V Sumithra, Ratnagiriswarar Temple

V Sumithra - Akkarai Swarnalatha - R Sankaranarayanan

Navarathri Utsavam
Ratnagiriswara Swamy Temple, Besant Nagar
24 Sept 09. 6:45 pm

srI sarasvati namOstutE - Arabhi - tisra Ekam - MD
nI madi challaga - Ananda bhairavi - Adi - Kavi Matrubootayya (S)
tuLasi jagatjanani - sAvEri - tisra Ekam - T (RNS)
karuNai tandennai ALammA - bEgaDa - misra cApu - Mazhavai Chidambara Bharati
mAmava mInAkshI - varALi - misra cApu - MD (RS)
vamsavati sivayuvati - vamsavati - Adi - MD
bhArati dEviya - kharaharapriyA - Adi - PD (RNST)
caraNu caraNu - senjuruTTi - tisra Ekam - Anai Ayya
dharmasamvardhani - madhyamAvati - tisra Ekam - MD
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTram - Adi - T

A very nice concert. The songs were carefully selected and presented. A string of well chosen dEvi kritis for the occasion of navarathri were rendered with the traditional gait and vigour. The AlApanais of sAvEri, varALi and kharaharapriyA were all very elaborate and done with lot of classical phrases and enough innovation built-in. The neraval svaram parts were all beautiful too. The accompanists were very good and gave good support through the concert.

Overall a wonderful concert.

PS: the bEgaDa kriti sounded just like 'kaDaikkaN vaittennai ALammA' of Ramaswamy Sivan

Ramakrishnan Murthy, Sringeri Bharati Vidhyashram

Ramakrishnan Murthy - M Vijay - Thanjavur Praveen Kumar

Sringeri Bharati Vidhyashram
22 Spt 09. 5 pm

enadu manam - harikAmbhOji - Adi (short sketch, S)
shAradE - dEvagAndhAri - Adi - PS (R)
enta nErcina - sAvEri - Adi - PSI (RNST)
ArabhimAnam - rAgamAlikA - Adi
jagaddhOdhAraNa - kApi - Adi - PD
manadirukkugandadu - sindhubhairavi - Adi
karuNAjaladE - nAdanAmakriyA - Adi - T

It was a good spirited concert by the youngster. The whole team did well to presented a good concert. The kalpitam and manOdarmam parts were all very good.

Kalpakam Swaminathan, Bharatiya Sangeetha Vaibhavam

Kalpakam Swaminathan - Veenai
Gomathi Shankar - Veenai Support
T K Ramakrishnan - Mrudangam

Bharatiya Sangeetha Vaibhavam, Raga Sudha Hall
20 Sept 09. 9 am

entO prEmatO - suruTTi - Adi
pancha mAtanga - malahari - rUpakam - MD (S)
srI guruguha - dEvakriyA - rUpakam - MD
kamalAmbA samrakshatumAm - Anandabhairavi - misra cApu - MD (RS)
amba vANi nannu - kIravAni - Adi - HMB
kamalAmbAm bhajarE - kalyANi - Adi - MD (R)
bruhannAyaki - AndhALi - Adi - MD
sArasa daLa - sAramati - Adi - HMB
mInAkshI mE mudam - gamakakriyA - Adi - MD (R)
gaNEsa kumAra - senjuruTTi - Adi - MD
madhyamAvati short sketch

It was a beautiful morning concert. The stage was set. The recital was a beautiful presentation of some choicest dEvi kritis. The kritis were presented with clear sangatis and absolute bhavam. The AlApanais of Anandabhairavi, kalyANi, pUrvikalyANi were all very good and made it a memorable concert. As it was a one-and-a-quarter hour program, Smt Swaminathan chose to delibrately cut-short on manOdarmam and present more compositions on dEvi, as it would suit the occasion of navarathri. It was a very fulfilling presentation with very good accompanists.

