Manasa Nayana, Music Club IIT Madras

Music Club IIT Madras

Purandaradasa Krithis concert.

Vocal - ManasaNayana
Violin - Shertalai sivakumar
Mridangam - Arjun Ganesh

22nd Feb 2006

01 - SaraNu siddhi vinAyaka - Arabbhi - rUpakam
02 - koDu bEga divyamati - vasanthA - Adi (R,N,S)
03 - sakala grahabala - atAnA - kandachApu
04 - mAnava janma doDDadu - pUrvikalyAni - misrachApu (R)
05 - kathASravaNa mADO - rIthigoWlai - Adi - (R, short sketch)
06 - biDe ninna pAda - mOhanam - Adi
07 - ODi bArayya vaikuNThapati - bHairavi - Adi - (R,N,S)
08 - Thani
09 - mandagamane - khamAs - Adi
10 - jagadOddhArana - kApi - Adi
11 - nandatanaya - yamunA kalyAni - Adi
12 - smarisuva janakella - surati - Adi

The concert was well planned and showed the power that is stored in some of the dasar padagalu. It was a very commendable effort in bringing out some weightly compositions of the composer.

The vocalist also took time to give a general meaning of each of the kritis he presented, thus taking along even audience who were lost because of the absence of well known kritis.

The Arabhi kriti was nice. The vasantA alapanai was presented well and the kriti with neraval and svarams at "patitapAvane nI gatiyendu nambide" was rendered with a lot of nice phrases put in.

The popular aTANA kriti in a rather slow pace led to a very leisurely elaboration of pUrvikalyANi. It was quite elaborate and one felt he could have done a better job if only he was a bit faster. The feeling however was completely prooven wrong when the kriti was rendered. Such a moving kriti with a lot of bhavam that a faster alapanai would have just reduced the impact.

The short rItigauLa alapanai and a nice rendition of the kriti followed by a good mohanam led to the main bhairavi alapanai. Though a bit shaky at the foundations, the alapanai was developed quite nicely. The kriti was rendered with neraval and svarams at "mangaLAtmaka mOhanakAya ranga". The tukkadas were well rendered also.

Sherthalai Sivakumar was his usual self. He was good.

Arjun Ganesh was just playing the kritis on the mrudangam. His accompaniment was very good and he did follow the artist like his shadow. He showed good anticipation and was very good in the tani also.

R K Srikantan, Jnarnava Trust

R K Srikantan - M Chandrasekaran - T K Murthy - V Suresh 

jnanArNavA Trust, MA Mini Hall. 

20th Feb 2006 

srI mUlAdAra - srI rAgam - Adi (R) 

candram bhaja - asAvEri - matya tALam 

Ananda naTana prakAsam - kEdAram - cApu (RS) 

srI gurunA pAlitOsmi - pADi - rUpakam 

srI bAlasubramaNyA - bilahari - cApu (RNS) 

taniyAvaradanam 

bAlakrishNam - gOpikA vasantam - Adi 

srI kamalAmbikE - srI rAgam 

The concert was preceeded by the CD release function of dikshitar kritis as in SSP. Dr. N Ramanathan, Dr. Seshasayee, Dr. V V Srivatsa, Sri R K Srikantan and Smt R Vedavalli spoke on the occasion. All of them emphasised on various aspects of the SSP and the supremeness of Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar for his compositions, of Sri Subbarama Dikshitar and Sri Chinnaswami Mudaliar for coming out with the SSP for all the tough times they had gone thro'in the process. 

The efforts of Music Academy in translating the SSP into tamil, the works of Dr. S. Ramanathan, Sri B. Rajam Iyer, Sri T L Venkatarama Iyer, Mudicondan Sri Venkatarama Iyer and Dr. V. Raghavan towards the same, the work of Prof. S K R Rao in translating SSP into Kannada and Sri Udupa who has handwritten the SSP in kannada, and the efforts of Dr. P P Narayanaswami and Smt Vidya Jayaraman for the English Translation were all mentioned and given credits. Sri T M Krishna compered and said this is a venture to preserve what that is given and not to say that all else is wrong. He also said its not a commercial venture. Earlier the evening started with a moving rendition of 'srI nAtAdi guruguhO' by Amritha Murali and two others. The Trust also felicitated Sri Srikantan and Smt Vedavalli. 

