T K Govinda Rao, Nada Inbam

T K Govinda Rao - R K Shiram Kumar - K V Prasad

Nada Inbam, Raga Sudha Hall.
22nd August 2006. 6 pm

ninnE bhajana - nATTai - Adi - T (RNS)
teratIyaga rAdA - gauLipantu - Adi - T (S)
telisi rAma - pUrNacandrikA - Adi - T (S)
paridAnamiccitE - bilahari - kaNDa cApu - PSI (RNS)
Ema ninnE - mukhAri - Adi - SS (RS)
tani Avarttanam
Ananda sAgara - garuDadvani - Adi - T (short sketch)
srI visvanAtam - caturdasa rAgamAlikA - Adi - MD
kaNamum maravAdE - sAmA - Adi - AK (S)
antakana dUtarigE - rAgamAlikA - kaNDa cApu - PD
manju nihAr - mAND - misra cApu - kAvaDi chindu
caraNa kamalAlayattai - senjuruTTi - kaNDa cApu - kAvadi chindu
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTRam - Adi - T

The concert began with a beautiful elaboration of nATTai and 'ninnE bhajana' was rendered with a nice ciTTai svaram, beautiful neraval and measured svarams at 'sItAnAtha sakala lOka pLalaka tyAgarAja sannuta'. The gauLipantu kriti, 'teratIyaka' which followed was good and the svarams were displaying the raga bhavam. 'telisi rAma' was rendered with all the caranams though the usual ciTTai svaram was missing. However, kalpana svarams followred.

Bilhari was the first major Alapanai. The ragam was elaborated very well and all the aesthetic beauty of the ragam was brought out. 'paridAnamiccitE' was rendered with amazing neraval and svarams at 'rokkamicchutakunE mukkaNTi celikAnu'.

The mukhAri AlApanai was very beautiful and 'Ema ninnE' was a treat to hear. It was rendered with a lot of bhavam and a round of svarams. The garuDadvani short sketch gave a good flavour of the rAgams. 'Ananda sAgara' was rendered beautifully with sparkling ciTTai svarams.

'srI visvanAtam' was rendered beautifully. 'kaNamum' in sAmA, a TKG favourite was good with nice svarams. The second rAgamAlika, 'antha kaNa' was rendered in a set of hindustani style rAgams and was good also. The two kAvaDi chindus were beautiful also.

Whenever one has to write a write-up about a concert like the one in consideration, one falls shorts of words for in the first sentence itself one exhausts all available superlative adjectives and it gets tough to find better words to describe pieces that followed. Else, one goes terribly repetitive in describing each piece. I usually tend to get very repetitive.

Sri Govinda Rao gave a really amazing concert and was at his creative best. His voice was co-operating and was quite audible right from the first piece, thanks to the double microphone. Sri Shriram Kumar was very accurate in following the vocalist in each sangati and kriti and even during the neraval and svarams. His AlApanais were fitting also. Sri Prasad played very aptly to accompany the pieces and was able to play well for each sangati sang. His tani was beautiful also. He showed a few nice patterns and also, his korappu to the beginning of 'Ema ninnE' was very enjoyable.

R Vedavalli, Nada Inbam

R Vedavalli - Usha Rajagopalan - Neyveli Narayanan - Madipakkam Murali

Nada Inbam, Raga Sudha Hall.
18th August 2006. 6 pm

viribhONi - bhairavi - aTa tALam - AdiyappaiyA
subramaNyEna - suddha dhanyAsi - Adi - MD (S)
karuNA samudra - dEvagAndAri - Adi - T (R)
mEru samAna - mAyAmALavagauLa - dEsAdi - T (RNS)
nIvADanE gAna - sArangA - kaNDa cApu - T
giripai nelakona - sahAnA - Adi - T (R)
nIkEla nAyeDa - dEvamanOhari - Adi - RSI
vAridhi nIku - tODi - misra cApu - T (RNS)
tani Avarththanam
OsOsi - mukhAri - misra cApu - muddu natEsa padam
nI mATalu E mAyanurA - pUrvikalyANi - Adi - paTTAbhirAmayya
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurashTRam - Adi - T
svasthi prajApya - madhyamAvati

The concert started with the bhairavi varNam rendered with the 4 cittai svarams and the anubandam. The suddha dhanyAsi kriti was rendered with good svarams. The first AlApanai taken up was a short and crisp dEvagAndhAri, with the kriti to follow.

