arasi wrote: ↑18 Feb 2020, 22:24
Some more details, perchance?
Sure. Why not?
Concert was slated for 6.30pm according to the papers but no one seemed to be in any big hurry. At 6.30, the artistes were in the sannidanam of Rathnagireeswara & Araalakesi. They disappeared for a bit and showed up closer to 7 and then got organized for the concert.
There were only 4 songs in the concert. Sowmya dazzles in so many different ways - she chose the simple aesthetic approach today.
Gam ganapathe was the opening invocation and included a brief swara section. Embar got to play long stretches in between, and it was like a 2 person orchestra.
A fairly detailed Gowrimanohari alapana followed. This was a bit unexpected - both in the choice of raga and level of detail in alapana. It was exquisite. The Sivan kriti that followed was the not commonly heard Gowri manohara. Neraval was at Sowrirajan paniyum (karnatik.com has it as "Gowri rajan paniyum" which appears wrong). It signaled that the concert was going to be special.
Thyagaraja's Siva siva was sung at a relaxed pace.
For ages I have been hoping for someone to sing Behag for the main item in a concert. This has evaded me for the longest time. I had even contemplated starting a seasonal thread called "Throwing down the gauntlet for artistes" here hoping that it may get picked up. Mostly it is featured post main. Although I have heard a substantive Smara janaka from Mahadevan Sankaranarayan in the early part of a concert and Sherthalai Ranganatha Sharma includes a wonderful albeit short alapana in the tukkada session.
So I almost fell off my broken chair when she started Behag alapana. It was extensive and showed its potential. I would have preferred Irakkam varaamal with neraval at the anupallavi or charanam. She decided to go with Idhu thaano thillai sthalam. Equally lilting. Neraval & swaras were comprehensive.
The Nis and the Mas were all crunched together and fell out like when opening a ripe pomegranate.
Tanjore Praveen Kumar shined along in the second speed portions.
There was a lengthy felicitation ceremony post main. It included an award with title for both Sowmya & Embar. Both spoke briefly about their long association with the temple and how personal the venue was for them. Sowmya gave props to the mada palli and the prasadam
The long presentation did not tire the artistes. The tukkada session was quite substantive and included a Kavadi Chindu. Another memorable concert from this venue that hosted Vijay Siva's most haunting neraval at Sarva jeeva dayakara almost a decade ago.
but like fine maple syrup it has only gotten better! She seemed totally at ease yesterday as her voice traversed a wide range.