R Ganesh, Astika Samajam Thiruvanmiyur

R Gamesh - V V Srinivasa Rao - A S Ranganathan - Papanasam Sethuraman

Amarabharati
Astika Samajam Thiruvanmiyur
27 April 2010. 6:30 pm

ALAvadennALO - paras - Adi - UVS (short sketch)
srI vAtApi gaNapatiyE - sahAnA - Adi - PS (short sketch, S)
mOhanakara muttukumarA - nItimati - rUpakam - KI
angArakam - suruTTi - rUpakam - MD (R)
dinamaNi vamsa - hari kAmbhOji - Adi - T (short sketch, S)
centanE sadA - kuntaLa varALi - Adi - T (R)
kANAmal vINilE - nIlAmbari - Adi - MT (short sketch)
rAma rAma - simmEndra madhyamam - Adi - ST (R

It was a good concert. I am hearing Dr. Ganesh for the first time and found his concert pretty interesting. All that he sang had a distinct stamp of his guru, Sri Santanam. He began with a punchy short sketch of paras. The sahAna was good. He presented a racy suruTTi which was heavily endowed with fast phrases. The kuntaLavarALi AlApanai was pretty elaborate and little more leisurely. The simmEndra madhyamam was very elaborate. The kriti renditions were all good.

Sri Srinivasa Rao gave good and fitting replies all the way. I liked his suruTTi more than his kuntaLAvarALi. The percussionist did a good job in accompanying appropriately.

I had to leave as he started singing the simmEndra madhyamam kriti.

Neeraja Chandrashekar, Music Club

Neeraja Chandrashekar - T Hemamalini - Thanjavur R Kumar

Music Club IIT Madras
12 April 2010. 7 pm

sarasuDa ninnE - sAvEri - Adi - KVI
srI mahA gaNapatE surapatE - nATTai - Adi - Mayuram Viswanatha Sastri
marivErE gati - Anandabhairavi - misra cApu - SS (R)
sarasIruha nayanE - amrutavarshiNi - Adi - T (RNS)
akhilANDEsvari - dvijAvanti - Adi - MD
sadAmatim - gambIravANI - Adi - T
rAma nI samAnamevaru - kharaharapriyA - rUpakam - T (RNS)
tani
hariyE gati - rAgamAlikA - Adi - BMK
rAmA embhO eraDu - samA - kANDa cApu - PD
tillAnA - bEhAg - Adi - BMK
mangaLam giri tanayE - madhyamAvati - misra cApu - BMK

It was a very good concert. I liked the AlApanais of Anandabhairavi and amrutavarshiNi. The kritis were all presented well and the manodarmam parts were very enjoyable. The accompanists were brilliant and did a wonderful job.

Usha Ramamoorthy, Music Club IIT Madras

Usha Ramamurthy - Gottuvadhyam
Padma Shankar - Fiddle
Mannarkoil J Balaji - Mrudangam
Madipakkam A Murali - Ghatam

Music Club IIT Madras. CLT
6 Apr 10. 7 pm

chalamEla - khamAs - Adi - ST [varNam] (short sketch)
gajavadanA karuNA sadanA - srI ranjani - Adi - PS (short sketch)
paramAtmuDu - vAgadIsvari - Adi - T (R)
gangAdhara tripurahara - pUri kalyANi - rUpakam - Mysore Sadasiva Rao (RNS)
smara janaka - bEhAg - misra cApu - ST (sketch)
sarOja daLa nEtri - shankarAbaraNam - Adi - SS (RNS)
tani
venkaTAcala nilayam - sindhubhairavi - Adi - PD (short sketch)
tillAnA - senjuruTTi - Adi - Veenai Seshanna
vEga nIvu - suruTTi - Adi
nI nama rUpamulaku - saurAshTram - Adi - T
madhyamAvati short sketch

It was a good concert. Her Gottuvadhyam did not have resonating strings on the fret board, which i am told is the distinct stamp of the Budalur school of gottuvadyam, and hence, it was a little prone to sruti lapses. One locally known exponent of this style is, i am told, Sri D Kittappa, who served AIR, Madras for many years until his retirement.

Smt Usha's concert was gripping with a neat presentation of kritis and adequate justice done to the manodarmam parts. The accompanists provided excellent support to the main artist.

From an artist who is probably not very popular in the madras music circuits, to be listening to a concert of good quality music and with a lot of vyavahAram and saukyam was indeed great. Notwithstanding an occasional lapse here and there, it was indeed one of the really satisfying concerts we have had at IIT Music Club in recent times.

Kalpakam Swaminathan, Nadopasana

Kalpakam Swaminathan, L Ramakrishnan - Mannarkoil J Balaji - Pudukkottai Ramachandran

Umayalpuram Swamy Bhagavathar Memorial Concert Series.
Nadopasana. PS High School Dakshinamurthy Hall
5 April 2010. 6:30 pm

Era nApai - tODi - Adi
srI mahA gaNapatim - aTANA - Adi - JCW (RS)
srI guruguha - dEvakriyA - rUpakam - MD
srI nIlOtpala nAyikE - nAri rItigauLa - rUpakam - MD (RS)
srI pArvati paramEsvarau - bauLi - Adi - MD
kAmAkshI anudinamunu - bhairavi - misra cApu - SS (R)
vara nArada - vijaya srI - Adi - T
naDaci naDaci - kharaharapriyA - Adi - T (Rt)
tani
EkAmbaranAtEsvarENa - caturaNgiNi - Adi - MD (R)
siddIsvarAya namastE - nIlambari - misra cApu - MD (R)
srI abhayAmbA - srI - Adi - MD
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTram - Adi - T

It was a great concert. All the pieces were rendered with the traditional fervor and deep classicism. As is usual with mami, the piece was totally mesmerising. The manodarmam parts were absolutely absorbing. Sri Ramakrishnan on veenai support and Sri Balaji gelled well and played very well in provinding the right kind of accompaniment for the main artist. Sri Ramachandran was pretty loud.

Suguna Varadachari, Nadopasana

Suguna Varadachari - Padma Shankar - T K Ramakrishnan

Umayalpuram Swamy Bhagavathar Memorial Concert Series.
Nadopasana. PS High School Dakshinamurthy Hall
2 April 2010. 6:30 pm

rA rA mA inTi - asAvEri - Adi - T (S)
kanukoNTini - bilahari - dEsAdi - T (sketch)
appa rAma bhakti - kAmavardhani - rUpakam - T (N at pallavi line, S)
nAdupai balikEru - madhyamAvati - kaNDa cApu - T (R, N at 'AjAnubAhu...', S)
mahima dakkincukOvayyA - rishabapriyA - Adi - T (R)
dEhi tava pada bhaktim - sahanA - Adi - T
srI raghuvara - kAmbhOji - Adi - T (R, N at 'sArasa...', S)
tani
tsallarE rAmachandruni - Ahiri - misra cApu - T
lAli lAlayya lAli - kEdAragauLa - kaNDa cApu - T
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTram - Adi - T
sriyatkAntAya - suruTTi

It was a fantastic concert. All the pieces were carefully selected and presented amazingly well with a lot of bhavam and weight. The AlApanais were all very elaborate and included lots of classical phrases. The neraval & svarams were measured and rendered fitting for the pieces taken up. The accompanists were wonderful and played excellently for the occasion.

With an absolutley un-co-operative throat, Smt. Suguna still pulled off a concert of classical music of the highest order. Vintage music that I enjoyed thoroughly.