K G Vijayakrishnan, Veena CD release and Concert.

K G Vijayaraghavan - Thanjavur Kumar

Music Academy Mini Hall.
7th December 2006. 6 pm

intha chalamU - bEgaDa - Adi
srI nIlOtpala nAyikE - rItigauLa - rUpakam - MD (R)
paralOka sAdanamE - pUrvikalyANi - Adi - T (RS)
shankarAcAryam - sankarAbaraNam - Adi - Subbarama Dikshitar (RTS)
tani Avarththanam
sArEku - bEhAg - Adi jAvaLi
teruvil vArAnO - khamAs - tisra Adi - Muthu Thandavar
ippaDi en manam alaindhiDa - suruTTi - cApu padam
srI rAma jaya mangaLam - suruTTi - Adi

The concert began with a nice rendition of the bEgaDa varNam. The rItigauLa AlApanai was good and the kriti was nice to hear. The pUrvikalyANi kriti, a rare number at concerts these days, was well rendered with a fitting AlApanai and a short round of svarams.

The main course of the evening, an elaborate shankarAbaraNam, which was rendered well. The tAnam was nice and the rAgamAlika part included Anandabhairavi, dharmavati and hindOLam. The kriti was rendered with a round of nice kalpanai svarams. The bEhAg and khamAs jAvaLis were good. The suruTTi padam was nice and soulful also.

Sri Vijayakrishnan played the vINai in a style distinct to what people call as Dhanammal Bani. Obviously, I personally haven't heard Smt Dhanammal herself. However, I could differentiate his style of playing from the way the others play. If one keenly noticed his hand while playing, one could see the way he splits his fingers of his left hand while playing. This is what i presume is popular split fingering. The effect this created was quite different and quite good it was.

Sri Kumar on the mrudangam, was good. He played with good anticipation and played aptly for all the sangatis. The tani was nice.

Earlier in the evening, a Veena CD 'karpagamE' by Dr K G Vijayakrishnan was released by 'Madhiyoli' Saraswathi Swamigal. Sri N Murali, President of MA, received the first copy. Smt Kalpakam Swaminathan and Sri Sanjay Subramanian were honoured at the occasion. Swamigal spoke on the importance of Music and life. Sri Sanjay spoke on the importance of documentation of the Music we all know. He urged Dr Vijayakrishnan to play and record all the compositions listed in the 'Sri Kriti Mani Malai' series as an effect to document all of it. Smt Swaminathan spoke on the importance of Veena Music. The importance of the instrument and urged the youngsters to learn to play the Veena.

K G Vijayakrishnan, Chamber Veena Concert

Dr. K. G. Vijayakrishnan's chamber vINai concert

August 14, 2004. 7:00 pm

Songlist:

1. AnandaBhairavi varNam - cheluvuda
2. tanakku nihar illAda - shuddha sAvEri - UttukADu vEnkata kavi
3. trilOka mAtA - pharaz - shyAmA sAstri
4. abhayAmbA - kalyANi - muttsvAmi dIkShitar (Alapanai)
5. EvarunnAru - mALavashrI - tyAgaraja
6. kAmAkShi - bhairavi - shyAmA sAstri svarajati (Alapanai with rAgamAlikA tAnam in bhairavi, hamIr kalyANi, aTANa, mOhanam, yedukulakAmbhOji, khamAs)
7. nirupamAna - bEhAg jAvali - dharmapuri subbarAya Iyer
8. ituvaNTi - kAnaDa padam - kShEtragnya
9. ippadi En manam - suruTTi padam - composer unknown
10. tODi tillAna- Poochi Iyengar
11. nIkEla - nAdanAmakriyA padam - kShEtragnya
12. mangaLam - shrIrAma jayamangalam - suruTTi - Papanasam Sivan

the evening's starter was a rare Anandhabhairavi vaRNam. the next OVK kriti was nicely rendered. the pharaz was also good. kalyANi elaborations were nice, the kriti, one probably cant get a more rare piece. mALavashrI provided a good change of tempo before the main piece, bhairavi, in which the Alapanai was a bit lacking in some places. The bhairavi effect was not felt at those instances. the tanam was good and the rAgamAlika was also well rendered. The svarajati again was good. the three padams and the jAvaLi were also so beautifully rendered giving a stamp of the dhanammal school. Another unheard of piece is the tODi tillAna. All thro' the concert, it was nalla sangItham

The concert venue was the drawing room of a flat which could accomodate probably a maximum of about 25 people, but actually the room was only half full which included very senior vaiNikAs and just a few odd ones (yours truly inclusive). Also, the only accompaniment Dr. KGV had was the shruti box. After the concert, he also explained the difference between his (ie vINai dhanammal) style and other styles of vINai playing. He gave explanations how the left index finger and left middle finger should be operated on the string independently at times to give a better effect compared to the normal style and this way the left middle finger can also be used for plucking.

Strikingly different from the mp3 audios of Dhanammal herself, the concert was enjoyable. Probably, the small room venue had some effect similar to the one which had the audience of the grand old lady captive.
Also, there were no neraval or swarams all thro' the concert. which if it were present would have made the concert more full. All the kritis but for the tyAgarAja kriti and the bhairavi svarajati were rare. The pAtantarams for the pieces (incl. of the common ones) were quite different from what is rendered by most other vidwans. As, Dr. KGV sang along while he was playing, one could identify the kriti and hence were able to appreciate the differences in the pAtAntaram.

Over all it was a good infotainment programme that evening.