Anuradha Sridhar - Violin
Rajna Swaminathan - Mrudangam
Duration: 3 h 15 min
Approximate Songlist:
01. brOchEvArevarE raghupathE [S @ pallavi] - srIranjani - Adi
02. ardhanArIshwaram [S @ pallavi] - kumudakriya - rUpakam
03. brOva bArama [R, S @ pallavi] - bahudAri - Adi
04. mA ramaNan - hindOLam - rUpakam
05. nIlalOhitaramaNi - balahamsa - khanDa druva - OVK
06. mora beTTithE [R, N @ tappa mUkaTa nara jEsithE, S] - tODi - mishra chApu - ThyAgarAja
07. sarisamAnamEvarunnAru - kEshavapriya - Adi - Chitravina Ravikiran
08. Ragam Thanam Pallavi - pUrvikalyANi - Adi [2] (eDuppu samam + 1) [Brief Thani]
Pallavi: saravaNa bhava guhanE thirumAl maruganE (arudhi at nE in guhanE, which coincided with the start of the first drutham, I think)
Ragamaliga swaras in mukhAri, kEdAragowLa, and bEhAg
09. nArAyaNA ninna nAmada - shuddha dhanyAsi - khanDa chApu
10. upamugAnEchEyi (padam) - yadukulakAmbOji - mishra jhampa
11. vAnipondu cAlu vaddanE (jAvaLi) - kAnaDa - rUpakam - D. Subbaraya Iyer
12. ranjani mrudupankajalOchani - ranjani, srIranjani, mEgharanjani, janaranjani - Adi
13. mangaLam - madhyamAvathi - Adi - Purandara Dasar
The concert started with a fair rendition of srIranjani and kumudakriya, where KV's voice was just warming up. The kalpanaswaras presented for neither of the first two pieces were especially remarkable. The first elaborate alapanai was of bahudAri, with KV adopting an MMI approach to the raga in crafting short phrases. However, KV didn't maintain the fluency that MMI did with these short phrases, and each phrase seemed disconnected from the last. The alapanai was noteworthy for a beautiful kArvai at the madhya gandharam, but KV continued to struggle with shruti. BrOva bArama was presented in slower madhyama kAlam and it was nice to hear a slower rendition of the krithi, which she laced with a nice kArvai at the tara shadjam in the charaNam, swooping through the contours of the raga. The swara prastharam was fine, with a nice sequence of swaras like PDN,PMGM - PDNP,MGM - PDNPM,GM - etc, where the elongated swara in each phrase was sung with pleasing gamakas. Kiranavali also emphasised the oscillating madhyamam in the raga (GMGMGM) during the kalpana swaras. The absence of mEl kAla swaras was noticeable since I felt it would have injected some necessary energy into the bahudAri (and the concert).
The best item of the concert was KV's rendition of mA ramaNan that followed, as she pinned down the bhAvam of hindOLam perfectly in the course of singing a krithi which I adore. The concert followed with another personal favourite of mine- OVK's nIlalOhitaramaNi in balahamsa. KV sang it nicely, though she had trouble maintaining her breaths while singing the madhyama kala segments that are so chock full of sahitya. KV then took up tODi for main, and sang a compact, classical alapanai where she dwelt nicely on phrases surrounding the madhya shadjam. However, after spending a good 3-4 minutes on the madhya shadjam, she abruptly jumped to the panchamam for elaboration. She could have considered a smoother transition by singing some phrases from the shadjam to the panchamam before resting on the panchamam. Nonetheless, the alapanai was quite good, with a nice gamakam on the nishadam in the phrase DNP,,, and accurate oscillations on the dhaivatham in MD,,, phrases. A rare ThyagarAja krithi that KV learnt from T Brinda featured as the main item, and it was nicely rendered. The first neraval of the evening was presented in this krithi, and the chowka kAla portions were well executed, beautifully demonstrating the bhAvam of tODi. However, I was less than enthused by the mEl kAla passages sung because (a) they were very brief, but more importantly (b) the mEl kAla neraval sequences lacked the choppy thAnam-esque feel that lends such character to neraval singing, and instead the passages KV sang lingered somewhere in the "renDunkaTTAn" (neither here nor there, in terms of kala pramANam) region. The slow speed kalpana swaras were sung with good emphasis on the gamakas of the gandharam, while the mEl kAla swaras illustrated the character of the tara madhyamam in phrases like SRGM,,, NSRGM,,, NRGM,,,, .
It appeared that Rajna was offered a chance to play a thani after the tODi, but she refused. As such, the concert continued with a catchy kEshavapriya (S R S M P D N S - S N S P M G R S) number composed by Ravikiran with nice swaraksharams in the pallavi. PUrvikalyANi ragam was taken up next in what was quite possibly a nightmarish combination for me since tODi is not my favourite ragam by quite some distance, and pUrvikalyANi I really cannot stomache. The raga alapanai was thorough and as classical as the tODi earlier and was noteworthy for some mandra sthayi brigha sangathis sung in thanam style. The thanam was crisp and sung very well, and was the next best thing in this concert after the mA ramaNan. A nice neraval was sung in the pallavi, with the mEl kAla passages once again lacking the "punch" of thanam technique. After trikAlam, customary swaras were sung in pUrvikalyANi, and after about 40 minutes of exploring pUrvikalyANi, ragamaliga swaras were taken up. Kiranavali sang a nice mukhAri, which was followed by a gorgeous kEdAragowLa by the violinist, and the pallavi concluded with a rather average bEhAg that didn't seem to pierce the heart of the raga at all but was interesting for the usage of both nishadams in succession (S N3 N2 D PM was sung).
