S Sowmya - L Ramakrishnan - Neyveli Narayanan - G Chandrasekhara Sarma - Payyanur Govinda Prasad
Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha
Vidya Bharathi
28 Dec 2019 6:30 pm
sarasuDa ninnE - sAvEri - Adi - KSI
mAnasa guruguha - Ananda bhairavi - MD (RS)
paralOka bhaya - mandAri - Adi - T (S)
vandhAlum varaTTum - balahamsa - Adi - GKB (R)
srI nAthAdi guruguhO - mAyamALavagauLa - Adi - MD (S)
RTP - yadukula kAmbhOji - Adi (2 kaLai) 1/2 eDuppu 5 akshara aridi
sindanai sei manamE - periyOrgaL sonna mOzhiyai
tani Avartanam
bhUlOka kumAri - karnATaka dEvagandhAri - Adi - Bharathiyar
puLLi kalAba mayil - kAvaDi cindu
nI nAma rUpamulaku
An awesome concert. A sedate Anandabhaiavi. An educative and elaboroate balahamsa. A grand yadukula kAmbhOji. It was a much enjoyable concert presented so beautifully.
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Handling allied ragams.
Planning a concert is one of the first steps to its success. That makes the play-field set and ready. Sometimes when your set-plan may change, and yet, you may still win the game in a better way. It is hard for listeners to read the mind of the artists and even harder to get to know ring-side stories on how the concert came to what it was. Still, the overall experience of a concert is what that matters.
When Sowmya started a detailed alapanai of ananda bhairavi, rather early in the concert, it was refreshing. The exploration of a classical rakthi ragam done in the most chaste manner. It was a fitting prelude to Dikshitar's magnum opus manasa guruguha, presented in a leisurely pace. Swarams were presented in a matching fashion. L Ramakrishnan on the violin was giving apt accompaniment and responses. A fast paced rendition of paraloka bhayamu (mandari kriti of thyagaraja) was next. A good contrast to the earlier item. There were lightning fast svarams sung for this kriti. Neyveli Narayanan who is usually up-beat on stage, was in his elements now and added to the presentation of this kriti. Chandrasekhara Sarma on the Ghatam and Payyanur Govinda Prasad on the morsing, joined in the celebratory mood.
The next alapanai was that of a ragam which was apparently new to some rasikas. A couple of them walked up to the artist to ask which ragam it was, after the alapanai. If only they knew that tell-tale sancharams like m r m g s were presented right at the start of the alapanai to anchor balahamsa. A pracheena ragam, with atleast a dozen compositions by the trinity, but rarely taken up for elaboration in concerts. A detailed alapanai of this ragam in a classical manner, with all the essential phrases was such a wonderful experience to listen. L Ramakrishnan gave a good reply to this alapanai which was followed up with vandhalum varattum of gopalakrishna bharathi. The kriti was presented neatly with good percussion support.
sri nathadi guruguho was presented a little quicker than the usual sedate treatment it gets. mayamalavagaula making an appearance in the middle of a concert with elaborate svarams was indeed good to listen.
The main alapanai of the evening was a grand yadukula kambhoji. This team had just minutes ago presented a detailed presentation of one of its closest cousins. Should that matter? it did not. An alapanai that was done in an unhurried manner, characteristic of the ragam and befitting the grandeur of a main item. A steady build-up and succession of sancharams one after another, it was much enjoyable to listen. L Ramakrishnan played a sweet version of the ragam for this turn. Then came a beautiful tanam in the ragam. Tanam is generally considered as a manodarma element of medium and fast tempo, while yadukula kambhoji is considered a slow ragam. General thinking and feelings are not for that day. A tanam in yadukula kambhoji was superb that evening. A pallavi in Adi talam 'sindanai sei maname - periyorgal sonna mozhiyai' was presented with detailed neraval and tri kalam and elaborate kalpana swarams.
When the time for tani came, all the three percussion artists on stage did their job very well. They played an elaborate tani for the pallavi. The concert was brought to a close with subramanya bharathi's bhooloka kumari in karnataka devagandhari and a kavadi chindu.
This concert was special one. An experience of its kind. The artist chose to present two closely allied ragams in an elaborate manner. This was done in a clean way to show the differences correctly. A memorable evening.