The mAyAmALavagauLa AlApanai was very good and kriti was rendered really well, with neraval and svarams at 'gaLamuna shObhillu kanaka bhUSaNamula', followed by the sArangA kriti.

The sAhanA AlApanai was done with full vigour and the kriti had some real vintage sangatis which are no longer rendered. The main tODi AlApanai begun on a nice note with not many known sancarams coming in for quite sometime. Starting at the pancamam the AlApanai went to the tAra sthAyi and then came to the lower part of the octave. The kriti couldnt get rarer. It seemed to be quite a tough and heavy kriti to render and was beautifully rendered, following which, Smt Vedavalli explained that it was part of the prahalAda caritram. The neraval and svarams at 'sAreku nI hrdayAravinda mu' were done beautifully. Some of the sancarams in the tODi kriti, for example there was one sangati which had a flat gAndhAram, were good and enjoyable. A different flavour of tODi was presented in the main piece. The mukhAri padam and the pUrvikalyANi jAvaLi were rendered very well.

Smt Vedavalli gave a good concert giving some vintage stuff and also keeping the regular concert attending rasika happy. A ragamalikA slOkam and/or viruttam, which is a regular feature in all her concerts, would have given complete satisfaction. The absence of which was felt. One also felt that she could have been better assisted by her accompanists.

Smt Usha Rajagopalan on the violin was quite off beat from the begining. Her dEvagAndhAri AlApanai was definetely far away from what the main artist sang. The mAyAmALavagauLa AlApanai in parts sounded like neraval done in popular kritis. The sahAnA AlApanai also was not upto the mark. By the time she presented her "usual" tODi reply one had made a resolution not to hear her solo versions. She was quite struggling in even keeping with the main artists in most parts of the concert.

Sri Narayanan on the Mrudangam was very monotonous throughout the concert. He was playing very similarly for all pieces being viLamba kAla or dhurita kAla krits. And also repeated the same things during the tani also. One could over hear a comment from the back rows "Yennathukku ipdi aadi maasam maariamman kovil tappu maadiri vaasikkaraan" (why is playing like the 'tappu' played at Mariamman Temple during ADi month?)

Sri Murali was rather better in being a more sensible accompanist to the concert, but all his efforts were over shadowed by the other two main accompanists.

bharath

Mohan Santanam, Mudhra

Mohan Santanam - Ambika Prasad - Madipakkam Suresh

Kalpitam and Pallavi concert
Mudhra, Infosys Hall, T Nagar
12th August 2006 6:30 pm

innum en manam - chArukEsi varNam - Adi - LGJ
praNamAmyaham - gauLa - Adi - MV
anupama guNambudi - aTANA - kaNDa cApu - T
aruL seiyya - rasikapriyA - Adi - KI (short sketch)
srI visvanAtam - caturdasa rAgamAlikA - Adi - MD
RTP - bhairavi - kaNDa tripuTa (tisra naDai) 3 akshara eDuppu
thAmadham thagAdhaiyya thaNigai murugaiyya
rAgamAlika svarams in nATTakuranji, bhavapriyA, madhyamAvati
sonnadai seidhiDa - rAgamAlikA - Adi
mayil vAhanamAi - suruTTi mangaLam - Adi - KI

The concert was one of a different kind. All pieces but for the pallavi were rendered with out any AlApanai or neraval or svarams. The charukEsi pada varNam made a good starter. The invocatory gauLa kriti and aTANA kriti were rendered well. The rasikapriyA short sketch was good. The kriti was rendered well. The rAgamAlikA of dikshitar was rendered very well thus ending the kalpitam part of the concert.

The bhairavi AlApanai was done quite elaborately, though one felt the artist had cut short the AlApanai in the second part keeping in mind the time factor. The tanam was brief but well rendered. The pallavi set by Sri TRS, was rendered well with beautiful svarams in all the rAgams. The artist chose to sing the pallavi's anulOma, pratilOma parts and in tisra naDai, in each of the rAgams taken up during the rAgamAlikA part. The suruTTi mangaLam was a welcome change.

The accompanists did a good job in accompanying and in their respective solo parts.

