N VIJAY SIVA, Mylapore Arts,19.10.2014

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Vocal:N Vijay Siva
Violin: Amrita Murali
Mridangam:Manoj Siva

The concert, under the banner of Mylapore Arts Academy was held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (Main Hall), Mylapore, Chennai on 19.10.2014- one of the rainiest days of the week in several parts of Tamilnadu. The weather was however quite OK in Chennai enabling non-concert goers and others to utilise the Sunday for a frenzied Diwali shopping!

Time: 6.30 to 8.45 p.m.
Concert Sruti (Pitch : 1.5 kattai or C sharp)

The list of kritis:
1. Saveri: Karikalabhamukham – Dikshitar - Roopaka
2. Janaranjani: SmaraneSukhamu RamaNaama – Tyagaraja - Aadi
3. Kalyani: Kathaya kathaya- Narayanatirtha- Misra chapu
4. Todi: Nanubrochudaku- Subbaraya sastri- Aadi
5. Kambodhi: Nadamaadithirindha- Papavinaasa Mudaliyaar –Khandachapu
6. Vasanta: Seethamma maayamma-Tyagaraja-Roopaka
7. Natabhairavi : RTP – AanandaNatabhairaveesa jagadeesa Param(aananda) –Aadi 2 kalai ‘half edam’
8. Mayamalavagoula: Perugalaam tavam,Pedhamai teeralaam (?)
9. Aabheri: Bhajare re Maanasa- Vasudevaachaar- aadi
10. Viruttam (Abheri,behaag, Maund) followed by Vaanantthin meethu
11. Mangalam

A serene presentation by Vijay Siva who gives utmost importance to the theme/sahitya of compositions. Karikalabhamukham for Vinayaka stuti is rare and Siva rendered it precisely.

(Many describe the opening letters ‘Ka’ & ‘Ri’ of the pallavi sahitya ‘Karikalabha’ as ‘swaraakshara’ but I have often felt it could be sort of ‘swaraakshara praasa’ because the corresponding devanagari letters are ‘Ga’ & ‘Ri’ in the saptaswara scale. Further enlightenment from rasikas welcome)

2. ‘Smaranesukhamu’ with a straight start of the kriti was a welcome relief. Niraval at ‘RamaNaama sravana’ in the charana sahitya was sensitively rendered with due care to avoid any ‘S N P’ prayoga in the avarohana (which would mix poornachandrika shades). The Kalpana swara-s were also neat and polite to match the mood of the kriti. This is a TNS favourite.

3. Kalyaani aalaapana gave the feeling of a ‘sub-main’ but ‘Kathaya kathaya’ came in as a tribute to Narayana Theertha. Siva however laced it with some attractive swaras for the pallavi (3 maatrai thalli eduppu in Misra chapu is always entertaining).

4. Todi (Nanubrochutaku on Devi Kaamaakshi) was relaxed and sans any frills. (I understand from forumite CRama that this Subbaraya sastri kriti was a favourite of DKP and DKJ and rarely handled by others. I was hearing this for the first time)

5. Kambodhi aalapna was followed by Natamaaditthirindha –a different kriti full of the composer’s concern for the Idathupadam of Nataraja. Niraval at ‘Saktisivakaamavalli tan paadam novumendru tharaiyil adivaitthunirka thayanginathathuvaa?’ depicted the composer’s imagination of the plight of the Lord vividly. Vijay Siva did not sing kalpana swaras and that enabled rasikas to appreciate the sahitya.

6.Seethamma maayamma was the pace setter, of course. The time was 7.45p.m. and about half a dozen seniors made their exit (‘here go the 8 p.m. dinner specialists’-remarked someone jokingly from behind!)

7. Ragam Taanam Pallavi in Natabhairavi was a compact exercise. The simple taala and Pallavi sahitya containing the raga name made it enjoyable. (During the aalaapana, I could hear a few probably neo-rasikas in the audience ‘guessing’ the raga as ‘Saaramati’ or even ‘Margahindolam’!! But I consoled myself that they must not be blamed. Many janya ragas are popular than the Mela scale!). The pallavi sahitya put an end to their speculations.

The swara ragamalika included Anandabhairavi and Bhairavi nicely woven into the kuraippu and Teermanam.

8. Perugalaam tavam,Pedhamai teeralaam was again a ‘rare hear’ for me. Is it also sung in Naathanaamakriya?

9. Bhajare re Manasa in the Tukkada segment surprised me a little. Could be a listener’ choice, I thought.

10. Abheri led to a Viruttam giving way to Behaag and Maund to end up in the evergreen Vaanatthin meethu and Mangalam.

VIOLIN: Amrita Murali gave the right accompaniment and her grasp over sahitya of kritis was evident throughout. She has a perfect sense of time. ‘Nalla Anusaranai’ to put in briefly.

MRIDANGAM Manoj Siva may be the only percussion Vidwan in recent times whom I could see asking to reduce the volume of amplification of the vaadya. He never intruded into the vocal rendering of his brother. His Tani was sans any thunder but had the essential ingredients of Tisram, khandam etc.

