SuryaprakAsh@rathnagireeshwarar temple on Feb 15th,2014

[rajeshnat]

SuryaprakAsh@rathnagireeshwarar temple on Feb 15th,2014
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Violin : VVS Murari
Mrudangam : Thiruvarur Vaidyanathan
Kanjira : S venkataramanan

Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow
Day/Duration : Saturday/ 2 hours and 40 mins
Concert Type/Crowd : Free concert - around 125 to 150

1A. agajAnana padmArkham - hamsadhwani- ganesha stuthi(who wrote this??)
1B. vAthApi gaNapathim (S) -hamsadhwani - MD
7 mins swaras
2. gAnA amudha pAnam (Rs)- jyothiswaroopini - kI

3A. 8 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return in kEdaragowlai
3B. soTRuNai vEdhiyan .... naTRuNaiAvadhu namachivAyavE - kEdaragowlai - appar thevaram ???
3C. neelakanTam bhajEham sataTam (R N S) - kEdaragowlai - MD
Neraval in akshaya roopa akanTa kAveri for 5 mins
4 mins swaras

4. kA vA vA(S) - varAli - psivan
swaras for 8 mins
5. mee valla guNa dOsha(RS) - kApi - T

6A. needu charana pankaja mula gaTiyani (R N S T) - kalyAni - Pallavi gopala iyer
17 mins alapana and 7 mins violin return
neraval in "O jagath Janani maNoNmani omkAra roopini kalyAni" for 11 mins
13 mins swaras
6B. tani for 8 mins

Speech and garland break for 5 mins

7. azhagiya mayilinil Aadiva murugA (R) - Aananda rAgam - madurai somu
2 mins alapana in Aananda rAgam

8A. viruththam - thiruvarutpA
petra thAi thanai - nAttakurinji +
uttra dEgathai - subhapaNtuvarAli +
katra nenjagam?? - sindhubhaivai +
namasivAyathai nAn maravEn - mAnd +
namasivAyathai nAn maravEn - mAnji
8B. varugalamO - mAnji - GKB

9. tuLLu mada vETKai-hamsAnandi -AGN
10. neenAma roopamulaku- mangalam

[rajeshnat]

Incidentally for me ,this concert had a fair amount of surprise even before it started.About 10 or 11 years before to the best of my knowledge i vaguely recollect VVS murAri having accompanied suryaprakash, adding to that thiruvarur vaidyanathan has not accompanied suryaprakash in any concert that i attended in the last 4 to 5 years in chennai. Certainly this combination is very rare - ofcourse Venkataramanan (who is the son of CS shyamsundar of madurai somu concert fame) has played quite a few concerts in the last few years . Anyway all 4 artists have a stamp of unmistakable right assertion - suryaprakash with a voice throw, vvs murari with his appa typecast violin azhuttam , Tvr vaidyanathan with an assertion of very heavy and rolling strokes. Venkatramanan - appears bit less forceful only in his body language and not with his strokes when he gets going . All 4 collaborated with the right assertion to give a very engaging power packed concert.

The ambience of concert being held in a shiva temple indeed resulted in a lions share of krithi/viruththams based on Lord shiva.The start was a ganesha slokham in hamsadhwani and an assertion of vathApi with a long volley of swaras would have been excellent - had it not been for the few trumpet like howls from the microphone- also felt the volume was on the high side . From the second jyothi swaroopini , mikes were adjusted right . The howls were dead and buried and from then on it was a really wonderful concert .

While I got bit disappoined with just the vivadhi krithi of KI in jyothiswaroopini without a dash of swaras , the next in Kedaragowlai was really top notch. Kedaragowlai has a very questioning assertive rAga bhavam - both the singer and violinist matched it well. The drop of viruththam before a song adds an extra oomph and i think the vocalist sang an appar tevaram?? . The viruththam lines were lovely - soTRuNai vEdhiyan .... naTRuNaiAvadhu namachivAyavE with a repeated convoluted suzhattal in namachivayE and then seguining to a rare krithi of MD was very aesthetic. THe rare MD krithi was neelakantam bhajEham- IIRC,i have heard in a recording of MDR ?? , IIRC MDR or anyone else has not sung a neraval(I will stand corrected if some one states the same) . When a musician feels the lyrics and sings neraval it is always a real jolly good feeling. The neraval line with the "aganTa kAveri" was repeated and it went exceptionally well with KEdAragowlai. The neraval was quite detailed with a few avarthanAs in mEl kala neraval just towards the end of the neraval was very catchy . Then seguing swaras with the same speed of jettisoned mEl kAla neraval was nice . At times taking slow and fast in neraval and also repeating the same pattens in swaras gives me a slight repetition feeling in me.

The fast filler was a mega filler in swaras - suryaprakash dazzles in swarakalpana and I particularly liked the collaboration of all 4 in varAli with some alternating sequence in kA vA , kandA vA - with few sa pa gA mA ri sA notes was a near 5th gear exhilarating tempo was well received by audience.

The main was a fantastic kalyAni. With a very minimal squat in meditative tempo, kalyAni was nAgaswaram PiDi at its best . There were pouring briga outbursts in kalyAni alapana . The krithi needu charana of pallavi gopala iyer is a masterpiece - one can easily mistake this krithi for SS. What a neraval line , the composer has ensured definite success in the lines "O jagath janani ... maNonmani ... kalyAni" , he was able to present the kalyAni rAga swaroopam in totality. KalyAni swaras were not that expansive to me - he could have gone more than what he did for just 13 mins. He was entering to well set sarvalaghu , kind of wrapped it up bit short(I personally have more expectation in swarakalpana especially for suryaprakash).

