A K Palanivel & Yella V Rao @PATRI DRUM FEST 2 Jan

[Sivaramakrishnan]

The first day of Patri Drum Fest organised by Mridanga Vidwan Patri Satish Kumar featured exclusive layavinyasas by Haridwaramangalam A K Palanivel (Tavil) and Yella Venkateswara Rao (Mridangam) at the R K Convention Hall, Luz, Chennai. (This is the second year of the fest. It is highly laudable that it provides for leisurely/unhurried core laya presentation by percussionists to an intent audience )

Haridwaramangalam A K Palanivel (Tavil) rendered Khanda Triputa 9 (5+4) matras (1kalai). From the start it was 'full of substance'. More than korvais, the vidwan rendered umpteen nadai variations in the Taala. It was highly educative as well as entertaining. The 'Kuraippu' segment had numerous 5+4 sollus instead of customary 4 1/2 or 2 1/4 and the mohra at the end was precise. The Vidwan explained the peculiarities at the end much to the delight of the rasikas. Vidwan Chitraveena Ravikiran who was present gave his views on Khanda triputa and explained how one must be sensitised even for maintaining the Taala. (Cent percent true. Unless you know what the percussionist proposes, 'putting the taala' becomes mechanical and you miss the laya intricacies).

Palanivel's disciple Swamimalai Gurunathan ably assisted in the presentation. The session lasted for more than a hour. Audience included several musicians - many of them percussionists.

Yella Venkateswara Rao (Mridangam) chose Sankeerna Chaapu-another dare delight (again with 9 counts). The Naadam (2 kattai pitch with sruti background) was divine and the maestro explained how the toppi must preferably be 'tuned' to mandra sthaayi shadja and did that too! His senior disciple T R Sundaresan maintained Taala - a challenging task. Rao has not been accepting concert engagements of late due to health reasons, but this was something special, he noted.

He played several passages with absolute fidelity to the taala without any compromise to 'naada sowkhyam'. Tisra and Khanda prayogas were demonstrated within the taala segments leading to a fine 'perattukai' / mohra and final korvai.

Everyone was in praise for Patri Satishkumar in his endeavour to bring in a breeze of laya after the peak season! (Going to be a regular feature!)
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Day 2 features Guruvayur Dorai (Mridanga), SreeSundarkumar(kanjira)
day 3 : Vikku Vinayakram (Ghata) & Trichy sankaran (Mridanga)

Awaiting reports from forumites of day 2 & 3.