On Saturday, the 17th of Feb, I attended a thematic concert by Gayatri Girish, accompanied by C.Sajeev on the violin and Poongulam Subramanyam on the Mridangam, at Vani Mahal held by Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha. The theme was Thyagaraja and Bhakti. The person who introduced us to the evenings' programme made a faux pas of sorts when he said it was a very DIFFICULT theme while the two are practically inseparable. Or I probably just misinterpreted the import of his statement.
Anyway, Gayatri seemed to have done her homework as I could see what seemed like copious notes for the performance. The concert began on a sprightly note with ShrIpatE nI pada in nAgaswarAvaLI with some characteristic rapid-fire swaras. The kriti was preceded by Gayatri's description of the Navavidhas of Bhakti quoting PrahlAda who on being asked what he had learnt on his return from GurukulavAsa, enumerated the 9 stages or forms of Bhakti through a shlOka. These 9 forms are explicated in the PurANas.
The first of the forms is SmaraNam or remembrance(crude translation for a word possessing many more dimensions
). Under this, she sang shrIpatE. Next came kIrtanam for which she chose Inta sowkhya in kApi. Thyagaraja acknowledges in this kriti his realisation of the pleasure born out of rAmanAma Japa and mentions swara, rAga and laya which are all pivotal to kIrtana rendition.The 3rd form of Bhakti is AtmanivEdanam or self-surrender, an epitome of which is Emperor Bali(this is something I've heard not hers
). In the kriti kAlaharaNamElara harE set to rAga shuddha sAvEri, Thyagaraja makes beautiful use of the yamaka alankAra(figure of speech) of using the same word twice but with different meanings(again my personal observation 
). He questions him as to why he, who is superior to Shiva(kAlaharaNa) delays(kAlaharaNa) redeeming him. He surrenders all his wealth and everything else to rAma.For dasyam, the 4th vidha, Gayatri sang BanturIti koluvIyavayyA rAma preceding it with an insightful 5 minute AlApana of HamsanAdam. This form means servitude. Following this, she spoke on vandanam(salutation) the 5th form and then sang, predictably, Vandanamu raghunandana(SahAnA). PAdasEvanam is the 6th way of Bhakti for which she rendered sandEhamunu in rAmapriya. This beautiful composition extols the greatness of worshipping the lord's feet, which are venerated by Bharata and others.
Then came the piece de resistance, madhyamAvatI. A detailed Alapana preceded rAmakathAsudhA, which was considered appropriate for shravaNam(hearing). Thyagaraja opines here that listening to the nectar-sweet story of Rama in itself gifts us with a kingdom. I really don't much about laya but to me, the detailed thanI was a treat.
Sakhyam(friendship) is the 8th vidha. Thyagaraja, in the kriti NenarunchinAnu(mAlavI) refers to rAma as ThyagarajApta(his friend) as he does in various other compositions. By identifying the lord as a true companion, he gains great proximity to him. The final kriti for the evening was patiki hArati in mesmerising SuruTTi, taken up to illustrate archanam which can be done in numerous ways.
To conclude the concert, Gayatri sang a managalAshTakam in ragAs tODi, kAnaDa, valaji, sahAnA, shaNmukhapriyA, Anandabhairavi, dEsh and suruTTi written by Valajapet Venkataramana Bhagavatar(one of Thyagaraja's foremost disciples).
