Vykom T V Jayachandran at Music Club IIT Madras

Vykom T V Jayachandran - M A Sundareswaran - B Sivaraman - Madipakkam Murali

'vakratuNDa mahAkAyA' - slOkam - sahAnA
karuNimpa idi - sahAnA varNam - Adi - vINai Kuppier (S)
vara vallabha ramaNa - hamsadvani - Adi - GNB (S)
mAmava sadhA janani - kAnaDA - rUpakam - ST
pahimAm srI rAjarAjesvari - janaranjani - Adi - rAmasvAmi sivan
rAma nannu brOvarA - harikAmbhOji - rUpakam - T (NS)
durusuga - sAvEri - Adi - SS (RNS)
himagiri tanayE - suddha dhanyAsi - Adi - HMB
akshayalingavibhO - shankarAbaraNam - misra cApu - MD (RNS)
taniyAvaradanam
teruvadEppO nenjE - khamAs - Adi - nIlakaNTa sivan (R)
pazhani ninru - kApi - rUpakam - periyasAmi tUran (R)
'kR.SNAya vAsudEvAya dEvakI nandanAyaca nandagOpa kumArAya gOvindAya namO namaha' - slOkam - bEgaDa, malayamArutam, bEhAg
srI mAdhavA - bEhAg - Adi - maisUr vAsudEvAcharyA
nI nAma rUpamulaku

The world of Carnatic Music never ceases to puzzle. Artists, who barely deserve to be called so, are flashed across several sabhas while some with genuine talent languish from neglect. Poor Jayachandran belongs to the latter. Endowed with a good voice, sruti suddham, good stage presence, classical training, fluency in niraval and rAga AlApanAs, here is a musician who is hardly known to the Mylapore mafia! This, in spite of the fact that his lone patron features him once a while at Mylapore, in the precincts of rAgasudha hall! The serious rasika could not banish such thoughts while listening to Vaikkom Jayachandran at the accoustically 'sound' Central Lecture Theatre for Music Club, IIT Madras.

Sri Jayachandran started off with a good rendition of the slOkam in sahAnA followed by the varNam with svarams. The small sketch of the rAgam led to the hamsadvani kriti that was nicely rendered with the svarams being well structured. The kAnaDa kriti and the janaranjani kriti (with a small rAgA sketch) were well rendered at a comfortable speed.

The harikAmbhOji kriti was rendered well with neraval and svarams at 'meppulakai kannatAvu nappu baDaga virravIgi'. The sAvEri AlApanai was rich with ideas, though confined to the essential sancarams and not resorting to populist gimmicky phrases. The kriti was rendered at a leisurely pace. The neraval and svarams at 'paramapAvanI kripA vanivinuta padasarOja praNataarti haru rANi' were done extensively with nicely structured sancArams. This was followed by the quick suddha dhanyAsi piece.

The main shankarAbaraNam AlApanai was another neat and elaborate affair with sancArams that were carefully tailored to show the elegance of the ragam. The kriti was rendered with a lot of grandeur and the neraval and svarams at 'badari vana mUla nAyikA sahita' were well executed.

The khamAs and kApi AlApanais were good and so were the kritis which were rendered. The rendition of the slOkam displayed the artist's capabilities to carefully split the words according to the svarams and not use unwanted akArams in the middle. The bEhAg kriti was nice also.

Sri Jayachandran 's abundant talent was in full view, right from the beginning. His tone was rich. All his AlApanais showed the rAga svarUpam right from the first sancAram and never ventured into unwanted phrases. His svara patterns also were carefully tailored to show enough variety.

Sri Sundareswaran was good all thro' the concert. He was appreciative and supportive of the vocalist. His AlApanais matched those of the main artist. His following of the pieces was just amazing. He displayed his talent in the neraval and svarams also.

Sri Sivaraman, though was a bit aggressive and loud in the first couple of pieces of the concert, gradually went in tandem with the main artist and accompanying according what was presented in the subsequent parts of the concert.

Sri Murali displayed his unique talent of exactly accompanying the kriti as presented. His Ghatam playing had a good tonal quality and added more
weight to the concert.

