Sec'bad-Kalasagaram Sri. Aravind Bhargav – Mandolin

[sivakami]

48th Annual Cultural Festival at Kalasagaram, Sec-bad
23rd Nov. 2015

Sri. Aravind Bhargav – Mandolin
Sri. Oruganti Rajashekar – violin
Sri. Burra Sriram – mridangam
Sri. T.P. Balasubramaniam – ghatam
Sri. K. Shyam Kumar – kanjira

Song list:
1. Nalinakanthi varnam – Lalgudi G. Jayaraman –Adi
2. Paripahimam Sidhi Vinayakam – Vakulabharanam- Jayachamaraja Wodeyar- Adi (R – 4min, S)
3. Jesinadella – todi –Thyagaraja – (R: 8 min, vio- 3 min)
4. Paridhanamichithe – Bilahari – Patnam Subramanya Iyer
5. Edhayya gathi – Chalanata – Koteeswara Iyer –Adi
6. RTP – dwi-raga mala – Hamsanadham & Bindumalini, Adi talam
Pallavi “ Sangeetha Sahitya rasa sammelanam, Sreenivasa keerthanam”, composed by Smt. Gnana prasunna (Sri. Aravind’s mother), in memory of his Guru Sri. U. Shrinivas.
7. Tani – 22 min
8. Narayana the namo namo - behag
9. Bhajan - darbari kannada (Sai Bhajan I think)
10. Chandrasekara eesa – Sindhubhairavi – Aanai Vaidyanatha bhagavathar
11. Mangalam.


Having attended this youngster’s concert in 2009 and considerably impressed, I decided to go this time. Particularly more so (there were more of his concerts in between, which I had missed), as this was an opportunity for me to listen to the late Legend Shrinivas’s bani… It was interesting and a pleasant surprise to see a youngish-looking local support team for Sri Aravind. In 2009, he was accompanied by V. V. Ravi garu and others (also from Chennai I think). Right from the beginning, the accompanying team literally matched the speedy mandolin in every possible way. Sri. Oruganti Rajashekar, the young violinist, deserves Very special mention and applause. He reciprocated beautifully with his returns throughout the kucheri, after observing and absorbing every minute note that was played by Aravind. I many times felt that the percussion trio, who were his good friends, were teasing him with their mischievous smiles during the raga alapana and the rapid swaras round etc.,, as if saying, “ Hey Rajashekar, next its your turn to play man… to repeat the swift, yet curvy and complex notes and strokes..ha ha..” And Yes, the violin was splendid!!! (Personally, with my little knowledge, I always feel that the long, sustaining notes produced by the mandolin cannot be brought out easily by violin or vocally; pl. correct me if I am wrong….). Burra Sriram, a disciple of MLN Raju garu with his powerful mridangam, TP Balasubramaniam on ghatam and Shyamkumar on kanjira, provided EXCELLENT support, and hence the kucheri was a superb one. Nobody, irrespective of their age or gender could stop their heads from nodding, swaying, rotating with every sweet twing and twang. Otherwise, normally the Kalasagaram audience are somewhat controlled…Also many of us felt nostalgic, having attended U. Shrinivas’s kucheri, till almost a couple of years ago.. There were several emotional moments, while listening to those rare ragas, the wonderful RTP and lastly ‘Chandrasekara Eesa’ bringing tears in my eyes. While announcing each forthcoming item, Aravind kept narrating details with lot of reverence, about his experiences with his Great Guru, who was an Ocean. Kudos to the Bhagyanagara team of the day (Aravind Bhargav also hails from Hyderabad it seems), for the excellent kucheri.

[thanjavooran]

Sivakami,
Thanx for the detaiLed and interesting review.
Thanjavooran
29 11 2015

[rshankar]

Sivakami, a beautiful review. Thank you.