Brinda Manickavasagan@Kalai Foundation-GKB Compositions Only(Ragasudha hall) On May 17th,2026
-----------------------------------------------------------
Vocal: Brinda Manickavasagan - Disciple of Suguna Varadachari
Violin : Madan Mohan - Disciple of RKSK
Mrudangam: Poongulam Subramaniam
Kanjira : Sunil Kumar
Tambura : ???
Concert Type : Nirvana - Non Ticketed concert
Day : Sunday
Duration - 2 hours and 30 mins 06:15 to 08:45 pm
Sabha/Hall : Kalai Foundation /Ragasudha Hall
Occasion : Exclusive Gopalakrishna Bharathi compositions
01. Nin PadamE thunai (S) - hamsadhwani
08 mins swaras
02. Tiruvaadirai Darisamnathairrku(RS) -dhanyasi
03. aanaAdiya pAdam darisanam kandAl (R) - darbAr
07 mins alapana and 4 mins violin
04. varuvArO varam (RS) - shyamA
2 mins alapana
05. manamE unakkhitamAi oru vArtai(R,N,S) - Anandabhairavi
05 mins alapana and 04 mins violin
neraval in kanaka sabhaiyil natanam puriyum kamala phalattai kattukkoL for 05 mins
06A. Thillai Chidambaram (R S T) - poorvikalyani
14 mins alapana and 06 mins violin
swaras for 14 mins
06B. tani for 15 mins
Tukkadas were all based on the flagship nandanar charithram
07. seidhi solla vandOm nandanAr - dwijavanti
08A. viruththam - padaikalamaga nin nAmatha ??? - hameerkalyani + sitrambalathAnE - hindOlam + SitrambalathAne - Manji
08B. varugalamO ayyA - Manji
09.ayyE metta kadinam - punnagavarAli + nAdanAmakriyA + brindavana sArangA + shenjuruTTi
Brinda Manickavasagan@Kalai Foundation-GKB Compositions Only(Ragasudha hall) On May 17th,2026
-
rajeshnat
- Posts: 10271
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
-
rajeshnat
- Posts: 10271
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: Brinda Manickavasagan@Kalai Foundation-GKB Compositions Only(Ragasudha hall) On May 17th,2026
Brinda Manickavasagan was once a sure prodigy. She came into Isai Mazhalai troupe of Ramjee and I remember in one of the first year of Carnatic music idol (forgot the year surely before or around 2009), bunch of prodigies like Brinda, BharathSundar, Sriranjani santhanagopalan, Abilash Giriprasad all did well , I did not see CMI competition but any of the concerts that came around that time, all these kids did exceptionally well.
Brinda in every concert consistently balances her music with a lot of rare uruppidis. Incidentally the theme being GKB , she also had a far more higher chance to present higher count of rare uruppidis. Atleast in early to mid 20th century barring trinity , thamizh compositions were looked down as musicians felt for the Carnatic live concert , thamizh krithis were not that worthy to be atleast presented before tukkadas . Thanks to especially papanasam sivan who even challenged and gave a tough fight to even sadguru thyagaraja , the compositions of atleast this distinct thamizh trinity -GKB is quite an aural treat.
Thamizh is both easy and difficult language atleast when there is adequate short phrases with emote like say varugalAmO ayyA it has a feel of vowel ending musical phraseslike telugu . WIth phrases like naan undan arugiL despite ending with non vowel it is musically perfect . Thamizh is indeed a prolific musically rich language, it is just the training and musicians adaptation that is what is needed .
Brinda has a flair for appreciating thamizh and it indeed has come naturally to her . I am assuming her parents also have played a role to have far more focus on Lord Shiva and compositions/hymns etc . The start was a nice one in hamsadhwani, i dont think i have ever heard nin pAdamE thunai in hamsadhwani , hamsadhwani comes with a higher quantum of swaras and Brinda gave a bright start.
Brinda the musician who left us was known as a weighty musician , this Brinda was not that far when she presented dhanyasi and darbar in succession. Very very difficult words to present , density of words needs a special skill and Brinda did wonderfully in both dhanyasi and darbar. The darbar alapana was also very distilled ,no anavsiya meandering .
At last as #4 drop,i got a number that i know that well, shyama and gkb have rocked with varuvarO varam with pointed chiseled brigas that gave shyama a great aural experience .Voice power was there all the way till 4. IT was submain time, i did not anticipate a detailed anandabhairavi alapana for submain, the krithi was well rendered with a nice pracheena neraval , i dont think i have ever heard this anandabhairavi krithi manamE unakkhitamAi.
From submain it was a direct RST main in poorvikalyani . Poorvikalyani can go very repetitive , but she did well to avoid repetition, the krithi tillai chidambaram was nice with swaras. The best of best was all the tukkadas which were detailed , she announcing post tani, that she will sing all nandanar compositions , it turned out very musically aesthetic .
