Nedunuri Krishnamurthy, Valayapatti Nadalaya

Nedunuri Krishnamurthy - Sriram Parasuram - Guruvayur Durai - Srirangam Kannan

Valayapatti Kaashyap Nadalaya. Hemamalini Kalyana Mantapam
31st December 2006. 10 am

vandE ham - hamsadvani - kaNDa cApu - A (RS)
sambhO mahAdEva - pantuvarALi - rUpakam - T
manasA eTulOrtunE - malayamArutam - rUpakam - T (RS)
srI valli dEvasEnApatE - naTabhairavi - Adi - PS
manavi AlakimparA - naLinakAnti - Adi - T (short sketch)
srI vEnkaTagirISam - suruTTi - Adi - MD (RNS)
tani Avarththanam
sAkEtE nagarE - Slokam - shanmukhapriyA, sAmA, bEhAg, sindhubhairavi
eppo varuvArO - jOnpuri - Adi - GKB
patiki hArati rE - suruTTi - Adi - T
sriyatkAntAya & managaLam kOsalEndrAya - madhyamAvati

Sri Nedunuri Krishnamurthy presented an awesome concert this morning. Even beyond his not-so-normal health, he was in full form and presented a very enjoyable concert. Though he was visibly uncomfortable with some problems in his neck, that did not stop him for the 3 hours he kept the audience captive.

The concert started with a short AlApanai of hamsadvani and the kriti was rendered well with nice round of svarams to follow at the pallavi line. His first set of one Avartana svarams with just 'sa ri ga pa ni' were all good. And another sancaram with utilised to the fullest was 'ni sa ri ga \ pa' which gave a strikingly different effect from the usual 'ni sa ri ga \ ni'. The pantuvarALi kriti which followed was rendered well.

The malayamArutam AlApanai which followed was very nice. The kriti was rendered with a nice set of svarams at 'kalilO rAjasa'. After this Sri Nedunuri said that he is singing ragams which he usually doesnt sing at concerts. He said, svarams also should be filled with raga bhavam and not be detached. He said, he was not very comfortable singing svarams at the occasion and will sing rAgams leisurely (vishrantiya raagam paadren). The naTabhairavi kriti which followed was nice. The naLinakAnti piece which followed (on request) was well rendered, and he rendered the pallavi line as 'manavi Alakimpara' instead of the usual, mavyAlakincarA. I am told that only the former makes sense in telugu.

The main suruTTi AlApanai was a treat to hear. The master of suruTTi kept us captive with the AlApanai which was full of long sancarams. He restricted himself to the thArasthAyi rishabam and commented that, to reach this rishabam correctly, it took 50 years for him. As promised, he did sing a leisurely AlApanai. The kriti was rendered beautifully with nice neraval and svarams at 'alamElumangA samEdam anantapadmanAbamatItam'. Some of the svarams were he exploited the 'pa\sa' and 'ma\sa' extensively were really good. The rAgamAlikA slOkam and the jOnpuri kriti were rendered beautifully.

Sri Sriram on the violin followed Sri Krishnamurthy like a shadow. He gave AlApanais which were fitting those of the main artists. The kriti renditions and neraval and svarams were very good as well.

Sri Dorai was his usual self on stage. He played with a great level of anticipation and fitting for all that was presented. Sri Kannan on the morsing ably supported the mrudangist. The tani they played was very nice.

bharath