Smt Neela Jayakumar - Violin
Shri V R Jayakumar - Mrdangam
Sarasiruhasanapriye amba - Nattai - Adi - ??
Manusuloni marmamu - Hindolam(D2) - Adi - Tyagaraja
Aparamabhakti - Pantuvarali - Rupakam - Tayagaraja
Aanandanatanaprakasam - Mishra Chappu - MD
Ambaparadevathe - Khanda Chappu - Tyagaraja
Shankaracharya - Shankarabharanam - Adi - Subbarama Dikshithar
TheerAdavilayattupilai - Khanda Gati - Bharathiar
SAramaina - Javali - Behag - Swati Tirunal
Tillana - Bindulamini - Adi - Chitravina Ravikiran
A very good concert...the main takeaway was the great restraint and consequent depth and melodiousness of the artist's voice. I wish the tambura were more audible to the audience - especially since there was a real one that was well-tuned and readjusted and fussed over whenever needed by the artist herself. That would have enhanced the tranquil experience even further.
I missed the Nattai kriti and walked in during manasuloni. When I hear a Tyagaraja kriti I am already prejudiced in favor of the concert and it didn't disappoint as we went along. Some other highlights:
* neraval (kapivaridhi dhatuna) and swarams in apparamabhakti were excellent and in the most optimal proportion.
* The majestic gait (or gati
) of Ananda natana. It was superbly rendered. * Rudrapriya swarams were reminiscent of a great sahodarar duo of yesteryear and delivered at ambaparadevathe, paradevathe and devathe. Interestingly, Kiranavali's melodiousness and tranquility were not perturbed even by this kriti which may have capacity to awaken the musician's inner aggressor
. Good show.* Shankarabharanam alapana was very good, delivered along solid classical lines, lingering in the pUrvangam (Sa to Pa) as is my personal preference...in fact I might have liked even more of it. Violinist Smt Neela included some lighter phrasings in her alapana. The neraval and swarams were a tad shorter than I would have liked but I think that was inevitable given the time limits.
* The Bindumalini tillana is a Ravikiran classic that could have been delivered with a little more gusto in the charanam, I thought. Maybe not.
The violinist Smt Neela's support was uniformly good and unintrusive.
The mrdangam player Shri Jayakumar was mostly quite good and he caught the different kalapramanams very well, except during the slower neraval in shankarabharanam when the constant thekka didn't jell well. I hanker after the style of stalwarts like UKS, PR and TS who can "poshak" a slow neraval with a solid, slow thoppi-oriented rhythm. The tani was short and sweet and there and included some tishram variations.
All in all, the song selection was excellent (in other words, according to my taste
). Also, the diversity of tAlas and rAgas was very good. Last but not the least, a handful of Tyagaraja kritis goes a long way in making a Katcheri experience wholesome.