Smt Aruna Ranganathan @ Nada Inbam 7th Jan 2016

[raviraj]

Vocal: Smt Aruna Ranganathan
Violin: Smt Usha Rajagopal
Percussion : Nellai Balaji & Madippakam Murali

List :

Sami Neepai - Nagasvaravali - Adi - Tana Varnam - Patnam Subramanya Iyer
Krupa jutaku velara - Chayatarangini - Adi - Tyagaraja - Svaras @ pallavi
Hiranmayeem lakshmim - Lalitha - rupaka - Dikshitar - A and N&S @ sangita vadya vinodhineem
Entha bhagyamu - Saranga - Adi - Tyagaraja - A & svaras at pallavi
Ninnu sevincina - Yadukulakhamboji - Capu - Subbaraya Sastri
Tanayuni brova - Bhairavi - Adi- Tyagaraja - A, NS @ vatsamu venta dhenuvu & tani
KuvalayAkshiro - Gaulipantu - Tisratriputa - Kshetrajna
Narimani - Khamas - Adi- Dharmapuri Subbarayar
Uruvai aruvai - Madhyamavathi- Adi - Arunagirinathar

Notes:

1. The rarely heard varnam, an apparent favorite of her guru Late Sri Bombay Ramachandran was rendered. How I longed to hear a few avartas of sarva laghu svaras, which was not to be alas !
2. For the Chayatarangini kriti, she sang a lovely bunch of svaras - neat and compact.
3. A very meditative Lalitha was presented and the kriti sung with an appropriate slow gait.
4. In fact Smt Aruna must be complimented for presenting everyone of these aigrettes in the right kalapramanam - appropriate for the raga/ composition /genre - a presentation feature which is now completely lost by almost all concert performers. For instance there was "no" breathless rendering of the Tyagaraja compositions with the percussionist contributing to the riot.
5. Ninnu Sevincina sans frills was a complete suite in itself. Apparently Semmangudi one summer evening, after hearing Smt Mukta render this Subbaraya Sastri magnum opus, in the style inimitable of her lineage, remarked that he wouldn't need any sleeping pills that night. As I wrote in an earlier review, this composition is on the Lord at Tiruallikkeni & he has been ornamented by the sishyas of each of the Trinitarians - Sadasiva Rao ( Vacamagocharundani in Atana & Sri Parthasarathe in Bhairavi) from the Tyagaraja sishya line ; Subbarama Dikshitar ( Parthasarathini - Yadukulakambhoji ) from the Dikshitar lineage and Subbaraya Sastri from the Syama Shastri line, with this yet another Yadukulakambhoji masterpiece.
6. The Saranga exposition and the Bhairavi one had their own 'aha' moments and were crisp and pithy. The Saranga presentation was a welcome one for me after having had a surfeit of Hamir Kalyani this season. Needless to add a comment about the padam and the javali, which were so beautiful.
7. Special mention should be made for the sensitive accompaniment that was provided by the violin/percussion vidvans.

It was art music presented with absolute fidelity to the intent of the great composers. The presentation was of a high class and Smt Aruna provided that in no small measure as she opened out that window to me through which I viewed the panorama - a collage of highly aesthetic colors- a legacy tracing itself all the way back to the Trinity themselves as evident from the pedigree of her music- Bombay Ramachandran & on to the likes of Tiruppamburam Svaminatha Pillai, Brinda, Musiri and their ilk who in turn owed their music to the stalwarts of the century before - Patnam, Sathanur Panju Iyer and Subbaraya Sastri.As a rasika it is important for oneself to hone the ears to strive & hear the very best and thus move up the chain of maturity. And this was one such for me as I wind up the listening binge this season. And it was a concert not just for rasikas but also for aspiring musicians. As I left for home satiated, I was in no doubt about the formula for a classy presentation/recital, atleast for my ears.

[Purist]

A nice review raviraj, matching what looks to be a nice concert.

[Purist]

This concert is posted @ Parivadini. Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkAmtQLaE8c

[gardabha_gana]

Wow. wonderful. Thanks much Parivadini for coming back after the break. looking forward to hearing it. BTW - one rendition of Ninnu Sevinchina that is a personal favorite of mine is by Vid. R. Vedavalli. Her disciple Ashwin copies her rendition on the Veena, which is indeed an achievement!

[keerthi]

2. For the Chayatarangini kriti, she sang a lovely bunch of svaras - neat and compact.

Nice singing, but I felt the chAyAtarangini wasn't represented correctly in the swarakalpana.

For one, the swarakalpana seemed to be merely aligned to a textbook scale of the rAga, and didn't appear liek a natural extension of the melodic scheme of this kRti.

Secondly, there was too much of the pns, pnsr etc, that leaks into kedAragauLa territory. In my view, chAyAtarangini has a weak uttarAnga, and it is better to treat it with p/s or pnd or pddp-pdm passages, with an occasional sprinkle of pdns [and very, very few pns passages if at all ].