Mylapore Fine Arts - 21/1/10

This was part of the Tyagaraja Aradhana series conducted by Mylapore Fine Arts, Chennai.

Accompanists:

Mysore Sri.H.N.Bhaskar - Violin
Sri.R.Ramesh - Mridangam
B.S.Purushothaman - Kanjira
















Song List:(R-Raga Alapana,N-Neraval,S-Kalpanaswaram,T-Tani Avarthanam)

1.slOkam, rAgasudharasa - AndOlikA- Adi (S)
2.dudukUgala - gowlA - Adi
3.rAmabhakti sAmrAjyam - sudhdhabangaLA
4.shambhO mahAdeva - pantuvarALi - rUpakam (R,S)
5.nA morAla - dEvagAndhAri - rUpakam - (R)
6.E rAmuni - vakuLAbharaNam - misra cApu (R)
7.tanayuni brOva - bhairavi - Adi (R,N,S,T)
8.rAmuni maravakavE - kedAragowLa - Adi
9.rAma pAhi - kApi - misra cApu
10.mangaLashtakam slOkam - rAgamAlikA followed by mangaLam

srInivAsa tava - kharaharapriyA (lyrics)

Lyrics as requested:

rAgam : kharaharapriyA
tALam : rUpakam
composer : pApanAsam sivan

பல்லவி:

ஸ்ரீநிவாஸ தவ சரணௌ சிந்தயாமி ஸந்ததம் (ஸ்ரீநிவாஸ)

அனுபல்லவி:

தீனஜநாவந துரீண ஸ்ரீவேங்கட கிரிரமண (ஸ்ரீநிவாஸ)

சரணம்:

கமலஜா மனோஹர ஸ்ரீகரகருணா ஜலதர நத-
சமலதமோ பாஸ்கர ச்ரித ஸுரேச ராமதாஸவினுத (ஸ்ரீநிவாஸ)


पल्लवि:
श्रीनिवास तव चरणौ चिन्तयामि सन्ततम् (श्रीनिवास)

अनुपल्लवि:
दीनजनावन दुरीण श्रीवेङकट गिरिरमण (श्रीनिवास)

चरणम्:
कमलजा मनोहर श्रीकरकरुणा जलधर नत-
शमलतमो भास्कर श्रित सु्रेश रामदासविनुत (श्रीनिवास)

Stree pancharatnam at Mudhra - 10/1/2010

Mudhra organized an all-women Pancharatna kritis rendering on January 10th,2010.

I finished the Unchavruthi function at Narada Gana Sabha on the occasion of the Global GNB Centenary Celebrations and hurried to Mudhra to participate in this event.

Kudos to Mudhra Bhaskar and Dr.Radha Bhaskar for the excellent arrangements and for bringing together a large number of lady artists on this memorable occasion.

On the violin we had Dr.Narmada in the lead,on the Veena we had Mrs.Jayalakshmi Sekhar and there were three lady Mridangam artists - Smt.Rajam, Smt.Jayamangala and Kumari.Rajna Swaminathan.










The most interesting feature was that we could sing at our own pitch :-). Usually group singing of Pancharatna Kritis is at the males' pitch- therefore we end up singing in the upper and lower octaves alternatively :-).On this occasion we were definitely more at ease,singing at a pitch ideal for ladies.

Chennai Sangamam 2010 - 12/1/2010

Venue : Ashok Nagar Park, Chennai















Accompanists:

Sri.V.V.S.Murari - Violin
Sri.R.Sankaranarayanan - Mridangam















There was a very good crowd and it was heartening to see people listening to the concert in rapt attention.

Global GNB Centenary Celebrations @Narada Gana Sabha, 10/1/10

The Global GNB Centenary Celebrations were held at Narada Gana Sabha,Chennai from 6th January,2010 to 10th January,2010.

This was done on a very grand scale, organised by Mr.Vijayaraghavan, with the co-operation of a lot of Sabha Secretaries and musicians.

Morning of 10th January had us all assembled at NGS for the Unchavruthi procession of Goddess Rajarajeshwari,the idol personally worshipped by Sri.GNB. The idol was beautifully decorated and it was carried on a palenquin. We walked around NGS and sang GNB kritis in a group.

Musicians who participated:
Smt.Gayathri Venkataraghavan, Smt.Lakshmi Rangarajan,Kum.Nisha Rajagopal,Kum.Subhiksha Rangarajan,Kum.S.M.Vilasini,Sri Abhishek Raghuram,Sri.Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna,Sri.Delhi Muthukumar,Sri.Bharat Sundar and myself.
On the violin was Sri.Bombay Anand, on the Mridangam we had Trivandrum Balaji and on the Kanjira we had Sri.K.V.Gopalakrishnan and Sri.A.Anand.

