K Gayathri @Vanimahal On Dec 24th,2019
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Vocal : K gayathri
Violin : Nishanth Chandran
Mrudangam : Vijay Natesan
Kanjira : Nerkunam Shankar
Tambura : ??
Concert Type : Non Nirvana/Paid
Time/Day : 4pm to 06:00 pm , Tuesday
01. Om namah pranvakayah ... dakshinamoorthy slokham of MS amma
02. varnam - Ninnukori Yunnara - vasantha - Tacchur Singaaraachari
03. lOkavana chaturA (RS,N,S)- BeGaDa -T
8 mins neraval in sAkEtAdhipa sarasa gunApramEya
5 mins swaras
04. nin sharana malarE gatiyana(R,S) - simmhendra madhyamam - papanasam sivan
11 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
7 mins swaras
04. parAkela nannu - kEdaragowlai - SS
05A. akshayalinga vibhO (R N S T) - shankarabharnam - MD
11 mins alapana in shankarabharanam and 6 mins violin return
neraval in badari vanamoola for 10 mins
7 mins swaras
05B. tani for 11 mins
06. vEnugAnam thEnAi inikkudhE - kAnadA - Suguna Purushottaman (K gayathri's guru)
07. sapAshyat kausalyam - Jonpuri - panchapakEsa sastri
Vidushi K gayathri is a serious and intense musician and follows a deep paddhathi. Her concert was a bit of mixed bag for me ,courtesy not just the 4 performance of musicians but the intense kelvinator vanimahal that created a deep feeling as though as i was roaming in the streets of chicago during a windchill winter night.
Start was crisp in a rare vasantha varnam , she sang after the signature tune of a dakshinamoorthy slokham popularized by the most popular mahavidhushi ms subhalakshmi. Vasantha is a lovely raga that gets into groove , it gets quickly atleast to my ears no cobwebs of any unwanted "let me give more time to settle" feeling. Weighty begada came in next with a very weighty sadguru krithi . She did not connect that much the scattered audience but till that point in the lovely begada i was hearing a bit more volume from violin atleast in begada it was a case of k gayathri accompanying nishant chandran.
A lady in front of me asked more volume for k gayathri , certainly it was perfect . What a lovely simmhendra madhyamam that K gayathri sang , she was concise and really touched all the deeper pockets of this lovely raga . I did not know about the song and i later came to know that it was papanasam sivan while googling i find there is another song by sivan with very overlapping pallavi lines sung in reetigowlai(there is a gaythri venkataraghavan reetigowlai sivan song which i am assuming is different from simmhendra madhyamam song of sivan that K Gayathri sang).
I am wondering if i really heard only simmhendra madhyamam or was it the beginning of me feeling stuffed with cold air in my throat ,ears and chest. Lovely simmhendra madhyamam swaras that was in line with the lovely buildup of the song . This vidushi's best number in this concert was this number.
The kedaragowlai filler was more a handshake with her illlustrious guru suguna purushottaman. She did not connect much with the audience . Main was shankarabharanam that came up next . Great voice strength a really tough and uphill song akshayalinga vibho followed . Certain rounds of intense creativitiy was there in neraval but did not match that well with swaras which went just ok.
The filler in kAnadA was a super janaranjaka number that had intense imagery in sahityam . I adore suguna purush as a composer and I am glad she took it up. The last jonpuri was a filler that was quick as she had to handover the stage at 6 pm sharp.There is more jonpuri throw that i expected there and i did not get it
Nishanth chandran played well during alpana return and he was best in shankarabharanam . But he needs a bit more agility and sharpness to follow during course of song . Vijay natesan played well for the most part he was as frigid as me guarding against the windchill climate that was prevailing in vanimahal. Nerkunam shankar did play well and he is always a clean order following upapakkavadhyam artist.Their tani was crisp and they planned to give more vocal cycles to vidushi k gayathri
Personally feel two things could have been better
1.There was Little excessive eclectic way of choices in vanimahal , that too an overlap of begada and shankarabhranam as submain like and main did not suit me at all in a single performance.Bit more janaranjakam choice and taking atleast one song with the pulse of the listener would have helped.
2. AC AC AC . They perhaps adjusted thinking it was a full hall of ranjani gayatri but no it was terribly cold .Shankarbharanam sangathi got engulfed with ac coolness and i still donot know yet as how to flush out from my body those terrible virus infected neraval sangathis of badari virusmoola.
Overall a very good concert for 2 exact hours