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Friday, August 01, 2008

Parassala Ponnammal, Hamsadwani

Parassala Ponnammal - R K Shriram Kumar - K Arun Prakash

Hamsadwani. Semmangudi Centenary Series
1st August 2008. 7 pm

sAmi nIpai - Anandabhairavi - aTa tALam - VK (varNam)
gajAnanyutam - chakravAkam - Adi - MD (S)
narasimha mAmava - Arabhi - kaNDa cApu - ST (R)
rAmanAtam bhajEham - kAsirAmakriyA - rUpakam - MD (RNS)
kamAkshi anudinamu - bhairavi - misra cApu - SS (short sketch)
sudhAmayI sudhAnidhi - amrutavarshini - rUpakam - HMB
srI vEnkaTEsam varam - tODi - rUpakam - RSI (RNST)
paripAlayamAm - rItigauLa - rUpakam - ST
shAntamulEkhA - sAmA - Adi - T
tillAnA - senjuruTTi - Adi - Veena Seshanna
karpagamE - madhyamAvati - Adi - PS
bhujaga sAyinO - yadukula kAmbhOji - Adi - ST

The concert started late, thanks to the solar eclipse and the sudden rains. However, there was no compromise in the quality or quantity of music Smt Ponnammal presented.

The beginning with a heavy varNam was quite an indication of what was in store. If you expected a small, quick concert as it was starting late, the varNam was already telling you to be ready for a grand concert. It was rendered very well. The next invocatory number had a beautiful round of svarams to follow.

The elaboration of Arabhi was short and sweet. The kriti was rendered with some inspiring sangatis. The elaboration of pantuvarALi was quite extensive. At a point of time, one actually felt, this could be the main piece of concert. It had many vintage phrases interwoven. The kriti rendition was stunning. There were elaborate neraval and svarams at 'kumAra guruguha mahitam kavibrindAdi sannutam'.

Before starting the AlApanai or the kriti it self, Smt Ponnammal humms a few phrases of the ragam (true to Semmangudi Style!) and that can only make one so excited. Such was the bhairavi humming and the short sketch. It had to be the svarajati to follow. Yes it was. And would it be the main piece? no, there was not elaborate AlApanai.

While the quickie amrutavarshini was rendered, many people did look to the sky to make sure the rains wont start in the open auditorium again. The tODi AlApanai was elaborate and had many many phrases to make it thoroughly enjoyable. The kriti, a rare number in concert circuits off late, was rendered beautifully with a quick round of neraval and svarams at 'dEvEndra vinutam dInadayAkaram'. It was close to 9 pm, when the short and sweet tani ended.

However, the concert was not over yet. The rItigauLa and sAmA pieces were rendered with the required gait and were preceded with some short sketches. The tillAnA and the madhyamAvati piece were nice also.

Smt Ponnammal treated the audience with a grand concert. Each piece was better than the other and everything just fell in place.

Age does show up for such artists, when you look at them talk or walk or do other routine things, but when it comes to music, there is nothing indicative of their age and other related problems. It is just divine music.

For such a concert to shine more, the accompanists had to be exactly following the main artist and embellishing the music. Such was indeed the kind of support Sri RK Shriram Kumar and Sri Arun Prakash did for this concert. Truly following the main artist to every tee and thus making it all the more enjoyable. To finish to write-up without mentioning the vocal support of Smt K Bhama would be a crime. She did the right thing to truly elevate her guru's music. Singing in the higher/lower octave at appropriate places and also filling the gaps, she was very supportive.


As one walked out of Hamsadwani's venue, one overheard an old man comment "Idhu 2008 illa. 1958. Semmangudi mama-ku TN Krishnan-um Palani-um vAsicha kutcheri. naama yellarum kettutu varom."

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2 Comments:

Blogger B Shyam Sundar said...

do you have some recoding of the concert ??? or know of anyone who has recorded ???

1:46 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Very nice article, thanks for more information.
a/c kalyana mandapam in chennai

6:34 PM  

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