Wow, those are great pictures. Meenakshi's photographs add quite a few notches of presentability. I am sure you all will say in a real life meetup 'Hmm.. you somehow look different in real life'
But I can vouch for a couple of things. The artists look exactly like that in real life. The music inside them shines through their faces, in photos and in real life. And Meenakshi looks exactly like that in real life, the graciousness and enthusiasm for all things music shines through her face, in photo and in real life. We spent some time with the artists after the concert which is a great privilege. Thanks very much Meenakshi for providing that opportunity. She and her husband were such gracious hosts. Time flew before we realized it was past midnight. The artists had a very early morning flight to catch.
As VKRaman correctly calculated, it is a two hour drive for us, except Friday afternoon traffic made it a 3 hour drive which was anticipated and incorporated as part of the plan. But still we were delayed by 5 minutes and so when walked in, vAthapi was in full swing. First impressions of the environment were quite impressive. Great auditorium, the sound system was perfect and the stage was setup so the artists were at a comfortable eye level even if you are in the first row and not that far from the edge of the dais. It felt quite intimate. Of course, with only three of them on stage, it was not crowded which added to that intimate feel. We first sat in one of the back rows but moved to the second row which afforded us a level of closeness to the artists which is quite rare.
It was an excellent concert and we enjoyed it a lot. A great evening indeed. The choice of ragas and songs were quite apt for a 2+ hour concert. And the format of the presentation of course has to be adjusted for that span of time. They still had all the elements of a carnatic concert including an RTP. I am sure they could have made it into a 3.5 hour concert with the same song list. That showed the incredible experience they have in concert planning and presentation. The three
Dimensions of the concert were indeed captured by
Dhanyasi,
Dwijavanthi and
Desh. They formed the Submain, Main and RTP portions of the concert and they were all excellently done. Raghupathi Raghava Rajaram and Desh went well together bringing in the theme of national integration and unity.
Sri. Mannargudi Easwaran was brilliant in his mridangam playing as well as in his youthful appearance and the enthusiasm he projects. There were occasions he was just barely tapping the left side and that is just exactly the right thing to do. It was great to listen to the variations he does on the mridangam for the variations to the same line of melody Sri Muralidharan and Sri Sriram bring forth in the song. He will try one sequence and embellish it for the next repetition in a distinctive manner. His thani was quite delightful to hear with what appeared to me as quite a unique ending kOrvai.
Nagai Sriram played the supporting role so well. This kind of a violin accompaniment is different from accompanying a vocalist. Though he does not get as much time to play solo given the length of the concert, he made best use of the opportunity to showcase his vidwath and skills. He was always ready to take over based on the subtlest of hints from Muralidharan. For the RTP, Muralidharan sang the pallavi line a few times to get us aligned with the words and Sriram played the first two rounds of it by himself. There is a slight difference in tone in the violins and so even if you close your eyes you can tell who is playing. But of course when they play together, it is all in perfect unison. It will be great to listen to a Sriram violin solo concert.
What can one say about Sri. Muralidharan's playing! 'Brilliant' does not quite capture it. As a big fan of the fidelity that violin affords in bringing out the raga contours, it was a delight to hear that being executed by the veteran. Dhanyasi and Dwijavanthi provided quite a bit of the necessary contrast in raga colors. There were some subtle touches during Dwijavanthi alapana that were quite wonderful. Since we were sitting close to the stage, it is a marvel to observe that some effects require quite a long slide from one end of the violin to the other and the others are achieved though almost unnoticeable movements of the fingers.
After setting up a poignant mood with the first two songs in Hamsadwani and Shuddha Danyasi, niravadhi sukhada provided for a great variation in dynamics. This is a fun song of course to play and it was a sheer joy to listen to them play it. They let loose without going over board which is so easy to do with this song. Sri Muralidharan then brought in Dhanyasi using which he projected a vibe of piousness in the way only Dhanyasi can do. Akhilandeswari was done very well and the crescendo he produced with kalpanaswarams was breathtaking. I remember thinking at that time the way the whole piece started with a leisurely alapana of this great raga to an equally leisurely and laid back beginning of the song and how the dynamics changed through out the song to this crescendo. All in a matter of less than half an hour. It was all captured in a nutshell so beautifully. In a way I think that is Carnatic Music's strength and it is enjoyable by people who look for such changes in pace. Extending that thought, along the lines of our discussion in a different thread about what HM does with ragas imported from CM, may be that is what CM does in general with ragas brought in from HM. Wrap the raga essentials in the words of compositions and offer it such a packages that are liked by CM aficionados. The raga still remains pretty much the same.
Varali was done well and of course the song is a famous one and it was enjoyable to hear them play it so well.
Though it was a short RTP by traditional standards, it did not feel like it was rushed. Desh is quite an enjoyable raga, again the same kind of observation I had in how CM imports ragas from HM. It is unmistakably the same raga swarupa but tailored to the CM dimensions. Muralidharan briefly demonstrated the thala and the pallavi line which helped people follow along. The atmosphere there made such communication quite personal as if he was explaining all that to each one of us personally.
And they wrapped up the delightful concert with excellent renditions of Pibare Ramarasam and Jithe Jatho. I had not listened to any mAnD in a while and it was so good to hear it after such an absence.
it was quite an intimate and extremely satisfying concert.
and am I glad 