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Vocal : VasudhA kesav
Violin : HN Bhaskar
Mrudangam : Parupalli Phalgun
Kanjira: Nerkunam Shankar (our forumite his id is ns shankar kanjirA)
Concert duration/Day : 2 hours(5pm to 7p) /Friday
1. vanajAkshirO - kalyAni - Poochi
2. jaya jaya swamin jaya jaya(RS,S) - nAttai - NT
6 mins swaras
3. ranganAyakam (RS,S) - nAyaki - MD
4. rAga ratna mAlikacE (R,N,S) - reetigowlai - T
9 mins alApanai and 4 mins violin return
5 mins neraval in "bhAgavatOttamulu kOti(gUDi) pADE kIrtanamulaTa"
5. bhOgeendra sAyinAm - kuntalavarAli - ST
6A. mOhanarAmA (R S T) - mOhanam - T
11 mins rAga alApanai 7 mins violin return
9 mins swaras
6B. tani for 9 mins
7. ShAnthi nilava vENDum - thillang - sethu mAdhava rao
This is the third concert that I am listening to VasudhA Kesav . There is atleast a striking characteristic that just comes into immediate prominence . Her voice has a lot of ADhAram (assertiveness) ,i see a touch of slight masculinity which is really good and has an overlap to an extent to arunA sayeeram.
She started with perhaps one of the most sung varnams in the history of carnatic music concerts , the kalyAni varnam vanajAkshirO, it just went well . To an extent I was sure that she will not follow ariyakudi tradition of singing the same rAga as main as it is a 2 hour concert.
A lovely nAttai with a really well presented diction greeted me , jaya jaya swami, there is actually two compositions of nAttai with almost the same starting lines , one by narAyana theerthar and the other perhaps a little more popular purandara dAsar.She sang the NT krithi and it was Nice and Touching with a really commanding swaras
The contrast of nAttai with nAyaki was really good , a brief alApana with me being sure that it is nAyaki and the masterpiece krithi of MD added a lot of eruditeness in her concert. I really liked her planning throughout , the reetigowlai alApana was aesthetic , this krithi is usually sung in a bit faster kAlapramAnam . There was a touch of originality as she sang bit slowly and continued in a pace in anupallavi where I thought it could have been bit faster . But when she sang the neraval in the popular line her aesthetics was really good, it was slow moving and she presented it well, again her voice did not let her down at all. The swaras were well done a touch of few well tested and prevalent sangathis were the norm, perhaps it being a short concert it was inevitable
The usual short filler which must be one of the most popular ones bhogeendra sAyinam , could have had more quicker turns but still good. HEr main was mOhanam I thought it was a nice choice , one could get her closeness in voice timber with ArunA sayeeram a lot there. The rendition of the krithi was a bit of slight let down, somehow I felt each of those sangathis were not aligned much with the rhythmic leash. I felt her krithi rendtion could have been better , in swaras there were few interesting patterns and she did well
She greeted happy newyear and sang quite well shanthi nilava vendum a nice voice but she had to refer the paper a bit , that very uRukkumAna lyrics and bhavam just had few moments of non cohesiveness
About the accompanist:
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The team was really good there. HN Bhaskar gave a good MSG esque contrast in reetigowlai and played a faithful replay of her manodharmam in mOhanam. Parupulli phalgun is a bit underrated mridangist in this city, possibly he is usually based out of his home town some where in andhra may be the reason. I recollect I have heard him only once before when he sang for mandA sudha rani in our rasikas concert . Nice azhuttam and went with the flow of the song. Our forumite nerkunam shankar played well , right pause and right strokes always adds a charm in kanjirA
The hall was very nice , kind of near chamber experience with right speakers .There was no two tier or three tier Jumbo speakers (Keep it up Carnatica
, I enjoyed the sound setup of both this concert and the next mallAdi suribabu concert)The crowd was just 10 + to startwith and ended with possibly 25+(pathetic for a evening #1 slot).Overall I liked the concert a lot for her planning , sequencing of songs and more than anything her vocal assertiveness in her voice.The team also gelled well . Overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 exact hours.