S Sowmya - R K Shriram Kumar - H S Sudhindra

[srikant1987]

Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha and Saraswathi Vageeyakkara Trust
Tamil Isai Vizha @ Narada Gana Sabha
August 22, 2009, beginning ~ 6:45 pm

nIla mayil - rIti gauLai - Adi-2 (varNam) - Dr S Ramanathan
vandAlum varaTTum (RS) - balahamsA - Adi - GKB
aravindalOcananE! - nItimati - Adi - Ambujam Krishna
innum parAmugam EnO? (RS) - bEgaDa - rUpaka cApu - duraisAmi aiya
nitam nitam - kuntaLa varALi - Adi - tiruvEdanAyakam piLLai
kAlait tUkki ninRADum (sketch) - yadukula kAmbhOji - Adi-2 - mArimuttA piLLai

kArAya vaNNa - viruttam in tODi, followed by
eNNai varugavena (?!) - periyAzhvAr (?) pAcuram - tODi - Adi-2
N @ ponnIrADa eNNai tArIr (?!)

There were many tukkaDas to follow, I found it hard to list. They were all in Adi, some in tishra naDai. Arabhi, dhanyAsi, vasantA ... then a viruttam in Shanmukhapriya and some other ragas, then suruTTI followed by a suruTTi song. A folkish item, a thiruppugazh, and all those. Lot of tukkaDas.

===
The main item was done by a little before eight thirty.

Smt Sowmya's balahamsA AlApanai was very neat, RKSK gave a good reply, though maybe not to the kind I've come to expect of him! The swaram replies, however, flowed almost effortlessly. Smt Sowmya announced composers of all pieces. Before the balahamsa piece, she mentioned that Tyagarajaswamy has written several compositions in balahamsa. She aid Annamacharya also has listed several of his songs for balahamsa and that it seems to have been a very popular ragam earlier. She said that the m g ri which comes in the first line "vandAlum varaTTum" is a rare phrase in the ragam. Her guru Dr Ramanathan used to say GKB has cleverly chosen the words for this phrase very rarely "comes" in the rAgam.

bEgaDa AlApanai, the song, and swarams were all lovely. I came to notice that Smt Sowmya excels at swarams which last a measured number of avartanams.

kAlai tUkki ninRADum deivamE was a treat, in the leisurely gait chosen for it. This is the second time I'm hearing yk and balahamsa in the same concert.

The tODi viruttam was so full of rAgabhAvam that one didn't miss an AlApanai at all. However, the mantra sthAyi could perhaps have been elaborated a little more. The koraippu in swarams was to the eDuppu and not samam. Sri Sudhindra played with superb anticipation for swarams and the neraval. The tani was nice too, but I felt it could've been a little longer.

pAcuram lyrics are difficult to make out!

[rupavati]

I noted the songlist in detail on my mobile's notepad, but mistakenly hit "delete" instead of "save" at the end of the concert I'll just try to edit and add to Srikant's list...

S. Sowmya - RK Shriramkumar - HS Sudhindra

1) nIla mayil - rIti gauLai - Adi-2 (varNam) - Dr S Ramanathan
2) vandAlum varaTTum - balahamsa - Adi - GKB (R, S)
3) aravindalOcananE - nItimati - Adi - Ambujam Krishna
4) innum parAmukham EnO - bEgaDa - rUpakam (R, S) - duraisvAmi ayya?
5) nidam nidam unnaye - kuntaLa varALi - Adi - vEdanAyakam piLLai
6) kAlait tUkki ninRADum - yadukula kAmbhOji - Adi-2 - mArimuttA piLLai - R sketch
7) kArAya vaNNa - viruttam (rAmalingar arutpa) - tODi
8) followed by eNNai varugavena - periyAzhvAr pAsuram - tODi - Adi-2, N @ ponnIrADa eNNai tArIr, S
9) tani Avarttanam
10) pUterndu Ayanam - Arabhi - Sambandhar tEvAram
11) ittanai tulambaramo - dhanyAsi - muttu tANDavar
12) kaNDEn kaNDEn - vasanta - aruNAcala kavi
13) pAti mati nadi - kharaharapriya - tiruppugazh - aruNagirinAthar
14) vAzhayaDi vAzhayana - viruttam (rAmalingar arutpa) - Sanmukhapriya, bilahari, hamsAnandi, suruTTi
15) mAtrariyAda - suruTTi - rAmalingar
16) cennikkuLa nagar vAsan - kAvaDi cindu - aNNAmalai reDDiAr
16) ninnaye rati - sindhubhairavi - mahAkavi bhAratiyar
17) vAzhiya sentamizh

Awesome concert, awesome list. Her voice was in great shape, giving a fine sheen to the elaborations of bEgaDa, balahamsa, etc. As srikant says, one never missed an AlApana in tODi, the viruttam with its subtle inflections was a sumptuous preface. I found it extremely interesting that an all-Tamil concert could be planned with so much variety, without resorting to the easy way of filling up the time with Papanasam Sivan songs!! RKS was in tune with the main artiste's mood and Sudhindra was flowing with the music... an evening of peaceful, high-class music. Dr. Ramanathan must be smiling from up above!

