Violin: Dr. M. Narmada
Mrudangam: Erode Nagaraj
Kanjira: Anirudh Athreya
Thampura : Harini Ramakrishnan
1. agajAnana padhmArkam – slOkam
2. sidhdhi vinAyakam - mohana kalyANi – Adhi -Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar
3. kOdhaNda rAmam – kOkilAravam – Adhi – Dhikshithar
4. manasA etulOrthunE – malayamArutham – rUpaka chApu – Thyagaraja
5. kAlai thookki ninRU – yadhukulakAmbhOji – Adhi – Marimutha Pillai
6. ainkaranai oththa manam – mAyAmALava gowLa – Adhi - kaNda gathi – thiruppugazh
7. nidhi sAla – kalyANi – misra chApu – Thyagaraja
8. jagadhOdhAraNa – kApi - Adhi – Purandhara Dhasar
9. mAnAda mazhuvAda – viruththam (natarAja paththu) – rAgamAlika
10. abhayakaraththai – bEhAg – rUpaka chApu –Sudhdhanandha bharathi(?)
11. natarAja - Ahir bhairav - Adhi
12. mangaLam - sourAshtram - Adhi - Thyagaraja.
Shri Rathnagireesvarar temple, is one of my favourite places in Chennai since it is a combination of divinity, music and access for wheel chair.
The three existed in Vijayalakshmi’s performance too.
The voice carries sweetness, the music delivered is divine and that enables an easy access to a lay man too. She began the recital with the slOkam followed by sidhdhi vinAyakam with some interesting sarvalagu swaram for the mooNu thaLLi, eduppu. A short but bewitching AlApana and the krithi kOdhaNda rAmam was presented. The sangathi in pAdhaja pAmsu pAlitha ahalyam spoke much about the beauty of the rAgam.
“While I ask you to worship rAmA, why do you turn a deaf ear” saint thyagaraja asks his own mind. Is it a song to be sung in a sivan kOvil? Though the general arguments regarding our tradition of many sannadhis in one temple or the siva – vishNu abhEdha is there, it is not just rAmA, but it is the moola, the almighty and the brahmam itself. Indha keerththanaila, adhai rAmAnnu solleerukku, avLO dhAn. It is denoted as rAmA in this krithi, that is all. Is he the rAmA who is worshiped by the saint alone? Not at all. Many of us before and after the saint are devotees, but, the saint sang for us. It is not going merely by words, it is moving beyond by the feel which facilitates the sulabamAna kadai thERal (easing the process of attaining mOksha). The neraval and swara for kalilO consisting phrases like 'sa rig a pa ga ree… ri ga pa dha pa ga… ga pa dha ni pa dha...' were interesting. kAlai thookki ninRu in yadhukula kAmbhoji was sung in an unhurried tempo. The bhAva of requesting humbly to give a hand in uplifting the soul was emoted well by her.
After a spicy thiruppugazh, she presented kalyANi. It was stylish at places with madhyama kAla pidis and mEl kAla brugAs presented with clarity with nice sanchArams between the rishabha of the two octaves. The Delhi impact at the end of the AlApana for a few seconds added beauty to the AlApana and Narmada played a comforting kalyANi with typical MSG sangathis. nidhi sAla sukamA, was main. Nereval was at mamatha bandhana and she added attractive patterns in the kUraippu and sang a kOrvai for 85 aksharAs which will come to 3 after samam, after the third round. We played the chathusra gathi and thisra kUraippu in our thani Avarthanam. V.K.Viswanathan Mama spoke nicely about the artistes.
She rendered jagadhOdhAraNa which seemed floating inside the kOvil. The viruththam was presented in mAyAmALava gowLa, punnAga varALi, brindhAvana sArangA and bEhAg. I liked the song “abhaya karaththai pArththa pOdhu achcham ozhindhEn sivanE...” a lot. The concert concluded with natarAjA in Ahir bhairav and the traditional mangaLam.
There was ani, honey and dhwani (anirudh,sweetness of voice and fine bowing of narmada) in the concert making Besant Nagar the Pleasant Nagar. Though I missed the CD release function of our Arasi, I felt happy to be in the sannadhi, thinking of her.
