Music Season - 29th December 2008

Lec Dem - the one and only one - Drama music from AP, TN, Karnataka

A popular drama practitioner/Vidvan Sri Meegada Ramalinga Swamy (Visakhapatnam, Andhra), Sri Arimalam Padmanabhan
(Tamil Nadu) and Sri Balakrishna Bhat (Yakshagana, Karnataka) presented their individual specialties.

It was thrilling to hear old Telugu Padyam with dialogues interspersed, after a long time...e.g. "Bava, Eppudu vachithiveevu....bava Krishna". I liked the passion and love with which the Sri Padmanabhan presented with a lot of excamples. Time was the culprit to cut him short. Sri Bhat demonstrated the Yakshagana to taped music. The folk dance form obviously borrows from Bharata natyam etc. and lends it a larger than life treatment. I had to leave to get the tickets for Sanjay's concert and head to Visakha Hari's Harikatha in earnest.

Visakha Hari - Sri Ranga Mahatmyam - Part 3 - Krishna Gana Sabha

This was well worth attending and brought tears to many (including to 'Yours Truly') listening to how Kaveri was born, how Ranganayaki, Tayar were brought to Sri Ranganatha and the phala shruthi (fruit of listening to the Hari Katha).

A few take-aways from her Hari Katha today:

• This was all based on Sri Ranga Gita and with several other references from other puranas and Classical music lore.
• Lalgudi Jayaraman himself was there (he was the guru of Visakha) to bless and felicitate her.
• She was also a CA Gold medalist, we were told. She is a humble person (always refers to Anna, Hari katha guru as having said something that she is sharing with us) with a love for her art.
• You can see the wonder in her eyes and ease in her singing. Her fluency and knowledge of the puranas is simply stunning!
• Agastya = Kumbha tanaya (this comes in Vatapi kriti ..'pura kumbha sambhava muni vara prapujitham'
• Kaveri = Sahya kanyaka (born from Sahya mountains where Agastya did penance)
• She is widely available on You tube and on DVDs a few of which I picked up.

She rendered the following kritis in the course of her story:

1. Ranganathude - Tyagaraja (Sowrashtram)


2. Hiranmayim - Dikshitar (Lalitha)


3. Vellai Thamare (Abheri/Bhimplas)


4. Slokam (Kharaharapriya)


5. Phanipati Sayi


6. Vatapi (Hamsadhwani)


7. En palli kondirayya (Mohana) (why are you lying down?)


8. Bhagyada (Madhyamavathi)


9. Mahalakshmi (Sankarabharanam)


10. Yare Rangana (Hindolam)

I felt blessed to have been able to attend this almost on a lark.

Sriram Gangadharan (Academy) and Shubashree Ramachandran (NGS)

It was either too lound, grating voices, or musical calisthenics (Visakha gave an example "pattinile mallayuddham pannuvargal silar"!)

Bombay Jayashree - Narada Gana Sabha

This concert was even better than the one at the Academy. I was sitting in the wings of the stage and was able to enjoy it at close quarters. She was in top form and the last Thillana in Pahadi (slow unlike typical thillanas) was a clincher. What honey like voice, finesse and shruthi and such lack of frills. Music alone is enough to make a statement as I said yesterday. Hall was fairly full (around 80%).

1. Tatvam Ariya Tharama (Ritigowla)


2. Darini Telusukunti (Suddha Saveri)


3. Hiranmaym (Lalitha)


4. Manavyalakincha radate (Nalina Kanti)


5. Kaligi Yunte kada (Kiravani)


6. RTP (Khamas and Bhageswari)

"Guhane Siva Balane Vadivelane Mamayil eri varum" misra nadai, chathusra Roopaka
with ample dose of swaras in Hamsanandi, Sindhu Bhairavi.. There were forward and reverse sweeps a few times through this string of ragas.
7. Kanda nal (Kalyana Vasantham)
8. Thillana (Pahadi)

I overheard a knowledgeable foreigner saying that this is real music and not the acrobatics that he hears everywhere. He also mentioned TMKrishna favourably. He did not like twin raga RTP and he felt that it was a spoiler though each raga is wondeful by itself..You can not have a fruit salad with RTP..Good metaphor..about time too for dinner!

Sanjay Subramaniam - Academy

He is in good form. Got in late and tot out early due to my preoccuation with flight changes that I was in the middle of. I am the loser ..not Sanjay

He sang (while I was listening):
..

1. Arulvay Angaiyar Kanniye (Simhendra Madhyamam)



2. Nanni Vidachi (Ritigowla)



3. Raasa Vilasa lola (Kambodhi)

...
It was full house and saw TM Krishna slipping out of the concert 30 min before the end of the concert.

I call it a season now. I will follow this up with a piece on music season related tidbits, hangover and humour and such later..

- Krishnaprasad

House Concert by Smt. Bombay Jayashri at Whitefield, Bangalore

Smt. Bombay Jayashri's concert was the 4th in the Parampara series since the inception of Parampara Centre for Music. It was an extraordinary concert where melody and peace reigned supreme and nuances were numerous. The music that was created on the beautiful morning of June 7th continues to ring in my ears still!

Bombay Jayashri tends to open her concerts with a medium tempo krithi on Ganesha or another aspect of the almighty in stead of with a varnam. She began this concert with a melodious Papanasam Sivan's "Karuna Nidhiye" in Bhowli. It was truly a gentle awakening. She followed this up, in contrast, with a rousing Subbaraya Sastri's Begada kriti "Shankari Neeve" with its attractive chitta swaram. A grand Tyagaraja krithi of "Meru samana Dhira" in Mayamalavagowla was laid out in all its grandeur. I was reminded of her amazing Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi in the same raga from the "Azhaga" album.

She sang a beautiful, refreshing Nalinakanti alapana (which frankly kept me guessing for some time till I was reminded of "Manavi Alakincha radate" in the same raga) followed by GNB's "Ni Paadame Gati" with its raga mudra (signature) giving the name away. After this, Jayashri sang "Taamadam Thagadayya" in Mohana Kalyani. Though I have heard this repeated in 4 other concerts of hers, she sings it each time with the same verve and exhilaration. After her kriti "Eppadi Manam" in Huseni (Arunachala Kavi), she reserved the main piece for an expansive alapana, Neraval in her rendition of "Palinchu Kamakshi" (Syama Sastri).

A short, soft and sweet Thani by Shri Vaidyanathan followed the main piece. Smt. Jayashri rendered "Muruganin Maru Peyar Azhagu" (Behag) prefixed by an evocative slokam. This also figures, aptly enough, in her "Azhaga" album, but, the raga and the words of the composition do not ever tire one out. I have first heard MLV sing it (with Sudha Raghunathan as vocal support) in the 1980's in one of her concerts in Keys' High School, Secunderabad. Each rendition has its own charm and Jayashri's is a bit more leisurely. Later, Jayashri sang "Natha Hare" (Ashtapadi in Bhageswari) and ended the concert with a Lalgudi Thillana (Brindavani) which has her own unique stamp of style and brilliance and a traditional mangalam.

Violin by Sri HN Bhaskar was supportive and equally evocative all through.

Audience spontaneously stood up at the end of the concert as if in standing ovation. I could see that several of them were moved and beyond words to express the joy, peace and satisfaction that they experienced.

I am sure that Smt. Bombay Jayashri Ramanath will be back again in our midst in the future.

- Krishnaprasad