adi (2 kaLai) - tyAgarAja (AlApanai, svarams)
taniyAvarthanam
enna tavam - kApi - Adi - pApanAsam sivan
bhaja bhaja mAnasa - sindhubhairavi - Adi - svAtitirunAL (AlApanai)
nirai madhi - hamsAnandhi - tiruppugazh
end with a few snatches of madhyamAvati

Just as the ecologist worries about the species that are vanishing from the globe, the musicologist has to worry about certain vanishing breeds of Carnatic music. These include the 108 tALa schemes with 6 angAs, rAgAs such as karnAtaka kApi, mukhribandu and AshAda gowLa and instruments such as nAgaswaram, gettu vAdhyam and jalatarangam.

This instrument of the temples seems to have lost its popularity owing to its jarring volume in the accoustically disastrous concrete kalyANa maNDapams of today. It needed an accoustically sensitive CLT at IIT Madras to make listeners realise the sheer delight that the nAgaswaram and tavil provide without hurting the listener's ear drums!

The opening srIranjani AlApanai was nice and the kriti was played well with good koraippu svarams. the gauLa pancartnam was played nicely showing the svaram line and the sAhityam line distinctly while playing the caraNams. vijayambikE made for some delightful listening.

The high point of the concert was SrI bAbu's nAyakI AlApanai was one of the best ever essays of the rAgam and rendition of the kriti was breathtakingly beautiful! The kuntaLavarALi piece added some variety and tempo.

SrI kAsim's rAmamanOhari (aka rAmapriyA) AlApanai went on for about 15 minutes; it was again one of the best renditions of the rAgam. The kriti, 'mAtangi srI rAja rAjEswari..' was rendered with a lot of bhavam with koraippu svarams to follow.

The main AlApanai in kAmbhOji by SrI bAbu started with rather uncommon phrases but settled down later to show the full rAgasvarUpam. 'srI raghuvarApramEya..' was rendered at a lively tempo, followed by well structured svarams. The tani was somewhat short with the artists becoming conscious of the Rockfort express!

In the post tani session, 'enna tavam seidhanai', SrI bAbu's sindhubharavi AlApanai, the kriti of svAti tirunAL were all well presented. The concert concluded with a tiruppugazh and a small madhyamAvati AlApanai.

with hopes to hear more nAdasvaram