Of the tukkadas, the padam was very well rendered. The kAnaDa jAvaLi struct me as rather strange since it didn't have a kAnaDa feel to it with very few SRPG,, and G,,MRS motifs. The janaranjani portion of the ranjani mAla krithi was sung excellently with aesthetic decorative flourishes.
Kiranavali Vidyasankar must be congratulated for having the stamina to pull off a three hour concert, and especially for singing a thorough RTP. She also presented compositions in a variety of talas, and that is admirable. However, I had several misgivings about this concert: (1) KV's voice did not have any sweetness to it, and her lack of voice culture was apparent in the uneven modulation of her voice when singing in different octaves. Her voice sounded very strained in the tara sthayi, and had little audibility in the mandra sthayi, where she was always struggling. (2) She also had several problems this evening aligning to shruti, though these problems diminished as the concert progressed. (3) There seemed to be an overemphasis on R1 in the concert, with krithis in kumudakriya, tODi, and pUrvikalyANi. Based on the mood created by the raga and composition, I would also group mA ramaNan in hindOLam with these three ragas. As a result, there was a certain dull "sameness" in the concert with regard to melody. I am being very biased here because I'm not a fan of tODi or pUrvikalyANi, so you may disregard this point. But I really felt she could have chosen a harikAmbOji janya like sahAna, nATTaikurinji, or kEdAragowLa for RTP, which would have added some much needed relief from R1 and introduced some melodic variety into the concert. Indeed, Anuradha Sridhar's kEdAragowLa swaras were really striking for this reason (I'm glad she chose not to reply in mukhAri). (4) There was too little emphasis on thorough neraval singing, and I feel she should have sung at least one more neraval early into the concert, instead of singing brief, run-of-the-mill kalpanaswaras for several items initially. Someone has mentioned this recently on the forum (rajaglan?), and I find myself in the same situation: I am no longer enthused by kalpanaswaras as I used to be, unless the swaras are especially aesthetic, imaginative, or bhava-laden. Most artistes who sing these few quick rounds of swaras after each piece nowadays just seem to be singing short phrases from the raga's scale, or simple dattu sequences and patterns, and there is little musical value in these 2-3 minute swara segments. The kalpanaswaras aren't elaborate enough to create any sort of "mood" or paint any worthwhile picture of the raga, and sound contrived. In place of these exercises, I strongly feel artistes should sing a neraval in the first few items. (5) I felt that KV didn't vary kalapramanam in the earlier part of the concert as well as she could have. A lot of the pieces were rendered in the same slightly slower madhyama kalam, and the kalpana swaras and raga alapanais too had the same gait, and this contributed to the "sameness" I referred to.
Anuradha Sridhar was excellent on the violin this evening, and in my opinion the star of the show this evening. Her bowing was fluid, her fingering was accurate, she had excellent shruti alignment, and her raga alapanais were consistently better than the vocalist's. In bahudAri, AS played the avarOhanam of the raga with flat notes and vibrato, which really brought out the scalar "flavour" of the ragam. AS used both the mandra and madhya gandharams to good effect in her bahudAri alapanai, as well as those slides from panchamam to shadjam that sound almost necessary for a good exposition of the ragam. Anuradha's tODi ragam was very fluent and captivating, almost fixing our attention on her violin as she moved through the contours of tODi with such stunning agility. Her pUrvikalyANi alapanai was as good as the vocalist's, dwelling on the tara gandharam to wonderful effect and using jarus very effectively. AS's kEdAragowLa swaras were also fantastic in the RTP, as she fleshed out the beauty of the raga while avoiding repetitive, elongated pulls of the rishabam, which is no meagre feat. AS also used the mandra sthayi excellently throughout the concert in complementing the vocalist's music. My only complaint with her music was her reluctance to use cut bowing in playing faster neraval and thanam returns, where she preferred to use sahitya bowing throughout. This is purely a personal preference, since I know some schools do not emphasise cut bowing in thanam playing.
Rajna Swaminathan was very good on the mrudangam, playing with good azhuttham and excellent sensitivity to the vocalist's music. Rajna embellished sangathis and filled up moments of silence so beautifully throughout the concert, and I especially enjoyed her accompaniment for the vilamba kala rendition of mA ramaNan, where she exhibited great control over layam in spacing individual strokes very evenly. There is a UKS-esque clarity in Rajna's playing, and she used the left side of the mrudangam admirably this evening, especially during the thani. I did feel, however, that Rajna's playing was a bit too restrained this evening and that her thani of about 5-7 minutes was unnecessarily short (especially since it was developed so beautifully, leaving me wanting for more). Rajna also demonstrated great ability in anticipating patterns during kalpanaswara and neraval segments, while allowing the vocalist the freedom to develop her own patterns as well. Class stuff from this star-in-the-making and I was pleased to have been able to congratulate her after the concert (though the violinist went missing
). On the whole, it was a good concert whose success rode a lot on the quality of accompaniment.
. Nice also to know rajnA rocking with mrudangam