G R S Moorthy, Bharatiya Sangeetha Vaibhavam

G R S Moorthy - Veenai
V Rajasekhar - Mrudangam
Nerkunam Sankar - Kanjira

Bharatiya Sangeetha Vaibhavam, Raga Sudha Hall
19th Sept 09. 4:30 pm

vanajAkshirO - kalyANi - Adi - RSI
smaraNE sukhamU - janaranjani - Adi - T (S)
bAlakrishNan pAdamalar - danyAsi - rUpakam - PS (RS)
nIvADa nE gAna - sArangA - kaNDA cApu - T
kamalAmbA samrakshatumAm - Anandabhairavi - misra cApu - MD (R)
mAravairi ramani - nAsikA bhUshaNi - tisra Adi - T (RS)
garuDA gamana - garuDAdvani - Adi - T
palincu kAmAkshI - madhyamAvati - Adi - SS (RtNS)
tani
smarajanaka - bEhAg - rUpakam - ST

It was a very good concert. A neat presentation of songs. The songs were all well rendered. The manodarmam was very good and the raga svarUpams were well portrayed. The AlApanais of danyAsi, madhyamAvati, Anandabhairavi were all very nice. The svarams were all good also. The accompanists were good.

Kalpakam Swaminathan, Veenai Foundation

Kalpakam Swaminathan, S R Padmavati - Chidambaram S Balashankar - H Sivaramakrishnan

Veenai Foundation. BVB Mini hall.
12 Sept 09. 6:30 pm

sAmi daya jUDa - kEdAragauLa - Adi
varasiddhi vinAyaka - kAnaDA - Adi - HMB (R)
sarasvatyA bhagavatyA - chAyA gauLa - misra cApu - MD (S)
dEvi mInAkshi - kAmbhOji - rUpakam - Tacchur Singachari (RtNS)
nagumOmu ganalEni - karnATaka dEvagAndhAri - Adi - T (R)
rAmachandra prabhu - sindhubhairavi - Adi - ST

It was a beautiful concert. The kritis were all neatly presented. The AlApanais of kAnaDA, kalyANi and karnATaka dEvagAndhAri were all very nice and the usual level of Smt. Kalpakam Swaminathan. They were all inspiring. The svarams in chAyA gauLa were quite nice and interesting and educative. The kalyANi tAnam was very nice. The kriti was played with a quick round of neraval svarams in the charaNam were beautiful. Smt S R Padmavathi shared the neraval and svarams and was good as well. The percussion dept was rather aggressive and could have been a little softer.

Vidhya Shankar, Veenai Foundation

Vidhya Shankar - vINai
Usha Rajeswari - vINai support
Chidambaram S Balashankar - mrudangam
H Sivaramakrishnan - ghatam

Veenai Foundation. BVB mini hall
12 Sept 09. 6 pm

neranammiti - kAnADA - aTa tALam
vINApustaka dhAriNim - vEgavAhini - kaNDa Ekam - MD
O rama ramaNA rAmA - kEdAram - Adi - T
kAmAkshI lOkasAkshi - madhyamAvati - tisra tripuTa - SS

It was a very short presentation. Fighting ill health and other issues the nonagenarian vidhushi presented a very spirited concert. The songs were all presented well. She was assisted by 2 more of her disciples on support vocals and tALam. The short AlApanai preceeding all the pieces and the short tAnam that was played in madhyamAvati were all very good and nice. The accompanists were ok.

Trivandrum Venkataraman, Veenai Foundation

Trivandrum Venkataraman - Mannarkoil J Balaji - N Guruprasad

Veenai Foundation. BVB mini Hall
10 Sept 09. 7:30 pm

dEva dEva - mAyAmALAvagauLa - rUpakam - ST (RNS)
janani ninnuvinA - rItigauLa - misra cApu - Subbaraya Sastri (RS)
bAgAyanayyA - chandrajyOti - Adi - T (RS)
entuku peddalavalE - shankarAbaraNam - Adi - T (RtNST)
visvEsvara darisan - sindhubhairavi - Adi - ST
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTram - Adi - T

It was great concert. The kritis were all rendered very well. The AlApanai of mAyAmALavagauLa was very short and crisp. The kriti was rendered well with a nice round of neraval svarams. The rItigauLa was very good. There was an inherent freshness in the AlApanai, kriti rendition. The svarams were very inspiring. The chandrajyOti affair was kept short and sweet with some great prayOgams. The main shankarAbaraNam was an excellent and elaborate AlApanai with a beautiful tAnam. The kriti was rendered beautifully with an elaborate round of neraval and svarams. Being the last concert of the day, Sri Venkataraman chose to slightly extend his one-hour slot and presently the concert in a leisurely fashion. The accompanists were very good and played very accomodatively. The concert was on the whole very enjoyable.