Priya Sisters, Music Club IIT Madras

Priya Sisters - Akkarai Subhalakshmi - Neyveli Skandasubramanian - B S Purushottaman

Music Club IIT Madras
11th August 2006 6:45 pm

intha mODi - sArangA varNam - Adi
vinAyakA - hamsadvani - Adi - Veenai Kuppaiyer (S)
karuNAnidiyE - bauLi - Adi - PS
paripAlayamAm srI padmanAbha - rItigauLA - rUpakam - ST (R)
entha muddo - bindumAlini - Adi - T
Ananda naTamAduvAr - pUrvikalyANi - rUpakam - Neelakanta Siva (RS)
nAgagAndhAri - nAgagAndhAri - Adi - MD
upachAramulanu - bhairavi - Adi - T (RNS)
tani Avarththanam
garuDatalE - sindhu bhairavi - Adi - Annamacharya
kAkkai siraginilE - darbAri kAnaDA - Adi - Bharathiyar
gOvindam gOkulAnandam - bhImpLAs - Ekam
srI krishNa chaitanya - hindOlam - Adi
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTRam - Adi - T
madhyamAvati - short sketch

The concert began with a neat rendition of the varNam and the hamsadvani kriti had nice svarams. Haripriya's elaboration of rItigauLa was good and the kriti was well rendered. Shanmukhapriya's pUrvikalyANi was good also. The svarams were good.

The main bhairavi AlApanai by Haripriya was quite elaborate. The kriti was rendered well with neraval and svarams at 'aparimita navaratnamulu poDigina'. The post tani pieces were good also.

On the whole, the sisters gave a nice concert. The co-ordination between the sisters was very good. The pronounciation of lyrics and apt splitting of words were very evident They were ably supported by the accompanists.

Vijay Siva, Music Club IIT Madras

Vijay Siva - R K Shriram Kumar - Manoj Siva

Music Club IIT Madras
10th August 2006 6:45 pm

sadA pAla rUpapi - slOkam - kIravANi
bAla sarasa muraLI - kIravANi - Adi - OVK
sObillu - jagan mOhini - rUpakam - T (NS)
karuNajUDavammA - pantuvarALi - Adi(2) - SS (RN)
murugA muzhumadi pazikkum ArumugA - sAvEri - Adi - PS (RS)
soundara rAjam - brindAvana sArangA - tisra Ekam - MD
teliyalEru rAmA - dhEnukA - Adi - T
R T P - sankarAbaraNam - tisra jhampai (tisra naDai 2 kaLAi) sama eDuppu. tALam reduced to 1 kaLai.
'samAnamA sabhApatE sadAsivA sakala ulagamE unakku sari'
rAgamAlika svarams and korappu in hindOLam, hamIrkalyANi, kuntaLa varALi
tani Avarththanam in tisra jhampai (tisra naDai 2 kaLAi)
ini yenna pEchirukkudu - sahAnA - Adi - Subbarama Iyer
thammaiyE pugazhnthicchai - senjuruTTi - cApu - sundarar tEvAram
IyenRu nAn oruvariDam - viruttam in punnAga varALi, yamuna kalyANi, sindhu bhairavi
kAnthamAm kathirkAmam thanil - sindhu bhairavi- Eka tALam - Mayuram Viswanatha Sastri
ANDavan darisanamE - jOnpuri - Adi
iyal isaiyil - husEni tiruppugazh - vishama tALam - Arunagiri Nathar
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTRam - Adi - T
svasti prajA - saurAshTRam

The concert started with a beautiful slokam and the beautiful kIravANi piece. The jaganmOhini kriti was rendered with neraval at 'dhara rksAmAdulalO...' and svarams at 'saptaswara'. The pantuvarALi AlApanai was done well showing the rAga lakshaNams and the rare grand kriti taken up was really well rendered with neraval at 'maragatAngi panchanadIshu rANi'. A couple of kalpana svarams in this kriti would have been more fulfilling.

The sAvEri was elaborated well and the svarams that followed the kriti which had a starting two aksharams before the tALam started were good and had some nice patterns rendered. The slow rendition of the brindAvana sArangA kriti, a version away from the popular version we hear, had a definite impact followed by the dhEnukA.

The main course, sankarAbaraNam was elaborated to the fullest and was very fulfilling. The tanam was also beautiful. The pallavi was rendered well without a hitch with anulOma, pratilOma and the korappU to madhyamam was done in all the four ragams in a cycle. each ragam coming for an avartanam and then half and so on. It was well rendered. The tani in such a not-so-common taLam was good also, displaying some intricate patterns.

