sowmya at jaya tv margazhi utsav

kamavardhani · Post by **kamavardhani** » 14 Dec 2006, 14:03

Nice to see this forum and many familiar user id's... guess i'm a bit of a latecomer.

anyways... had been to my first season concert yesterday and thought i'd post about it... kind of a hurried post, pardon any mistakes.

Sowmya, Jaya TV margzahi utsav
accompanists: embar kannan & neyveli narayanan
venue: chettinad vidyashram
theme: sharavana bhava!

shri nathadi - m'm'gaula - m. dikshitar (S)
nekkurugi - abhogi - p. sivan (S)
maa mayura meethil - bilahari - mazhavai chidambara bharati
purahara nandana - hamirkalyani - m. dikshitar (R, S)
kola mayil - salagabhairavi - dindigul s. p. ratnam
varashikhi vahana - supradeepam - tyagaraja
ihaparam enum - simhendramadhyamam - p. sivan (R, N, S, T)
va velava - shivaranjani - dr. s. ramanathan
viruttam - brindavanasaranga
kaliyuga varadan - brindavanasaranga - p. tooran
ponnulavu chennikula - kavadi chindu - annamalai reddiar
pati mati (tiruppugazh) - kharaharapriya - arunagirinathar

an absolute delight of a concert with an eclectic mix of composers. having observed sowmya over the years one was pretty sure the theme 'sharavana bhava' wouldn't mean the staple 'muruga muruga' & 'shri subramanyaya namaste'. And boy... she sure did not disappoint! an unconventional songlist with many unfamiliar items, yet presented in a manner that would have appealed to lay rasikas and connoisseurs alike. hamirkalyani alapana was breathtaking and i was left guessing what possible song there could be with muruga as the central figure... 'purahara' never crossed my mind. kannan & narayanan both were in fine form, embellishing the concert admirably. i liked the short salagabhairavi, the composer apparently is the elder brother of late renowned flautist dindigul sp natarajan. The Sivan kriti in s'madhyamam was very well rendered as was the brindavanasaranga viruttam. she rounded off with a kavadi chindu and a nice kharaharapriya tiruppugazh.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 14 Dec 2006, 14:14

where was the neraval done in purahara nandana?

kamavardhani · Post by **kamavardhani** » 15 Dec 2006, 14:05

Bharath, sorry! my mistake in putting "N"... there wasn't any neraval in Hamirkalyani.
This concert has been reviewed in today's Deccan Chronicle. The reviewer has elegantly captured Sowmya's superb demonstration of various styles of alapana (esp. a TNR style Todi), during the q&a session.

I'm in a bit of a dilemma about this evening... Sowmya is slated to sing at MFAC, and that's traditionally been one of her strong venues. It will be a full 3-hr performance. Should I go for that or try the full Nadaswaram concert at Academy by the Tiruppambaram Brothers? The pre-concert speechifying and inaugurals would be a drag, except for TNS' speech. Ah... the pleasant problems of a Chennai Margazhi season...

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 15 Dec 2006, 14:10

HI Kamavaradhanii - is the inauguration open to public?

kamavardhani · Post by **kamavardhani** » 15 Dec 2006, 14:13

I believe it is... at least the balcony should be free! I think the "invitees be seated at 4..." blah blah is only for the premium rows. Me thinks you shouldn't have a problem with the back rows on the ground floor as well as the entire balcony.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 15 Dec 2006, 14:46

Thanks Kamavardhini - I am on my way!

kamavardhani · Post by **kamavardhani** » 16 Dec 2006, 08:14

Ok... I placed my bet on another Sowmya concert and went to MFAC. A complete 3 hours & 20 mins concert with a Kambhoji RTP that took up almost an hour, with a two-stage alapana... the pallavi line being the vintage "tillai easane kaana naan enna punniyam seitheno..." in adi, 2-kalai. Other highlights were a detailed Begada ("kadaikkann vaittennai" of Ramaswami Sivan) and Varali ("bangaru kamakshi" of shyama sastri) with neraval and swaram. Excellent concert, the lady is in fine form ! I will make a separate detailed post later... got to run now.

vijay, if you made it to MA and listened to tiruppambaram bros, cud you pls post abt it? thanks.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 16 Dec 2006, 23:41

Sorry Kamaavardhini - I could only listen to one major piece - had to leave after that - anyway, it was an absolutely out of the world Saranga for Arunachala Natham - in fact I rushed to dig out some Rajarathnams after I got back home - such was the effect it had on me. Pity we don't have more Nagaswaram cutcheries...the other problem was that the nagaswaram-thavil combine, when amplified is really deafening...

On the inauguration side, I couldn't make much of TNS' high flown tamil but it was fun to watch Chief Justice Shah go reel off bloopers like DK PattAmull, UmayalApurAm Shiv-raman etc.!

kamavardhani · Post by **kamavardhani** » 17 Dec 2006, 00:32

Thanks for the brief update, vijay. Too bad you couldnt hear the nadaswaram fully. I hope to catch them at KGS later in the season.

Anyways, the full songlist of Sowmya's MFAC concert as promised:
(too lazy to start another thread

)

sowmya, rk shriramkumar, neyveli narayanan, udupi sreedhar
mfac, dec. 15th, 6 pm - 9.20 pm

chalamela (varnam) - shankarabharanam - khanda ata - swati
manasunilpa - abhogi - tyagaraja (s)
kadaikkann vaittennai - begada (r, s at 'gauri raja')
bhajare re manasa - abheri - mysore vasudevachar
bangaru kamakshi - varali - ss (r, n at 'na manavi niye gati...', s)
kalavati kamalasanayuvati - kalavati - md
rtp - kambhoji - adi, 2 kalai
('tillai easane kaana naan enna punniyam seitheno...', alapana in two stages, ragamalika swarams in shivaranjani, ?, shanmukhapriya, shri)
shri madhava - behag - p. sivan
viruttam ('ponnagi maniyagi...' from Tiruvarutpa) - kharaharapriya, saveri, manirangu, neelambari
kanne kanmaniye - neelambari
tillana - mandari - ponnaiah pillai
mangalam

hugely satisfying concert. one of the best kambhoji renditions i've heard, with elaborate lower octave sancharas, vintage pidis... varali and begada were other highlights. The viruttam had an electrifying start in kharaharapriya. Overall, a concert to be remembered in the 'season's best' sweepstakes.

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 17 Dec 2006, 00:44

kaNNE en kaNmaNiyE, in nIlAmbari is by Shuddhananda Bharati.