Music Season 2008 - 26th December 2008

Just arrived from Bangalore in yesterday. Bright and early, I marked myself present at the Academy, the temple of the Music season, literally. Facilities and hygiene are very good. Things are much more structured too as regards the tickets for the prime time shows. They even gave us free coffee while we were waiting for our 'token' to get the tickets at 7:45 AM. I was impressed.

LecDem1- Sangeeta Sarvartha Sara Sangrahamu presented by Smt. Rajasree Ramakrishna. Sri V. Sriram has an excellent coverage of this at http://sriramv.wordpress.com/2008/12/

Lec Dem2 - Bodhaka award was presented to Mrs. Kalyani Sharma from Mumbai. Her students presented 5 kritis very well.

1. Jagadananda Karaka (Natta) [Sorry to have heard Mrs. Janaki Krishnamurthy introducing this as Jagada....Argh! "Jagada" is not a word by itself!]
2. Sri Sukra Bhagavantam (Paras)
3. Ma yamma (Natta Kurini??)
4. Ni Sati (Sriranjani)
5. Sri Venkata Girisham (Surati)

The voices (good strong voices unlike the filmi voices of some of the youngsters) were good and sruti was super sharp and aligned all through. I really loved the Sukra Bhagavantam song for its beautiful, insightful words and clear diction with which the singers rendered it. With stress, word splitting and modulation in the right places, even the Jagadananda Karaka and Sri Venkata Girisham sounded so much refreshing and better.

I waited till the very end despite being late for the concert by Bombay Sisters at the main hall.

Bombay Sisters - 9:30 AM

I heard only a few pieces of their concert as I was late coming in from the Lec Dem.

Vinayakuni (Madhyamavati)
Saarasa mukhi (Gowda Mallar)
RTP (Shanmukhapriya)

I used to be mesmerized by their voices, coordination, dasara padas and the general effect in 1980s. It has been a long time since I heard them again. A bit laboured due to age perhaps. They seemed past their prime and there was a general lack of ease and melody (sukham). E.g. Gestures toward the ceiling replacing the tara sthayi notes!

I stayed through, out of deference for the veterans.

Prasanna Venkataraman - 12 noon

Some of the pieces I noted were:
1. Aparadhamulanniyu (Lathangi)
2. Tedi Tedi (Todi) interesting!
3. Nadopasana (Darbar)

Very Spirited performance. His voice gave way a bit, but, a very crisp performance and kept the audience glued to their seats. Excellent enunciation (Umkaram etc.) though the voice was a bit nasal, but, that did not detract from the performance.

With practice, he will develop more ease.

TNS Krishna - 1:45PM

I heard just 2 pieces (Ritigowla varnam and Ninnu Vina Mari in Purvi Kalyani) before deciding that my time was better spent by taking a brisk walk to Narada Gana Sabha for that much needed exercise. While I was there, I caught an hour of wonderful music by Akkarai sisters (violin duet).

Akkarai Sisters (Narada Gana Sabha)

Kriti in Mukhari
Saravana Bhava (Ravikiran's composition in Bilahari)
Sarasa Samadana
E Tavunnara (Kalyani)

Akkarai Subhalakshmi even song a bit of Saravana Bhava to help the audience with the new composition.

Excellent music!

Bombay Jayasri - 4:15 PM (Back at the Academy)

Most awaited concert as far as I am concerned.

1. Sarasiruhasana (Natta)
2. Ni Bhajana (Darbar)
3. Sri Balasubramanya (Bilahari)
4. Ganamurthe (Ganamurthi)
5. Rama Nee Samanamevaru (Kharahara Priya)
6. RTP (Ranjani)
7. Velane Siva balane (Behag)
8. Raase Viharathi (Sivaranjani?)
9. Thillana - Thom Thom Thakka (?)

B.Jayasri seemed to have taken first 3 to 4 piece to warm up. I sensed a bit of hesitation and caution as she started out. May be, I was tense!!

Kharahara priya was phenomenal. Though the RTP raga alapana was done with Ranjani only, she did tanam in Ranjani follwed by Begada and Hindolam. However, the big surprise was that the pallavi had swaras in the above 3 ragas plus one more -Brindavana Saranga followed by the 3 ragas in reverse order AND a few more ragas (Kapi etc.) which was AGAIN followed by all these in forward sweep finally ending in Ranjani. It was a treat!

I love her swara kalpana and how the notes are suffused with raga bhavam in every ounce of them.

Finally, her thukkadas were out of this world for their melody, diction, pace and selection.

My friend, Anand who attended it with me said she was a musical Goddess. There are many perhaps who think so too. A wonderful experience overall.

Hyderabad Brothers - 7 PM

1. Chalamela (Nata Kurinji)
2.Manasu Nilpa (Abhogi)
3. Prarabdhamitlundaga (Swaravali)
4. Korina Vara mosagu (Ramapriya)
5. Triloka Maatha (Paras)
6. Balagopala (Bhairavi)
7. RTP in Hamsavinodini
8. Valapu Dachu (?)
9. Etthanai Sonnalum (Saveri)
10. Tillana (Madhuvanti?)

Pleasant surprise. They sang well - though Sri Seshachari (Younger one) dominated from RTP onwards with Sri Raghavachari just joining the shadjam and Panchamam sometimes.

Their strength is their understanding of the lyrics and wonderful pronunciation (Uchharana). They knew it and leveraged it.

Some of the oddities I must mention:

• Sri Seshachari kept looking at notes almost 95% of the time. It was not somehow decorous to do that for the musicans at their level
• Sri Seshachari was a bit jumpy and quick to comment. He would even imitate the violinist's sincere essays and I thought, it was a bit distracting. He would even have a long conversation with the mridangam player while violin was playing.
• It was hilarious hearing them commending their accompanists by 'Adi' (that) and 'Bagundi' (very good) etc..To hear these in the tamil capital was hilarious and cute!

All in all, a wondeful beginning for my season of concerts. A great day for sure!

- Krishnaprasad