Concert of Gayathri Venkataraghavan

[erode14]

Vocal: Gayathri Venkataraghavan
Violin: Padma Shankar
Mrudangam: Erode Nagaraj
Ghatam: N.Guru Prasad
(at Raga Sudha - 6-15pm on 14-12-08.)

1. dhayA nidhE - varNam - Begada - Adhi - Syama Sasthri
2. lambOdharAya - varALi - kaNda chApu - dhIkshithar
3. nannu brOchudaku - rIthi gowLa - thisra Ekam - thisra gathi -
Mysore Sadha Siva Rao
4. nenaruchinAnu - mALavi - Adhi - Thyagaraja
5. manasu vishaya - nAttakurinji - Adhi - Thyagaraja
6. pakkala - karaharapriyA - misra chApu - Thyagaraja
7. viruththam - pAttum poruLum (sakala kaLavalli mAlai of
kumaragurubar )- sahAna - kApi followed by mAthA maragatha
syAmA - NaLinakAmthi
8. nathajana pAlini - naLinakAmthi - Adhi - Thanjavur Sankara Iyer
9. thU nilA mutRaththE - hindhOLam - chathusra Ekam - kaNda gathi
- Periyazhvar Pasuram
10. mangaLam - sowrAshtram - Adhi - Thyagaraja.

I reached the stage at 5-35pm"¦ Smt. Jaya, daughter of SVK mama welcomed the rasikas and Shri T.K.Govinda Rao and Shri Narasimman (Asthika Samajam,Thiruvanmiyur) spoke well with interesting anecdotes and inaugurated the festival.

It was pleasing to see Shri PSN, Shri Govinda Rao, Smt. Suguna Purushothaman, Smt. Suguna Varadachari and Smt. Seetha Rajan, sitting in the front row and we felt really blessed to have them for our concert along with the rasikas who filled the hall and made the concert lively and lovely.

Gayathri began her recital with a sloka ‘vignarAja krupAsindhO’, on Ganapathi and sang the varNam after showing a small sketch of begada. Apart from the oft repeated piLLayAr krithis, lambOdharAya stood effective and the niraval and swaram in ‘abhaya varapradhAya’ added some more colour to the concert.

The alapana in reethi gowla kept the audience guessing what is going to come, whether janani or chEra rAvathE and what came was a suprising ‘nannu brOchudaku’. It has been composed with swara and sahithyam with beautiful swaraksharas too like ‘pA’vana maina, ‘nI sA ni’thayamu , jIvana’mA’, vinu’mA’, u’mA’.

The piece is a real bliss.

mALavi added spice to the concert and it was followed by a soft beginning of nattakurinji. The beginning was woven with silky phrases where the raga bhava travelled like a silent river and became a bit stronger from dhA and the kArvais had azhutham in sanchArams towards gA and mA. Both Gayathri and Padma presented a good nattakurinji. The swaras had a natural flow in keezh kAlam and madhyama kAlam.

The eight minutes alapana of karaharapriya contained some nice varieties in the lower octave. Padma showed shades of natachi natachi too. ‘Pakkala’, was balanced well with crisp sangathis and vishranthis at appropriate places. Every time after the niraval in thanuvu, she rendered different sangathis and made it more adorable. The swaras sung for thanuvu, [edam: 2 after samam] especially the way she sang, mA"¦ gari"¦ rigama pa"¦. magari"¦. contributed much to the musical beauty.

We played chathusra and thisra gathi and played the traditional mOrA followed by a korvai which comes to edam on the third round. Guruprasad displayed nadham and clarity with nice bass notes.

The highlight of the concert was the viruththam on sarasvathy. sahAna and kApi were soothing and the emotions seen in the lyric were properly conveyed by the sangathis presented. mAthA maragatha syAma in nalinakAmthi was delightful and the sangathis for sangItha rasikE soaked the mind in warmth.

The evening became pleasant, saying a cheerful bye to the week end after the rendering of nathajana pAlini, periyAzhvAr pAsuram and the traditional mangaLam.

[prashant]

Sounds like a lovely evening of music...

[hindolam]

Yes it indeed was an evening of very pleasant music by the ever consistent Gayathri Venkataraghavan. Manasu Vishaya in Nattakurinji was extremely delightful to hear after a long time, as it seems to have gone out of the kutcheri circuit.

[HarishankarK]

Gayathri V's concert is consistent in matters of sowkhiyam and bhavam so also paandithyam. Somehow her music tugs at your heart.

[bilahari]

Seems like it was a moving concert. Thanks for the review, erode sir!

[gayatri]

That seems to be a Musically verdant performance.I have heard nagaraj anna and GV mam only once.The duo is rocking.Thanks for the review , anna!

[gn.sn42]

Thanks to erode14's post elsewhere, I was able to pick up Charsur's recording of this concert. I'm posting the link here for reference.

This is a terrific concert, and I'm getting hooked on erode14 now.

Charsur should avoid some glaring errors (triputa instead of misra chapu in the song list, sahana instead of ritigowlai on the track label); and if they'd actually read and respond to their customer service emails, it would be helpful - but that's another rant.

[ragapriya82]

Can't agree more. This is a terrific concert. Fortunately came upon this post and picked up the recording recently. yes, the labeling is irritating and confusing. charsur should look into it. the viruttam is simply outstanding in this concert and also the niraval for pakala nilapati. its great that such lovely music is being preserved by releases.