Suguna Varadachari, Nada Inbam

Suguna Varadachari - R K Shriram Kumar - K Arun Prakash

Nada Inbam, Raga Sudha Hall
8 Sept 09. 6 pm

gnAnAnanda mayam dEvam - slOkam in shankarAbaraNam
sAmi ninnE - shankarAbaraNam - Adi - VK
kOTinadulu - tODi - Adi - T (short sketch, S)
talli ninnu nEranammi - kalyANi - vilOma cApu - SS (RNS)
cintayamAkanda mUlakandam - bhairavi - rUpakam - MD (short sketch, S)
kOniyADina nApai - kAmbhOji - Adi - VK (RNS)
tani
AlamAmaratinilai mEl - pAsuram in Anandabhairavi, nIlambari, sahAnA, kApi
bhaja mAdhavam anisam - kApi - Adi - MV
mariyAda teliyakanE - suruTTi - rUpakam - PSI
tillAnA - khamAs - Adi - PSI
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTram - Adi - T
sriyatkAntAya - madhyamAvati

It was a grand concert. With all the 5 big ragams coming one after another and all grand pieces chosen to apty present the rAgams, it was a class apart. with the kriti renditions being as heavy as they need to be and matching manOdarmam added it was only a concert that could linger in the minds of those who attended and one that would vibrate in the surroundings of the hall for quite a long time.

Smt Varadachari began with an invocatory hayagrIva slOkam in a very moving shankarAbaraNam. The Adi tALa varNam which followed, a personal favourite, was superbly rendered. The tODi was quite fast and yet had the essentialities of the rAgam displayed aptly with a good round of svarams. The svarams were alternately sung to 'gangA', 'kAvEri' and 'danushkOTi'.

By the time tODi was finishing, i had a gut feeling that this concert is going to be different. Once, the kalyANi began, i was sure it is going to rain heavy ragams and was even convinced that Musiri School favourites, nI pAdamulE and tiruvaDi charaNam are going to come one after the another and probably a pallavi too in kharaharapriyA.

However it was not so and things only got better as we kept listening. On some days, one can exactly predict the songs and rAgams and others, one is totally off beat. It turned out to be somewhere in the middle that day, with the rAgams coming but not the kritis.

The kalyANi AlApanai was very classical and was well built and moving. The kriti was rendered with neraval and svarams at 'AdarinchuDakidi manchi samayamu' which were totally fitting with the mood of the kriti and only adding more to the concert. The bhairavi kriti was rendered with a beautiful short sketch and nice tricky set of svarams to 'bhairavi prasangam'.

It was only about an hour since the concert started that Smt. Varadachari started a leisurely kAmbhOji. The next 10 or so min was a grand, majestic, classical, elaborate, slow, meditative, soothing, punchy, superb, i-am-short-of-words kAmbhOji AlApanai. I was not bothered of which kriti is going to come as i was totally immersed in the kAmbhOji. The violin return was equally fitting and only made one long for more. The grand kriti was rendered with absolute classicism and all the progressive sangatis were fully rendered. The neraval at 'ninnu minchina deivamu lEdani' was totally out of the world. The svarAs that followed were all the more beautiful. With the short tani, it was atleast about an hour or so of just kAmbhOji vibrating around the full hall. The rAgamAlikA slOkam and songs that followed, including a quick jAvaLi, were all presented in a nice fashion.

Now come the accompanists. Sri Shriram Kumar was only following the main artist like a shadow. His kriti renditions were totally matching and the manOdramam replies were apt and crisp and totally subdued to highlight the main artist. Sri Arun Prakash was the perfect Mrudangist one could have got for the concert. With his impeccable sense of anticipation, be it kriti renditions or manOdarmam parts, it was all one, truly mixed and merged with the music that was being presented by the main artist. Kum. Vidya Kalyanaraman provided very good vocal support to her guru and also sang few phrases of the kAmbhOji AlApanai in the upper registers.

On the whole, it was one of those concerts that I find it difficult to express in words. I am sure I will remember it for years.