Sunday morning with Vid Neela Ramgopal

[sappri]

As part of the ongoing Annual Fest of Nadasurabhi at a wonderful venue - St.John's Auditorium,100 Ft Road, Koramangala, Bangalore, Sunday - the 13th of November would feature a special concert by Vid Neela Ramgopal at 10 AM - it is more exciting since the theme is on 'Lord Subramanya'.
Vid Neela Ramgopal is known to feature rare compositions in her concerts, so this one's really something one is excited about!

[srikant1987]

sappri, Have been waiting for this concert ever since kssr first posted about it, which was months ago!

I don't particularly like "themed" concerts, but this one is an uncommon theme, and with her huge repertoire, NR will have surely planned a lovely concert for all of us.

[Purist]

Ny guess is she will render :

Subramanyena -Shudda Dhanyasi
Kartikeya Gangeya - Thodi - a favourite of her Guru
Sri valli deva - Natabhairavi
Sri Subramanyaya Namasthe - Kamboji
Muruga Muruga endral - saveri (50% chance due to Thodi)
Sharavanabhava -Shanmughapriya (ragam explored most likely)

[squims]

No way I am going to miss this concert! Looking forward to it!

[braindrain]

Ny guess is she will render :

Sri Subramanyaya Namasthe - Kamboji

Stolen by NSG today morning in his Dikshitar Thematic Concert.. Not that we cant have another ! Kamboji main on a 3rd day running will be too much ( Ranjani & Gayathri on Friday , NSG on Saturday morning )..

[squims]

Hey Jayan! I saw you today, but couldn't find you after the concert!
I definitely hope maami doesn't sing a kamboji again! I've heard a lot of it in the recent past.

[braindrain]

Ny guess is she will render :

Subramanyena -Shudda Dhanyasi
Kartikeya Gangeya - Thodi - a favourite of her Guru
Sri valli deva - Natabhairavi
Sri Subramanyaya Namasthe - Kamboji
Muruga Muruga endral - saveri (50% chance due to Thodi)
Sharavanabhava -Shanmughapriya (ragam explored most likely)

None of your wish were fulfilled..and only thodi from these ragas.

[squims]

I missed it! This is what happens when I'm forced to stay awake the previous night. I was not able to get out of bed at all in the morning. Slept through all the alarms!
Is there any chance of getting a recording?

[srikant1987]

shlokam in hindOLam
mAl marugan - hindOLam - Adi - TM Thyagarajan (varNam)
svAminAtha paripAlaya - nATa - Adi - MD?! (sketch, S)
vara shikhi vAhana - supradIpam - Adi - T
lambOdara sOdara - kalyANi - sankIrNa cApu (?) - HMB (RNS)
murugA tiru mAlmarugA - harikAmbhOji - rUpakacApu - Thanjavur Shankara Iyer [TSI] (RNS)
vElum mayilum - sucaritra - rUpakacApu - kOTIshvara aiyar (sketch)
shrI subrahmaNyO mAm - tODi - Adi - MD (RS)
tani
vizhikku tuNai - viruttam in mOhanam, kApi, behAg and sindhubhairavi
manadiRkugandadu - sindhubhairavi - Adi - TSI
tillAnA - darbAri kAnaDa - Adi - LGJ (not entirely sure)
pavamAna sutuDu - saurAShTra - Adi - T
madhyamAvati sketch

It was a fulfiling 3 hours of music.

It is only as I write the list here that I see there are four mELakartAs in it one after another, kalyANi, harikAmbhOji, sucaritra (well, OK!) and tODi.

The varNam and shlOkam were rather nice for hindOLam. The nATTai krti was beautiful.

vara shikhi vAhana is a composition that was a regular feature in Vidushi Kalpakam Swaminathan's kucheris (at least those that were wise enough to let her play Thyagaraja compositions). Neela mami sang it in a somewhat faster, madhyamakAla tempo, and I liked this version much more. Indeed, I felt that supradIpam seems to be as beautiful a rAgam as saurAShTra itself!

