Mahadevan Sankaranarayanan –Delhi P.Sunderrajan (violin) – R.Ramesh (Mridangam)– S.Venkataramanan(Kanjira)
1. Karunai seivai - HamsadwanI followed by TVS style free flow Swaras
2. Ritigowlai outline (singer's vocal cords having warmed up with the first song, this was very enjoyable)
Nilotpalambam bhajare
very well delivered @ sedate pace
S @ samagana sirahkampinim
3.Jaganmohini ragam, violin very good return
Shobillu saptaswara, N, S @ dhara rgsamadulalo
4.Talli tandrulu - Balahamsa
Mini 15 sec raga outline in between
quite a few mamas and mamis wore a puzzled look during this uncommon kriti, prompting MS to announce"intha ragam Balahamsa" much to the gasp of relief around me
express swaras for a couple of minutes, MS appeared very involved and clearly was relishing singing this ragam as was the audience
5. Shanmugapriya alapana with many longish phrases
violin return captured the refrains of many Sivan kritis in the ragam
Marivere dikkevarayya, N, S @ sannuthanga sri venkatesa
anchored around - rigariri, padanisari
6. Sankarabharanam detailed, very good alapana, violin return was enjoyable
Sarojadalanetri
swara highlights building up to gamapari, garisa
swaras felt a bit stretched out. mridangam not following the swara patterns at all did not help the mood!
brief 10-12 minute thani (thankfully!)
7.Kanna karmugil vanna followed by
Enna thavam seithanai - kapi
8. Eppo varuvaro
9. Surutti outline followed by full kriti
Makulamunaku ihapara vara mosagina niku mangalam - Tyagaraja
very enjoyable kriti, very good singing. I wish all the 'mangalam' kritis would be rendered in full by all artistes. They are wonderful works but sadly are relegated to 'urgent delivery items' before the lights go off!
MS finished almost every kriti with a 'winding down alapana' of the ragam for 15-20 seconds (is that a valid description? is there a term for that?) instead of stopping abruptly at the end of Kriti/swaras. Alapanas and stage mannerisms are a la TVS. Strong voice reaching into upper and lower octaves was used very well to delve into different moods. But the concert did not give the feeling of one fluid performance, items not segueing into the next. There were many sabash, bale moments all through. Nevertheless, I left the venue with an incomplete (nearest word) feeling, like a mix and match concert from many tapes. Almost all items were very good, but somehow did not come together. The artist was not helped by the percussion department who ran their own concert at times! DS on the violin was very good in patches and pedestrian otherwise - I have heard him excelling all through a few other times, so it was maybe an off day for him. The violin mic and its low volume could have been another reason.
overall a good concert marred by poor support.