THe first tukkada in dwijavanthi was so nice almost a picturesque composition , she announced some time i think it is only in this krithi where she said Dr S Ramanathan tuned the dwijavanthi krithi . The best of Brinda came in with her viruththam . It was detailed like a KVN/Santhanam drop , one can compare her to say todays Gayathri of Raga sister fame . She poured with right choice of words from the Hindustani northern cliff of Hameerkalyani to the moderate janaranjakam hindolam?? (did i hear a brief varamu) where it reached the best of best muse to a gradual taping of the faceless moonji romba illatha Manji (unlike bhairavi that has more distinct face). She did very well with the rendition of varugalamO ayyA naan Undan.
Is all this words of viruthtam (padaikalamaga nin ... ambalathaanE)a GKB composition or is it tevaram/tiruvasagam can some one let me kmow. Her viruththam had nice voice power . The last ragamaliga ayye metha came out well without any kadinam , the transitions were assertive like the 2000 plus Aruna Sairam.
Madan Mohan played with a lot of sensitivity and he toed very well with the vocalist. It is perhaps atleast 15 years since i heard Poongulam Subramaniam , he calibrated his play with the words of every phrase of the GKB song . Sunil is now fairly well respected in the upapakkavadhyam circuit and he indeed played well.Their tani was keeping in line with the course of the song and they did well.
The sponsor of the concert is Kalai foundation . This foundation is run by the television political commentator Anand Srinivasan , kudos to him (Thank you Anand)to arrange this concert . Certainly GKB thamizh was very special to me and the entire crowd lapped it up.
If there is one weakness that Brinda needs to work it is her energy . It is plenty in alapana and upto 50/75 percent of the song .There is a bit of unsteady fluctuation in neraval and swaras towards the end where the voice strain is aurally noticeable (for eg anandabhairavi in neraval and swaras) Hope she improves. I know Brinda's esteemed Guru Suguna Varadachari and her parama guru musiri bhava is indeed there for Brinda . Bit more stamina in neraval and swaras with few more patterns of singing will add so much muse to her music. I recollect that the greatest of greatest CM musician TRS mama(Musiri disciple) just heard a day before he moved on ,that was a Brinda M concert in 2013 or was he getting ready to hear her concert from his home (Memory is bit fading i think it is former) . I only wish Brinda to build more stamina ,give more aural steadiness on the ground in neraval and swaras like Taala Raaga Swaroopan. All said Brinda gives the best of sampradaya music that is anchored with raga bhAvam and sahitya bhAvam.
Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 30 mins.
Brinda in every concert consistently balances her music with a lot of rare uruppidis. Incidentally the theme being GKB , she also had a far more higher chance to present higher count of rare uruppidis. Atleast in early to mid 20th century barring trinity , thamizh compositions were looked down as musicians felt for the Carnatic live concert , thamizh krithis were not that worthy to be atleast presented before tukkadas . Thanks to especially papanasam sivan who even challenged and gave a tough fight to even sadguru thyagaraja , the compositions of atleast this distinct thamizh trinity -GKB is quite an aural treat.
Thamizh is both easy and difficult language atleast when there is adequate short phrases with emote like say varugalAmO ayyA it has a feel of vowel ending musical phraseslike telugu . WIth phrases like naan undan arugiL despite ending with non vowel it is musically perfect . Thamizh is indeed a prolific musically rich language, it is just the training and musicians adaptation that is what is needed .
Brinda has a flair for appreciating thamizh and it indeed has come naturally to her . I am assuming her parents also have played a role to have far more focus on Lord Shiva and compositions/hymns etc . The start was a nice one in hamsadhwani, i dont think i have ever heard nin pAdamE thunai in hamsadhwani , hamsadhwani comes with a higher quantum of swaras and Brinda gave a bright start.
Brinda the musician who left us was known as a weighty musician , this Brinda was not that far when she presented dhanyasi and darbar in succession. Very very difficult words to present , density of words needs a special skill and Brinda did wonderfully in both dhanyasi and darbar. The darbar alapana was also very distilled ,no anavsiya meandering .
At last as #4 drop,i got a number that i know that well, shyama and gkb have rocked with varuvarO varam with pointed chiseled brigas that gave shyama a great aural experience .Voice power was there all the way till 4. IT was submain time, i did not anticipate a detailed anandabhairavi alapana for submain, the krithi was well rendered with a nice pracheena neraval , i dont think i have ever heard this anandabhairavi krithi manamE unakkhitamAi.
From submain it was a direct RST main in poorvikalyani . Poorvikalyani can go very repetitive , but she did well to avoid repetition, the krithi tillai chidambaram was nice with swaras. The best of best was all the tukkadas which were detailed , she announcing post tani, that she will sing all nandanar compositions , it turned out very musically aesthetic .
THe first tukkada in dwijavanthi was so nice almost a picturesque composition , she announced some time i think it is only in this krithi where she said Dr S Ramanathan tuned the dwijavanthi krithi . The best of Brinda came in with her viruththam . It was detailed like a KVN/Santhanam drop , one can compare her to say todays Gayathri of Raga sister fame . She poured with right choice of words from the Hindustani northern cliff of Hameerkalyani to the moderate janaranjakam hindolam?? (did i hear a brief varamu) where it reached the best of best muse to a gradual taping of the faceless moonji romba illatha Manji (unlike bhairavi that has more distinct face). She did very well with the rendition of varugalamO ayyA naan Undan.
