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Vocal: Suryaprakash
Violin : H V Raghuram , disciple of LGJ
Mrudangam : H S Sudheendra, disciple of srimushnam raja rao
Ghatam : Vaikkom gopalakrishnan
Tambura Support : ?? Venkatachalam from NewZealand (missed registering his first name)
Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Saturday/ 2 hours and 25 minutes concert inclusive of 5 mins introduction break.
Concert Type : Ticketed concert
Sabha/Hall : Lasya /APL Global School, Thoraipakkam run by ramaniyam builders
01A. viruththam - aRutJyothi deivam ennai Aandu konda dhaivam - bahudAri -vallalar????
01B. sadA nanda thandavam (N,S) - bahudAri -Achutadasar
- 2 mins neraval in muttarum siddharum munivargalum??
- swaras for 5 mins
- 3 mins alapana
- 11 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
- 8 mins neraval in sathya gnanananda mayam sarvam vishnu mayam
- 6 mins swaras
- 15 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
- 12 mins swaras
06. RTP in JanasammoDhini
- pallavi in kanda jathi triputa for 23 mins
- alapana for 6 mins with a brief violin return in between
- taanam for 5 mins
- pallavi and swaras for rest of 23 mins.
- Swaramaliga in JanasammODhini + hamsanandi + behag
- Pallavi line -- govindA undan nAmamE pOdumE ! vaikunda vAsA
07B. manadhirkku ugandhadhu - sindhubhairavi - Tanjore Sankara Iyer
08. pavamAna
When I started hearing live Carnatic Music bit intensely especially prior to 2000 , I noticed a certain extra vocal exuberance from vidwans like TNS and TVS . For most of the concerts that I heard either TVS or TNS, Delhi Sundarrajan used to play as violin accompaniment. Also in particular I used to love Srimushnam raja rao as a mrudangam artist, In general rajarao has played a wide range of artists but his laya poruttam was really class for songs.Delhi Sundarrajan always plays the essence of ragas as violin accompanist, he was/is never a clogger at all and quickly replays with such raga bhavam finesse focusing on right proportion.
This concert had accompanists consciously working to give more share to make this 2 hour 25 mins to a near 3 hour concert effect . Of course courtesy brilliance of pouring manOdharmam from Suryaprakash. I have personally heard only once H V Raghuram bit foggy cannot recollect when and where. I have heard twice or thrice HS Sudheendra atleast those few I recollect . HS Sudheendra miraculously started the concert with his right attitude. Sudheendra said even with the start of the concert to lower the volume and he also asked to completely cut the reverb. He also never asked to raise the volume during tani. His patterns were brilliant throughout.
The start was in bahudari , kind of TVS or TNS approach there .Start early with a brief viruththam or slokham . Bahudari is a lovely raga, and the krithi by achutadasar - sadAnandatAndavam does give a great start. There was a slight surprise with a neraval sketch muttaram siddharum munivargalum , the joy to hear drizzle of varying patterns by sudheendra was great. Neraval drizzle continued as a waterfall drench with swara kalpana ,with concise returns from Lalgudi school
Darbar heaviness came in as a good contrast and this second krithi showed a little more voice power.This new sabha and school is owned by Ramaniyam Builders , there was a bit chuckle when darbar krithi had ramaneeya phrase in it . What a joy to hear the submain subhapantuvarAli . Suryaprakash voice quality has surely improved with bit more gravitas in keezhkAlam and he is consciously adding bit more kaarvai ,which was surely not the case till few years back. I just love these kind of MD krithis which implicitly supports Voice throw with restraint . The patterns from both Sudheendra and Vaikkom were superb , the volume of the mruduangam was just adjusted with right cushion effect without having ballistic beats . After slower speed subhapantuvarali, sarasa sama dhana in change of tempo was again superb, kapi narayani was rocking with some concise returns. Raghuram didnot go overboard and intrude during vocal segments .
The main was mohanam. Lovely choice as both Madura Mani and Lalgudi schools excels in it . Lovely alapana with few rounds of claps and I was expecting a Non T krithi and kapali came in with the right mohanam .Mohanam at its right exact pace , it was neither slow nor fast and singing longer cycles was lovely. Papanasam sivan was bit deceptive in kapali krithi creation . His pallavi start in kapAli bit appears easy to start but with sudden changes with even more denser words and he may also put a bit more strain to any voice . No aberrations in mohanam , with sudheendra almost taking over as the orchestrator king . Orchestration -I only meant it right way, he plays and significantly joins with violin and more importantly keeps eye contact with ghatam artist. Swaras in mohanam were brilliant pouring manodharma with just touch and go minimalist return by Lalgudi disciple Raghuram was superb.The alapana of mohanam by Raghuram was very delhi sundarajanish. Tani was well done ,they both went with the flow of controlled aggression
RTP came in a rare raga -Janasammodhini. There is RTP renaissance in the last 10 to 15 years for sure . I am not sure if any musicians have sung janasammodhini RTP . The raga appears to have a bit more scope than valaci or kalavati . When one beats the voice with detailed submain subhapantuvarali and main mohanam with fillers like kapinarayani, voice obeys strictly with no inhibitions . The alapana in janasammodhini was nice , he created an emote effect that was high . Very short return in violin and then with lovely second round raga alapana ,taanam unfolded . Taanam was well done , i was expecting a bit of mrudangam too , but that did not happen.
Most of the pallavis have significant words taken from few significant key phrases of krithis . THe pallavi govindA undan nAmamE pOdumE ! vaikunda vAsA was very nice and adapted from govinda ninna , the purandaradAsar kannada krithi . With trikalam he winded the concert with swararagamaliga - hamsanandi was great and lovely with a nice closure in behag. He ended the pallavi with the word pOdume pOdume. Viruththam was done well with sankara iyer krithi manadirkku ugandadhu , that tukkada registered more to the crowd .
Violinist Raghuram showed his Lalgudi stamp, this school knows how to dance with right rhythm and have concise pointed ragabhavam . The announcer said in introduction that Raghuram's appa is the senior most disciple of Lalgudi Jayaraman (Who is that). Sudheeendra truly rocked , I hope in future I dont want to go to bangalore to hear him. As stated before the remarkable thing about sudheendra is how he plays for songs , so many patterns and he was just ideating in the stage .The master stroke started when sudheendra said at the beginning bring my volume down almost during sound testing and asked to cut reverb. Vaikkom has a fairly standard body language irrespective of song he played the best in mohanam and he was quite happy to give more limelight to sudheendra.
Lasya and Thoraipakkam- APL global school
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This area thoraipakkam is in the beginning of OMR , just 3 to 4 kms from Thiruvanmiyur or velachery. This sabha is held in a lovely hall in a school APL Global school. The hall has two big portraits of carnatic thirumoorthis(T,MD and SS) like what vanimahal has got . The hall has got excellent AC and sound pit is like Brahma gana sabha in the opposite side. Parking is like sivagami petachi hall . Nice sound adjustments were made and this hall can seat as much as Brahma Gana Sabha . I think this is the second or third year of december season. God Bless this new sabha and patrons . What can i say sarvam vishnu mayam was entirely there in this lovely sabha . While few sabhas outside of Mylapore and Mambalam will be usually held in makeshift halls, this lasya is simply great
Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 25 mins.