Tukkadas were all fantastic .Hearing the raga alapana of aananda rAgam in a live concert was my debut and somu's power packed emote in azhagiya mayiliniL was indeed there . The viruththam in thiruvarutpA was quite expansive with colorful ragamaligas and with he ending in full throttle in a vilambit varugalAmO was outstanding(in contemporary singers i have heard once TMK sing it with this kind of thrust- ofcourse kvn and mdr varugalamO are always a different league on their own)

The violinist VVS murAri has to be appreciated for his correct assertive press - certainly his appA was present in his bow. I particularly liked his kalyAni alapana, not an iota of taking kalyAni towards a north indian pAlak , it stayed as molakeerai masiyAl. At few places in the last varAli , the speed of suryaprakash and vaidhyanathan was bit too fast - he indeed caught up well but lost a share of melody or his appa typecast suNAdham.

Tvr vaidyanathan has one of the fastest right fingers , rolls were just superb. He also plays a lot of thavil typecast touches in his left toppi .The first hamsadhwani was perhaps a mic problem , may be he was loud because of that. He could have bit paid attention on his loud beats on tani - considering the temple .His 8 mins tani was bit too loud - perhaps the audience cheared every round and he went bit more aggressive than just staying assertive. All said and done , I immensely liked his speed and his roll of his right hand during songs where he maintained a real solid tempo. The dark horse was CS venkataramanan and his grasp was very noteworthy when vaidy gave just only left toppi with pauses,kanjira artist played a lot of interesting patterns .The percussion rotation in kalyani and varAli was very noteworthy.

Suryaprakash endurance was just consistent and stayed at the peak for most of the time with a near high peak in shruthi sense .He could have gone for another hour ,but this was not California,Toronto or even Bangalore RLKM. I am glad he stretched beyond 9 pm for 20 to 25 minutes.

Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 40 mins(with 5 mins speech break).

[Lakshman]

3b is by Tirunavukkarasar.

[rshankar]

The gaNESa stuti at #1 should be agajAna padmArkam...gaNESa is described as the sun (arka) to the lotus (padma) that is the face (Anana) of the daughter (jA) of the mountain/himavAn (aga)....a very poetic way of describing how he lights up his mother, Parvati's face...

[HarishankarK]

Hi rshankar
Very interesting
Could you please provide the full verse of the shloka 'agajAna' on Ganesha sung before Vatapi and give the meaning also. The meaning is very interesting.
Thanks
Harish

[arasi]

Rajesh,
nIlakanTam bhajEham is new to me. Haven't heard Surya sing 'tuLLu mada vETKai'before.

[rshankar]

Could you please provide the full verse of the shloka 'agajAna' on Ganesha sung before Vatapi and give the meaning also. The meaning is very interesting.

Just to clarify, I posted the first few words to let Rajesh know that it is not padmArgham, but padmArkam..., but as requested, here is the full stuti - and my take on its meaning (based on input that Keerthi had provide many moons ago):

agajAnana (aga+jA+Anana) padmArkam (padma+arkam) gajAnanam (gaja+Ananam) aharniSam
anEka dam tam bhaktAnAm Ekadantam upAsmahE ||
I worship (upAsmahE) that one (Eka)-tusked (dantam) lord, the elephant (gaja)-faced (Ananam) one, who is like the sun (arka) to the lotus (padma) that is the face (Anana) of the daughter (jA) of the mountain (aga) at all times (day and night - aharniSam), who is bountiful (gives many boons - anEka dam) to his (tam) devotees (bhaktAnAm).

And please note that it is anEka dam tam - not to be pronounced as anEkadantam - as if the many-toothed devotees are worshipping the one-tusked...

[cacm]

quote"rajeshnat"He could have gone for another hour ,but this was not California,Toronto or even Bangalore RLKM. I am glad he stretched beyond 9 pm for 20 to 25 minutes.

Dear Rajeshnat,
I must DISAGREE WITH YOU REG. Ca, Toronto-Dont know about B'LORE
IF THERE WAS INTEREST ALMOST ALL THE ARTISTS GLADLY HAD ZERO RESTRICTIONS ABOUT TIME RESTRICTIONS. LGJ, TVS, SHEIKH & SEVERAL OTHERS HAPPILY PERFORMED FOR OVER 4 HOURS & RESPONDED TO AUDIENCE REQUESTS. Actually TVS PERFORMED FOUR SUCH CONCERTS IN ONE DAY-Starting in Washington D.C. then Baltimore, BOSTON, & ending up in NYC!
I wish I had succeeded in persuading SOMU to come to N.A. as he would have performed for seven hours & NO ONE WOULD HAVE LEFT!.....VKV

[cacm]

Dear Rajeshnat,
1) It looks like I didn't understand what u had written about usa ca toronto etc. SORRY
2) SURYAPRAKASH is the ONLY CURRENT ARTIST that I have found who is: A) AWARE OF THE HISTORY OF RENDERING VARIOUS SONGS IN DIFFERENT WAYS& B) IS WILLING TO POINT OUT& SHARE THESE HISTORICAL POINTERS.
In this sense his rendering of JOTHISWARUPINI followed Kalakkadu style which is a brisk rendering of the krithi without any DISTRACTIONS as Koteeswara Iyer had packed whatever could be said & done-somewhat analogous to Dhikshithar (which was why Mali played very few Dhikshithar pieces acc. to him)- & acc to MMI, SEM. S.RAJAM THIS IS TRUE OF THIS PIECE. I APPLAUD HIS COURAGE IN NOT FALLING INTO THE USUAL EXCESSIVE ATTEMPTS AT CREATIVITY. VKV