Violin: Nagai Sriram
Mridangam: H.S.Sudheendra
2:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Song List:
1. neranammiti (varnam) - kAnaDA - khaNDa aTa - Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar
2. dEva dEva kalayAmitE - mAyAmALavagauLa - rUpakam - Swati Tirunal (N, S)
3. marivErE gati evvarammA - Anandabhairavi - misra cApu - Shyama Shastri (Raga sketch, S)
4. gajavadanA - tODi - Adi - Kumara Raja Ettendra (Raga sketch)
5. nIdu mahima pogaDa nA taramA - hamsAnandi - Adi - Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar (R, S)
6. ambA paradEvatE - rudrapriyA - khaNDa cApu - Krishnaswamy Iyer
7. RTP ("samAnamA sabhApatE sadAshivA trilOka unakku sari") - kannaDa - khaNDa tripuTa (T)
8. parulanna mATa (jAvaLi) - kApi - rUpakam - Dharmapuri Subbarayar
9. maitrIm bhajata - yamunakalyANi - Adi - H.H.Chandrashekhara Saraswati
A totally brilliant concert - easily the best in the season for me!
The kAnaDA varnam was a good start to what was to be a concert dripping with classicism. dEva dEva kalayAmitE was sung with neraval and swarams at the charanam 'jAta rUpa nibha cEla'. Anandabhairavi and gajavadana, both weighty pieces, were rendered beautifully. The next kriti, nIdu mahima pogaDa nA taramA, popularized by their grandfather Gottuvadyam Narayana Iyengar, was preceded by an elaborate alapana by Shashikiran, who drew instantaneous applause when he touched the mandra stAyi shaDjam. ambA paradEvatE, packed with sahitya, was sung with great precision. This was followed by the RTP in kannaDA - the alapana was rendered soulfully by Ganesh. Swarams were patterned intelligently - a scholarly performance that won appreciation in spite of the fact that it was totally devoid of the blistering-speed mEl stAyi swarams that have become so common (and oh, so necessary to get those 'aha'-s and 'oho'-s from the audience) in concerts these days! As with the previous concert, they did both anulomam and pratilomam. The jAvaLi in kApi was a gem, with refined gamakams. Nagai Sriram and H.S.Sudheendra offered excellent support.
On the whole, it was two hours of bliss - with perfect shruthi shuddham, sowkhyam and bhavam - an aural treat that will reverberate in my ears for a long time to come.
As an aside - it was during the jAvaLi that a mama sitting a couple of seats away from me said to another mama in front of him - 'yAru ivA? ivLO nannA paDarALE!'. The second mama helpfully looked into his schedule guide and said 'H.S.Sudheendra'! At this point, I couldn't help but smile at him ("ahem, dear mama, there are _two_ singers on stage - how could you possibly come up with _one_ name?") - and that prompted him to take a second look at his book, and this time he came up with the right answer!
Pic of the concert:
