SuryaprakAsh@kalAkruthi on Dec 09th,2009
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kalakruthi is a sabha in a carnatic desert area of chetput in central madras in spurtank road.
Vocal : SuryaprakAsh
Violin : MullaivAsal chandramouli
Mrudangam : Tanjore K Murugabhoopathy
Concert duration : 2 hours and 40 minutes
1A.agajAnana padmArgham "Slokham" - kalyAni -??
1B.vanajAkshirO "varnam" - kalyAni - Poochi Iyengar
2. shree parthasArathy(R) - suddadhanyAsi - MD
5 mins alApanai and 2 mins violin return
3. brOva bhAramA (N,S) - bahudAri - T
neraval for 5 mins in "kalashAmbudhilO dayatO na"
swaras for 6 mins
4 .kanakashaila (R)- punnagavarALi - SS
2 mins alapanai with no violin return
5.sarasa sAma dhAna(S) - kApinArayani - T
swaras for 7 mins
6A. punniyam oRu kOTi(R, S , T) - keeravAni - PT
15 mins alapanai ,7 mins violin return
14 mins swaras
6B. tani for 5 minutes
7.RTP - mohanakalyAni - his own
rAga alapanai in two stages like semmangudi mama style of RTP , the first for 8 mins and the second for 2 mins
rAga alApanai violin return for 5 mins
tAnam for 7 mins
pallavi line was "gOpi jaNa mana mohanA kalyAna krishnA"
pallavi was for 5 mins with trikAlam done
swara rAgamAliga in mohanakalyAni + darbAr + ranjani all put together for 11 mins
8. kAna venDamO - shreeranjani - papanAsam shivan
9A. viruththam "agaLathilE niraiyum " - sahanA +
"nigariL amarar" - sindhubhairavi
9B. venkata chala nilaiyum - sindhubhairavi - PD
10. yerumayiL eri "thirrppugazh"- mohanam -AGN
11. pavamAna + vazhiya senthamizh
The very fact that any one is performing carnatic music is because they have a strong desire to sing. Desire was found in abundance in a fast paced style of say GNB and also with MDR where despite the pace was slow , there was always desire to sing lot of sangathis.I am not sure if every musician of today at all times has the strong and sustained desire to sing this many sangathis and pack up with so much music . For that matter even suryaprakAsh does not have always so much desire to pack so much music but yesterday the desire was in plenty.
Starting with a brief slOkham , the desire got more exhibited because suryaprakash voice settled exceptionally well, the kalyAni varnam had lot of azhuttam. A fairly fast paced alApana in suddha dhanyAsi was excellent ,and a rare shree parthasarathy popped up with a lot of desire for sangathi weight (incidentally I was thinking that he will sing only subramanyena but he singing this was a surprise). The expectation in me could have been better fulfilled if he had gone for suddha dhanyAsi swaras but his desire was a bit more centered on the next submain.
I have not heard brova bArama neraval at all , this neraval was superb with exceptional control in both laya and shruthi, patterns of neraval were weaved so beautifully that the return of violin was minimal. The swaras of bahudAri kept up with the medlay of swaras that followed from there onwards.KApi nArayani was a fast filler starting in the lines of parama sambhAva but it lost its filler status too easily as there was copious manodharmam in swaras.
Suryaprakash has mastered the sequence of singing both slow and fast paced numbers and , the punnagavarAli before kApinarayani was very very emotive , shyama sAstri uses so much of cliche emotive phrases like ambA, janani , kamakOti and the snake charm was very much there.
The desire to sing more continued with a right thrust in keeravani as a main. Keeravani should have a right mix of major emotive quotient and a minor expressive quotient , he got that mix right , usually if the quotient of minor and major is juxtaposed keeravAni at times become more like simm madhyamam. The krithi rendition was apt as the hall was built by kanchi trust , sangathis were sustained in pitch and every sangathi was musically pregnant with azhuttam and a strong sense of attention to lyrics. The swaras in keeravani were built in 3 stages , short burst cycle , little bit of kanakku and then long cycles stepping up the speed gradually and it was done with gusto.
The pallavi was a non pracheena pallavi composed by him recently , the lines had the raga mudra of mohanakalyAni in it , the alApanai was sung in two rounds , liked the second round of 2 mins and the seamless jump into thanam a lot, thAnam was superb he sang in both speeds and was well presented . The swaras were excellent particularly the ranjani was superb and the second round of mohanakalyani was superb.
In the tukkadas the viruththam of divya prabhandham was sung as a long viruththam with each of the ragas for atleast 4 minutes , ended with PD krithi to cover the kannada language and it was dwelt well
ABout the accompanist:
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Mullaivasal chandramouli played with a lot of sensitivity his style is generally to play bit slow and for keeravani alapana violin return he was superb , mohanakalyAni he was bit slow but still very good.
The concert was a success because of tjr murugabhoopathi , sound was sustained , anticipation was in plenty he kept up the lead and the vocalist was able to fit in well with a lot of swara patterns . Also this sabha has got a suboptimal acoustics and is echo prone , he did not overbang at many a times he played with lot of senstivity with the hall acoustics in mind . Familiarity of vocalist in a mridangist helps to add a lot of quality , considering this mridangist played for the last 2 months in suryaprakash us tour.
Shortcomings:
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1.The shriranjani kAna vendamO could have had a slightly more azhuttam from suryaprakash this was the only dip , all the other numbers were consistently high in quality
2. When a main is sung that too for punniyam oru koti , he giving a neraval in annai kamAkshi pOle would have been more to my satisfaction . He could have taken atleast 10 minutes to sing a neraval in main for this lovely line annai kAmakshi pOlE.
The creative quotient , sangathi weight and swaraprasthanam and tanam magic was a memorable one .Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 40 minutes, the team gelled and clicked.