Mridangam: Nellai Balaji
Violin: KP Nandini
Neerajaksha - Kalyana Vasantha - Adi - ??
Naa Jeevadhara - Bilhari - Adi - Tyagaraja
Mamava Sada Varade - Nattai Kurunji - Rupakam - Swati Thirunal
Raja Raja Radhite - Niroshta - Adi -
RTP- Dharmavathy- Mayamma Ni Sarivamma Karuna Joodavamma Ninne Nammi Nannu - Sankeerna Jathi Thriputa Thalam
Thillan - Hameer Kalyani
A fabulous concert... This RTP will be etched in my memory for a long time. This is just the second time I am hearing her live. Believe me she is definitely going to be a crowd puller in the next few years. It was a concert devoid of any gimmicks. At every point in the concert one could see how much has she been inspired by MLV amma and her guru.
She started off with a Kalyana Vasantha varnam. I haven't heard this frequently in the concert circuit. Right from the word go she meant business. This was evident when she took Tyagarajas masterpiece in Bilahari raga. What really impressed me was with the ease in which she sang the those sangatis. Trust me one needs immense breath control techniques to sing this krithi. I was expecting one round of nice kannaku swaras that their school is famous for. But obviously she had other plans.
The Nattaikurunji was rendered with all the traditional phrases. Her briga oriented rendering reminded me of her guru Sudha Ragunathan. I think of the best renditions of the raga I have heard in recent times. Though she would have elaborated for only 7-9 mins, she showed the beauty of the raga. Neraval in the charanam was very well rendered. I must say saw a lot of Sudha's influence during the rendition. But in her husky voice she brought out the sancharas very well in both the octaves. She still had close to one hour 25 mins to go. A word about KP Nandini too. I am really impressed with this young girl. Heard her in a lot of concert this season. Don't know whose student she is but there is so much sowkyam and maturity in her playing. When given an opportunity she grabbed it and displayed her mastery over the instrument. Kudos Nandini
So was eagerly looking forward to the pallavi. When I discussed the intricacies of the pallavi with a friend of mine who is also a mridangist, he did appreciate her for taking up such a scholarly piece. She elaborated the ragam for nearly 17 mins. Nandini followed her as a shadow and really anticipated certain phrases very well...
Tanam was rendered for nearly 7 mins and again no words to describe. When she initially started off I guessed she might take up the ragas of the krithis with she framed the pallavi. But that is not alone. So initially she did round of elaboration in dharmavathy and then started elaborating in Ahiri (Mayamma), bhairavi (Sari varammma), Varali (Karuna Joodavamma), Thodi (Ninne Nammi), Lalitha (Nannu Brovu). So here is an artist who packed all the heavy weights in one go. Way you go Sangeetha. Her korrupu swarams were planned very well. Again like her guru and many other artist she did sing the ragas in reverse. Now every time she sang any one of those ragas she would not even think for a second to catch the Jeeva swara.
She then did trikalam and sang tisram. Of course all this after coming back to Dharmavathy. By now it was already 3.25. She finished the pallavi by 3.30. Balaji played a nice tani for ten mins. With just five minutes left and audience getting impatient outside to listen to AS, sangeetha sang a thillana in hameer kalyani. People who came for AS preferred waiting outside to grab their seats rather than coming inside and hearing this scholarly performance. Balaji played the perfect accompanist. His aniticipations were good but some of his korvais were repetitive. But no complaints. Of course Nandini must be appreciated to match up to sangeetha during the pallavi. Overall a wonderful concert. I believe she has all the potential to carry MLV and Sudha Ragunathan's legacy.