It is rather depressing that, such good artists dont get the recognition they deserve.

Pantula Rama at Music Club, IIT Madras

Pantula Rama - M N S Murthy - Melakavery Balaji

vAtApi gaNapatim - hamsadvani - Adi - MD (RS)
nAdalOluDai - kalyANavasantam - rUpakam - T (R)
rAja rAja rAjithE - nirOshthA - tisra Adi - HMB (S)
marivere dikkevaraiyya rAmA - shanmukhapriyA - Adi (RNS)
palukavEmi nA deivamA - pUrNacandrikA - Adi - T
mOhana rAmA - mOhanam - Adi - T (RS)
taniyAvaratanam
nAnoru viLaiyATTu bommaiyyA - navarasa kannaDa - Adi - PS
tillAnA - dhanasrI - Adi - ST
nI nAma rUpamulaku

The concert started with a brisk hamsadvani AlApanai with swarams. The kalyANavasantam AlApanai was well executed, without the pathos mood, and so was the kriti. The nirOshtA kriti and its swarams were just hurried through.

The shanmukhapriyA AlApanai was rather interesting in the beginning but went on to become more and more of time-tested sancarams. The kriti was well rendered with neraval at 'sannutAnga srI venkatEsa nIvu nannu brOvakayunduta nyAyamA' and svarams.

The rare pUrNacandrikA kriti led to the mOhanam AlApanai which was normal only. There was still a more of mOhanam left out. The kriti and the svarams were good.

Smt. Rama had sung svarams in dvi kAlam and during the mEl kAlam, the clarity of the svarams were missing in umpteen places. In some parts of the concert, this practice to sing ultrafast svarams was very gimmicky and left more to be desired.

Sri Murthy on the violin was good in his AlApanais and trying to keep to the main artist in other parts of the concert. His mOhanam AlApanai was the mark of the concert.

Sri Balaji was good in accompanying all thro' the concert and his tani was good also.

T N Seshagopalan, Papanasam Sivan Rasigar Mandram & Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan

T N Seshagopalan - M Chandrasekaran - Guruvayur Durai - A S Krishnan

Papanasam Sivan Rasigar Mandram and Bharathiya Vidhya Bhavan

26th September 2005 7 pm

sivanai ninaindhu stuti - kAmbhOji - Adi(2) (R)
mUlAdAra mUrtI - hamsadvani - Adi (S)
'agnyAnAntha' and 'kAladiyil avadarita' - slOkams on sankarAchAryA in shankarAbaraNam
thiru kumAranAi avadarittAr - sankarAbaraNam - Adi
dasartAtmajam - pUrvikalyANi - rUpakam (RS)
sittam irangAdadEnaiyyA - sahAnA - misra cApu
thaNigai vaLar saravaNa bavA - tODi - kaNDa cApu (RNS)
taniyAvardanam
kanindaruL - kalyANi - tisra Adi (NS)
kA vA vA - varALi - Adi
enna tavam - kApi - Adi

Thanks to the over delayed award ceremony, the concert started a good 50 mintues late with a short kAmbhOji AlApanai. The svarams in the hamsadvani kriti were nice. The slOkams in sankarAbaraNam were rendered showing the rAga bhAvam. The pUrvikalyANi AlApanai was nicely rendered and so were the svarams.

The tODi AlApanai lacked weight. The neraval and svarams were just rendered in a hurry. The tani in kaNDa cApu was nice and something one does not get to hear all that often. The kalyANi nerval and svarams were good in parts.

Sri Seshagopalan had throat problems from the beginning, even while his acceptance speech. The sruthi lapses were more blatant and during the kalyANi svarams, the whole korappu went off beat in both sruthi and tALam. He could not impart rigour into even heavy kritis like kA vA vA, lets not ask for some of the first-time-heard kritis.

Sri Chandrasekaran did a good job in accompanying. Sri Durai was good thro' the concert and his tani was good also. Sri Krishnan who left the stage as soon as the screens went, rejoined just during the sankarAbaraNam and was good all thro the concert and tani.