PS - One minor quibble with Srikant's report... many of the post-tani items can hardly be classified as tukkaDas. The kharaharapriya & dhanyAsi for instance had the impact of mainstream pieces. And I think she sang dhanyAsi & vasanta primarily to highlight the complete tamil trinity, after having featured mArimutta piLLai in the Yadukulakambhoji piece. I've heard the tiruppugazh handled by the Alathur Bros in a different raga, but today's kharaharapriya was divine

[arasi]

My! What a list!
Srikant,
I agree with Rupavathi about the lovely pieces which came in the second part of the concert. The term TukkaDa (THukDA--little pieces) does not describe the numbers she sang, one after the other--each a special one in its own right. They are not some wispy pieces anyone can pen

Rupavathi,
By the same token, I would not call PS's songs 'fillers'!

[srikant1987]

Arasi and Rupavathi,

Yes indeed. I wholeheartedly agree. Smt Sowmya had indeed chosen all items with great care. But I just used "tukkaDa" in the sense of "post-tani" pieces.

Yes, I would also repeat Arasi's views on PS's songs (though there are many of his compositions that I don't like too ). I wish there was at least one song of his in today's list. There are many heavy pieces of his too, and they tend to come out only in a concert entirely dedicate to him.

And I definitely expected the kind of variety and heaviness this concert's list had, because this theme is much broader than say "OVK" or "PS" (in fact includes both of them! - though taking away their Sanskrit pieces). And it was Sowmya. Moreover, I've heard of the list she had for some other Tamil concert too.

[bilahari]

Thanks for the reports, Srikant and Rupavathi. Nice to see bAlahamsa being elaborated--it is such a beautiful ragam.

[cienu]

Great Reviews. Srikanth and Rupavathi

Thank you. What a song list from Sowmya

[rupavati]

I'm sorry if I sounded disrespectful to Sangita Kalanidhi Papanasam Sivan's kritis or his music. Far from it... I was actually bemoaning the fact that several of today's musicians, if asked to do an TAMIZH ISAI concert would (probably due to the lack of repertoire) fill up the allotted time with PS kritis and pass it off as Tamizh Isai. I am happy Smt. Sowmya did not do that and showed us samples spanning a wide historical range and several composers. Of course it is not the first time she is doing that... hats off to her and of course to her great guru Dr. Ramanathan who not only did so much for Tamizh Isai but also moulded such a gem of a disciple.

[rajeshnat]

Excellent song list , sowmya is always a scholarly musician, the list enforces that. Did the concert end in 9pm(assuming)?

[vasanthakokilam]

rupavati: Well expressed compliments about Sowmya and Dr. Ramanathan.

[fuddyduddy]

nice list! would have loved to be here for this concert!

[srikant1987]

rajeshnat,

Yes indeed, it ended around 9 pm.

[rbharath]

the danyAsi piece is a padam. i guess Smt. Sowmya could have picked it up from Mukta amma. a great piece indeed.

guess i missed a great concert

[sankark]

என்னை வருக வெனக்குறித்திட்
டினமலர் முல்லையின் பந்தர்நீழல்
மன்னி யவளைப் புணரப்புக்கு
மற்றென்னைக் கண்டுழ றாநெகிழ்ந்தாய்
பொன்னிற வாடையைக் கையில்தாங்கிப்
பொய்யச்சங் காட்டிநீ போதியேலும்
இன்னமென் கையகத் தீங்கொருநாள்
வருதியே லெஞ்சினம் தீர்வன்நானே

ennai varuga ena(k) kuRithittu inamalar mullaiyin pandhar nIzhal
manni avaLai(p) puNara(p) pukku maRRu ennai(k) kandu uzhaRA negizhndhAi
ponniRa(v) Adaiyai(k) kaiyil thAngi(p) poi(y) achcham kAtti nI pOdhiyElum
innam en kaiyagathu IngorunAL varudhiyEl en sinam thIrvan nAnE

http://www.projectmadurai.org/pm_etexts ... 05_02.html #705

ennai (me) varuga (to come) ena(having) kuRithittu (given indication) inamalar (quality flower) mullaiyin (mullai's, jasmine would be malligai?) pandhar () nIzhal (under the shadow)
manni (reached) avaLai(p) (her) puNara(p) (to join) pukku (go) maRRu (and) ennai(k) (me) kandu (seen) uzhaRA negizhndhAi (contrite?)
ponniRa(v)(of golden hue) Adaiyai(k) (dress) kaiyil (in hands) thAngi(p)(holding) poi(y) (false) achcham (fear) kAtti (display) nI (you) pOdhiyElum (even if go)
innam (one time/in future) en (my) kaiyagathu (hold/hands) IngorunAL(on a day) varudhiyEl(you come) en (my) sinam (anger) thIrvan(be rid of) nAnE(I)

Rough translation
I will be rid of my anger one day when you are in my hold, holding your golden hued dress in hand and expressing a false fear and contriteness, having given me an indication to meet you under the mullai creeper's canopy, are going to spend time with the other girl.