The concert started at about 15 minutes to 8 pm. The opening srI rAgam AlApanai and the kriti were superb. The asAvEri kriti was rendered with a lot of bhavam. kEdAram flashed from the first sancAram and there was no ambiguity anywhere in the rendition. It was all rendered very well and was the pADi kriti. bilahari yet again was filled with rAga bhAvam from the word go and it was a very good rendition of the kriti with neraval and svarams at 'A pAla gOpa vidita dIna caraNyA'. The gOpikAvasantam kriti was nice and the srI rAgam mangalam led to curtains for the one-and-half hour concert. Sri Srikantan has been growing young with time when it comes to music. His ideas for manOdarmam and his kriti renditions were very good. Sri Ramakanth who provided vocal support would have done a lot better if he learns to sing only wherever necessary. Sri Chandrasekaran was his regular stuff. His playing was good. Advancing age was very evident in the playing of Sri Murthy. Though the vigour is still there in his fingers, age takes count on memory and hence the kaNakku. This was seen once during the tani. Sri Suresh was very good and the percussion dept was well handled by both of them.

S R Janakiraman, Saraswathi Vaggeyakkara Trust

Prof S R Janakiraman - R K Shriramkumar - K R Ganesh

Saraswathi Vaggeyakkara Trust, NGS Mini hall. 19th Feb 2006

Concert of rare mElakartA and varga rAga kritis of tyAgarAja

bhUlOka nAradamuni - vandanadAriNi varNam - kaNDa tripuTa - SRJ (R)
muddu mOmu - suryakAntam - Adi(2) (R)
Ananda sAgara - garuDadvani - Adi (S)
kaLala nErcina - dIpakam - Adi (RS)
E rAmuni - vakuLAbaraNam - cApu (RS)
vAcAma gOcaramE - kaikavasi - Adi (RS)
manasA srI rAmuni - mAraranjani - Adi (R)
nI cittamu - vijaya vasantam - Adi (R)
Emi nEramu - sankarAbaraNam - Adi(2) (RNS)
TaniyAvardanam
'vyAsO naikama carcayA' - guru sthuthi slOkam by Walajapet Venkataramana bhagavatar on tyAgarAja sang in madhyamAvati.

Prof SRJ gave small explanations for each kriti. He also sang some part of the AlApanais as svaras so that people could understand the rAga svarUpam completely.

The opening varNam was just rendered in a fast tempo. muddu mOmu was rendered in a leisurely fashion with no hurry. The vilamba kAla rendition was more moving compared to the fast pace rendition one gets to hear otherwise. garuDadvani was good also.

dIpakam, a janya of kAmavardini, was elaborated in line with the opening line of the kriti and the kriti was well rendered with nice svarams. vakuLAbaraNam was elaborated distinctly showing the kaisiki nishada which differentiates it from the mighty mAyAmALavagauLA. Kaikavasi was rendered well with just one really long svaram in mEl kAlam

On similar lines as vakuLAbaraNam, mAraranjani was elaborated clearly differentiating it from cArukEsi and sarasAngi, the closely allied rAgams. vijaya vasantam, a janya of visvAmbari, was elaborated as well. Sri SRJ said, the popular visvambari version of this kriti is not correct.

sankarAbaraNam was elaborated with quite a few vintage sancarams and there were even some unheard off sancarams in the AlApanai. The flat usage of rishabam was quite amazing. Sri SRJ said that he picked the sancarams from the kriti 'Emi nEramu' itself and explained the usage of plain rishaba from the opening line of the kriti. He also recollected that the first time he heard this was by Semmangudi Narayanaswamy Iyer.

All the kritis were very well rendered and so were the manOdarma parts.

Sri Sriram who provided vocal support was very supportive through out the concert. The occasional AlApanais he did and the svarams he sang were quite promising. A guy to be watched in the future.

Sri Shriramkumar was just amazingly good in following the main artist. His playing in tune with what is presented was very good.

Sri Ganesh provided very sensible support to the concert and played a nice tani.

