Vijay Siva Bellevue WA 04/11/2010

[Suji Ram]

Vijay Siva- Vocal
R K Sriram Kumar- violin
J Vaidhyanathan- mRdangam

slOkam -rAmA nIpai tanaku- kEdAram –Adi T- (NS)
sUryamUrtE- saurAShTraM- druva -MD
ninnuvinaga mari dikkevarunnAru- pUrvikaLyANi- vilOma CApu- SS (RS)
murugA tirumAl marugA- harikAmbhOji- rUpaka- TSI (NS)
jayatu gOkula vAsA- kIravANi- Adi-PD (RS)
brOva bhAramA- bahudAri-Adi- T
RTP tODi- vElavanE (ragamalika mohanam ? aThANA, kandanakutUhaLlam)
yArO vandu enai Asai kATi maraidAn ? aThANA
SAradA bhujanga stOtram- rAgamAlikA
mahA yOga… viruttam ? bAre pAnDurangA- mAND-Saint TukArAm
tiruppugazh-kariya? sArangA
mangaLam

The hallmark of the concert was the clear diction by the vocalist. The pieces seemed short but that’s because the artist did not include, alapana, neraval, and swarakalpana all in a single main. I wish there was a raga alapana for the harikAmbhOji –the composition was new for me and the neraval at karuNai kaDalE was very good. The kIravANi composition too I was hearing for the first time. All the alapanas and swarakalpana were wonderful.
My favorite brOva bhAramA was a surprise. RTP was interesting with Adi talam having 3 counts on each of the drutam and laghu (need help with a name to this talam here) and later shifted to two counts. Enjoyed the superb tani, and I could accurately recognize the faran, mOhra and kOrvai this time.
During Sarada bhujanga piece I was wondering for a while where I heard this version before, and soon I recollected that our forum member Prashant rendered this in his concert. bAre pAnduranga was rendered using a cymbal and with high energy.
RKSK was brilliant!
The crowd was sparse. People really missed out a 2h 20 min of an excellent concert.

[Lakshman]

kAriya periya erumai kaDavu is by Arunagirinathar.
yArO vandennai Asai kATTi is by Shuddhananda Bharati

[semmu86]

"murugA tirumAl marugA- harikAmbhOji" is a rarity these days , and who can forgert DKJ's soul stirring niraval @ "karunai kadale" , which can move us literally to tears .. By the way TSI is Tanjavur Sankara Iyer ?
Thanks for the review Suji ..

[arasi]

Suji,
Great to get a review from you!
None to beat Vijay Siva for diction. Yes, I can see why you wanted more of that harikAmbOdi. It is a beautifully paced song which you would like to play on the violin (and the piano, but hush, Harimau might be around Such good accompanists, both of them. Sriramkumar's violin sings with Siva and J.Vaidyanathan always comes across to me as if it's all a breeze when so much of work goes into his playing. I heard them both a few times in the season and enjoyed their performances thoroughly.

[cienu]

. bAre pAnduranga was rendered using a cymbal and with high energy.
RKSK was brilliant!

This song used to be sung wonderfully by Smt MS and Smt Radha in their concerts and the culmination "Naarayana , Naarayana" used to be the high point . And yes they did use the cymbals too. I have never heard Vijay sing this and look forward to it in one of his future concerts.
One must remember the late Srinivasa Rao for having tuned this song so brilliantly.

[rajeshnat]

Wow suji you set the ball rolling of vijaysiva's review of the US concert. Hope we get more. I am not a big fan of cymbals in the concerts?

[Suji Ram]

One must remember the late Srinivasa Rao for having tuned this song so brilliantly.

That is nice to know. Thanks.

Also, who could have tuned jayatu gOkula vAsa. It was a lovely kIravAni.