Dr. Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam - Concert in Maryland May 2019

[Vidyasreeram]

Concert in Sri Siva Vishnu Temple, Lanham, Maryland on 5/4/19
Vocal: Dr. Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam
Violin: Dr. Ranjani Ramakrishnan
Mridangam: Sri Vijay Ganesh

Dr. Vijayalakshmy and team gave a very melodious and soulful concert. It started with the Ata Thala varnam in Kamboji followed by Varana Mukha in Hamsadhwani. Then, Dr. Vijayalakshmy gave a beautiful rendition of Neevada Negana in Saranga. Another highlight was Entani Ne in Mukhari, a beautiful composition of Saint Tyagaraja extolling the Bhakti of Shabari towards Lord Rama. Soulful neraval and crisp swarams at Kannulara Sevinchi further rounded out the song. Soon after that, she delivered a mesmerizing Kalavathi followed by the krithi Kalavathi Kamalasana Yuvathim. The crowning glory of the concert was undoubtedly the Swati Thirunal composition in Hamsanandi, Pahi Jagajjani - the main piece which was simply a melodious delight. I saw the whole audience enjoying in rapturous bliss, many with closed eyes and smiles. She followed up with a quick RTP in Nattakurunji in Kanda Triputa thalam with ragamalika swarams. Marubari and Sarvam Brahmamayam followed in quick succession. Dr. Vijayalakshmy’s Vidwat and Guru Bhakti were evident in the song selection and the audience reveled in the sheer beauty of all her renditions.

Dr. Ranjani provided excellent accompaniment on the violin. She was smiling pleasantly throughout the concert and her deft follow-up for both raga alapanai and neraval/swarams was beautiful. Her Hamsanandi alapanai as well as the thanam portion of the RTP left a lasting impression on me.

What to say about Sri Vijay Ganesh? He is well known in our area and is always in demand. His accompaniment for the sahityam of each krithi is impeccable and always elevates each concert. His thani was superb (as always!) and showed his expertise in creating on-the-spot phrases.

All in all, a delightful concert. We would love to see Dr. Vijayalakshmy perform again in this area in the near future, (hopefully with the same team)! It was a very well-appreciated concert and a well-spent evening!

[rajeshnat]

vidyasreeram
Warm welcome with ur first post. May we know how long was the concert. Do you recollect pallavi line is that her guru trs pallavi ?

[Ranganayaki]

Vidya, welcome ! Thank you for the nice review! I will add the songs in list form shortly..

[Vidyasreeram]

Rajeshnat, thank you so much! The concert was 3 hours long. I’ll figure out the Pallavi line and post!

[Ranganayaki]

All, Vidya Sreeram is active in all the Carnatic groups in our area (SSVT, SBAT, VTOVA (Vedic Temple of Virginia), and srgmpdn, which holds monthly events). She is the wonderful mother of our most talented ghatam player, Samyukta Sreeram, as well as a budding violinist whom I hope we will all learn about in a few years, Sahana Sreeram. Both girls sing beautifully, so who knows...

[Ranganayaki]

Here’s the list, with some corrections.. Mainly, I’m stumped to see a Hamsadhwani item in second place, but that was not sung.

1. Varnam: Sarasijanabha - Kambhoji - Ata Taalam - Vadivelu of the Tanjore Quartet (?)

2. Karnataka Shuddha Saveri -Ekamresanayike Shive - Adi - MD

3. Saranga - Nivadane Gaana - Khanda Chapu- Thyagaraja

4. Mukhari - Yentani Ne Varnintunu - Rupaka - Thyagaraja (Alapana, neraval, swaras @ “Kanulara sevinchi Kammani phalamunosagi”

5. Kalaavati - Kalaavati Kamalaasana yuvati - Adi - MD (sung on request, details announced)

6. Hamsanandi - Pahi jagadjanani - Adi - Swati Titunaal - (swaras @ Saarasakrita Nilaye, Tani)

7. Natakurinji - Alapana, taanam in Natakurinji (lower swaras of octave) Revagupti (around Pa), Abhogi (higher reaches of main octave). Pallavi: Dhi - Tai, Dhi-Dhi-Tai Endraadum Deivame, Enai Kaattarul Kanakasabhesane in Khanda Jati Triputa Taalam, Chatusra nadai, elaborated in tisra Nadai in two speeds, in addition to chaturasra Nadai in two speeds. Swaras in Revagupti, Abhogi, Kanakangi, Surutti, culminating in the reverse order. The pallavi was easy to transcribe, it was something like this to begin with:
1. || MGS- | NDM- | SNDN | PD-N | S... || ..RS | SNND || DNDM | GMGS ||
2. || DItai- | diditai- | En-dra- | dum Dei-va | mé—- || —yenai | ka-ttarul || kanakasa | bé-sané ||