Is all this words of viruthtam (padaikalamaga nin ... ambalathaanE)a GKB composition or is it tevaram/tiruvasagam can some one let me kmow. Her viruththam had nice voice power . The last ragamaliga ayye metha came out well without any kadinam , the transitions were assertive like the 2000 plus Aruna Sairam.
Madan Mohan played with a lot of sensitivity and he toed very well with the vocalist. It is perhaps atleast 15 years since i heard Poongulam Subramaniam , he calibrated his play with the words of every phrase of the GKB song . Sunil is now fairly well respected in the upapakkavadhyam circuit and he indeed played well.Their tani was keeping in line with the course of the song and they did well.
The sponsor of the concert is Kalai foundation . This foundation is run by the television political commentator Anand Srinivasan , kudos to him (Thank you Anand)to arrange this concert . Certainly GKB thamizh was very special to me and the entire crowd lapped it up.
If there is one weakness that Brinda needs to work it is her energy . It is plenty in alapana and upto 50/75 percent of the song .There is a bit of unsteady fluctuation in neraval and swaras towards the end where the voice strain is aurally noticeable (for eg anandabhairavi in neraval and swaras) Hope she improves. I know Brinda's esteemed Guru Suguna Varadachari and her parama guru musiri bhava is indeed there for Brinda . Bit more stamina in neraval and swaras with few more patterns of singing will add so much muse to her music. I recollect that the greatest of greatest CM musician TRS mama(Musiri disciple) just heard a day before he moved on ,that was a Brinda M concert in 2013 or was he getting ready to hear her concert from his home (Memory is bit fading i think it is former) . I only wish Brinda to build more stamina ,give more aural steadiness on the ground in neraval and swaras like Taala Raaga Swaroopan. All said Brinda gives the best of sampradaya music that is anchored with raga bhAvam and sahitya bhAvam.
Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 30 mins.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 03 Jun 2026, 14:36, edited 2 times in total.
-
rajeshnat
- Posts: 10271
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: Brinda Manickavasagan@Kalai Foundation-GKB Compositions Only(Ragasudha hall) On May 17th,2026
========For Whatsapp or FaceBook Forward ===================
Brinda Manickavasagan@Kalai Foundation-GKB Compositions Only(Ragasudha hall) On May 17th,2026
-----------------------------------------------------------
Vocal: Brinda Manickavasagan - Disciple of Suguna Varadachari
Violin : Madan Mohan - Disciple of RKSK
Mrudangam: Poongulam Subramaniam
Kanjira : Sunil Kumar
Tambura : ???
Duration - 2 hours and 30 mins 06:15 to 08:45 pm
Sabha/Hall : Kalai Foundation /Ragasudha Hall
Occasion : Exclusive Gopalakrishna Bharathi compositions
GLICSPAWES 2026 "Goto LIve Concert Show PAtronage Without Excuses Series" concert #H of Z(hopefully Z(26) is goal) .
H stands for HindOlam
www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=385943#p385943
Brinda Manickavasagan@Kalai Foundation-GKB Compositions Only(Ragasudha hall) On May 17th,2026
-----------------------------------------------------------
Vocal: Brinda Manickavasagan - Disciple of Suguna Varadachari
Violin : Madan Mohan - Disciple of RKSK
Mrudangam: Poongulam Subramaniam
Kanjira : Sunil Kumar
Tambura : ???
Duration - 2 hours and 30 mins 06:15 to 08:45 pm
Sabha/Hall : Kalai Foundation /Ragasudha Hall
Occasion : Exclusive Gopalakrishna Bharathi compositions
GLICSPAWES 2026 "Goto LIve Concert Show PAtronage Without Excuses Series" concert #H of Z(hopefully Z(26) is goal) .
H stands for HindOlam
www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=385943#p385943
-
arasi
- Posts: 16958
- Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30
Re: Brinda Manickavasagan@Kalai Foundation-GKB Compositions Only(Ragasudha hall) On May 17th,2026
Good that you are back with your series of reviews, Rajesh!
I consider Brinda M as a valuable vocalist among today's younger musicians.
She has khAndAn, for sure. An upbringing which I guess was anchored in classic tamizh verses and culture. It shows in the way she understands and gives expression to them, in her singing. Adding weight to it, is the guru parampara she now belongs to.
Will look for the concert and listen to all the not-so-well-known kritis of the inimitable Gopalakrishna Bharathi.
I consider Brinda M as a valuable vocalist among today's younger musicians.
She has khAndAn, for sure. An upbringing which I guess was anchored in classic tamizh verses and culture. It shows in the way she understands and gives expression to them, in her singing. Adding weight to it, is the guru parampara she now belongs to.
Will look for the concert and listen to all the not-so-well-known kritis of the inimitable Gopalakrishna Bharathi.