Vijay Siva@Ayodhya Mantapam on Apr 10th,2014

[rajeshnat]

Vijay Siva@Ayodhya Mantapam on Apr 10th,2014
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Vocal : Vijay Siva
Violin : Embar kannan
Mrudangam : J Vaidyanathan
Kanjira : Anirudh Athreya

Concert duration/Day : 2 and 25 mins /Thursday
Concert Type : Nirvana (no concert to follow)
sabha/Hall : Ayodhya mantapam, west mambalam
Occasion : Rama navami concert
Crowd : max of 350+ in a free concert- about 75 to 80% hall was full

1. mahaganapathim - tOdi - MD
2. sAmaja varadA(N,S) - suddasAveri - poochi
4 mins neraval in kAma janaka Subha phalada karuNalavAla
3 mins swaras

3. Adiya pAdamE gathi(R,S) - varAli - GKB
6 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
6 mins swaras
4. abhimAnamennaDu - bEgaDa - patnam

5. saranAgatha vatsala rAmA(R N) - kharaharapriya - HMB
13 mins alapana and 7 mins violin return
neraval in Saradhi bandhanamu dayatO cEsina for 7 mins

6. parAkela nannu pAlimpa - kedaragowlai - SS

7A. evaroora ninnuvina(R N S T) - mohanam - T
8 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
neraval in savana rakSaka nityOtsava for 8 mins
swaras for 6 mins
7B.tani for 12 mins

8A. viruththam pArkum thisai - shanmughapriya +
mAlayanthEda - nalinakanthi +
pAlaiyum thEnaiyum - mukhAri
8B. sivakAma sundari - mukhAri - Psivan

9. dAsarEndarE purandara - ?? - vyasarayaru

10. hariBola theertha - ?? - ??
11. nAda vindu kalA - senjuruTTi ??? - thirruppugazh
12. mangalam

[rajeshnat]

The concert was part of ramanavami celebrations. Vijay's strength is his focus on spread of composers.The focus on composers spread has at times a negative aspect too. With more numbers one also feels there was also a ration of alapana , neraval and swaras that is also a characteristic of his DKJ school. Barring the last two numbers , I did thorougly enjoy the concert

The first number a krithi in MD was just settling in me , the delay of settling was only because I walked bit half way into the concert. Poochi's samaja vara in suddasAveri is centered more with layam and he sang in a typical copy book style. The neraval and swaras in suddaswaras were measured and did interest me most of the time.

Vijay's voice has a thinner sareeram and the varAli ragam has a usually thicker syrup . The contrast did go well as the krithi progressed , the neraval and swaras were quite measured . I particularly liked the composition of GKB -Adiya padamE gati , the words were really good - the krithi on Lord nataraja was certainly unexpected for a rama navami concert. BegaDa went and passed -the heaviness could have been bit more.

Vijay's voice really opened out well in the alapana of kharaharapriya. The alapana was well done and just when I was thinking about this rare krithi of HMB , it just came . I have personally heard this rare HMB kriti of saranagatha vatsala rama , what a treasure it is , it gave run for money for Sivan and T krithis of kharaharapriya. Both times I have only heard from Vijay.

Vijay was joined by one of his sishya in kharaharapriya and the power of a typical kharaharapriya was there, The neraval was well done that too for the first half when he sang with a nice madhyamakAlam spread in neravl . I was bit letdown when he did not sing swaras for kharaharapriya , just R and N for a kharaharapriya was no to me. But Overall this krithi was the best in my concert.

Vijay keeps all composers in mind and he dropped a kedaragowlai SS krithi as a filler which was very good , that was another departure from a rama navami concert - no complaints atleast for this week , i wanted more variety. The main was in mohanam . Vijay gave a very measured alapana and started with the anupallavi the krithi of evaroorA of T . He maintained a nice kalapramanam and went well with the neraval .Few swara patterns were really creative.

The viruththam was a nice collection of ragas from an assertive shanmughapriya to a partially assertive nalinakanthi to a bit plead of mukhari and then going to sivakama sundari was lovely. vijay always has impressed me with mukhari and indeed he did not let me down.

The dasarendara krithi on Purandaradasa by vyasarAyaru just passed bit fast to me . THe last two was not my cup of tea . Vijay plays a little more bhakthi card and he taking chingu chakku (cymbals) with hariBola and nAda vindu kalA did add a dent to the prevailing CARNATIC aesthetics.

It was a day of back to back concert hopping where I heard embar kannan and JV(last one being seetha rajan). Embar kannan was lovely with a right press and in the last two concerts i see a touch of more divine azhuttam in his violin . JV was lovely may be there was a slightly high volume in his mrudangam but it was ok. I hear so much of Trichy Sankaran like strokes from JV, really finest control of aggression. IN the nada vindu the last number JV was unbearably loud but that was ok as already the cymbals was on. THe young aniruth teamed up well and their tani was wonderful- incidentally both JV and anirudh learnt from the same guru TK Murthy -perhaps that explains their chemistry.One can say TK murthy's son and grand son teamed exceptionally well.

Overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 hours and 25 minutes.

[rshankar]

#2. sAmaja varadA - neveral - kAma janaka Subha phalada karuNalavAla
#5. SaraNAgata vatsala rAmA - nereval - Saradhi bandhanamu dayatO cEsina

[rajeshnat]

Ravi
Corrected the neraval in the first post. Tx

[sreebeecane]

You missed the name of the Khanjira artiste in your post

[VK RAMAN]

Thank you for such a detailed review rajeshnat. sreebeecane - please write the name of the Khanjira artist if you know.

[sreebeecane]

Thank you for such a detailed review rajeshnat. sreebeecane - please write the name of the Khanjira artist if you know.

THe young aniruth teamed up well and their tani was wonderful- incidentally both JV and anirudh learnt from the same guru TK Murthy -perhaps that explains their chemistry.One can say TK murthy's son and grand son teamed exceptionally well.

This from Rajeshnat's post.

[rajeshnat]

I have added anirudh athreya in the top half . Missed it in my earlier day post despite mentioning in the review bit later.

[arasi]

Anirudh?

[ganeshkant]

I was there till the tani and enjoyed immensely.

Arasi,Anirudh is grand son of late V.nAgarajan and great grand son of pApA VenkatarAmiah.

[arasi]

GK,
Ah so? I have heard him a number of times and like his playing a lot.

Rajesh,
I think he would spell his name Anirudh rather than Aniruth.