SIFA Spring music festival San Jose, CA

[ramakriya]

Wrapped up a wonderful spring fest at SIFA!

Just started off the thread. More to come later. Also, other forumites who attended the concert, join the post concert fun

[vinsim]

I attended my first BMK live concert yesterday at Palo Alto, CA. The artists were

PadmaVibushan Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna - Vocal
Sangeet Samrat Chitravina N. Ravikiran - Chitravina
Sri. Nagai Muralidharan - Violin
Sri. Mannargudi Easwaran - Mridangam

He started off with a sparkling Nata alapana followed by his own varnam composition. I was sitting in the first 10 rows and I could feel the power and clarity of his voice - the effect was exhilarating. His voice seems to be evergreen.

I don't remember the first few items, as they were new to me (maybe all his compositions). But the highlight was a complete Nagumomu (R,K,S,T) presentation for a full 60 minutes. He sang just like the countless versions over the decades. There were a few requests after that. He finished the concert by one of his trademark thillanas, which had me humming all the way home.

Looking forward to Priya Sisters next.

[ramakriya]

BMK's concert was a dream come true for me and extremely satisfying!

Here is the list as I remember

1. Ee nAdamulO - varNa - nATa - Adi - BMK
2. nIye gati (?) - vandanadhArini - ? - BMK
3. kripAlavAla - nAdavarAngiNi - Adi - Tyagaraja
4. varuga varuga - kAmavardhini - Adi - BMK (R, S, N)
5. samukhAna nilva - kOkilavarALi - Adi- Tyagaraja
6. A sweet composition about HanumAn, in Mohana - BMK ( I was hoping for nannu pAlimpa, but this was more like a filler)
7. NagumOmu - abhEri - Adi - Tyagaraja (R, S, N, T)
8. Radhika Krishna - janasammOdini (Vasanti, popularly) - Jayadeva
9. hariyE gati - rAgamAlike - Sahitya is probably of Kaivara Nareyana, and music set by BMK
10. rAga Thaaya mAlika tillAna (tanum namtatara tillAna) based in kalyANi

He did not sing a mangaLa, promising to come to SIFA soon.

I went against my general rule of not passing requests, and item #8 was my request. May be there were others who asked for it too.

-Ramakriya

[gardabha_gana]

Was he accompanied by his disciple who is in the bay area - raghavan manian ?

[ramakriya]

As luck would have it, Ragavan has relocated to India just a short while ago.