Vijay Siva, Tattvaloka

N Vijay Siva - Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi - N Manoj Siva

tattvalOkA, 76, Eldams Road, Alwarpet

23rd September 2005, 6:30 pm. Theme - sAktham.

dayAnIdE - bEgaDa varNam - SS
amba vANi - kIravANi - Adi - HMB (NS)
srI kAmAkshI mAm pAhi - sArangA - Adi (2) - aNNAsvAmi sAstri (RS)
srI sAradAmbAm bhajE - khamAs - tisra Ekam - sringEri bhArati svAmigaL (RN)
inimElAyinum undan - darbAr - Adi - rAmasvAmi sivan
nannu kanna talli - sindhukannaDa - Adi - T
'kalyANIm' - slOkam on kamalAmbikA in bhairavi
srI kamalAmbikAyAh - bhairavi - misra jhampa (2) - MD (RNS)
taniyAvardanam
srI shAradA bhUjangam - naLinakAnti, nATTaikuranji, srI rAgam, kIravANi, latAngi, sAmA, jagan mOhini, chArukEsi - Adi sankarar
'EkArAdi samastha' - slOkam on rAja rAjEsvari in senchuruTTi, punnAgavarALi
sivangangA nagara nivAsini - punnAgavarALi - PS
ninnai caraNaDaindEn kaNNammA - yamunakalyANi - bhArathiyAr (R)
karpagamE - madhyamAvati - Adi - PS
srI kamalAmbikE - srI rAgam - MD

Thanks to parking problems on Eldams Road and the traffic there, I could reach the hall only during the kIravANi neraval, which was good and so were the svarams which followed. I was told about the opening bEgaDa varNam.

The sArangA AlApanai was very well structured carefully avoiding other closely allied rAgas. The kriti was very well rendered with nice svarams at the pallavi line.

The khamAs AlApanai again was a very neatly presented one. The sancArams were not overdone. The kriti was good, with neraval at 'srI sankarAcAryam sam sEvitAkrIm' to be followed the slow nAyaki kriti and brisk sindhu kannaDa piece.

The main bhairavi AlApanai was something to remember always. The elabOrate AlApanai followed by the slOkam, was fitting to the grand kriti which was rendered well. The neraval and svarams at 'nAda maya sUkshma rUpa sarva siddhipradAdi dasa shaktyArAdhita mUrtE' were done extensively in both mEl kAlam and kIzh kAlam. There was also a change of naDai displayed during the neraval.

The ashTarAgamAlikA 'srI shAradhA bhUjangam' was good with each rAgam coming for two lines of the slOkam. The slOkam which followed showed the possiblities of elaborAtions in the rAgams taken up. The punnAgavarALi kriti was well rendered and the rAga bhAvam was brought out well.

The AlApanai of yamunakalyANi and the bhAratiyAr song which followed displayed the amount of elegance the rAgam holds.

The brisk madhyamAvati and srI rAga kritis back-to-back led to the end of the concert.

Sri Vijay Siva displayed his vidvat very undisputably in all parts of the concert. His AlApanais, neravals and the svarams were all good and enjoyable.

Smt Vijayalakshmi was always measuring up to the main artist in all departmemts. Sri Manoj Siva was good in accompanying the artist according the sangati sang and also during the nerval and svarams. The tani was good also.

This new venue built by the sringEri maTam is good in all respects. It has a great ambience, good acoustics and nice seating arrangement. It would do good if the people concerned, adjust the air-conditioners in a better way and also make some space for parking two-wheelers also in their ground floor car parking facility.

T M Krishna, Asthika Samajam Thiruvanmiyur

T M Krishna - S Varadarajan - Vellore G Ramabadhran

Asthika Samajam, Thiruvanmiyur.

