Vykom Jayachandran, Nada Inbam

Vykom Jayachandran - V L Kumar - B Sivaraman

Nada Inbam, Raga Sudha Hall.
30th May 2006 6pm

vakrathunDa mahAkAyA - slOkam in sankarAbaraNam
sAmi ninnE - sankarAbaraNam varNam - Adi
bhajAmyaham srI vinAyakam - hamsadvani - Adi (S)
rAma rAma pAhi rAma - bhUpALam - rUpakam - ST (S)
pAhimAma srI rAjarAjEsvari - janaranjani - Adi - Ramaswamy Sivan (Short Sketch)
angArakam - suruTTi - rUpakam - MD (R)
nAda tanumanisam - citta ranjani - Adi - T (S)
dEva dEva jagadIsvara - pUrvikalyANi - Adi - ST (RNS)
kamalApta kula - brindAvana sArangA - Adi - T
akshayalinga vibhO - sankarAbaraNam - misra cApu - MD (RNS)
tani Avarththanam
vakalAti pOtanalaku - bEhAg - rUpakam
enna tavam - kApi - Adi - PS
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurASTRam - Adi

There are two varieties of artists in any field. First, ones who are popular and perform for the mass appeal. Second, people who are rather less known but dont compromise on the quality of the stuff they present. Sri Jayachandran definetely falls in the latter category. His concert was just another example of how art is hidden in unknown pockets of the society.

It was a nice smooth voyage in the sea of music from the slOkam with the varNam to follow. The hamsadvani kriti had some nice svara prasthAams. The bhUpALam kriti had some unknown sangatis and the svaram were real good. The janaranjani short sketch was very short and yet real sweet.

suruTTi AlApanai was done in a scholarly fashion showing essentialities of the ragam and the kriti was rendered well. pUrvikalyANi kriti was rendered with neraval and svarams at 'dArita magadha mahIpa yaduttama' and the brindAvana sAragA kriti which followed was sung well.

The main sankarAbaraNam AlApanai was built in a logical fashion and showed all the raga lakshaNams. The kriti was well rendered with real good neraval and svarams at 'badarIvanamUla nAyikA sahita'. The bEhAg kriti and kApi kriti were good also.

Sri Kumar was good in accompaniying though he fell short in matching to Sri Jayachandran at places. Sri Sivaraman played with good anticipation and the tani was good also.

Seerkazhi Sivachidambaram, Music Academy

Seerkazhi Sivachidambaram - Sikkil Bhaskaran - Thiruvarur Saikrishnan - Madheswaran

Music Academy, 26th May 2006 6:30 pm

sEvikka vENDumaiyyA - AbhOgi - Adi (S)
nI dayavAi ennai ALAi - bhUpALam - Adi (S)
maravAdiru nenjamE - AndhOlikA - Adi
enna pizhaippu - gauri manOhari - Adi (R)
kAlai thUkki ninRu - yadukula kAmbhOji - Adi (R)
oru kAl siva chidambaram - Arabhi - Adi (R)
Adi kONDAr - mAyAmALavagauLa - Adi
aru marundOru thani marundu - kAmbhOji - rUpakam (R N S)
kaNDEn kaNDEn - vasantA - Adi

left after this piece

The concert was some endowment. I dont recollect on whose honour.

The opening piece had good svarams. The short sketch of bhUpALam and the svarams which followed were very good. The kriti however was not upto the mark. Sadly, this was the state of most kritis in Sri Sivachidambaram's list. Quite a few kritis in the list were quite not upto the mark. I am not up against tamil kritis or composers, there are quite a few really beautiful kritis, but these werent upto the mark at all.

Rather than elaborating on each piece, personally one felt that the general opinion about the concert was, the manOdarmam part was really expectionally well handled, while each of the kriti let down the AlApanai and/or the svarams, with the exception of the AbhOgi, yadukula kAmbhOji and mAyAmALavagauLa kritis. One doesnt know if the artist were bound by any constraints about the song list and hence one would not wish to elabore. I dont wish to be harsh, but the song list was definitely a let down.

Sri Sivachidambaram did a good job with the alapanais, neraval and svarams. Taking up both yadukula kAmbhOji and kambhOji for elaborate treatment in the same concert and getting done both without mistakes is something that needs to be given credit.

The Violinst was visibly quite lost in many parts of the concert. His bowing was also quiet shrieky. The mrudangist was rather monotonous all thro' the concert. The morsing artist was good. As usual, yet again, one felt Sri Sivachidambaram should perform with better accompanists.

