D Balakrishna (veena) - Adamya R - Dayanand Mohite

[srikant1987]

MES Kalavedi

25 Sep 2011
MES College, 15th Cross, Malleswaram, Bangalore

Sri D Balakrishna - vINe
Sri Adamya Ramanand - mrudanga
Sri Dayanand Mohite - ghaTa

sarasiruhAsanapriyE - nATTai - Adi - ? (sketch, S)
shrI varalakShmIm - shrI - rUpaka - MD (R, S)
heccarikagA - yadukulakAmbhOji - khaNDacApu - T (RNS)
vINAbhEri - AbhEri - Adi-1 - MD (R)
akhilANDEshvari - dvijavanti - Adi-2 - MD (S)
tatvameruga taramA - garuDadhvani - rUpakacApu - T
hEmavati rAgam, tAnam
shrI kAntimatIm - Adi-2 - MD
swarams, tani
cenjuruTTi AlApanai
an Adi-1 krti in cenjuruTTi
pavamAna sutuDu - saurAShTra - Adi - T
tIrmAnam from percussionists
madhyamAvati sketch

sarisiruhAsanapriyE seems to be a favourite opening number for vaiNikas. I've seen Vidwans TT Narendran, Trivandrum R Venkataraman and Kalyani Ganesan open concerts with it. karuNimpa in sahAna is another vaiNika favourite. These numbers, with such gauravam, produce an effect probably unique to veena concerts.

Smt Kalyani Ganesan often lines up more than one ghana rAga in the initial part of her concerts. With a short, but majestic sketch of shrI (without da -- an MD krti was to follow, but the sketch was not too long, and didn't call for one), disciplined rendition of the krti, and measured, almost-fully sarvalaghu swaras, Sri D Balakrishna continued the veena charm.

The yadukulakAmbhOji AlApanai was very well done. In particular, the tricky (I think) drss piDi was executed very neatly, and the raise for the ma in pama,ga (a very delicate thing to attempt, a flatter ma is lot safer), was also done very sensitively and tastefully.

Only kIzhkAla swarams were played for dwijavanti, and over all the dwijavanti was also well done without any melodrama.

Even the filler, tatvameruga taramA was rendered with discipline.

The tani, which featured khaNDa naDai, was played beautifully by Adamya and Sri Mohite. It retained interest till the very end. The amount of time given to caturashra naDai, khaNDanaDai, the koraippu, the faran and the final kOrvai were all appropriate and played a good role in retaining interest.

The cenjuruTTi AlApanai was good too. I love to hear such nice rAgams after the main.

Like Smt Kalpakam Swaminathan used to do in her kucheris, Sri D Balakrishna also waited for the tIrmAnam to finish before playing the madhyamAvati sketch.

[gardabha_gana]

srikant - is this the first time you are hearing Balakrishna? Doreswamy Iyengar/Balakrishna play the veena in such a nice unique way - i enjoy it very much. BTW - how was the main, and which was the jinjoti krithi - or was it the famous seshanna tillana?

[rbharath]

nice to see a report of this great artist's concert..

[srikant1987]

G_g,
Yes, this is my first D Balakrishna concert.

I don't know the kuRinji krti -- should have asked DB! I don't think anyone else from this forum attended.

I'm not very fond of hEmavati, but scalar rAgams make for free-flowing tAnams. I wished the tALa strings were more audible during the tAnam, though. Probably a problem of contact mic ... It was very engaging, even so.

I found it a mark of Sri DB's devotion that he maintains long nails in the right hand, instead of wearing mITTus. It will be difficult to write with them!

Also, the percussionists' support was remarkable, especially during the swarams. Adamya is fast becoming my favourite very-young mridangist. There was a very good balance of everything in the concert.

I love watching alternate rounds of swarams on the same instrument accompanied once by mridangam and once by ghatam (or khanjari)!

Bharath,
It was a pleasure to write about this beautiful concert too! I sat in the middle seat of the second row during this concert (they'd put a "RESERVED" slip on the first-row chairs), and it was really nice to watch it from this close. Like Nick, I too like watching concerts as much as listening to them! I'd rather listen to a recording than watch the backs of several people's heads in a live concert, though.

[gardabha_gana]

Thanks srikant for the info. Any recording ?

[bilahari]

Thanks for this review, Srikant. I didn't know sarasIruhasanapriyE was a favourite of vaiNikAs.

I'm not a big fan of hEmavati either, or even vINAbhEri for that matter. Tatvameruga taramA is a lovely filler, I think. MMI has sung it beautifully with a few quick rounds of swaras on several occasions.

Was there a reasonable turnout for this concert?

[srikant1987]

G_g, I didn't record this concert.

As for the turnout, I was in the second row and didn't look back at all during the concert. After it concluded, I saw a reasonable turnout, but was probably not very big by Malleswaram's usual standards. In the same venue, a flute recital a month or so ago was almost houseful.