Amarabharathi, 20th September 2005, 6:30 pm

Era nApai - tODi varNam
angArakam - suruTTi - rUpakam - MD (RNS)
Ora jUpu - kannaDa gauLa - Adi - T
ninnuvinA - pUrvikalyANi - vilOma misra cApu - SS (RS)
ambA paradEvatE - rudrapriyA
O rangasAyI - kambhOji - Adi(2) - T (RNS)
taniyAvardanam
navasiddhi peRRAlum - kharaharapriyA - nIlakaNTa sivan
adi nI pai - yamuna kalyANi jAvaLi - dharmapuram subbarAyar
parulAna mATa - kApi jAvaLi - dharmapuram subbarAyar
nirai madi vadana - hamsAnandi tirupugazh
bhujaga sAyinO - yadukula kAmbhOji mangalam - ST

The concert started with a nice rendition of the tODi varNam. The suruTTi AlApanai was very nice and it was an obvious choice to have angArakam after that AlApanai. The neraval and svarams at 'dIna rakshakam pUjita vaidhyanAta kshEtram' were good.

After a brisk 'OrajUpu', Sri Krishna set in for a sedate and un hurried AlApanai of pUrvikalyANi. The AlApanai was very nice and 'ninnuvinA' which followed was rendered with a lot of bhavam and the svarams which followed were well structured with a nice korappu.

'ambA paradEvatE' was very refreshing and gave a good mood for the appreciation of the main kAmbhOji AlApanai. The AlApanai was nicely developed highlighting essential sancarams. The kriti was rendered well and neraval and svarams at 'bhUlOka vaikuntam idiyani' were good.

'navasiddhi peRRAlum' was rendered in a slow tempo followed by the two jAvaLis rendered nicely in quick succession, leading to the tirupugazh and the melodious mangalam.

Sri Varadarajan was good in all parts of the concert. He provided very able accompaniment to the main artist and showed his capabilities during the AlApanais, neraval and svarams also.

Sri Ramabadhran was his usual self, playing for the kriti and following each and every sangati, not to mention his apt playing during the nerval and svarams also. His tani was very enjoyable also.

A Good Concert.

bharath

T M Krishna at Nada Sudha

T M Krishna - R K Shriram Kumar - N Manoj Siva

9th September 2005, 6:30 pm

Nada Sudha, Subha Rathan Hall, Velachery

vAtApi gaNapatim - hamsadvani - Adi - MD
mInAkshI mE mudam dEhi - gamakakriyA - Adi (2 kaLai) - MD (RNS)
pakkala nilabaDi - kharaharapriyA - misra cApu - T (RS)
varAlendhu - gurjari - Adi - T
RTP - shankarAbaraNam - Adi (2 kaLai) 1/2 eDuppu
'dAsarathE karuNA payOnidhE ina kula tilaka'
rAgamAlikA svarams in sahAnA, maNirangu, pantuvarALi, sAvEri, danyAsi, bilahari, varALi, nATTAkuranji, lathangi, shaNmukhapriyA, sAmA
taniyAvardanam
sabApatikku - AbhOgi - rUpakam - PS
slOkam - 'karacaraNa krutam...' in kEdAragauLa, kEdAram, sindhubhairavi
visvEsvara darisan - sindhubhairavi - rUpakam - ST
rAmachandrAya - kuranji - Adi - BR

The concert started with a rendition of the popular dIkshitar kriti in hamsadvani. The short sketch of gamakakriyA was good to hear. The kriti was rendered well. The neraval and svarams were carefully structured to avoid the purvikalyANi phrase 'p d p s'. It was gamakakriyA to the fullest.

The kharaharapriyA AlApanai which followed was just a long elaboration with the kriti to follow. The Krishna-trademark-fire work svarams which followed generated applause from the larger part of the audience. The gurjari kriti was rendered well also.

The AlApanai in shaNkarAbaraNam was drowsy and was more indicative of a kriti than a pallavi. Even the early part of the tAnam was not so well built to suite a pallavi. It only after a couple minutes into the tAnam one could develop the idea that it is going to be pallavi. The AlApanai and the tAnam went on for about 40 minutes. Before starting the pallavi, Krishna requested people to not leave in between. He asked them to leave right away if they were getting delayed or leave after the tani. The pallavi was set in Adi (2 kaLai) with 4 akshara eDuppu.

The pallavi was rendered well with change in naDai to tisram. The rAgamAlika svarams were in vilamba kalam and did not spam longer than one Avartanam for each ragam. The dhurita kAla koraippu was in shankarAbaraNam.

