Violin : priyA hariharan (student of SrI lAlguDi gO jayarAman)
Mridangam & khanjIrA : SrIrAm SrInivAsan
Duration: 3:20 pm - 5:35 pm & 5:45 pm to 7 pm (3.5 hrs)
Notes:
r : rAga sketch
R : rAga AlApana
N : neraval
S :svara prastAra
After almost 4 years of drought, Colorado experienced some downpour of kArnATaka sangItam. rAm had a sweet voice, priyA simply reminded us of her guru and SrIrAm, I should say, was one of the most enthusiastic accompanists I have heard live. All there are working professionals and have yet retained their passion for music and performance.
1. entOprEma (varNam) - bahudAri - Adi- lAlguDi gO jayarAman (r)
rAm sang a quick sketch of bahudAri and announced that he would be singing his guru's varNam. He warmed up very well during this item.
2. SrIlakshmi varAham - AbhOgi - Adi - muttusvAmi dIkSitar (S @ pankajAsana pramukhasEvitam)
I'm not able to say that either lAlguDi's pATAntram is slightly different or rAm was genuinely committing errors in this song. He smothered a few phrases and swallowed a few here and there. The few phrases in anupallavi and charaNam he sang were completely different from the usual pATAntras I know of and that I have learnt from. I have noted down that the words are different but did not note down the exact words. But his swara prastara at pankajAsana pramukhasevitam was commendable.
3. enadu vinai tannai (2nd in murugan pancharatnam) - gouLa - Adi - T N bAlA (exactly same notation as duDukugala nannE)
I felt rAm did a good job in singing it. Since I was hearing it was the first time, I was contemplating whether I was kOtISvara Iyer's or UtthukkAdu vEkaTa kavi's lloking at the quality of the language. To my surprise, he announced that it was SrI T N bAlA's composition based on tyAgarAjasvAmi's duDukugala nannE.
(Folks, I hope all of you remember that earlier this year, SrI T N bAlA had released the murugan pancharatnam and sang that at various venues in India. If you get a chance, please listen to it. They are very emotionally written.)
4. I vasudhA - sahAnA - Adi - tyAgarAjasvAmi (RNS @ dAsavarada tyAgarAja hrudaya nivAsa chidvilAsa sundarEsa)
A detailed essay of sahAnA followed. Both rAm and priya did an excellent job. rAm did a nice and lenghty neraval at dAsavarada..... He followed it with some brisk 3rd kala svaras at dAsavarada.... Replies given by priyA was also very good both in AlApana and svara prastAra. rAm was kind enough to sing the kriti with out mistakes.
5. AnandAmRtAkarSini - amRtavarSini - Adi - muttusvAmi dIkSitar
This item was more a mechanical exercise than any thing else. I was disappointed by the way he presented it. He had a couple of slips while singing the sangatis in the pallavi.
6. O rangasAyee - kAmbhOji - Adi - tyAgarAjasvami (RNST @ bhUlOka vaikuNTam idiyani)
At this point I was hoping for no more SankarAbharaNa or harikAmbhoji janya rAgas. But he showered in a brilliant kAmbhoji on us and I had to make up my mind for biggie like SrI subrahmanyAya or O rangasAyI. He did not disappointment me and picked up O rangasAyI. He sang it in the usual slow and sedate manner bringing out the bhAva and the richness of the rAga tyAgarajasvAmi had chosen to cry out to empErumAn ranganAthan at SrIrangam. Here too rAm messed up the words in the anupallavi.
When priyA was playing the AlApana, at a few places, I could really feel that she is indeed from the great lAlguDi school of violin. She gave simply fantastic replies here for kAmbhoji during the AlApana, neraval and svaraprastAra. At one point, I was closing my eyes and listening. I felt as if I was listening to MMI and LGJ in a dual for mA jAnaki svaraprastAra. He let loose some nice yet intricate pattern of sarvalaghu svaras very similar to MMI. I would say both were playing (rather singing and playing) in tandem like two batsmen in a big partnership (remember rAhul and laxmaN v Aus at Eden Gardens, 2001). They completed each other very well. kAmbhoji item was total satisfying. SrIram played a short tani (~3-4 mins). But still he demonstrated every possible aspect of laya (for Adi tALa) into the fold in those few minutes. Of the three, SrIram was the best.
