Violin: Shri. B. V. Raghavendra Rao
Mridangam: Shri. Ramesh Srinivasan
Ghatam: Shri. Guru Prasad
- . OmkAra gaNapatiyE - hindOLam - Kalyani Krishnaswamy
. nErE vara nEram illaiyO - bahudhAri - Brazil Subramaniam
. enna puNNiyam seidAyo - husEni - ShivanAma yOgi
. varuvAro varam taruvAro - SAma - Gopalakrishna Bharathi
. inta tAmadam EnO - garuDapriyA - Ravikiran
. pArvati nAyakanE - ShanmukhapriyA - Papanasam Sivan
. azhagiya mayilinil - basant - Madurai Somu
. tillAnA - Sivaranjani - Maharajapuram Santhanam
. rAma rAma rAm avar rAmarin parama bhaktarAm - chandrajyOti - ?
Generally, the vocalists complemented each other well. You could see the interesting dynamics of a duo concert, with each singer picking up impromptu from the other, with the accompanists joining the fun.
After the Ganesha song had set the stage (no pun intended
), a sweet bahudhAri followed . Apparently one of the Carnatica Brothers, Shri. Ganesh Sudarshan, has tuned it himself. The AlApana for the fifth item, by Shri. Ganesh, captured the attention forcefully with its strong spine-chilling vivAdi effect. It was announced as garuDapriyA, and turned out to be a pa-varjya janyam of 61st mELa kAntAmaNi. But the highlight of the day was definitely the ShanmukhapriyA. Both brothers excelled, with Shri. Ganesh going up to touch atitAra sthAyi shadjam and Shri. Shashikiran landing on mandra sthAyi shadjam, covering 3 full octaves between them. The grahabhEdham on ga resulted in another vivAdi effect (shUlini).
The tail pieces kept up the energy and the momentum. Interesting to see that Shri. Madurai Somu has composed songs as well. Hope somebody in this forum can tell me the composer of the last piece 'rAma rAma rAm.'
The accompaniment was great, all of them being experienced vidwans. Shri. B. V. Raghavendra Rao was mellifluous and complemented the artists effectively. Shri. Ramesh Srinivasan, a well-known artist from Bay Area, has good nAdam and was supportive. Shri. Guru Prasad excelled with interesting patterns, resonant nAdam and a calm cheerful stage presence.
The event had the feel of a large house concert: though the hall was large, there was a coziness with audience sitting close to the artists. Most of the attendees stayed till the very end, which says more about the quality of the concert than I can. Thanks to VEDA temple and Shri. Ramesh Srinivasan for organizing an evening of great music.