The AbhOgi kriti was rendered at a very slow pace with a lot of bhavam. The slokam and sindhubhairavi kriti were nice also. While the kEdAragauLa and kEdAram parts were very good and enjoyable, it was rather disheartening to see the sindhubhairavi being applauded more than the others. The kuranji mangalam was a welcome change from the regular saurAshtram.

The Violinst was good all thro' the concert in rendering good support and also sticking to the main artist. His individual essays during the AlApanai and neraval and svaram for all the pieces were good. The mrudangist played a good role to boost the concert. His intricate patterns were not so easily taken by not so educated audience, but was enjoyable.

The Hall though provided a good ambience for a concert, left a lot more to be desired in terms of sound settings and acoustics.

R Vedavalli at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha

Smt. R Vedavalli - Vocal
Sri R K Shriram Kumar - Violin
Poongulam Sri Subramanian - Mridangam
Pudukkottai Sri Ramachandran - Ghatam
Smt. V Sumitra - Vocal Support
Smt. Sumathy Krishnan - Vocal Support & tamburA

Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, 2nd September 2005

ento prEma - suruTTi varNam - Adi
ninnE nEra namminAnura - kAmavardini - rUpakam - T (N,S at "vEda shAstra purANa vidyalacE")
sItApatE nAmanasuna - khamAs - Adi - T (N,S at " prEma jUci nApai pedda manasu jEsi")
rAmAbhirAma ramaNIya - darbAr - misra cApu - T
mAmava satatam - jaganmOhini - Adi(2) - T
mitri bhAgyamE - kharaharapriyA - Adi(2) - T (R, N,S at " bAguga vinta rAgamula nAlApamu ")
slokam - "jAnAdi rAma tava nAma ruchim..." in sAvEri, danyAsi, sahAnA, kApi, nIlAmbari, sindhubhairavi, suruTTi
nAdapriyA sivanenba - hamsAnandi - lingAyat vacanam
adaikkalam adaikkalam - madhyamAvati - Adi
tillAna - vasantA - Adi
nI nama rUpamulaku - saurAshTram - Adi - T

The concert started with a short sketch of suruTTi rAgam and the varnam was briskly rendered. The kAmavardini kriti was rendered with neraval and swarams which were just good.

The start of khamAs was giving a flavour of an AlApanai, alas it was just a short sketch and the kriti was rendered with neraval and svarams to be followed by rAmAbhirAma.

The jaganmOhini kriti was rendered with a lot of bhavam and was really the highlight of the concert. Next was the first and unfortunately the only elaborate AlApanai of the concert. kharaharapriyA was well elaborated with-in its limits and was not very exhaustive either. The kriti was started at the anupallavi 'chitra ratna maya'. The neraval was followed by vilamba kAla svarams for single or two Avartanams and just the long kOrvai in dhurita kAlam.

The post tani part of the concert featured a nice rendering of the slOkam in all the rAgams mentioned showing their essential sancarams. The tillAna was nice though gimmicky at a few places.

Sri Shriramkumar on the violin did a very good job with the violin in accompanying the concert. His AlApanai of kharaharapriyA and the neraval and svarams for all the kritis were good also.

Sri Subramanian on the mridangam and Sri Ramachandran on the Ghatam were good in accompanying though the thani was just a routine affair with nothing novel.

It was an enjoyable concert, but it did not live-up to what one would expect from somebody of the stature of Smt. Vedavalli, who was visibly feeling un easy to sit down and also had some throat problems.

bharath

Many a rasika landed up at KGS expecting the concert listed in the schedule and did not know the last-day change to that of Smt. Vedavalli. It was nice to hear people gossiping "Ava kutcheri illaiyame, vedavalli mami paada poraalaam. nanna thaan irukkum, yenna vayasaayiduthu, koral pesumo yennamo therila" and other similar dialogues. There was one particular mAmi who said, "inime concert varathukku munnadi anniki hindu paper paakanum, concert list nambi vara pdadhu" while another elderly gentleman commented "Ipdi sabhavellam list anuppina, paper paathutu vaangonnu artham".