Violin : V V Ravi
Mridangam : Kallidaikurichi Sri S Sivakumar - Mridangam (disciple of Palghat Raghu)
Kanjira : Papanasam Sri S Sethuraman
Tambura :
Venue : Chinnani Mami Centenary Chamber Concert, RA Puram
Live review
Song list :
mAte malayadhwaja (varnam) - khamas - Adi - Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar
tera teeyaga rAdA - gauLipantu - Adi 1/2 eDuppu - Thyagaraja
seetamma mAyamma - vasanta - rUpaka - Thyagaraja - R, S
shlOka followed by yaduvamsha tilakana - kamAj - mishra chApu - D V Gundappa
Sri kAntimateem - hEmavati - Adi 2 kalai - Muthuswamy Dikshitar - R, N, S, TA - Neraval and swaras at shuka saunakAdi sadArAditAm.
hE govinda hE gopAla - kApi - tisra naDai chatushra Ekam - sUrdAs
bruhi mukundEti - kurinji - Adi 1/2 kalai - Sadashiva Brahmendrar
peTTra thAi thanai (viruttam) - nAdanAmakriya - Ramalinga Vallalar
arAr Asai paDAr - nAdanAmakriya - mishra chApu (2/7 eDuppu) - muttu tAnDavar
nenjukku neediyum - sindhubhairavi - Chatushra Ekam - Subramania Bharatiyar
tillAnA - dhanashree - Adi - Swati Tirunal (Tuned by Lalgudi Jayaraman)
maitreem bhajata - yamunA kalyAni, kApi - Adi 1/2 eDuppu - HH Chandrashekhara Saraswati Swamigal
shrinivAsAya veda (mangaLam) - navarOj - Adi tisra naDai - Dr. M Balamuralikrishna
A big thanks to @cienu and @Ramasubramanian M.K for inviting me to the event at MKR's brother's house. Being a live review, I am going to try commentary style and see how it goes.
So as I write this, I am sitting in an apartment with a huge Hall and excellent acoustics, and the ambience is superb. Joining me are cienu on the left and our MKR on the right, whom I have finally got to meet. After the usual sound adjustments, Aishwarya and Saundarya have kicked off the concert with a classy rendition of HMB's famous daru varnan in khamAs, ably supported by Kallidaikurichi Sri S Sivakumar on the mridangam and Papanasam Sri S Sethuraman on the kanjira. I should make a note just how good the tonal clarity of both sisters' voices are - sounds like it's soaked in honey.
The next number is tera teeyaga rAda, in gauLipantu, with the duo trading octaves in the pallavi. The percussion support is just perfect and it's adding a lot of maturity and weight to the singing. No swaras or raga yet....
And now comes the first rAgA AlApana of the day, vasanta. Aishwarya has taken it at an unhurried tempo in the lower and middle octaves before going for kArvai style at the upper shadja. A nice long round of brighas follows. The improvement over the last year is noticeable. Effortless goes to the upper M and then touches D for a moment before coming right down for another fast round and then down into the lower octave to finish a very introspective vasanta peppered by some Aha phrases. VV Ravi for his part goes on to play a nice crisp reply with absorbing phrases across all 3 sthAyis.
I knew it would be seetamma mAyamma. Splendid. That chittaswaram is one of the best ever, but it is only the 2nd time I'm getting to hear it live. A sprightly start to the swaras on the pallavi. An elegant calculation and then a long round ending in a korvai and a good reply from VV Ravi. But there's more where that came from.
And there's a surprise, with Saundarya finally getting a turn at singing the introductory shloka preceding yaduvamsha tilakana. She has also gotten a lot sweeter in tone since last year. But at last, the "Saund" has been heard solo.
yaduvamsha tilaka is a beautiful song on the enchanting flute player that is Sri Krishna, and an interesting choice for a filler. A translation can be found here : viewtopic.php?t=28236&start=50#p308031
Up next is hEmavati. It looks like the mood dial for the day is set to introspective. I personally would wish to hear the big rAgAs for a main item from these 2 in the future, but the hEmavati is looking very nice too. Aishwarya has gone into a nice meditative drive through the rAgA, the first part ending with a long heavy brigha. The next part goes up into the upper reaches before coming back down for a traditional conclusion. Her upper octave is just effortless, though I feel she could use a bit more range down low to hit the lower notes with the weight they need. But knowing how voices age, this takes some years.