Moreover, well ahead the concert started, a balancing of the audio was done.


Sidelights
The programme announcement in the daily events columns of The Hindu indicated ’First few rows reserved. Rs100, Rs.50. All are welcome’. This appeared to be more than enough for the early birds (including me) and barring a few first rows, the hall was almost full! And none of the organisers interfered with the freedom of the ‘welcome rasikas’ but seemed to be quite happy at the good turn out on a damp evening.

Just after the Kambodhi aalaapana was over, a gentleman started distributing copies of a neighbourhood newspaper to the ‘free rasikas’ Luckily he had only limited number of copies and made his exit quickly. The violin return gave the right interval to those who couldn’t resist temptation to scan the pages before ‘nadamaaditthirindha’ started! The entire procedure went off in the most disciplined way!



Happy Diwali!

[rajeshnat]

SRK
THank you for your lovely review . Bhajare Manasa as a tukkada was perhaps not adapted as a tukkada by DKP/DKJ school, IIRC maharajapuram santhanam used to sing that way as tukkada. I have heard once . For me it was a lousy weekend ,rain played a spoilsport.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Sivaramakrishnan: Nice detailed informative review!!
WHY DON'T YOU BLOKES--YOU,RAJESH et al --write for the newspapers--Hindu,Indian Express--Agreed they are "fussy" and "stiff" but I would anyday value our rasikas' review over the inane,often-misinformed reviews by most of the reviewers in these dailies.
My late father K.S.Mahadevan(reviewer for Indian Express for nearly 30 years!!) used to lament to me the young persons--men or women--25 plus year old--would truncate the review(he always came within their # of words requirement and yet when they laid out the review with larger photos of the artistes--some times more than one photo(showing the vocalist--mostly female--in the "inset" gobbling up more space and having to truncate the review(because that was the most "excisable' part!! This resulted in some inappropriate"cuts"(because the editor was not well versed in Music). My father would be forced to explain to anxious artistes the next day as to what exactly he meant by a truncated comment!! Normally a critic like Subbudu would be incensed by such uninformed editing--but my father used to dismiss it saying it is not their fault that they are poorly trained!!!
Notwithstanding the above "caveats' your reviews can use/benefit a wider audience!!
More power to your pen or digital extremity!!!!

[rshankar]

A beautiful review of what appears to have been a wonderful concert. Thank you!

5. Kambodhi aalapna was followed by Natamaaditthirindha –a different kriti full of the composer’s concern for the Idathupadam of Nataraja. Niraval at ‘Saktisivakaamavalli tan paadam novumendru tharaiyil adivaitthunirka thayanginathathuvaa?’ depicted the composer’s imagination of the plight of the Lord vividly. Vijay Siva did not sing kalpana swaras and that enabled rasikas to appreciate the sahitya.

We have discussed this kRti in the past: http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... t=nadamADi
It is beautiful!!

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks rshankar ji for linking to that golden thread!

Ramasubramanian Sir,
Thank you for the compliments.
Glad that you have also explained the state of affairs!

I write for Sruti magazine regularly. On unique events and topical issues, anecdotes etc.

[CRama]

Sivaramakrishnan, Thank you for your scholarly review.

It was very nice that VS opened the concert with Karikalabhamukham- a rarely heard song outside the GNB school. Since last season, Saveri is heard very frequently in radio or live concerts. But Karikalabhamukham and also Parasakthi – nobody takes up. That kari is an example for swaraksharam, because the swarasthanas are ga and ri. Not necessary that the sahithyam also should be ga and ri only. There are many examples for this. Praasam- It is a different concept- anthyaakshara praasam, dwitheeyaakshara praasam etc. You know all these things- hence no further explanation is needed.

Nannu brochutaku- Yes. DKP and DKJ have immortalised this succinct composition of Subbaraya Sastri. I have heard this from Vijaya Siva only earlier. But no vidwan outside DKP school sings this song. This song do have the swara sahithyam portion just like many of the Syama Sastri/Subbraya Sastri compositions. In one of the Radio Sangeeth Sammelan concerts in early 80s, KVN rendered Ninne nammi nanu of Syama Sastry and also added this swara sahithyam portion in that song. A wonder for me till now. I have got the recording of that.

Natabhairavi- This ragam is a favourite of DKJ besides GNB school. DKJ has done excellent alapana of this ragam for Sree Vallidevasenapathe and also for Raghuvaram Raghavam Ramam- I think it is a composition of Srivatsa. Refreshing that VS chose this ragam for RTP.

WE expect more reviews from you.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks CRama for the provisions of Swarakshara.

KVN's rendition of Ninne namminanuu with liberal 'borrowings' from nannubrochutaku is really interesting! Anyone could throw more light?

I remember to have listened to TRS's Natabhairavi years back.

[Lakshman]

Item # 8 is a tEvAram.

[arasi]

The other vidvAn who sang kari kaLabha mukham was R.K.Srikantan--and his energetic rendering of it was a pleasure to listen to.