Smt Bombay Jayashri Ramnath @ Blore Gayana Samaja

[melakartha]

The 55th Rama Laliltha Kala mandira Vasanthotsava got on to a wonderful start this evening. The organizers are to be commended for starting on time and also for limiting all the speeches to just about 20 mins (and no interruptions, praises etc!)
Vidushi Dr Bombay Jayashri Ramnath accompanied by Vid H N Bhaskar on violin, Vid. Patri Satishkumar on Mridangam and young artist Vid Aniruddh Athreya gave a stunning performance of 3 hrs. I have been attending Jayashri's concerts for close to 2 decades now. But the way she has raised the bar for herself oflate is commendable. I had the same feeling attending her concerts during the Dec season too, esp the ones at Music Academy and MFAC.
the song list-
1. Jaya jaya swamin- Nattai- Narayana theerthar(?)
2. Sri Tulasamma Mayinta- Devagandhari- Thyagaraja
3. Alapana, Bhuvaneshwariya nene manasave- Mohanakalyani- Muthaiah Bhagavathar
4. A bright and brisk rendition of Darini Telusukonti- Shuddha saveri- Thyagaraja
5. Beautiful alapana of Begada, followed by Shankari neeve of Shyama Sastri, neraval and swarams.
6. A surprise second main piece alapana of Todi done expansively, Emijesithi, swarams and wonderful tani by percussionists.
7. Another raga alapana bonanza, this time a ragamalika alapana of Kapi and Behag that blended so beautifully, followed by ragamalika tanam and pallavi in kanda jati triputa tala 'Varada vara venkataramana bhayanivarana' (i have forgotten the complete lyrics i think!) and a volley of swaras in several ragas Hindolam, Malayamaurtam(?), Bowli, Yamunakalyani. and a lovely garland of all the ragams to return to Kapi. Jayashri has seriously perfected this art of ragamalika swara singing.
8. A very soulful bhajan 'Alokaya Krishna' of Narayana Theerthar(?)
9. Tillana -Desh -Lalgudi Jayaraman
10. Pavamana

What a way to begin the series! And the Gayana Samaja was overflowing to the brim, no place to sit or even stand on the aisles, the crowd stayed on till the end and v few walked off during Thani !!!
Old people like me have a bonus of getting some chair somewhere atleast, out of sympathy by the audience !!
Hope to see more reviews of this concert and others of the 10 days long festival.

~Ramabadran

[squims]

I just posted about this same kutcheri! I guess we posted the topic at around the same time. If I'd read this, I wouldn't have started a topic by myself. Anyway, glad to meet another person on here who attended the kutcheri! Looking forward to T.M. Krishna tomorrow!