OS Thyagarajan, Music Club IIT Madras

O S Thyagarajan - Vocal
Ambika Prasad - Violin
Trivandrum Balaji - mrudangam

IIT Madras Music Club, 12th August 2005

rAma nannu brOvarA - harikAmbhOji - rUpakam - T (RS)
amma rAvammA - kalyANi - kaNDa cApu - T (NS)
shankari shamkuru - sAvEri - tisra Adi - SS (NS)
evarUrA - mOhanam - rUpakam - T
paritApamu - manOhari - rUpakam - T
ninnE nammi nAnu - tODi - misra cApu - SS (RNS)
taniyAvardanam
slokam 'vandE mAtaram ambikAm bhagavatIm' in khamAs, varALi, vAsanti, navarasa kannaDa
nAn oru viLaiyATTu bommaiyA - navarasa kannaDa
varalakshmI nIyE - sALagabhairavi
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshtram

The concert begun with a neat sketch of harikAmbhOji and the kriti was well rendered with svarams at the pallavi line.

amma rAvamma was rendered well with neraval and svarams at 'tAmarasa daLa nEtrudu tyAgarAjuni mitruDu'. Shankari shamkuru was the next in line, it was nice as well with neraval and svarams at 'shyAma kRSNa sOdari shyAmaLE sAdOdari'. evarUrA and the rare paritApamu were quickly run thro' leading to what one would expect to be a sub main piece. Alas! It was five kirtanas in a row without any rAgA being elaborated. The only AlApanA for the evening was in tODi. The 25 minute AlApanai had poise and good 'packaging' but was not very creative and had quiet a few repetitive phrases. The kriti was well rendered and the neraval and svarams at 'kAmAkshI kancadaLAyadAkshI' were standard cutcheri stuff.

After a good tani in misra chApu by Tiruvanthapuram bAlAji, OST embarked on a viruttam. It was here that he truly showed his manOdharma in rAgA elaboration. He sang a chain of four rAgas -- khamAs, varALi, vAsanthi and navarasa kannaDa. The first bore the stamp of class. He sang nAn oru viLaiyATTu bommaiyA, eschewing some popular but grammar-violating phrases in the anupallavi but messing it up in the end!

He sang a Tamil piece in sALagabhairavi which had quite a few phrases sounding like karNaranjani. Sri Ambika Prasad on the violin was passable for his support and rAga essay but was found wanting on laya alertness in responding to the vocalist's kaNakkus. One felt that OST could have chosen a more seasoned artist for accompaniment. Balaji was good thro' the concert in providing able support to the main artist. His tani had a lot of kaNakku, true to the Palghat Raghu School, and was enjoyable.