8. Khamaj - Marubari Taalalenu ra - Adi - Dharmapuri Subbaraya Iyer (?) (I left at the beginning of this song)

9. Sarvam Brahmhamayam - I checked YouTube, and listened to a couple of examples which seemed to be in Sumanasaranjani, though it was marked as Jhinjoti. It wasn’t sung in that in those videos, Karnatik gives the raga as Jhinjoti. Not sure which version was sung.

10. ?? Mangalam??

[Ranganayaki]

I meant to post this a while ago, but I just happened to check to make sure that khanda Chapu was the correct taala for #3, but was thrown off when I saw on Karnatik and other websites that the taala is listed as Jhampa taala. But the song sounded like KC, and that’s what Vijay Ganesh seemed to be playing, so I shelved it while waiting for Vijay Ganesh to answer my query.. he’s been busy traveling with Vijayalakshmi Subrahmanyam on weekends, it seems from the other review here.. He confirmed today that it was Khanda Chapu.

[Ranganayaki]

#2:
The song has a raga Mudra in the sahitya: “PAmara jana pAlini guruguha janani
Suddha sAvErinuta nandini .”

If Shuddha Saveri takes some of the swaras of Saveri and makes them “shuddha” (R1 –>R2, D1 –>D2) in the HM system, and keeps the arohana and avarohana symmetric as a pentatonic raga, Karnataka Shuddha Saveri takes the same swaras of Shuddha Saveri and returns them to the Shuddha variants in the CARNATIC system ( R2 –> R1, D2 –> D1), with the scale staying pentatonic.

Saveri: S R1 M1 P D1 S - S N3 D1 P M1 G3 R1 S
Suddha Saveri: S R2 M1 P D2 S -S D2 P M1 R2 S
Karnataka SS: S R1 M1 P D1 S -S D1 P M1 R1 S

(A passive-aggressive fight for “Shuddhahood?” )

[Vidyasreeram]

Thank you for the song list and the kind words about my kids, Ranganayaki akka Not sure where the second song crept in from but thank you for posting the correct details of the concert!

[Ranganayaki]

If I remember right, I’ve heard Sahana play a wonderful Asaveri (!!) alapana, which took me completely by surprise for its maturity, from such a young girl. I am quite impressed. It was while accompanying another child at the VTOVA, which offers frequent opportunities for very young novices .. She must have put in some hard work for the concert which paid off!

[rajeshnat]

sarvam brahmamayam as tuned by s rajam sir must have been sung in only madhuvanti not sumanesaranjani

[rajeshnat]

Pallavi: Dhi - Tai, Dhi-Dhi-Tai Endraadum Deivame, Enai Kaattarul Kanakasabhesane in Khanda Jati Triputa Taalam, Chatusra nadai, elaborated in tisra Nadai in two speeds, in addition to chaturasra Nadai in two speeds. Swaras in Revagupti, Abhogi, Kanakangi, Surutti, culminating in the reverse order. The pallavi was easy to transcribe, it was something like this to begin with:
1. || MGS- | NDM- | SNDN | PD-N | S... || ..RS | SNND || DNDM | GMGS ||
2. || DItai- | diditai- | En-dra- | dum Dei-va | mé—- || —yenai | ka-ttarul || kanakasa | bé-sané ||

I just googled to find references to the same pallavi being sung by VijiSubra at coimbatore and chennai pointing to link back to 2 reviews in rasikas. I am not sure who is the pallavi creator? The choice of ragamaliga swaras is quite offbeat from the usual.

Thank you ranganayaki for the pallavi line and review.

[Ranganayaki]

sarvam brahmamayam as tuned by s rajam sir must have been sung in only madhuvanti not sumanesaranjani

You are right, i just heard it again, it was Madhuvanti, I think I didn’t pay close enough attention.