Suguna Purushottaman, Music Club IIT Madras

Suguna Purushottaman - Dr. R Hemalatha - Thanjavur R Kumar

Music Club IIT Madras. DoMS Hall
21st August 2007. 6:45 pm

gajAnanam - slOkam in hamsadvani & tODi
dAni sAmajEndra - tODi - Adi - ST (varNam)
bhuvinidAsuDanE - srI ranjani - Adi - T (S)
shAntamu lEkA - sAmA - Adi - T (R)
nimmi vaccina - kalyANi - tisra Ekam - T (RNS)
muraharENa mukundEna - suddha mukhAri - rUpakam - MD (S)
ninnu minchina vArevarammA - nATTaikuranji - Adi (RS)
tani Avarththanam
lakshmI samEda - mOhanam - lakshmIsam - Suguna Purushottaman
RTP - bhairavi - tisra jhampai misra naDai, 2 akshara eDuppu 8 akshara aridi
'kaDaikkaN vaithennai ALammA karuNakari shankari gauri'
srI rAma jaya rAma - yadukula kAmbhOji - kaNDa cApu - T
marukkulAviya - pUrvikalyANi - tisra jhampai tisra naDai & kaNDa tripuTa catusra naDai (in both hands) - Arunagirinathar (thiruppugazh)
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTram - Adi - T

A slOkam on gaNeshA in hamsadvani gave a good start to the concert. While one was expecting one of the many kritis on Lord Ganesha, there came a change to tODi and the rare varNam was presented. The varNam was nice and the cittai svarams had some nice prayOgams. The srI ranjani kriti was presented nicely with a quick round of svarams.

The first AlApanai of the day, was a beautiful sAmA. The rAga flavour was brought out completely. The shAntam in the rAga AlApanai was more aptly felt with the kriti which followed. The kalyANi AlApanai was kept short and sweet. The kriti was rendered with elaborate neraval and svarams at 'vEda purANAgama shAstrAdulu gumigUDi'. The next was the rare dikshitar kriti rendered with a lot of bhavam and the svarams in the line 'parama suddha mukhAri rAga' and the korappu done to the dhaivatam at were both amazing.

The main nATTaikuranji AlApanai was quite elaborate. The rare kriti was rendered beautifully and followed up with a round of svaram at the pallavi line. The kriti in mOhanam set to lakshmIsa tALam was sung after the tani. The AlApanai of bhairavi was done in the most classical and moving fashion. The tanam was real nice. The pallavi was sung beautifully with trikAlam, anulOma, pratilOma. The yadukulakAmbhOji kriti was reminding the 'pAhi rAmachandra rAghava' of musiri. The thiruppugazh was rendered with two tALams in both hands.

Smt Suguna Purushottaman gave a very fulfilling concert to the small audience. It was carnatic music of the highest order from the word go and there was no dilution or compromise anywhere. Musicians enjoy themselves singing and sing for the sake of the music and not for anything else, will always be giving us high quality music. This concert was another example for the same.

Dr. Hemalatha on the violin did a good job on the whole. Her AlApanais of sAmA and kalyANi were both good. Her neraval and svarams for kalyANi were nice as well. She did a good job in giving her replies to the svarams in suddha mukhAri as well. The main AlApanai of nATTaikuranji and also, for bhairavi were both worth mentioning. She also played some nice neraval for the pallavi and matched up during the svarams.

Sri Kumar on the mrudangam was very accomodative. His accompaniment to each kriti and each sangati was very much in tune with the music. His matching up for the kritis and playing according to the flow of the kriti needs a special mention. His tani was nice and he played some nice patterns. His playing for the kriti in the rare lakshmIsa tALam and also for the pallavi were both nice also.