1.ninnE kOriyunnadirA(KAnaDA varNam,Adi)
2.manasu nilpa(AbhOgi,Adi) (O,S at manasu)
3.shrIkAnta nIyaDa(bhavapriyA,Adi) (A,N,S at shrIkAnta)
4.mAnasa guruguharUpam(AnandabhairavI, RUpakam)
5.EtAvunna nErchitivO(yadukulakAmbhOji,Adi)(A,S,T at sItAlakshmaNa)
6.RTP-gowrimanOharI- vandE shambhum umApatim suragurum shankaram
RAgamAlikA-mOhanam,sAvEri,bahudAri,hamsanAdam
7.iDadupadam(KhamAs,Adi)
8.brundAvanam adhunA(brundAvanI,Adi)
9.vaddaninE(KApi,mishra chApu)
10.patiki hAratirE(suruTTi,Adi)
I'd been dying to attend MB's concerts all thru the season but it just didn't happen until last night. And they NEVER leave me disappointed. On the contrary, every concert is a veritable dessert thru and thru, an aural extravaganza that'll leave lingering memories...
As the screens rose, it was gr8 to see one of them holding the tambUrA but in a second, he handed it over to the boy sitting behind...
KAnaDa seems the rAga of choice for commencing concerts this season... At least the ones I've been to... 3 to date. Manasu nilpa seemed a slightly odd choice as the next item considering the proximity of the ragas at least in terms of janaka rAga. But Sri Ravikumar's AbhOgi was painted in such beautiful shades that it assumed a worth of it's own... The composition seemed appropiate to pep up the start if the concert... The swarams were in right proportion.
The next AlApana left everyone guessing which rAga it could be... Distinctly reminiscent of ShubhapantuvarALi yet sudden forays into what sounded like tODi. I guess knowledge of mELAs comes handy under such circumstances, so I could rationalise that it was bhavapriyA. All doubts were laid to rest when Sri Sriram Prasad announced it was indeed bhavapriyA. I'd expected the kriti would be shrIkAnta and so it was. Not many kritis in bhavapriyA anyway, Dikshitar's Jayati shivA(bhavAnI), mAmava(Swati Tirunal) and S.Ramanathan Sir's bhavapriyE bhavAnI are what I've heard besides KI's composn. The AlApana was AWESOME both by the vocalist and Sri Embar Kannan. After a rather short neraval they launched in to swaras where the rAgaswarUpa was again brought out aesthetically.
Being a devotee of Sri Dikshitar, I'd begun wondering if they would sing any being the Tyagaraja specialists that they are. But how could a concert ever attain completion without the great Dikshitar's pieces? And so there was mAnasa, a lovely contrast to the preceding item... I particularly enjoy n love this kriti for the madhyamakAla sAhitya where Dikshitar uses the -tvA pratyaya to give his heart injunctions(natvA shrI gurucaraNam |
hritvA nAma smaraNam |
jitvA mOhA varaNam |
matvA tvadEka charanam ||)
YadukulakAmbhOji somehow doesn't seem a rAga suitable for main to me. I mean the phrases keep on repeating as the AlApana gets longer n longer... And then the violinist repeats them. Even then, Sri Sriram Prasad offered some phrases I hadn't heard earlier an so did Sri Embar Kannan. The neraval was really good all the more so because of the brother's knowledge of telugu. The korvai for the swarams was interesting. As for the tani, don't know enough to say anything at all. But audience response indicated it was phenomenal(had to be so I guess, Trichy Sankaran Sir on the mridangam!)... It was a little long, thereby hindering the plan to complete the concert by 9... GowrimanOharI, my FAVOURITE rAga has taken a backseat to it's mELA sisters. So once its exposition began I was elated... What an AlApana it was! Mind-blowing... Unexplored facets brought to life by both Sri Ravikumar and Sri Embar Kannan. So pleasing, so poignant... At the cost of exceeding time, they sang a beautiful pallavi. It was followed by the Papanasam Sivan composn(they sing at least Tamil piece). The Narayan Tirtha Tarangam that followed is usually sung in Mukhari cuz I guess the right mood is created acc. to the lyric(I consider brindavana as a huge forest now, sakhi) But they sang it in brindAvani... Then came a padam/jAvaLi I guess... Dunno the difference... MangaLam in SuruTTi with patiki hArati brought the concert to a soulful end.
P.S: New to reviewing(if u can call this a review), so pls pardon any amateurish writing
Nice to hear it from a forum veteran...