T K Govinda Rao, Asthika Samajam Thiruvanmiyur

T K Govinda Rao - Vocal
M Chandrasekaran - Violin
Palghat Suresh - Mrudangam

Asthika Samajam, Thiruvanmiyur at Amarabharathi on 16th Feb 06 6:30 pm

Thyagaraja aradhanai series.

ragunAyakA - hamsadvani - Adi (RS)
appa rAma bhakti - kAmavardini - rUpakam (NS)
evarani nirNayincirirA - dEvAmrutavarshini - Adi (S)
vidhi shakrAdulaku dorakunA - yamunakalyani - rUpakam (RS)
rAga ratna mAlikacE - rItigauLa - rUpakam (RNS)
tani
sAntamulEkA - sAmA - Adi (S)
pAhi rAmacandra rAghavA - yadhukula kAmbhOji - rUpakam
nI nama rUpamulaku - saurASTRam - Adi
mangalam kOsalEndrAya - madhyamAvati

The concert started with a short and crisp expansion of hamsadvani and the kriti was rendered well with nicely structured svarams in various nadais. The kAmavardini kriti was rendered with the usual vigour with neraval and svarams at 'kapi vAridhi dATunA kaliki rOta gaTunA'. The kriti in dEvAmrutavarshini was rendered in an amazing kAlapramANam which was too good and so were the svarams.

The ultimate treat of the evening was a 12 minute yamunakalyANi AlApanai. The AlApanai took one complete round of the rAga svarUpam and it was too good to say the least. The kriti taken up couldn't get rarer. 'vidhi shakrAdulaku' was rendered with absolute bhavam and it was just ecstacy to listen to the kriti and the svarams which followed.

The main course was even more interesting and enjoyable. rItigauLa was elaborated to all its limits. All sancarams that could show the rAga svarUpam were interwoven in the AlApanai. The kriti was rendered very well with neraval and svarams at 'bhAgavatOttamulu gUDi pADE kIrtanamulaTa'. The sAmA kriti and svarams and yadhukula kAmbhOji kriti were rendered in true TKG style.

To go to a TKG's concert, one must go with a mindset which will not expect anything from the voice. All those who entered the hall with the same mindset will definitely agree with me that it was a rare treat to listen to him singing.

Sri M Chandrasekaran on the violin was his usual self. He was visibly clueless during all parts of the yamunakalyANi. One could actually see him sitting enjoying all that TKG did that he forgot to play when his turn came, more than once.

Palghat Sri Suresh played with good anticipation. One was quite worried as to how a man could sit in such an uncomfortable position for not less than 2 hours and play so good. His tani was good also.

Jayanthi Kumaresh, SPICMACAY IIT Madras

Jayanthi Kumaresh - Veena
P Satish Kumar - Mrudangam
N Guruprasad - Ghatam

AnandAmrutkarshini - amrutavarshiNi - Adi - MD (RS)
sabApatikku - AbhOgi - rUpakam - GKB (S)
nOTTu svaram followed by akshaya linga vibhO - sankarAbaranam - misra cApu - MD
instrumental composition - pantuvarALi - misra cApu (Ragam Tanam, svarams)
tani
tillAnA - mAND

both AlApanais were more using the third and fourth string which made the AlApanais less enjoyable. Especially for a ragam like pantuvarALi which is predominantly a madhyasthAyi ragam, the phrases in anumandarasthAyI were not all that tolerable. The sankarAbaraNam kriti was for some reason stopped right after the anupallavi. All the svarams were filled with un wanted pauses. The artist also lacked sAhitya sense.

She also played snatches of mOhanam, vAsanti, bhUpALam, bauLi, nIlAmbari, pUrNacandrikA, sahAnA, kalyANi, sAvEri, gauLa to explain the concept of rAgam and bhavam and gamakams.

The percussionist were good in providing support and during the tani.

Manda Sudharani, Nadopasana

Manda Sudharani - Vocal
Sherthalai Sivakumar - Fiddle
Koviladi Madhavaprasad - Mrudangam
Trivandrum Rajagopal - Kanjira

Nadopasana, P S School. 5th Feb 2005 6:30 pm


(pic from www.thehindu.com)

varNam - tODi - aTa tALam
sArasamukhi - gauDamalahari - rUpakam - HMB (RNS)
patti viduvarAdu - manjari - Adi - T
nADADina mATa - janaranjani - misra cApu - T (R)
kAsi visAlAkshIm - gamakakriyA - rUpakam - MD (RNS)
enta bhAgyamU - sArangA - Adi - T
O rangasAyI - kAmbhOji - Adi - T (RNS)
tani
pantanella - kApi - Adi - PD
nArI maNi - khamAs jAvaLi - Adi
mAkula brOcina - suruTTi mangalam - kaNDa cApu - T

