Review of M Raghavan Vocal Concert at Music Club IIT Madras

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 10 Feb 2006, 12:57

M Raghavan - Vocal
S Varadarajan - Fiddle
Jayanth - Mrudangam

Music Club IIT Madras, 3rd Feb '06

duDukugala - gauLA - Adi - T (R)
krutapura kshEtra - malayamArutam - Adi - T (RS)
sadguru svAmiki - rItigauLa - Adi - ramanAtapuram srinivAsa iyEngar (R)
EdAri sancErinturA - sruthiranjani - Adi - T (RS)
kOtinadulu - tODi - Adi - T (RNS)
nannu kanna talli - sindhukannaDa - Adi - T
ninnanavalasinadEmi - kalyANi - cApu - T (RNS)
tani
R T P - srI rAgam - dushkara pancamukhi tALam (kaNDa jAti triputa tALam
with the beat taking 5 aksharams and the other counts taking 2 aksharams,
total 27 aksharams)
'entarO mahAnubAvulu antariki nA vandanamu' 2 aksharam eDuppu
tani
alla kallOmAyEnammA - saurAshTRam - Adi - T
rAmA srI rAmA - kuranji - Adi - T (R)
tillAnA - bEhAg - Adi - BMK
nI nama rUpamulaku

The concert was featured as a homage to Sadguru Tyagaraja svami. From the first sancaram of gauLa, the concert was well set and presented. A nice short sketch of the ragam was presented. Singing 'duDuku gala nannu E dOrakoDukku brocurA' with proper sAhitya splitting fully for every sangati and after each svaram and sAhityam was to be noted.

The AlApanai of malayamArutam was aptly done with fast sancarams to fit the tempo of the kriti. The rare kriti was well rendered with mel kAla svarams. The rItigauLa AlApanai was good and the kriti was nice as well. Next was a BMK favourite number. The AlApanai of sruthiranjani carefully avoiding phrases indicative of popular closely allied ragams was commendable. The kriti and svaram in mEl kAlam were good.

The tODi AlApanai was good without much of trying unwanted stuff. The kriti with neraval at 'pongusu srI raghu nAdunu prEmatO' and svarams was well rendered and good to hear. The main kalyANi AlApanai was good also. It was the routine elaborate affair of the AlApanai however the kriti and the neraval and svarams with nice korappu were good.

Then was the surprise. Taking up srI rAgam for a pallavi is not something usually expected. The AlApanai was good and well structured and a short and crisp tAnam was good also. The pallavi set to a rather uncommon tALam but popular sAhityam was done well with the anulOma, pratilOma and change of naDais.

The saurAshTRam and kuranji lAli in madhyama sruthi made the necessary impact. The ease with which the main artist sang one sancaram after another, the beauty of gliding from one note to another thro' two-and-half octaves was very good.

The violinst was good in all his parts. Being a professional violinist helped him to showcase the raga bhavam more elegantly.

The mrudangist was good and had good anticipation. His accompaniment was very sensible and both the tanis were good.

srinidhi · Post by **srinidhi** » 10 Feb 2006, 13:37

Bharat,

Could you explain the talam for the RTP a little better please?

Thank.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 10 Feb 2006, 15:50

it is kanda triputa talam. 5+2+2+2+2+5+2+5+2

The first beat of the talam takes 5 aksharas. counting four fingers of the laghu, each take a couple of aksharas. The two druthams, take 7 aksharams each. split as 5+2. 5 for the beat and two for the thiruppu.

varadhukutty · Post by **varadhukutty** » 21 Feb 2006, 20:14

BTW, the Thillana sung in this concert is a homage to Tyagaraja composed by BMK - first of its kind on Tyagaraja

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 22 Feb 2006, 00:46

I thought that MV's composition on Tyagaraja was the first of its kind...
Ravi