OS Thiagarajan@Vanimahal on Feb 18th,2018

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rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

OS Thiagarajan@Vanimahal on Feb 18th,2018

Post by rajeshnat »

OS Thiagarajan@Vanimahal on Feb 18th,2018
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Vocal: OS Thiagarajan
Violin : Mullaivasal Chandramouli
Mrudangam : Tiruvidaimarudhur Sankaran

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Sunday/ 2 hours and 10 mins
Concert Type: Free Concert
Hall : Vani Mahal Main hall
Occassion : Thyagaraja Aradhana weekly homage

...
01. dinamani vamsa( S) - Harikambodhi
swaras for 3 mins
02.Teliyaleru rAmA - dhenuka

03. sogasuga Mrudanga tAlamu(S) - Shreeranjani
2 mins swaras
04. neekE teliyaka pothE - Anandabhairavi
05. sambhO mahAdeva (S) - pantuvarali
swaras for 5 mins

06. nidhichAlasukhamA (R N S) - kalyani
14 mins alapana and 8 mins violin return
7 mins neraval in mamata bandhana yuta narastuti sukhamA surapati tyAgarAja nutuni kIrtana sukhamA
4 mins swaras

07. sataleni dheena - naganandini

08A. mitri bhAgyamE(R NS S T) - kharaharapriya
16 mins alapana and 8 mins violin return
Swaras for 7 mins
08B.tani for 3 mins

09. sompaina ...challarE - ahiri
10. lAli yugavE- neelambari
11. nadupai - madhyamavati
12. nee nama roopamulaku- sowrashtram

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: OS Thiagarajan@Vanimahal on Feb 18th,2018

Post by rajeshnat »

OST is known to always present chaste sampradaya music . Over the years his adulation for Thyagaraja krithis is a given thing . All these years I have heard OST where mostly he has great team of pakkavadhyams . Yesterday he had mullaivasal chandramouli and Tiruvidaimarudhur sankaran. I have heard lot of concerts where mullaivasal chandramouli has played but this was the first occassion i am hearing Tiruvidaimarudhur sankaran playing .

As a rasika I prefer to hear the vocalist blend with running mrudangam rhythmmic taps and possibly well pointed surgical strike touchpoints by violinist , atleast that is the combination that I like . But yesterday concert was a bit of dampener. Chandramouli violin did not have a clean melodic tone and he was kind of playing bit too long without significant pauses during rendition of songs. The mrudangist did not have a rhythmmic tone he rolled it well but the sound was not there at times his play had a recurring bland tone.

OST started with dinamani vamsa , a day before TMK pushed that as a nightwatchman krithi and ended the concert , OST brought it back as either a #1 or #2. I was 5 mins late and I just heard the second half of dinamani vamsa . The swaras were measured but the violin aberration of overplay and mrudangam aberration of underplay did set early and kind of latched for most time. Dhenuka was nice but it was just krithi i did long for may be a dash of swaras in teliyaleru would have given a better aura. One usually sees and hears a mrudangam exuberence in sogasuga mrudanga talamu but tiruvidaimarudhur sankaran missed a lot of juicy full tosses in sogasuga mrudanga talamu.

The rare anandabhairavi krithi was really great ,usually Anandabhairavi krithis of T are very very rare and I liked this krithi neekE teliyaka , few rollercoaster rides in charanam were very attractive to bring the aanandabhairavi rasa. He immediately went to sambho mahadeva the mrudangam in pantuvarali is a very important player for this raga but he was just there also chandramouli press did obfuscate the vocal sangathis of OST.

Kalyani came up next and I liked OST alapana he showed his class there . I am not a fan of this kalyani raga but in this concert it turned out to be the best . THe krithi nidhichalasukhamA was taken up and I did hear this krithi after many years of hibernation. The neraval and swaras were steeped in classicism , the crib of violin and mrudangam indeed stayed as before. The swaras were bit too short but still well presented kalyani

The filler naganandini did not register well. Kharaharapriya was taken not in the usual low to mid octave position, but I liked the way he built the alapana with superb brigas . The krithi mitri bhAgyamE had its punch till the first half . He sang one line of neraval and then disappointed to skip the neraval. THe swaras were bit touch and go , you usually get 24 carat quantum for this melakartha 22 but i did not even get 18 carat quantum .

In tukkadas only ahiri-challArE was sung well . His usual drop of laliyugavE-neelambari was rushed and the last nadupai-madhyamavati was almost sung in a rushed fashion like nee nama roopamulaku krithi. Mullaivasal chandramouli could have had more sunaada tone(possibly lack of tabmbura was the culpirt) and may be his quantum of contribution was way too much during the course of krithi , he played well towards the second half of kharaharapriya.Chandramouli usually plays much better than what he played yesterday . Tiruvidaimarudhur Sankaran could have tuned the right side bit better I did not hear the mrudu sound in mrudangam and at many places i felt he needed much more left right balance to give a non blanded sound . Around just 3 mins into tani I was not sure if he ended the tani or if OST quickly wrapped the tani(more likely OST may have wrapped is my best guess), felt the tani had an abrupt closure.

OST could have kept a upapakkavadhyam or more importantly should have hired a tambura player . He had the electronic shruthi and that did not get feeded to microphone , felt always a bit of shruthi deficient concert. Certainly law of average caught up with the team.The best was the lovely anandabhairavi krithi and the two alapanas kalyani and kharaharapriya, rest I atleast had to struggle to get better aesthetics from the team.

Overall a good to very good concert for 2 hours and 10 minutes

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