Kalpakam Swaminathan, Guruguha Sangeetha Sammelan

courtesy: www.thehindu.com; hosted on:www.flickr.com

Kalpakam Swaminathan - Veena
L Ramakrishnan - Veena Support
Mannarkoil J Balaji - Mrudangam

Silver Jubilee celebrations of Guruguha Sangeetha Sammelanam,
Guruguha Gana Vidyalaya, Kolkata.

12th November 2006. 5 pm.
R K Swamy Hall

valaci vacci - hindOLavasanta - rUpakam varNam - Ramaswamy Dikshitar (short sketch)
hastivadanAya - navarOj - cApu
rAmacandrENa - mAnji - rUpakam
hiraNmayIm - lalitA - rUpakam (R)
AnandEsvarENa - Anandabhairavi - cApu (RS)
abhayAmbA - kalyANi - Adi (RT)
visvanAtEna - sAmanta - Adi (R)
ganEsa kumAra - senchuruTTi - Ekam (R)

The concert started off with a ultra short sketch of hindOLavasanta and the varNam was rendered well. The invocatory kriti in navarOj was nice and so was the mAnji piece.

Smt Swaminathan played lalitA in madyama sruthi and the AlApanai was nice. The kriti was well rendered. The Anandabhairavi AlApanai was very well rendered with some rare pidis. The kriti was rendered with nice svarams.

The main kalyANi AlApanai was done well. The tAnam was the highlight of the concert. It was a delight to hear. The kriti was rendered beautifully. For want of time, Smt Swaminathan chose to not play neraval or svarams for the kriti and asked the mrudangist to play tani Avarththanam, who however requested her to continue.

The second highlight of the concert was the AlApanai of sAmanta. Smt Swaminathan did a very nice AlApanai and followed it with a really rare piece which was good also. The nice senjuruTTi AlApanai and the kriti led to the curtains.

Smt Swaminathan's Veena recital should raise the morale of the youngsters to buildup enough enthusiam and master this delicate instrument. The very sight of this octagenerian playing the veena makes one feel divine. The music all the more adds up to the feeling of divinity. The concert last evening was just too good.

She was ably accompanied by her disciple, Sri Ramakrishnan who did just enough to give support to her and not over do things. Sri Balaji on the mrudangam was good in accompanying the recital. His playing suited the vINa recital well and he playing following the kritis that were presented. Also, his forgoing tani let us hear another rare dikshitar piece.

A nice concert to cherish over time.