SRIRANJANI SANTHANAGOPALAN for SRLKM, Bengaluru on 13th Jan 2020

[arasi]

Sriranjani Santhanagopalan Vocal
B.Ananthakrishnan Violin
Patri Satishkumar Mridangam
Giridhar Udupa Ghatam

I had been waiting for a review for this excellent concert. I have neither the know-how nor a knack for details to write one. No review so far. So, here I go, with my limited knowledge and a head for no details, trying to share the pleasure I derived from listening to Sriranjani. Those who were there, please correct me where I err. Add more where you can...

Old story, but from her teens, I have tried to listen to Sriranjani whenever I could. She is growing in stature, and genes are by no means an 'oh, by the way' thing. Several times during the concert, I saw her father's vazhi and its quality shine through. On her own merit, she surprises us with her imaginative forays and by her happy, adventurous and detailed delineation. B. Ananthakrishnan was a match, no screeching and no warming up at all for him. From note one he was with the concert. Would have heard more from him too, but a stalwart sat on the stage too who pleased us no end with his percussion. Patri's playing can be delightful, and he had Udupa by his side, and though there was amity all round on stage, Patri's playing was
star quality that evening--all done with sweetness.

[arasi]

I was thinking of our dear departed MKR as I sat there in Gayana Samaja, wondering if he had listened to Sriranjani recently...

I had just finished typing about the concert with the song list just now, and the whole page disappeared when I tried to post Ramesh, wherever you are, I am the only remaining dodo who loses what she types often times as you used to do
Aid me, Robert Bruce...;'

[rajeshnat]

Vageyakkara Arasi
Tip 1 : Type it in notepad SAVE SAVE , then copy and paste it here from notepad to rasikas.

or another tip

Tip 2 :
1.Is prior to hittting the submit button ,click on the area where you typed
2. Do a Ctrl A which does select all
3. Do a Ctrl C which does a copy
4. Then hit the submit button , if submit is not done

Then again go to the reply again to the text area , If you do a CTRL V it will paste your content
Get accostomed to always CTRL A and CTRL C prior to hitting submit . Take it to your muscle memory.

[arasi]

The Robert Bruce in me needs someone like you to get things going. I will try to post again, Rajesh. Missed seeing you and many others as I missed all the concerts too Bengaluru season is mighty too nowadays, and I will attend a few more concerts if I can.Thanks...

[arasi]

deleted...

[arasi]

Please fill in gaps, those of you who were there, who know better, and have a keen memory...

VarNam ErA nA pai tOdi
swAminAtha paripAlaya nATai MD S
mAmava karuNaya shaNmukhapriya ST N
nityaupAsa? kedaram PD
mAyamma Ahiri SS
Varalakshmi nIyE vandaruLvAyE ?? some bhairavi, she announced...
evari mATa kAmbhOdi Main, R,S,N
RTP VAsantha, Kalyani, kalyana vasantham nitya KalyANi
tunbam nErgaiyil desh Bharathidasan
jagadOdhArana kApi PD
villinaiyotha puruvam vaLaithanai kAvaDi sindu Subramania Bharathi
TillAnA??
Mangalam

VarNam glided along merrily to Patri's beat, the violin all set, and Udupa joining in. There was a bit of dalliance on Sriranjani's part which added charm. There was some good playing by Anathakrishnan in nATTai. Though she did not sing rAgA, mAmava karuNaiya was emotive, no rushing, after the two fast numbers. Neraval at tapanIYa nibha was very appealing.
Ahiri reminded me of her father in places. She sounded like an instrument too at times. Apt reply from Ananthakrishnan with depth. There were some whimsical notes too in her singing it. She sang it with added charm contributed by Patri's playing. She started with the anupallavi-- nyAyamA? Patri's playing gelled with it and added a new dimension to her sthiramani, sthiramani nammiti plea.
Then came Varalakshmi nIyE in the utterly new rAgA for me.
The kAmbhOdi was class- trying to reach out for the classic ones, as a friend remarked. She rendered a pleading evari mATa. All played along, bhaktha parAdIna gaining more support. What variety there is, in Patri's playing!

Vasantha, Kalyani and kalyana vasantham, all made a good RTP together, blending and flowing, Ananthakrishnan's replies were apt. nitya KalyAni thuNaiyirukka vAzhvinil vasantham??
tunbam nErgaiyil is a request, I bet. The song is very popular now.
jagadODhArana in kApi used to be a favorite of Chennai musicians to sing in Karnataka, and we heard it too much. Not these days. Thank goodness, they are singing more kannadA songs! Sriranjani sang a new one (for me) as well at the beginning of the concert.
What took me by surprise was the next kAvaDi cindu by Subramania Bharathi. In 1947 (?), VVSadagopan took it up to sing as a tukkaDa in his all Bharathi songs concert at Ettayapuram. Later, he recorded it in 1949 (?) with the voice of his teenage sister Jayalakshmi Santhanam. Guess what. Earlier at the Bharathi concert. oh, so young yours faithfully sang it with him at the tail end of the concert! VVS's decision was inspired by Kalki's asking me to sing the invocation on the spot that morning to such a big assembly. My knees didn't turn to jelly, and as if in a dream, I sang the old and (to me gold) version of veLLaith thAmaraip pUvil iruppAL as a rAgamAlikA...
I hope those who are looking for a song list and a proper review are not ticked off by these ramblings...

[Sundara Rajan]

"Varalakshmi neeyEbandaruL" must have been Papanasam Sivan's composition in sAlaga bharavi , a janya of Karaharapriya.
One other popular composition in this raga is Padavini sadbhakthi---of Thyagaraja

[arasi]

Thanks, Sundara Rajan.
Yes, It's sAlaga bhairavi. I know padavini and should have guessed it, but drew a blank earlier!

[jhankaaradhwani]

Arasi,

Thank you for the beautiful, informative review