Thirupampuram Brothers, Nadasvaram Concert, Sri Ragam Fine Arts

Thirupampuram Brothers: T K S Swaminathan & T K S Meenakshi Sundaram - Nagasvaram
Vedaranyam Balasubramanian (balu) & Sivapuri Ramamurthy (ramu) - Tavil

Nadasvara Vidwan Thirucherai T V S Sivasubramania Pillai 80th birthday and CD release function.
Sri Ragam Fine Arts. Sastri Hall [a/c]
30th May 2007. 8 pm

srI gaNapatini - saurAshTram - Adi - T (R)
jAnakI ramaNa - suddha sImantini - Adi - T (S)
rAma nI samAna - kharaharapriyA - rUpakam - T (RS)
tani(?)

Thanks to the function before, the concert which was scheduled to start at 7 pm began only one hour late. It was however not so uncomfortable to sit in the newly airconditioned Sastri hall which was overflowing, coz the hall was airconditioned. Also, with some sweet kaaram and coffee and/or juice being served, it was actually not a very painful wait.

The concert began with a beautiful AlApanai of saurAshTram. The kriti was rendered very well. The suddha sImantini kriti was rendered in a different fashion, as compared to the usual pAtAntaram one hears. A quick round of svarams followed

The main(?) kharaharapriyA AlApanai was played by the brothers very elaborately including quite a few not-so-often heard pidis and sancarams. This was a 25 minute affair. The kriti was rendered in all its grandeur.

I had to leave when they started playing the svarams as i had to atleast get the last bus.

The brothers shared both AlApanais and both of them, played very well. The kritis were rendered nicely also. The tavil vidwans were both at the job and played with good anticipation. Sri Balu a shade better.

This was the first programme at the newly airconditioned Sastri Hall. Considering the size and acoustics of Sastri Hall, one felt that the concert would have been a lot more enjoyable sans the sound system and the speakers etc which were very loud.

bharath