Jayanthi Kumaresh - Prabhat Sangeetham Dec 28

[mahavishnu]

5:30 am Dec 28
Jayanthi Kumaresh - veenai
Neyveli Narayanan - mridangam
Trichy Krishna - ghatam

mAyAtitA swaroopiNi - mayamalagowla
kanukoNTini - bilahari -T
lalithE sri pravrddha - bhairavi - lalgudi pancharatnam
ninnu vinA gati gAna - kalyANi - subbaraya shastry (Ragam + tanam) + Tani avartanam.
bhAvamu lOna - suddha dhanyAsi - annamAchAryA
Sri rAmachandra krupAlu bhajamana - yamuna kalyani tulsidas
rEvati ragam (in a vedic meter: request)

I had one of the most beautiful concert experiences of my life a few mornings ago. I really wanted to catch Jayanthi Kumaresh somewhere this season, and this was the only one that fit my schedule. And it was at 5:30AM! So, my father and I set an early alarm and made our way to the concert location in the home of a good carnatic citizen, behind Nageswara Rao park. My first time there.

And what an amazing location this is. The entire house was lit with oil lamps and kuthivilakkus. The artistes were to sit in front of the shrine built in this very tastefully done living room. We all sat on the floor all around the artistes. There was no amplification (other than the pick-up used for the veena) and just the organic sound of the two most beautiful south Indian instruments, Veena and mridangam filled the room. The host family was just finishing their elaborate morning pujas, as we entered. And together the brilliant artistes and the 40-50 of us, welcomed the dawn in this absolutely serene setting that resembled Sringeri.

Jayanthi played with extraordinary sensitivity. It felt as thought the strings melted and simulated annealing from the thandhi (string) just flowed into us. The audience, in a blissful meditative state, was carried from piece to piece in this unhurried morning, while the rest of the city was waking up.

Each piece was beautiful. After the mayatita swaroopini opening, she played one of the most delightful bilaharis that I've heard. Of course, one could hear the lyrics of the lalgudi pancharatnam in her playing; especially as she played "tyAgarAja mAnasa sadhanE" as the charanam ended. And the kalyANi was grand! After a quick suddha dhanyasi kriti (popularized by MS) she finally played the yamuna kalyani piece as the splintered sunlight came peeping through to greet us at the end of this incredible musical journey.

Neyveli Narayanan was just brilliant. He played with just the right level of sound and the beauty of a perfectly tuned instrument without microphones is something that has to be heard in a setting like this to be believed! What bass he produced and such lovely gumkis. Truly talented man!

The wonderful host in his final benediction (as this concert was to be treated a puja in itself), spoke a few sweet words. After thanking the artistes, he referred to Jayanthi's music as not coming from her, but just coming through her, a blessed child of god. As he said this, there was not a soul in the room that was not wiping that nascent tear off their eyes.

I have been to some old medieval chapels in Europe with superb acoustics to listen to gregorian chants and the like... I am yet to see a place as magical the one created by Jayanthi and Narayanan at Prabhat Sangeetham.

This place is one of the season's best kept secrets. I hope it remains this way!

[mahavishnu]

FYI. Rest of the season's schedule of this place here. Most of the vocalists here sing without accompaniment.
http://kutcheris.com/schedule.php?sabha ... type=&vid=

The location is saraswati apartments, this is just behind Nageswara Rao Park.

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks Mahavishnu. What a splendid way to listen to some great music at such a peaceful time of the day and serene setting! Good for you and your dad to have made it to the concert. Chennai does indeed surprise us like this with such quality happenings.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Ramesh,
Beautiful description of a beautiful experience!

Any chance this was recorded and we would be lucky to hear it?

[PRCM]

Yes, it was an amazing experience indeed...
Trichy Krishna was on the Ghatam....

[mahavishnu]

PRCM: I have edited the text to make that correction.

[hema]

Yes, I too really like her a lot. Heard her about 2 years ago (along with Padmavathi Ananthagopalan?) -- she is really
amazing. I have always wanted to go to this place. Should not miss this next season. Is there a recording available
somewhere?