The concert started with a good rendition of the tODi varnam and what followed left quite a few in audience guessing what it was. For the gauDamalahar was elaborated very well carefully avoiding influence of sAmA, unfortunately the violinst lacked this perfection. The neraval and svarams at 'hasita vadanE Apta hrudayE' were very good. The janaranjani AlApanai was dont with a lot of innovation and the kAlapramANam in which she rendered it in a slow tempo was very good.

The next was the dIkshitar kriti. The AlApanai, neraval and svarams were done true dIkshitar style carefully not involving p d p s prayogams and carefully showing the quintessential m d n prayOgam of gamakakriyA time and again. It was nicely rendered with neraval and svarams at 'kAsI pura vAsinIm kAmita pala dAyinIm'. The svara korappu in 4 kalams was very good.

The main kAmbhOji AlApanai was very very elaborate and done with a lot of chaste beauty. The ragam was well explored in all its glory. The kriti with neraval svarams at 'bUlOka vaikuNTam idiyani' was nice with a lot of vintage sancarams an svara patterns. The long kOrvai was quite different from the regular one.

The Violinst was good in responding to the main artist and keeping upto all that she did during the concert, but for the initial slip with gauDa malahari. However his bowing was a bit shrieky at places. The mrudangist and ghatam artist did a good job in both accompanying and during the tani.

PS: from this post i wish to add pictures of the concert if available.

M Ragavan, Music Club IIT Madras

M Ragavan - Vocal
S Varadarajan - Fiddle
Jayanth - Mrudangam

Music Club IIT Madras, 3rd Feb '06

duDukugala - gauLA - Adi - T (R)
krutapura kshEtra - malayamArutam - Adi - T (RS)
sadguru svAmiki - rItigauLa - Adi - ramanAtapuram srinivAsa iyEngar (R)
EdAri sancErinturA - sruthiranjani - Adi - T (RS)
kOtinadulu - tODi - Adi - T (RNS)
nannu kanna talli - sindhukannaDa - Adi - T
ninnanavalasinadEmi - kalyANi - cApu - T (RNS)
tani
R T P - srI rAgam - dushkara pancamukhi tALam (kaNDa jAti triputa tALam
with the beat taking 5 aksharams and the other counts taking 2 aksharams,
total 27 aksharams)
'entarO mahAnubAvulu antariki nA vandanamu' 2 aksharam eDuppu
tani
alla kallOmAyEnammA - saurAshTRam - Adi - T
rAmA srI rAmA - kuranji - Adi - T (R)
tillAnA - bEhAg - Adi - BMK
nI nama rUpamulaku

The concert was featured as a homage to Sadguru Tyagaraja svami. From the first sancaram of gauLa, the concert was well set and presented. A nice short sketch of the ragam was presented. Singing 'duDuku gala nannu E dOrakoDukku brocurA' with proper sAhitya splitting fully for every sangati and after each svaram and sAhityam was to be noted.

The AlApanai of malayamArutam was aptly done with fast sancarams to fit the tempo of the kriti. The rare kriti was well rendered with mel kAla svarams. The rItigauLa AlApanai was good and the kriti was nice as well. Next was a BMK favourite number. The AlApanai of sruthiranjani carefully avoiding phrases indicative of popular closely allied ragams was commendable. The kriti and svaram in mEl kAlam were good.

The tODi AlApanai was good without much of trying unwanted stuff. The kriti with neraval at 'pongusu srI raghu nAdunu prEmatO' and svarams was well rendered and good to hear. The main kalyANi AlApanai was good also. It was the routine elaborate affair of the AlApanai however the kriti and the neraval and svarams with nice korappu were good.

Then was the surprise. Taking up srI rAgam for a pallavi is not something usually expected. The AlApanai was good and well structured and a short and crisp tAnam was good also. The pallavi set to a rather uncommon tALam but popular sAhityam was done well with the anulOma, pratilOma and change of naDais.