The post tani session had all the pieces rendered very enjoyably and unusual ease. The concert was on the whole very fulfilling and some of the pieces still ring in one's mind.

The violinst was in his usual best all thro' the concert and so was the mrudangist. The enjoyment one derived from the concert was understandably from the combined effort of all the three men on stage.

Ravikiran, Music Club IIT Madras

N Ravikiran - Chitraveena
Akkarai Subhalakshmi - Fiddle
K V Prasad - Mrudangam
S Karthick - Ghatam

Music Club IIT Madras
9th August 2006 6:45 pm

mAyatIta svarUpiNi - mAyAmALavagauLa - rUpakam - Tanjore Quartet (S)
tanamIda nE - bhUshAvaLi - Adi - T (RS)
kalAvatI - kalAvatI/yAgapriyA - Adi - MD (short sketch)
brOcEvArevarurA - kamAch - Adi - MV (RS)
tani Avarththanam
RTP - dhEnukA - Adi (2 kaLai) sama eDuppu
'sa ri ga ma pa da ni rajamulu bhajimpavE manasA'
tAru mAru - nATTaikuranji jAvaLi - Adi - Pattabhiramayya
tuLLumada vETkai - hamsAnandi tiruppugazh - Adi - Aruna Giri Nathar
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTRam - Adi - T (short sketch)
madhyamAvati (short sketch)

The concert began with a nice rendition of the mAyAmALavagauLa kriti with good svarams. The bhUshAVaLi AlApanai was well handled and gave a good flavour of the ragam. The kriti was beautifully rendered with svarams. The short sketch of kalAvati (the 31st asampUrNa mELam) also called yAgapriyA was good and the kriti had some nice phrases.

KhamAs AlApanai was followed by the kriti and some good swarams, leading to the tani. The starting phrase of dhEnukA was very catchy and established the rAga lakshaNam right there. It was a very inspiring elaboration of dhEnukA and the tAnam was well played also. The pallavi, played on request, was quite well set and had a lot of svarAksharams. It was well rendered and some of his usages of svarAksharams were liberally borrowed from stalwarts of yesteryears. The rare nATTaikuranji jAvaLi was rendered well. Sri Ravikiran gave a good concert.

Kum. Subhalakshmi ably supported the main artist and gave fitting replies to the main artists.

Sri Prasad was good thro' the concert and played for the compositions. he was accompanying the main artists with very good anticipation. He was ably supported by Sri Karthick. The tani they played had some interesting patterns and the korappu was very well done.

Sanjay, Music Club IIT Madras

Sanjay Subrahmanyan - M R Gopinath - K Arun Prakash

Music Club IIT Madras
8th August 2006 6:45 pm

nI vaNTi deivamu - nIlAmbari varNam - aTa tALam - Tarangampadi Panchanada Iyer (short rAga sketch)
cinna nADE nA - kalAnidhi - Adi - T (S)
angArakam - suruTTi - rUpakam - MD (NS)
brOva samayamidE - gaurimanOhari - Adi - karur dEvuDu (R)
ninnu sEvincina - yadukula kAmbhOji - misra cApu - subbarAya sAstri (short rAga sketch)
ennEramum oru kAlai - tODi - Adi - mArimuttA piLLai (RS)
tani Avarththanam
ohO kAlamE - sahAnA - Adi - vEdanAyagam piLLai (short rAga sketch)
ennaDu jUtunO - kalAvati - Adi - T
RTP - mOhanam - tisra tripuTa (2 kaLai) sama eDuppu. tALam reduced to misra cApu.
'mOhana rangA vandaruL varam thandaruL jagan'
rAgamAlika tAnam in bEgaDa, pUrvikalyANi, janaranjani
short tani in misra cApu
visvEsvara - sindhubhairavi, pahADi, kOsalam - rUpakam - ST
ramanai pUjithal - mAND - Adi - PS
mukthi aLikkum - navarOz - cApu - GKB
thiruppugazh - jOnpuri - Adi
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTRam - Adi - T

The concert started with a short sketch of nIlAmbari and the varNam was nicely rendered. The kalAnidi kriti with svarams at pallavi was good. The suruTTi kriti was presented neatly with neraval and svarams at 'dInarakshakam pUjita vaidhyanAta kshEtram'.

