Sruthisagar-VittalRangan-PraveenSparsh-VSaiSubramanian

[srikant1987]

27 Dec 2019
Naada Inbam

?
OrajUpu - kannaDagauLa - Adi - T
varALi
ETi janmam idi - cApu - T (N @ sATilEni?)
sari evvarE - sahAnA - Adi - Tirupati Narayanaswami
ezhiluDai - hamsanAdam - Adi - Thanjai Sankara Iyer
bhairavi
tAyE bhairaviyE - bhairavi - Adi - Papanasam Sivan
A song in kApi
pavamAna - saurAShTra - Adi - T

It was a beautiful concert. Both Sruthi Sagar and Vittal Rangan are familiar to me, but this is the first time I'm hearing them together.

The rAga AlApanais had a good mixture of slow and fast parts. There was a little more ma- and ni-pausing phrases than I like. Also, sometimes long, fast passages were not ended as impressively as they could be. It is super-hard it is to do that, but that must be done for full effect. I think culminating them to reach the sa or pa, with a kArvai there, is one way to make them impressive.

Vittal's bhairavi was more traditional. His swarams also gave some hints which could have brought more "bhairavi experience" if taken.

The way Sruthi Sagar plays compositions is always excellent. He brings out their full magic so beautifully. And as though that weren't enough, Praveen Sparsh's accompaniment enhanced the songs and the neraval and swaram sections SO MUCH! It will be good to attend concerts just for his mridangam.

It was just thrilling how he highlights the best part of the music, and fills in for others! The bhajan-like conclusion he gave to the hamsanAdam song was so brilliant. His playing also gave "hints" to catch for the next round of swarams or neraval, which is extraordinary at this age! He also has a very good aesthetic understanding of how much gap and filling-in should be given between the pallavi & anupallavi, etc.

The tani itself could have been more fun, though. I think having some rounds of the plain chaturshram would have helped.

[gardabha_gana]

Good to see you back writing Srikant! Thanks for the review. Sruthisagar is becoming a favorite of mine... Yet to hear a live concert though.

[srikant1987]

It is tAyE EzhaippAl in bhairavi.

I really liked how phrases like ndm came naturally in Vittal Rangan's bhairavi, along with sgrg - m in the swarams.

[balakk]

For those who have missed this, the concert is also in Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7fJR1fUsAM

There's another recent one of Sruti sagar in Sastra Satsang:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgLT9U241PY

The Kapi in the above one is vintage Mali-type stuff, superb performance. Soaked in bhavam, tala intricacies and controlled virtuosity. The violinist Gokul tried his best to keep up, kudos! Praveen Sparsh is fantastic in his accompaniment. Another brilliant concert from SrutiSagar & team.