T M Krishna, Palani Subramania Pillai Guru Pooja

T M Krishna - V V Ravi - Manoj Siva - N Amrit

Palani Subramania Pillai Guru Pooja. Narada Gana Sabha (mini hall)
20th May 2006 10 AM

tODuDaiya seviyan - gambIra nATTai - rUpakam - tEvAram
mAmava mInAkshi - varALi - misra cApu - MD (R N S)
vinatA suta vAhana - jayantasEna - Adi - T
mummUrtulu gumigUDi - aTANA - Adi(2) - T (RS)
padavini sadbakthiyu - sALagabhairavi - Adi - T (S)
enduku dayarAdurA - tODi - misra cApu - T (RNS)
tani Avaratthanam
smara sundarAnguni - paras - Adi - dharmapuram subbarAyar jAvaLi
OsOsi - mukhAri - tisra tripuTa - muddu naTEsA padam
slokam 'mauLau gangA' - mAyAmALavagauLa, sahAnA, bilahari, sindhu bhairavi
visvEsvara darisan - sindu bhairavi - Adi - ST
nilaiyAda samutiramAna - chenchuruTTi - sankIrNa tripuTa - thiruppugazh
tillAnA - khamas - Adi - Patnam subramania iyer
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTRam - Adi - T
maNirangu short sketch

The concert started with a nice rendition of the tEvAram and the varALi short sketch which followed was real good. The kriti was rendered with good bhavam and with neraval and svarams at 'shyAmE sankarI digvijaya pratApini' were rendered with his usual vigour.

The aTANA AlApanai was done very beautifully showing all the aesthetic beauty of the ragam. The kriti was rendered with svarams in viLamba kAlam. The flavour of aTANA in slow tempo was very good and enjoyable. The sALagabhairavi svarams in high speed were good also.

The main tODi AlApanai was pretty elaborate and the kriti was followed with beautiful neraval in three kAlams and svarams. The jAvaLi which followed was nice. The mukhAri padam was just brilliant and so was the rAga mAlikA viruttam. The tiruppugazh was good also.

Sri Krishna gave a good concert with his usual vigour and it was enjoyable over all from the tEvaram to the maNirangu. Sri Ravi on the violin was overall good in lending support, though at parts there were some lapses. Sri Manoj Siva did a good job both in accompanying the artists and during the tani. He was well assisted by Sri Amrit.

bharath

M A Bhagirathi, Thyagaraja Sangeetha Vidwat Samajam

Dr M A Bhagirathi - Kandadevi Vijayaraghavan - Kumbakonam Ramakrishnan

Thyagara Sangeetha Vidwat Samajam
17th May 2006 6:30pm

ragunAyakA - Hamsadhwani - Adi
ennaDu jUtunO - kalavathi - Adi
banturIti - hamsanAdam - Adi (R,S)
tuLasi daLa - mAyAmALavagauLa - rUpakam
bAlE bAlEndu - rItigauLa - Adi
kAru bAru - mukhAri - Adi
rAmA nI vAdukonduvO - kalyANi - Adi (tisra naDai) (R, N, S)
taniyAvardanam
haridAsuDuveDalE - yamuna kalyANi - Adi
rAma nAmam bhajarE - madhyamAvati - Adi

I reached late and entered as she was starting to elaborate hamsanAdam. As I was entering, what immediately struck to me was the full throated voice the singer had. A very open throated powerful voice it was.

The AlApanai of hamsanAdam was done well and the kriti was rended well with beautiful svarams. The mAyAmALava gauLa kriti was rendered beautifully carefully splitting sentences to not mess with the meanings.

The rItigauLa kriti was rendered beautifully with some rare sangatis. The two line mukhAri she hummed in the mike was just tooo good. If only she had developed a short AlApanai or something, it would have been very good. The kriti was rendered in the right kAla pramANam showing all the bhavam.

The main kalyANi AlApanai was done very well showing all the essential sancarams and quite a few rare pidis were also shown. The kriti was very good and rendered beautifully with neraval ' nA manasuna nIyandu prEma mIraganu nammi' and svarams with korappu to pa.

The yamuna kalyANi piece which followed the tani was good also and the madhyamAvati kriti led to the finish.

Dr. Bhagirathi, all thro' the concert, displayed good voice control and she could sing even complicated sangatis with ease and get them right ever time she sang the sangati. One particular sangati which lingers is one in the mukhAri kriti's anupallavi which is just the ArOhaNam of the rAgam with distinct gamakas in all the savrams, and Dr Bhagirathi sang it with perfection and did it time and again whenever that line came. There were more such phrases all the thro' the concert. All the AlApanais were phrase based and not svara based which added more weight to the music.

The violinst also did a good job in giving apt replies to the main artist and also supporting her during the kritis. His AlApanais were also logically built with phrases.

The mrudangist did a good job and played for the kriti correctly. His tani was also very good.

bharath

PS: Also read, samajathil-sangitham by Arunn