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.

Vijay Siva, Music Club IIT Madras

Vijay Siva - Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi - J Vaidhyanathan - Trivandrum D Rajagopal

1st Feb 2005

The concert was dedicated to the memory of Dr. Anand Subramaniam (cookie) an alumunus of IITM (1995-99) who was the secretary of Music Club during the years 1998-99; he was very active in the IITM cultural scene and in the activities of the music club. He passed away in 2004 owing to cancer.

Songlist:
sadAbalarUpApi (slOkam)
sObillu saptasvara - jaganmohini - rUpakam - tyAgarAja
(neraval at thararuksa mAdulalo, svaras at saptasvara)
sangIta sAstra - mukhAri - Adi - tyAgarAja
(AlApanai, neraval at prEmabakthi sujana vAthsalyamu)
parimaLa ranganAtam - hamIrkalyANi - rUpakam - dIkshitar
(the kriti with AlApana, svarAs at parimaLa)
brOvavamma - nIlAmbari - cApu - shyAmA sAstri
kaDaikkaN nOkki - tODi - Adi
(neraval at mayilApuri iRaivA kailAcalathuRaivOi)
kAsi visvEsvarAya - kAmbhOji - kaNTa jAti aTa tALam - dIkshitar
(AlApanai, svarams at kAsi visvEsvarAya)
tani Avartanam
eppaDi pADinarO - bhImplAs
sOmasundarEsvaram - suddha vasantA - Adi (2 kaLai) - dIkshitar
ninnai caraNaDaindEn - yamunAkalyANi - Adi - bhAratiyAr
Om sakthi Om sakthi - sOhini - tisra gati - bhAratiyAr
thuLLumada vETkai - hamsAnandhi - kaNDa Ekam (tisra nadai) - tiruppugazh
mangaLam - saurAshtram - Adi -tyAgarAja

It was a very fulfilling evening. sObillu was nice to start with. He sang the cittai svara after anupallavi but skipped it after the caraNam, probably because he had decided to sing kalpana svaras at the end. He embarked upon a moving AlApana of mukhAri. The kriti, sangIta sAstramu, though listed in many sources as being set in sALaka bhairavi, is popularly sung in mukhari. Vijay presented a neat rendition including a good niraval. hamIrkalyANi AlApana was structured with a lot of fast paced sancAras. SvarAs in viLamba kala were distinctly more appealing than those that followed in dhurita kAla. The kurappu at 'ma' sounded good. The rarely-heard nIlAmbari kriti, brOvavamma was rendered with a lot of bhava. The tODi kriti was good as well. It is now a common practice among his generation of musicians to render a kriti in a rakti rAga kriti without any AlApanai or svaras.

For the main piece, kAmbhOji was elaborated very traditionally and had a lot of rare sancaras of the olden days. The kriti was another rare item. It was grand and well-rendered. The svaras that followed and the kuriappu at 'da' and 'pa' were done neatly. The last part of the concert had all the pieces rendered well.

Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi on violin just followed Vijay Siva like a shadow and was good in both accompanying and also in her AlApanais and neraval, svarams. Her alApana of mukhAri was particularly impressive as were her svarAs in hamIrkalANi. Overall, she showed a good grip over laya, a trade-mark of her school of training. J Vaidhyanathan and Trivandrum Rajagopal handled the percussion department sensitively with good anticipation and discretion. They were good all through the concert. They also showed their mettle in managing a tani in the unusual kaNTa jAti aTa tALa, with RAjagOpAl on the kanjirA gaining a slight edge over the mridangam artist in one particular spell.

Overall, a good concert that confirmed Vijay's class as a top-notch musician.