The kalyANi, needless to say, was weighty. Neraval and swarams were done neatly in this tricky tALam.

The harikAmbhOji was absolutely melting. In the madhya sthAyi, NR sang so many classy phrases from gems like dinamaNi vaMsha and the composition that was to follow (I guessed the composition correctly ). In the tAra sthAyi, though, the melting effect went off, and I was longingly reminded of kAmbhOji. I can relish any number of kAmbhOjis, and it somehow seems to just be evading me in kucheris.

Vittal Rangan's response in harikAmbhOji emphasised the pdnrs piDi (kai in meppulakai of rAma nannu brOva) which I didn't see in the vocal AlApanai and always look for in harikAmbhOjis.

I even liked the sucaritra composition.

This is the third time I'm listening to NR (consecutively, if I may!) sing a tODi main, after Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira (Banashankari) and Seva Sadana (Malleswaram). I enjoyed the tODi immensely despite this. I have become more welcoming of flat notes in tODi, if they're employed in briga. Mami's handling of it absolutely belied her age! Indeed, it is amazing how she manages to sing for hours together like this!

During the swarams, Vittal began his shrIs with an oscillated ga. I had got used to the flat ga Smt NR was singing this kriti with, and didn't like the way Vittal played it.

Sri Renuka Prasad and Sri Ranganatha Chakravarthy accompanied beautifully. Sri Renuka Prasad played with a lot of feeling. His aim in the tani, too, seemed to be to provide a pleasant aural experience as against playing complex kOrvais. The accoustics, sound settings and also the shruti volume were rather decent for such a large hall and were conducive for this.

For the first time in my life, I enjoyed viruttam considerably -- the mOhanam and behAg parts were very nice.

I would have liked a little longer and more soaking madhyamAvati sketch than what concluded this concert. madhyamAvati is totally something else when handled by senior musicians like NR.

[harimau]

vElum aRiyum - sucaritra - rUpakacApu - kOTIshvara aiyar (sketch)

"Velum Mayilume Evvelaiyilum Vellume".

[bilahari]

Thanks for the great review, Srikant. A varied list as usual from Smt. NR. I love swAminAta paripAlaya (especially TSK's rendition), and it's somewhat rare these days. I would've loved to hear an elaborate harikAmbOji - now that's something that has been eluding me for ages. To me, harikAmbOji seems to have much more scope in madhya stAyi than it does in tAra stAyi, where it is all too easy to latch on the gA and sing kAmbOji and even SankarAbharaNa phrases [GMG-centric].

What did you think of the kalyANi krithi? I've never heard of it.

[rajeshnat]

tillAnA in darbAri kAnaDa or jOnpuri or something like that, Adi tALa

Very nice song list , smt neela has really given a great treat on Lord Subrahmanya krithis, Tx shrikant for your review
There is a darbAri KAnaDa thillana by LGJ lines go like "kOla vaLLi kunjari kaNavA bAla murugA ". May be she sang that .

[braindrain]

shlokam in hindOLam

murugA tiru mAlmarugA - harikAmbhOji - rUpakacApu - PS (RNS)

tillAnA in darbAri kAnaDa or jOnpuri or something like that, Adi tALa

Slokam was "srIkAntO mAtulO yasya janani"

Muruga tiru mAlmaruga - I thought was Tanjavur Sankara Iyer's kriti ( http://www.karnatik.com/c2956.shtml ) , the neraval was at "karuNai kaDalE unnai kanamum upiriyEn kandA'

thillana was in darbAri kAnada "tom dru dru tAni dru dru dhIm tanana dhIm" - Is it Lalgudi's thillana ?

[srikant1987]

rajeshnat & braindrain

Yes, rajeshnat has identified it correctly, from what I remember of the tillAnA's caraNam verses.

[eppramod]

Absolutely beautiful concert.I was fortunate to attend this.
I also liked the Harikamboji krithi a lot.

I thought there is a TMT varnam, also on same lines which Neela mami sings quite often?