****short intermission****
During intermission, they gave us sunDal prasAdam.
7. nannu kanna talli - sindhu kannaDa (aka kEsari) - Adi – tyAgarAjasvami
Again this short kriti was rendered briskly. But this time he did not commit any mistake. I was surprised to hear chittasvaras for this piece. I have neither heard SSI school nor others sing it.
8. rAgam tAnam pallavi - SaNmukhapriyA - (2 - kalai) miSra jAti jhampa tALam
"mAl maruganai muruganai guhanai ninai manamE dinamE kaNamE tiru" - one akSara after samam & rAgamAlika svaras in nATTakurunji, bilahari, madhuvanti & dES. Also sang vilOma svaras (svaras in the reverse order of the rAgas in the rAgamAlika) and finished at SaNmukhapriyA.
The highlight of the day was this rA ta pa. He initially announced that it would be a short pallavi. But he ended up singing it for about an hour. It was fully satisfying. He sang 3 rounds of rAga in about 12 minutes to which priyA replied very well. At the end of the third round, he sang a 5 minute tAnam. Though there was not much new to be heard in SanmukhapriyA here, he didn’t bore us out.
In the next, 15 minutes of so he sang the pallavi in all the four kalas and pretty much showed us what can be done with such a long line.He then followed it with some scincilatting stuff during the svaraprastara. He showed us the full range of manodharma he possessed. The best of the four rAgas were madhuvanti. I have not heard of anyone singing svaras for madhuvanti. He did it and he did it in superb fashion. More he sang, he showed more enthusiasm. He alternated svaras at mAl maruganai and nanai manamE. He sang sa da ( as in always) ninai manamE.
Except for one apasvara in the rAga AlApana, priyA followed rAm and replied adeptly. SrIrAm was again too good here to. During svaraprastara, he alternated with mridangam and khanjIra. He picked up the khanjIra and played it for a few avarthanas while priyA was replying. He was still playing the mridangam when rAm sang. Over all the rA ta pa was very enjoyable and very satisfying to hear.
9. kuTilakuntaLam (sLOkam) - rAgamAlika in nAdanamakriyA, sindhu bhairavi, chencuruTTi and yamuna kalyANi - This is the one which featured in MKT's haridAs (1944) and I think it is from bilvamangaLa svAmi's kRSNa karNAmRtam.
At this point, rAm and priyA were discussing whether to go on or sing mangaLam. From what I could hear from mike, rAm wanted to sing a few more songs while priyA was urging for one more short one followed by mangaLam.
10. kRSNA ni bEganE - yamuna kalyANi - miSra chApu – vyAsarAyaru
Due to lack of time, he just galloped through this item. I was very disappointed.
11. tillAna - brindAvani - Adi - lAlguDi gO jayarAman (r)
brindAvani piece was very well rendered (because of guru bhakthi I guess
).12. pavamAna suthuDu (mangaLam) - sourASTram - Adi - tyAgarAjasvAmi
mangaLam kOsanlEndrAya (sLOkam) - madhyamAvati - svAmi maNavALa mAmuni (aka svAmi vara vara muni) (r)
rAm went on sing a nice madhyamAvathi in the end and finished the concert.
A few comments : rAm was doing a great job yet in patches he was bad. He manodharmam was very good. So his AlApana, neraval and svaraprastAras came out superb. Yet he is still to take care of the words he sings. I would give him 85 out of 100.
priyA was good all through the concert and excellent in patches. At some points, I felt as if I was listening to lAlguDi himself. Due that one apasvara I heard, I would her 95 out of 100.
SrIrAm deserves full marks for his fantastic and enthusiastic accompaniment. I simply loved the energy he showed during the concert.