Vinay Sharva at Seshadripuram Coll., B'lore, 18th April 2012

[SabashBale]

Vinay Sharva at Seshadripuram College, Bangalore on 18th April 2012
Raghu - Violin
Renukaprasad - Mrudangam
Dayananda Mohite – Ghatam

1. Karunimpa Varnam, Sahana (Raga outline)
2. Sidhi Vinayakam, Shanmughapriya (R,S)
3. Ra Ra Ma Inti, Asaveri
4. Sri Venkata, Surutti (R, N, S)
5. Nannu Vidachi, Ritigowla
6. Padavini, Salaga Bhairavi (S)
7. Kaddanu, Thodi (R, N, S, T)
8. Muddu Gare, Kurunji
9. Venkatachala Nilayam, Sindhu Bhairavi (Raga outline)
10. Mangalam

I had been wanting to attend a live concert of this talented, promising and upcoming youngster, (who has probably just finished college) for quite some time. I got a ‘VIP’ seat in the front row and it proved to be a top notch concert for 2.5 hours.

After the sprightly varnam, the Shanmughapriya alapana and kriti were rendered well. The swaras at ‘Prasiddha Gana Nayakam’ were excellent with some nadai variations and kanakku, keeping the violinist on his toes. The violinist’s replies begged the statement ‘Sabash! Sariyana potti!’. Asaveri’s defining composition was sung pretty neatly before launching on the quite detailed Surutti alapana. Very beautifully done with a lot of long passages. There was a grand neraval at ‘Alamelu manga sametham’. During the slower kalam of the neraval, every time I thought he would reach higher notes, he cut it tantalizingly short and plummeted downward, but made up for it during the faster kalam, which itself had several rounds between the vocalist and violist, much to my satisfaction.

Nannu vidachi was sung in an unhurried pace with a lot of sowkhyam. ‘Padavini’ with some sprightly but short swaras was over in less than 5 mins!

And then came the Thodi alapana! Thodi alapana ke samay thodi free sundal serve ki gayi (taking the liberty to ascribe the feminine gender to ‘sundal’). It was a beautiful alapana with a lot of ‘breath-taking’ly long passages. I want to mention an aesthetics issue here: When singing an alapana, if the passages end with double rests (difficult to explain in written communication) as for example – ‘thadari naaa – aaa – na na’ instead of ‘thadari naaa – aaa – nnna’, it doesn’t create as much a feeling of sowkhyam as the latter. Vinay has this trait and ends most of his alapana passages that way. Not sure how experts view this. Just wanted to convey something I observed to see if anyone else can provide their opinion! The kalpita part of Kaddanuvariki was completed before the neraval began at the anupallavi line. It was quite a long neraval and swaras with kuraippu were very well-sung. The tani followed and was thoroughly enjoyable.

I was a tad disappointed when I knew there was going to be no RTP although I thought there was sufficient time for one. Instead, Kurunji oozed through Muddu gare Yashoda with some beautiful sangatis and Venkatachala nilayam was sung at the right pace.

The violinist produced good repartees to the neravals and swaras. The mrudangam’s nadam left a little to be desired and often sounded like thunder or a tuk-tuk or one of those origami models that goes ‘phat’ when you hold it in your hand and give it a violent jerk. The mrudangam playing during the tani ensured that it most likely was because of the instrument and not the player. A very well-played tani by both the mrudangist and the ghatam-artist who ‘air’-ed the pot at the end of the tani.

An excellent concert with familiar compositions! I will definitely attend his future concerts whenever convenient!

[rshankar]

Thank you for that report! Who is this young artist's guru?
I figured you're a fan of 'vanji koTTai vAliban' - so, I guess you could say of this concert, 'kuralum yAzhum kaLandE inbam koNDADinadE'! (taking the liberty to refer to the violin as yAzh)

[SabashBale]

I think he is a disciple of Bangalore S. Shankar.

[sivakami]

I think now he is under the tutelage of Nedunuri garu. Because, he had accompanied the stalwart in a concert here at Hyd, last december.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Young Vinay Sharva is in fine form here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Kz8i0DkHk

[rajeshnat]

Young Vinay Sharva is in fine form here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Kz8i0DkHk

Sreeni
Thank you , I have not heard Vinay Sharva ,there was just a casual reference by vid Bangalore Shankar when I met him last time in a concert .

[MV]

Sreeni,
Thanks for the link. He's good!