The first AlApanai of the evening was gauri manOhari. The AlApanai was done exceptionally well and the kriti was good as well. The yadukula kAmbhOji sketch and the kriti were moving and filled with bhavam. One was truly touched by the rendition.

tODi was treated elaborately to the right measure. The kriti was good and had good old tamil flowing. The svarams were beautiful and also had some intricate kaNakku. Some parts of tODi reminded one of the yesteryear nadasvara masteros.

The sahAnA short sketch and the kriti were good and the rare kalAvati kriti was good also. The mOhanam AlApanai was well structured and the rAgamAlikA parts of tAnam were very well done. The pallavi was nice. The usual anulOma-pratilOma and tisram were done. He sangs vilamba kAla svarams in tisra tripuTa and mEl kAlam in misra cApu. (reducing the tALam from tisra tripuTa to misra cApu)

It was quite refreshing to hear two extra caraNams of the swati tirunal kriti in pahADi and kOsalam other than the sindhu bhairavi one, which one usually gets to hear. The mAND kriti was nice and the navarOs peace was nicely rendered as well. The jonpuri thiruppugazh and pavamana led to curtains.

Sri Sanjay gave a really good concert. His voice was not at its best, but one could still feel the life in his music through the concert. One is not able to recollect any 'thoivu' in the concert.

Sri Gopinath was good in accompanying almost all thro' the concert. There were few parts were he could have done better.

Sri Arun Prakash did a amazing job in perfectly accompanying the main artist. His charecterestic playing for the kriti and actually playing according to the sangati was good. His tanis were good also.

Kalpakam Swaminathan, Nada Inbam

Smt. Kalpakam Swaminathan - Veena
Smt. S R Padmawathi - Veena
Melakaveri Sri Balaji - Mrudangam

Nada Inbam, Raga Sudha Hall. 3rd August 2006. 5 pm

sAmi daya jUta - kEdAragauLa varNam - Adi
varasiddhi vinAyakA - kAnaDA - Adi - HMB (RS)
vina nAshakoni - pratApavarALi - Adi - T
eTu nammina - sAvEri - Adi - PSI (RNS)
kamalAmbA - Anandabhairavi - misra cApu - MD (RS)
kOrina varamu - rAmapriyA - rUpakam - RSI (R)
ikanE tALajAlanurA - guharanjani - Adi - HMB
rAma rAma guNasIma - simmEndramadhyamam - Adi - ST (RTNS)
tani Avarththanam
iTu sAhasamulu - saindavi jAvaLi - Adi - ST
tillAnA - paras

I just am not able to express my feelings about this concert in words. Such was the stature of the Smt Kalpakam Swaminathan at Raga Sudha Hall. It was just flowing from the first kEdAragauLa phrase till the curtains drew. It is believed that, with artists advancing in age, each concert one gets to listen is an opportunity to draw more out of their musical knowledge. That way, the 70 odd people sitting in Raga Sudha Hall last evening were blessed with some real good music and display of vidwat of high stature.

The varNam was well rendered. The kAnaDA AlApanai was beautifully done and the kriti, a not-so-often-heard piece was good with nice svarams. The pratApavarALi kriti was good also.

The first major AlApanai taken up was sAvEri. The rAgam was well elaborated, showing essential phrases. The kriti was well rendered with neraval and swarams. Smt Padmavathi's Anandabhairavi AlApanai was short and sweet. She did a crispy good AlApanai of the rAgam and the kriti was beautifully rendered with swarams at the pallavi line.

Up next was a AlApanai of rAmapriyA which was another short and sweet one. The kriti was well rendered also. The guharanjani kriti which followed was rendered well. The main AlApanai in simmendramadhyamam was really good. The tanam with Smt Swaminathan played, supported by Smt Padmavati, was one to cherish for sometime. The kriti was played beautifully with neraval and svarams at 'munimAnasa dhama mrugamada sulalAma'.

The concert was rounded off with a nice jAvaLi in saindhavi played in madhyama sruthi and the tillAna.

Smt Swaminathan gave a real good concert. Smt Padmavati supported her ably with good playing.

Sri Balaji was good in many parts. It was nice to hear him playing synchronously with the sounds that were heard from construction work somewhere nearby during the initial parts of the concert. The tani was good as well, the usage of the thoppi was very evident.