VV Ravi has followed on similar lines with a brigha of his own on the upper R and some aha phrases characteristic of his school. Concise and sweet. So sri kAntimateem? Fingers crossed. Yes. What else? Though strictly speaking, what we all sing it in isn't dEshisimhAravam. A commanding start with a nice punchy last sangati. Hearing the song in person is another experience. The chittasawaram is also a nee one. Though a little more lower octave power could help add depth.
There is a reason for choosing this as the main. Read on till the end to find out.
Neraval is at shuka saunakAdi sadArAditAm. A few absorbing rounds of neraval in slow and fast rounds with some aha moments from V V Ravi leads on to the swaras. A long of of slow swaras ends with a speed change to a t,d,g,n,t,,, pattern to start the fast rounds of swaras. A few good rounds of that and it's kuraippu time, on the D2. A deft change to tisra naDai in 2 speeds without losing the sarvalaghu before going back to the kuraippu. The long round after it is very nicely built up to the kOrvai, a time tested pattern. The team has supported her very well, with absolutely no intrusiveness or imbalanced volume at any time.
And so the tani now. No doubt words are hopeless at conveying what goes on in it, but Kallidaikurichi Sivakumar has gone for some intricate faran patterns in the first round korvai, followed by a lively reply from Papanasam Sethuraman on the kanjira. Both have kept the first round elegant and simple. The 2nd round starts on a very elegant chatushra naDai before transitioning very cleverly to tisra naDai. Melody first, as the mridangam is being played for the music right now. But then a few eduppu shifts in the 2nd speed tisra naDai. What a korvai to end it. It's the kanjira's turn now and this is a lively round with the mridangam coming in for a beat at the landings. A change of kanjira for a different sound. Another nice korvai with a progression inside too. Now the kuraippu part. Half avartanams each right away. Quarter, then 1/8th and then all the way down to trading single beats. Nice, just nice. And then the rejoining. Very lively stuff by both of them. The farans then leading to the mohra and a simple and elegant 1 avartanam korvai to wind it all up.
Then it's hE gOvinda, in kApi, made famous by MS Amma with a nice touch of raga in the final charanam. Very delicately rendered. Cienu here is seems nearly moved to tears by it.
A brisk bruhi mukundeti of sadAshiva Brahmendrar is next and brings back memories of MS Amma singing this as Narada that made it famous. Though Lakshman seems to have found one more line that seems to suggest it could be Narayana Theerta's. Go girls.
I must check where the 6th sense is coming from. I just knew it would be nAdanAmakriya and peTTra thaai. Aishwarya has added some of her own touches to the viruttam. And arAr Asai paDar never fails to move you. I heard it last a long time back, so it's now a fresh experience again. Some nice brighas in the anupallavi. An interesting feature of this one is that it extends the range of nAdanAmakriya beyond N-N to the lower P-upper S. Powerful stuff.
nenjukku neediyum is up next for a scorcher of a rendition, a fiery composition by Bharatiyar. What beautiful lyrics. Hitting that high upper S in madhyama sruthi is quite a crescendo.
The dhanashree tillAnA is the penultimate number. A blast of a rendition. Lalgudi Jayaraman is a genius, to resurrect an extinct rAga in a form where it stands out from bhimplAs and shuddha dhanyAsi, but with phrases covering both of them. So if the first part of today's concert was serene, the last part is energetic stuff.
As always maitreem bhajata by the Kanchi Paramacharya and now the mangalam by Dr. BMK that Aishwarya has made her concluding item of choice wrap up an excellent 2 hour treat of staple MS Delicacies on the ears. Chinnani mami, if she were around would have been mighty pleased that the MS legacy goes on strong to the next generation. Well done!
PS : There is an interesting story behind Sri kAntimateem. It was first introduced by MS Amma in the movie Savithri. There is a viruttham that has the words "uttami nArAyani" in it. So that explains why it was the main number. MKR recalled the incident involved in shooting of the movie where his mother had to take care of all the kids for several hours till the shooting ended! And there was also another story about maitreem bhajata, the tune was set by Vasant Desai and how he had framed the 500 rupee note given to him by MS Amma !
