Charulatha Ramanujam - Fiddle
B Ganapathiraman - Mridangam
Anirudh Athreya - Khanjira
Kanchi Shankar Matha, 11th Cross Malleswaram, Bengaluru
mAtE - khamAs - Adi - HMB
mEru samAna - MMG - Adi - T (NS)
shankari nIvE - bEgaDe - rUpakacApu - Subb. Shastri (RS)
dEvI brOva samayamidE - cintAmaNi - Adi - SS
himagiritanayE - shuddhadhanyAsi - Adi - HMB
sari evaramma - bhairavi - khaNDajhampa - SS (RNS)
tani
shrI cakra rAja - rAgamAlike - Adi
ARumO Aval - mAND - Kannan Iyengar - Adi
Sangeetha Sivakumar's krti renditions were all very precise, yet extremely moving. It was especially striking after the TVR concert, where even krtis like sukhi evarO seemed somewhat rushed and felt ineffective.
I am biased against HMB, and generally prefer familiar kritis, so the concert began with mEru samAna for me. I just love mEru samAna! What a majestic and charming composition! The neraval and swarams were very good, but they definitely didn't have the kind of thrill the kriti did.
The bEgaDa AlApanai was good. But I was eagerly awaiting brigas and they were irritatingly withheld until the tArasthAyi, where too, not that much was sung. It is basic sensitivity not to sing too much briga just as the AlApanai begins. However, it is not easy to sing much of it in the tArasthAyi until the voice warms up, I think -- it will risk a (temporary) "loss of voice" if forced too much.
The moving rendition of the krti, and the very measured swarams more than made up for any dissatisfaction with the AlApanai. Indeed, Sangeetha seems to make me like some kritis more than I used to!
dEvi brOva samayamidE was rendered very sparsely, just as I like it.
So much restraint! And the percussionists, who seemed (very, very slightly) more loud than I would have liked during the MMG & bEgaDa, played LOVELILY during dEvi brOva samayamidE. It was just too good!The bhairavi AlApanai highlighted another thing about AlApanais in general, and briga-style AlApanais in particular. Sangeetha explores the mandra sthAyi early into the AlApanai, instead of the madhya-tAra-mandra order. I observe that after singing tAra sthAyi for a while, the mandra sthAyi can get muted, and with brigas in tAra sthAyi, I think it will get even more muted. With a warmed-up voice, there were many amazing brigas in bhairavi tArasthAyi. Very satisfying AlApanai.
There was a considerable amount of samakAla neraval sung too. Unlike the MMG, the NS for bhairavi were very satisfying.
The tani was also very engaging.
Wish there were some heavier items after the tani! It was a very satisfying concert, notwithstanding that.