V Sanjeev - Violin
Patri Sathish Kumar - Mridangam
BS Purushottaman - Ganjeera
1. Innum En Manam (Pada Varnam) - Charukesi - Adi - Lalgudi Jayaraman
2. Maha Ganapathe - Natanarayani - Adi - MD (S)
3. Devadi Deva - Sunadavinodini - Adi - Mysore Vasudevachar (R,S)
4. Ninnu sevinchina - Yadukula Kamboji - M Chapu - Subbaraya Sastri (R)
5. Vara Narada - Vijayasri - Adi - Thyagarajar
6. Sri Krishnam Bhajamanasa - Todi - Adi - MD
7. Muralidhara Gopala - Maand - Adi - Thooran
8. Samudita Madane - Misra Sivaranjani - Adi - Jayadevar
9. Mangalam
One of the perks of retiring is .... you can actually sit and write a review at 9 AM something that i couldnt dream off a few months back! But that feels absolutely fantastic
. I went to Shankar Narayanan's concert @ NGS for a brief while. it was a vivadi raga concert and his style of singing did want me to attend to a normal concert. Things fell in place yesterday since Vani mahal is a stone'e throw away from my brother's home and i could just walk down along with mami and my brother's family! Shankar's voice is a sheer pleasure to hear. Its so well rounded and pitch perfect at every note. He is at ease with his voice, never gave an impression that he is stretching it and it obeys his every command.
The concert really set-in right away when he started the varnam. Lalgudi has made charukesi his own whether he played Kripaya Palaya or adamodi or this varnam of his. The rendition was excellent Maha Ganapathe that followed also had some phrases that show the distinction between this ragam and Sama which is very similar. In fact i have heard some versions that clearly sama dominated in some sangathis.
Sunadavinodini alapanai really highlighted the voice aspects that i highlighted earlier. Really well done and crisp. Krithi was well rendered and a round of swaras to finish off.
Ninnu sevinchina that followed a short ragam was delivered at a slow pace capturing the mood of the composer may be. Patri Sathish gave excellent support here as well as the next piece which was a contrast at a fast clip. Patri's left right balance is something that not many have and he should use it well by adopting some traditional mridangam playing patterns.
Sri Krishnam Bhajamanasa was the main item. Looks like Todi and TNR are inseparable and flashes of the nadaswaram came to the fore in the ragam. Krithi, neraval and swarams were well rendered. korappu was neat and very engaging with patterns in charustram and tisram that clearly went over me.
Tani by patri & BSP seem to take cue from the patters in the korappu and the entire tani was built around that. To a lay person like me, that seemed clearly overwhelming as to how someone can so quickly calculate the patterns on stage!
Tukkadas seem to his fore as well and he should focus on this. His voice changes from a deep traditional one to a - if i may call it, a light-mode" when he delivers the post tani items. The last piece needs special mention. The ashtapathi tuned in misra sivaranjani was so moving that we just couldn't leave the auditorium even if we actually wanted to. I cant really express the feeling thru words here.
In all a very superb performance that we all felt very satisfied attending. The fellow looks very smart and presentable on stage without any mannerisms as well. The entire team looked fresh and happy on stage and it was nice to see them enjoying the music.
