It was the perfect beginning for the sunday morning, 13th April. We were lucky to know as a last minute notice of the concert of Smt. Parassala Ponnammal at the Fort High School grounds on sunday morning. When we went, the first thing that struck us was if the concert was scheduled at all. The highly unpublicized concert had managed to have just 10 people in the huge grounds as audience, which managed to increase to around 25 towards the end of the concert ! How unfortunate... But the best was yet in store. The majestic music of Smt. Ponnammal enchanted us not withstanding the poor audience turnout.
The accompanists were:
Violin - Dr Jyotsna Srikanth
Mridangam - Sri Ravishankar Sharma
Ghatam - Sri Dayananda Mohite
Two of her students supported her vocally.
The songlist is:
1 Varnam - Nattaikurinji
2 Mooladhara Kshetra - Mayamalavagowla(R,S)
3 Bhajare Manasa - Abheri (R)
4 Ninnu Nera - Pantuvarali (R,N,S)
5 Marivere - Ananda Bhairavi
6 Anjaneya Raghurama - Saveri (R,N,S, T)
7 Thillana - Hamsanandi
8 Bhujagasayino Nama Mangalam - Yadukulakamboji
The concert went on for a little under 2 hours. The music - sublime, without any of the assorted frills, just pure music, not a shade more or less. She began the concert with the majestic natakurinji ata thala varnam. After a brief alapana in mayamalavagowla, she rendered the song Mooladhara Ksethra. I think this is a composition of Dikshithar. It was such a delightful piece which she rounded off with unhurried swaraprastharams. Then followed bhajare manasa of Mysore Vasudevachar. Ninnu nera was preceded by an excellent alapana with neraval at "Veda shastra purana".
After a brief consultation with her students who were providing her vocal support, she rendered Marivere of Shyama Shastrigal. The Saveri ragam was extremely chaste that showed all the shades of the ragam. When we were expecting "Rama bhana" to be sung, she presented the rare Anjaneya Raghurama of Swati Tirunal anchoring her Kerala background.
She rounded off the concert with Muthiah Bhagavathar's thillana in hamsanandi and the mangalam of Swati Tirunal. What an unhurried, calm and chaste music it was ! We consider ourselves lucky to have been there today.
Smt. Parassala Ponnammal concert at Sree Rama Seva Mandali,
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sowmya
- Posts: 92
- Joined: 29 Nov 2006, 22:19
After reading so much about this veteran scholar in this forum, I was determined not to miss this concert at any cost. A part of the new venture of the mandali this year, organising special free morning concerts every Sunday, the concert garnered a very poor audience response. As maithree said, there were barely 10 people when we walked in, and probably 20 by the time it ended. I was surprised, because I thought the concert was quite well publicised. I got the pamphlet more than a month ago at the Gayana Samaja, along with the usual schedule. Anyway, we were glad to be among the few people privileged to have listened to such divine music. For the artists provided music at the same level of intensity as if performing for a packed hall.
What do I even say about this music? At the age of 85, she sings with so much energy. Just the first phrase of the alapana, and the raga is bang in front of you. No confusions, no complications. The alapanas were dripping with ragabhava. The mayamalavagowla outline lasted just 3-4 phrases, and I was thinking I have never heard its essence captured so beautifully. Anandabhairavi and Saveri were simply out-of-the-world! Neraval was at ‘Vedashastrapuraana’ for the Pantuvarali kriti, and ‘Janakasutaadhivimochanalola’ for Anjaneya. Swaras were also seemingly simple, but with such precision!
Jyotsna Shrikanth provided enthusiastic support on the violin. Her alapanas were also catchy. Mridangam was quite loud at times, possibly because the mike was adjusted to the levels required to fill the whole hall, when not even two rows had people. Mohite was superb on the ghatam, with his ringing beats.
What do I even say about this music? At the age of 85, she sings with so much energy. Just the first phrase of the alapana, and the raga is bang in front of you. No confusions, no complications. The alapanas were dripping with ragabhava. The mayamalavagowla outline lasted just 3-4 phrases, and I was thinking I have never heard its essence captured so beautifully. Anandabhairavi and Saveri were simply out-of-the-world! Neraval was at ‘Vedashastrapuraana’ for the Pantuvarali kriti, and ‘Janakasutaadhivimochanalola’ for Anjaneya. Swaras were also seemingly simple, but with such precision!
Jyotsna Shrikanth provided enthusiastic support on the violin. Her alapanas were also catchy. Mridangam was quite loud at times, possibly because the mike was adjusted to the levels required to fill the whole hall, when not even two rows had people. Mohite was superb on the ghatam, with his ringing beats.
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maithree
- Posts: 36
- Joined: 18 Feb 2008, 16:13
They have a separate pamphlet for the morning concerts. The morning concert for next week of Sri Nedanuri is mentioned in the general brochure (which is given to all rasikas asking for a schedule list). However, the pamphlet about the morning concerts is not provided along with it. Further, the cultural section of the newspapers also did not publish it yesterday morning.
It was truly saddening to see the empty chairs for such a moving concert ! In fact when the mike system had a hiss for the first two songs, we did not get a good feeling about the way it was organized. But it settled down very soon and the hall was filled with divine music.
It was truly saddening to see the empty chairs for such a moving concert ! In fact when the mike system had a hiss for the first two songs, we did not get a good feeling about the way it was organized. But it settled down very soon and the hall was filled with divine music.