(Photos Courtesy :Sri.Sampath Rangan and Sri.Trivandrum Balaji.)
















His Highness, The Maharaja of Udaipur was the chief guest and inaugurated the proceedings by taking an Arti of the Rajarajeshwari idol.
















Mridangam Maestro Umayalpuram Sri.K.Sivaraman was a special guest who addressed the gathering.





















We first sang the kriti vara vallabhA ramaNA,rAgam hamsadhwani,in chorus.

This was followed by the kriti sivAnanda kAmavardhani in rAgam kAmavardhani,sung by the lady artists alone. Short neraval rounds were done by Smt.Lakshmi,Kum.Nisha and Kum. Vilasini.















After this the male artists sang the kriti ranjani niranjani in the rAgam ranjani and we were delighted to see TRS Mama joining our group at this juncture.
















Next was the bhairavi rAga kriti gativErevarammA sung in chorus by all of us.

This was followed by a short tani by our percussion artists.




















The next item was a slOkam (vandE mAtaram ambikAm bhagavatIm immortalized by Sri.GNB) sung in different rAgams by Bharat Sundar,Subhiksha,myself,Abhishek and Gayathri Venkataraghavan.

















This was followed by the beautiful kriti paramakripAsAgari in the rAgam yadukulakAmbhOji and with this we finished the unchavruthi procession.















This wonderful unchavruthi was a new and different kind of experience for me. We had to sing without mikes and the entire place vibrated with music that entire morning:-)

IIT MADRAS ALUMNI DAY- Jugalbandi concert - 26/12/09

Lakshmi Sriram and I presented a Carnatic-Hindustani Jugalbandi vocal concert on 26th Dec 2009 as part of the IIT Alumni Celebrations. I finished my concert at Brahma Gana Sabha earlier that evening and went for this concert at CLT inside IIT Campus.

(Photos Courtesy : Mr.C.Mohan)
















Accompanists:

Sri.Mysore Srikanth - Violin
Sri.Neyveli Skandasubramanian - Mridangam
Sri.Ravi Balasubramanian - Ghatam
Sri.Viresh Madri - Harmonium
Sri.Suresh - Tabla


























The concert duration was only one hour and our concert was followed by a Flute Recital by Sri.K.Bhaskaran.

Lakshmi and I presented 4 items in this concert. Even though we sang the pieces individually, each of us joined the other while singing the AlAp and kalpanaswArams.

1. Hamsadhwani:

I sang vara vallabha ramaNA, a composition of Sri.G.N.Balasubramanian, in Adi tALa. Lakshmi sang a drut bandhish in teen tAl in the same rAga,inits Hindustani equivalent style.

2. pantuvarALi and pUryadhanasri:

This was Lakshmi's main item and she sang a madhya lay teen tAl bandish (pAyaleeya)in pUryadhanasri. I sang shambhO mahAdEva, a composition of Saint tyAgarAjA, set to rUpaka tALa.

3. madhyamAvati and madhyamat sArang:

This was the main item that I presented. Sang pAlintsu kAmAkshi, a composition of syAmA sAstri set to Adi tALa and Lakshmi followed with a composition in madhyamat sArang.

4.dEsh:

I sang the kriti rAma nAma,a composition of Sri.Thanjavur Shankara Iyer set to Adi tALa and Lakshmi wound up the concert with a tarAnA in dEsh.

AN ODE........TO A LEGEND

The centennial celebrations of Sri G.N.Balasubramanian(GNB)[Jan 6th,1910-May 1st,1965], have kicked off to a flying start and the entire Carnatic music fraternity from all over the world has come together in unison to pay their respects and revel in his exotic renderings.
That he was a superb musician is pretty much like stating the obvious.

A deep resonant voice, a charismatic stage presence and a great command over any Raga are some of the highlights of his presentations.His captivating tukkadas, as opposed to some scholarly RTPs embellished with graha bhedAs, swara rAgamAlikAs
left both the cynical critic and the laymen dumbfounded.

Of course these are stories I've heard,from various people who have had the privilege of having heard him "live"!! This is when i get wistful and wish I had a time-machine that I could use, to attend at least one concert of his....

Those super speed brighas that so very easily get transformed into endearingly soft phrases have often left me amazed and stunned. All I can do now is pay my obeisance to the Maestro and find solace in the fact that I am pursuing just what he and I share the same passion for - music !!

The Britishers are often heard saying- The King is gone but Long Live the King- that's how I feel too.

My heartfelt Pranams to you, Sir....