concert at sri krishna gana sabha on 22-12-2006
The krthi 'Sriragukula' of Thyagaraja in Hamsadvani marked the beginning of the concert for which TNS sang svaras and then elaborated on Panthuvarali which contained all the nuances usually found in this raga when sung by him. The krithi was 'Ninnuneranamminanura,' and not 'Apparamabhakthi' as you would have imagined and the svara was short and sweet. The next was raga Abhogi followed by the krthi 'mansavrtha' by Thyagaraja. TNS sang svara for this too.
Then followed the rasika's favourite 'Ranganayakam' in Nayaki in which one could visualise the Lord leaisurely reclining on His bed of Sesha ( pun intended)!
The Thiruppavai 'keechukeechenrengum' in Huseni was sung in the method of 'kondukootti' each word joining with the preceding ones in succession and the sangathi in 'matthinaal' created an impression of the gopis churning the curd.
'Nadaloludai' in kalyanavasantham by Thyagaraja was the next followed by a melodious kambodhi and the krthi 'Sri subramanyaya namasthe.' The svara prasthara was at 'vasavadhi' and 'bhoosuradhi' alternatively and was a mellifluous and skilful presentation.
The last piece was the sloka 'ambamohini' sung as a ragamalika. The mohana in the line ' Ambamohini ' was a real mohana (enchanting) and the line 'Anandasandayinee' was sung in Anandabharavi and
dabharavi and amrthavarshini whcih can be better described by the very names of the ragas, (Ananadamrthavarshini). the next line 'vani pallvapani' was in Girvani followed by kalyani and yaman kalyani while singing the word 'kalyani' ending with sriraga in 'Srirajarajesvari.' an exquisite delineation.
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concert at MOP Vaishnav college on 20-12-2006
A bonus for the rasikas, which might have been missed by many who did not note the announcement in the morning paper. The concert started with Abhogi varnam with kalpanasvara as usual. This was followed by 'Sadhinchane, pancharathnam of Thyagaraja in Arabhi and then came the raga Dharmavathi and the krthi 'Bajanaseyaradha' The svaras were like the reemkara of the bees while being layapradhana.
Then came Subhapanthuvarali and the krthi 'ennaallurage' of Thyagaraja and the raga alapana, neraval and svaraprasthara were all in keeping with the mood of the song. Subapanthuvarali of TNS is always special and this was no exception. The svara singing was fantastic.
After the thani by Neyveli Venkatesh on Mridangam the concert ended with sloka 'shankachakragadhapane' the plaintive entreaty of Droupadi to Krishna for her manasamrakshana which was followed by 'baro Krishnaiya' a Dasarpadha in ragamalika.
TNS was accompanied by Nagai Sriram on violin who did a wonderful job of it.