I had a reserved ticket (lower birth) as I have concession for the differently abled, to travel with an escort (this time my nephew came with me). But the scene was otherwise when I boarded. My seat number got shuffled with the newly added middle births between the side lower and upper and I had an upper after my supper! So, I negotiated with one of my co-passenger and exchanged….
Then I messaged my friends like this….
Of all the kind of “piRavi”s,
“aridhu aridhu mAnidarAdhal..
adhaninum aridhu nallavarAdhal…
adhilum aridhu kalaignarAi iruththal…
adhaninum aridhu rasikas sangam…. (its very rare to be born as human… that too as a good guy, that too an artiste and above all with the sangam of rasikas).Even after getting these entire combinations, pro-bubbly, I am the only one who looks for a lower birth always…:D
1st concert at AdhIswarar temple, at 11 – am, kiNaththukkadavu.
Vocal – Gayathri Venkataraghavan
Violin –Amritha Murali
Mrudangam – Erode Nagaraj
Gatam – Guru Prasadh.
The first concert held at AdhIswarar temple in kiNaththukkadavu, a village (?) surrounded by hundreds of windmills and thousands of coconut trees…. We had dharshan and came to a hall constructed beside the temple and the concert went on well with a gathering of noteworthy audience from the near by village ‘vada chithoor’, consisting of 4 mrudangam artistes, 3 violinists, nadaswaram artistes, students and music lovers!
Gayathri began with ‘Om nama praNavArthAya’ followed by gaNapathi thALai (nAttai – Adhi – subhramaNya bhArathi) with madhyama kAla swaras. She sang a brief alapana in vAchaspathi and sang parAthparA (vAchaspathi – Adhi – papanasam sivan). A fine niraval and swaram were presented in ‘ari ayanum kaNA ariya jyOthi’. When she began shrI ragam, I thought she might sing one in a slow pace and she rendered annamacharya's vandhE vAsudhEvam, reminding the great MS in sancharas and sangathis throughout the song, especially in "indhIvara shyAma".
kAppadhuvE in Anandha bhairavi (rUpaka chApu - thanjai nAlvar) came as pre-main starter. The song has a nice chitta swara too.
Kalyani was main. Gayathri and Amritha leased the hearts of people with their alapanas. The krithi and niraval in unnaiyallAl (Adhi - papanasam sivan), embedded with urukkam would have certainly reached the ears of the deity and ambAL. We played chathusra gathi and kaNda gathi in thani with traditional mora and a korvai, with a rest of 10 aksharas in the phrase thadhikiNathom towards ending, in which, the gatam players lift the gatam in the air and catch it!
Gayathri sang pUllikkalAba mayil ( kAvadi chindhu – Adhi- aNNAmalai kavirAyar), mudivundu mUvulagum ( rAgamAlika – Adhi) idathu padham thUkki Adum( kaMas – Adhi- sivan), pUnkuyil kUvum pUnchOlaiyil (kApi - Adhi - kalki), avaLthAn (rAgamAlikai – Adhi – udumalaippEttai shaNmukasundharam) kuRai onRum illai - rAgamAlikai – Adhi – rAjAji (listeners request), nAdi thEdi (dharmavathi – rUpaka chApu - thiruppugazh) and traditional mangaLam.
‘Vada chithoor’ people happily served a virundhu with ‘vada’ pAyasam….
shrI gopinathan mama and his friend shrI Raveendran took much care and provided a splendid hospitality.
here is the link for youtube video of gv’s arulmazhai pozhivAi -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUceC-iP ... re=related
2nd concert on 20-9-08, 6.30pm for manOranjitham, held at Iyyappa Samajam Hall at Coimbatore.
1.sAmi ninnE kOri – varNam - shrI – Adhi - garbhapurivAsar
2.gajavadhanA – srIranjani – Adhi - papanasam sivan
3.gopAlaka pAhimAm – rEvagupthi – misra chApu - swathi thirunAL
4.kaNta jUdumi - vAchaspathi – Adhi –thyagaraja
5.hari hara puthram –vasanthA – kaNda Ekam – dhIkshithar
6.vidajAladhurA – janaranjani – Adhi – thyagaraja
7.saraguNa pAlimpa – kEdhAra gowLa – Adhi – pUchi shrInivAsa iyengar
8.kumaran thAL paNindhE thudhi – yadhukula kAmbOji – Adhi- papanasam sivan
9.hrudhaya kamala vAsA….. hare… krishNA… mukundhA - RTP – karaharapriya
10.pachai mAmalai pOl – viruththam – enna thavam – kApi - Adhi - papanasam sivan
11.kaNNan varuginRa nEram – mAnji - thisra gathi - UthukkAdu kavi
12.athiyAn hari dharsana – bhajan – chathusra Ekam
13.thAm,, thAm,, thAm,, –thillAnA - kamAs – Adhi - patNam subramaniya iyer
14.nAdi thEdi – dharmavathi – rUpaka chApu
15.traditional mangaLam
Nearly 200 people were there in the hall and Gayathri commenced her concert with a varNam in shrI. She extracted the rasa of sriranjani in ‘pankaja charaNA…. charaNam… charaNam… ‘ able swaras for gajavadhanA kept the crowd alive and brisk.
The mood changed to bliss in renditions of gopAlaka and mAyamma. After showing an outline of vasanthA, hari hara puthram contributed to the weight of the concert and kept the performance in a surface of vigour. Appetizer’s role was played by vidajAlathurA.
A great alapana in kedhara gowla for seven minutes moved the listeners with sangathis and kArvais filling the mind with peace.
I wish many many happy returns (once more-s) for the alapana! The Glides from rishabam were awesome. Particularly in swara prastharam,”swaram” had no place for ra(w) prayOgAs.. So, people were able to “swam” in rAga bhAvam.
She laid a steady foundation in karaharapriya and reached the thAra shadjam, stayed there and faded it beautifully and gave it to Amritha. The faces of audience glowed with their guessing the RTP. Though her voice was co-operative, she cleverly avoided any sustain in thAra sthAyi panchamam to keep one away from a cinematic feeling.
There prevailed good grip in thAnam. Amritha’s replies were good, that she can change her name as amri’thanam’dhamayi. (I told her while we were eating after the concert).
// ,,,hrudhaya kamala vaa,,//sa,,,, hare,//, kri,shNA,, mukun
//, dha,
Set to mukkAl edam of thisram thruputa – two kaLai, the construction of the pallavi was very natural and pleasant. She did niraval followed by interesting varieties of swaram for hrudhaya, vAsA, hare, krishnA and mukundhA. rAgamAlika swaras were in mOhanam, hindhOLam and varALi . Then came the thrikAlam of the pallavi.
I played some complex varieties of UKS sir’s compositions in chathusram and thisra gathi. Guru Prasadh displayed sampradhAya and remarkable art. We did the reductions in misra pattern itself.
Post thani songs were attractive and appealing.