Pramod

[cienu]

wonderful concert list . Thank you for the review srikant 1987 .

[sappri]

eppramod - you're right - it is indeed a TMT Varnam; and yes, the talam of the kalyani kriti is indeed - sankirna chapu.
And yes: it was a mind-blowing concert, we were all truly blown away! Young Vittal Rangan was outstanding - as was truly "visible" from the warm smiles that came his way from mami!; The percussion dept was really good too.
Good venue, good acoustics.....in short a wonderful Sunday morning!

[braindrain]

Isn't this varNam she sang ?

http://www.karnatik.com/c2953.shtml

Edited : Here are both the lyrics. Now it is clear.

mAl marugan murugan (tv). rAgA: hindOLa. Adi tALA. Composer: T.M.Tyagarajan.

P: mAl marugan murugan kOla dAya kumaran
A: vElAyudan vaDivElan pAlAtishEyan paNimisaiyan
mA dha ma ga sa gA ni sA ga sa ga sa ga ma sA dha ni sA ni sa ga
sa ga ma dhA ga ma dha ni sA dha ma ga sa ga ma ga sa ma ni dha ni sA
sa ga ma dhA ga ma dha ni sA dha ga ma ga sa ni sA ma dha ga ma ni sA
C: vaLLi maNavALan varam aruLvAn


mAl marugan (varNa). rAgA: hindOLa. Adi tALA. Composer: Tanjavur Shankara Iyer.

P: mAl marugan murugan SaNmukhan manam kAttaruL dayALan
A: vEl aNindu viLangubavan mayilEri vandaruLbavan
C: anbAnavan azhagan

[srikant1987]

Thank you for the corrections/suggestions, harimau, rajeshnat, eppramod and braindrain. I think the list should be OK now. (Haven't included neraval/swaram lines -- they can be seen, with another take on the concert, on braindrain's blog .) I must add that Vittal plays very, very impressively for his age, for people who haven't seen Squims's and yours truly's reports on his accompaniment for Neela mami in an earlier concert around Rama Navami this year. Especially, he has an appetite for much laya viShayam, which Neela mami amply attended to in this concert. It will be appropriate to mention here that he is a disciple of Vid A Kanyakumari.

He had set high expectations in that concert, which he did meet, but it wasn't an experience of "OMG! I'd forgotten how well he plays" kind of thing. This beautiful expression was coined by Nick, actually. =)

Bilahari, the kalyANi piece was not bad for HMB, but I didn't find it as remarkable as nija dAsa varada, which Sri S Shankar sang in a Patnam "EkavAggEyakAra" concert.

[arasi]

Srikant,
You know a lot about pATTu and tAlam--and I'm glad I'm not a performer You bring your own flavor to your reviews and so do others.
Our reviewers bring more variety to the reviews which the newspaper folks can't beat.
I hope there are going to be more reviews this season than ever.

One more teeny correction-- vElum mayilumE, vellumE--Koteeswara Iyer

[tyagarajadasa]

Shrikanth and sappri:

If this was the varnam sung : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcFmfqp9lFg
Then it is Shanakara Iyer's composition! Pl check and make changes if required!

--Gokul

[srikant1987]

Gokul,
braindrain has given the full lyrics of both varNams, and the varNam that was sung indeed had vaLLi maNavALan ... as the caraNam.

Arasi,
Yes, it's sad I listed mayilumE as mayilum, even after harimau corrected it form an even more :$ mistake. But now, is it evvELaiyum venRidumE or just vellumE?! Hopefully braindrain wrote down a few more words from the krti. :$

I will just leave it where it is! For concerts with mostly Trinity compositions, there's always V Govindan sir. For others, one needs to crowd-source!

[arasi]

evvELaiyilumE vellumE!(sounds like a good slogan!)

Though I'm particular about words, at times, all-correct words alone don't make the grade, if they lack feeling and rAga bhAva. Tamizh from old times can make it difficult for even tamizh-speaking young folks like you.
tarai mahA janangaL (crowd-source) can help too, once in a while