N.VIJAYA SIVA AT AYODHYA MANDAPOM ON 25 APRIL 2011

[CRama]

Vijaya Siva presented a concert at Ayodhya Mandapam as a part of the on going Rama Navami Festival. He was supported by S.Varadarajan on the violin, Manoj Siva on the Mridangam and Anirudh Athreya on the Ganjira. The concert started at 7 P.M. The list of songs;
1.Sadabaalaroopaadi-Slokam from Subramanya bhujangam- followed by Samajavaradaa- in Sudhasaveri ragam, Roopakam thalam, composition of Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar.
2.Guruvinagulama-Panthuvarali, Adhi, Composition of Purandaradasa.
3.Piravikkadanakatri- virutham followed by Sree Mathrubhootham- Kannada, Dikshithar kriti
4.Sree Abhayamaba- Sree Ragam, Adhi,
5.Neelayathaakshi- Paras, Adhi (T), Syama Sastri kriti.
6.Majanaki- Kambodi, Adhi, Thyagaraja kriti. Followed by Thani.
7.Mamavapattabhirama- Manirang, Dikshithar kriti.

I liked the offbeat start with Samajavaradaa instead of a varnam or Ganesa kriti. Nerval was done at Kamajanaka subha bhalaprada and second kala swaras were rendered. The alapanas of Panthuvarali, Sree and Kambodi were very good. Sree Ragam alapana is rarely heard in concerts. Kambodi alapana was very detailed. In Sree Mathrubhootham there was a nerval at Vasudevamahitham bhavatharanam but no swarams. The swaras for Sree Abhayamba, one of the Abhayamba vibhakthi kritis in Manipravalam had very interesting patterns. The swaras were rendered in second and third kalam. His open throated singing enabled him to do lot of sancharams in the higher octave in Kambodi- he went upto mel dha. The neraval was done at Rajarajavara Rajeevakshaninu. The swaras were elaborate. After the thani, Mamava pattabhirama was aptly chosen. I had to leave after that.
But his choice of songs did not suit a Rama Navami concert. Having heard plenty of Rama navami concerts in Bangalore where the concerts will usually consist of songs on Rama alone, I was expecting a similar experience. But some of the rasikas may not agree with my view. The starting with Subramania Bhujangam, a virutham on Siva and the succeeding Sree Mathrubhootham, Sree Abhayamba, Neelayathakshi etc did not suit the occasion or the venue. But his rendering was flawless and was done in his usual DKJ style most aesthetically. When the alapana for Sree ragam was done, I longed for Namakusumamula. When he was singing Kambodi alapana, I feared it will be Kana kann kodi as it had enough sancharams in the higher octave and as per his mood that day. Fortunately Maajanaki arrived.
The violin of Varadarajn was very good and jelled with the imagination of the vocalist. His alapanas were very methodical and reflected the mood of the vocalist. The mridangam and Ganjira were fully supportive never hindering in his imagination and their thani kept the audience fully engaged. It was for 10 minutes only. Overall a very good concert.

[gardabha_gana]

Hmm... He sang maa janaki on Friday April 22nd at Rama Seva Mandali, Bangalore. I was expecting the not-so-often-heard Sri Raghuvara sung by DKJ

[arasi]

Thanks for the review, CRama.
Yes, being a Rama Navami concert, a few songs on RamA are apt. Siva did sing mA jAnaki and the even heavier mamava paTTAbhi rAmA. However, they came at the very end. A kruti or two on rAmA at the beginning of the concert would have made it even better. Having said that, I personally do not think I would be happier with an all rAmA songs by all the singers in a series of concerts! Even in a series in a TyAgarAja utsavam, it's nice to hear other composers and songs about other deities.

[ganeshkant]

It was a fabulous concert and I wanted to give a standing ovation after the kAmbOdhi AlApanai but I couldn't stand due to lack of space.I expected evarimatA after this.The Sri raga AlApanai was great too;he didn't sing PDNP even at one place.The same followed in the svaram singing also.So it is not mandatory to sing this phrase in Sri,I think.Long back (around 7-8 yrs.)vidwan A.Sundaresan sang a beautiful Sri in a concert.He also didn't sing;I still remember.

[srikant1987]

he didn't sing NDNP even at one place.The same followed in the svaram singing also.So it is not mandatory to sing this phrase in Sri,I think.Long back (around 7-8 yrs.)vidwan A.Sundaresan sang a beautiful Sri in a concert.He also didn't sing;I still remember.

I think you refer to pdnp.

Thyagaraja didn't employ that phrase, but most (all?) MD compositions have it. Rbharath also observes that it comes as padnp with the first pa longer than the d and n. It occurs only ONE time towards the end of MD's compositions, moreover.

Is this shrI abhayAmbA the "maNipravaLa" krti? I'm not particularly fond of that one!

[semmu86]

Is this shrI abhayAmbA the "maNipravaLa" krti? I'm not particularly fond of that one!

Yes it is.... Probably you mite get fond of it, if you happen to listen to that sung by DKJ

[ganeshkant]

Yes Srikant.Thanks for correcting.It is PDNP.But it does appear in EndharOmahAnubhavulu.Is it not ?

[bilahari]

I don't think it appears in endarO - at least, not in the version I was taught. Sri doesn't need the phrase, really! Just like Ananda bhairavi doesn't need G3 or N3, khamAs doesn't need N3, etc... A one-time use towards the end of an alapanai or composition does give a punch, though!

[narayan]

Sri ragam in the Diksitar scheme is the (asampoorna) mela ragam, so his songs had better have PDNP?

[srisridharan]

PDNP appears in the Navaragamalika varnam. Isn't that proof enough?

Sridharan

[Sathej]

I don't think it appears in endarO - at least, not in the version I was taught. Sri doesn't need the phrase, really! Just like Ananda bhairavi doesn't need G3 or N3, khamAs doesn't need N3, etc... A one-time use towards the end of an alapanai or composition does give a punch, though!

Well, I would agree with it for Shri and Khamas, but am personally biased towards G3 in Anandabhairavi. It appears in quite a few of SS Krithis - Marivere, O Jagadamba, Himachala Tanaya and so on.. And a few versions like the ones by BMK, TNS et al with people like LGJ on violin, I so look forward to those carefully built-up G3 phrases, LGJ switching to the lower octave right then..

Sathej