The saurAshTRam and kuranji lAli in madhyama sruthi made the necessary impact. The ease with which the main artist sang one sancaram after another, the beauty of gliding from one note to another thro' two-and-half octaves was very good.

The violinst was good in all his parts. Being a professional violinist helped him to showcase the raga bhavam more elegantly.

The mrudangist was good and had good anticipation. His accompaniment was very sensible and both the tanis were good.

Kalpakam Swaminathan, Music Club IIT Madras

Smt Kalpakam Swaminathan - Veena
Smt S R Padmavathi - Veena Support
Thanjavur Sri R Kumar - Mrudangam

Music Club IIT Madras 2nd Feb 2006

nEranammiti - kAnaDA varNam - aTa tALam - ramanathapuram srinivAsa iyengAr
vAtApi gaNapatim - hamsadvani - Adi - MD (S)
srI mAtAh - bEgaDa - Adi - MD (R)
duDugukala - gauLA - Adi - T
nIvE gAni - bilahari - cApu - T (RS)
EkAmranAtEsvarENa - caturangiNi - Adi - MD (RS)
srI sarasvatI - mAnji - Adi - MD
bruhannAyikE - AndALi - Adi - MD
gOvindarAjam upAsmahE - mukhAri - cApu - MD (R)
inkevarunnAru - sahAnA - Adi - aNNAsvAmi sAstri (R)
sEshAcala nAyakam - varALi - rUpakam - MD (R tAnam)
srI subramanyAya - kAmbhOji - rUpakam - MD (R)
gaNesa kumAra pAhimAm - chenchuruTTi - catusra Ekam - MD (R)
tani
simhAsanastitE - rAgamAlikA (saurAshTRam, vasanta, suruTTi, madhyamAvati) - rUpakam - MD

The concert started with a leisurely rendition of the aTa tALa varNam and the hamsadvani kriti had brisk svarams. The bEgaDa AlApanai was measured and portrayed all the essential sancarams of the ragam. The usage of the apradhi madhyamam was distinctly shown during the AlApanai. The kriti was rendered very well.

The pancaratnam which followed was good also. Playing both the svaram and sAhityam of all the caranams, Smt. Swaminathan displayed that instrumental music doesnot completely depend on just notes but can also show the lyrics. The bilahari AlApanai which followed was good and displayed the beauty of the ragam in full. The kriti chosen, it couldn't get rarer. The kriti was very good and the svarams which followed in both kIzh kAlam and mEl kAlam were very good. Rarity yet again was the caturangiNi AlApanai. The 66th asampUrNa mELam was well elaborated and the kriti was rendered with a lot of bhavam and svarams were good also.

If one all along thought, mAnji is playing bhairavi with mistakes, next came the proof of the contrary. From the word go, there was no influence of bhairavi at all. The kriti was rendered with a lot of weight and bhavam in it. The AndALi kriti which followed was a fast number played to have a change to mood and get the audience ready for what was suppose to come.

The next was a very good AlApanai of mukhAri and the kriti, another rare piece, was rendered very well. The sahAnA AlApanai was tooo good exactly showing how the gAndhAram should be a shade lower. The kriti with sparkling cittai svara sAhityam was well rendered. The next was a leisurely elaboration of varALi with all that was needed and more. The tAnam was even more better. The kriti was rendered in vilamba kAlam. The kAlapramANam was amazing and was too pleasing to the ears much more than the fast version of the kriti which is more popular.

Well that was not all, kAmbhOji was next in line. From the first sancaram there was a lot of bhavam and the short yet sweet AlApanai was aptly followed by the slow rendition of the kriti which was followed by change of naDai at the pallavi line and playing the pallavi line in second and third kAlams. Next in line was a very good elaboration of chenchuruTTi in madhyama sruthi with yet another rare kriti of dIkshitar.

The tani which followed was nice short crisp and well structured. The mangalam kriti was good also. Sri Kumar on mrudangam provided very good support and played according to each sangati and yet again prooved why he is the most sort after mrudangist for veena concerts. Though advancing age is having an impact, the music delivered by the octagenerian is not diluted at all, not even to one drop. The Sruthi Sudhdham even with the absence of any sruthi box, the exact gamakkas without any damage portraying the raga bhavam perfectly were all things which make one adore the artist. It was very great experience to hear musicians of this calibre live and enjoy it to the fullest.