1. sarasooda (varnam) - sAveri - patnam
2. swaminAtha paripAlaya(S) - nAttai - MD
3. yuktamu gadu nanu - shreerAgam - T
4. E varamaDugudurA rAmA(R,N,S)- kalyAni -T
neraval in "pAvanamagu nI pAda bhajanamu "
5. vinAnasukuni - prAthapavarAli - T
6. guruvAyoor appanE - reethigowla - AmbujamKrishna
7. saraguna pAlimpa(R,N,S,T) - kedAragowla - Poochi
neraval in " varaguNa shESAdri varada venkatEshvara"
8. kanakashaila - punnAgavarAli -SS
9. manave mantrAlaya - suddasArang + rAge(Bage)shri?? + revati- purandaradAsar
10. charanakamalAlaya - senchuruTTi- Arunagiri nAthar
11. sammandi sAppidave mAttan - madhyamAvati - ??(tuned by sulOchana pattabhirAman)
12. janaki ramanane jaya mangalam - shuruTTi - PurandaradAsar
A fairly long sabattical in concerts due to work pressure and at last I pulled to 2 concerts of 2 very promising artists(mAmbalam sisters and sikkil gurucharan), whom I missed in the kutcheri season . Hamsadhwani sabha is wonderful , they hold the festival for 4 full months . God bless shri rAmachandran of hamsadhwani.
The start was fairly sedate as sAveri demands too, but the mikeman made it more sedate with his adjustment. The violinist was not heard at all till some time during the anupallavi of nAttai when the violinst glanced and the mike man adjusted well. The swaras of nAttai were very good.
Sadguru ThyagarAja is so much known for his endarO in shreerAgam, till I discovered one nAma kusumUla immortalized by SSI. A new discovery for me was the krithi "yukatamu gadu nanu" was sung excellantly, it settled so well in my mind with me almost expecting a swaram/neraval in shri.The sisters decided to close a great rendering without a N or S.
kalyAni a rAga that demands supreme excellance(mmi's vasudevayani lingers as I write) as there is a chance to easily slip to mediocrity by many musicians most of the time. mAmbalam sisters got more caught with mediocrity,the krithi was another new krithi to me. PrAthapavarali demands extreme synchronization between the vocalist and the mridangist , but unfortunately there was noticable lapse .
The emotive krithi of ambujAm krishna was sung just ok . I do know the theory of kedAragowlai vs yadhukulakAmbOdhi. But to musically distinguish distinctly , there needs a little distinct tara sthayi piDi for kedAragOwlai.
When the alApana was just started, for few minutes I was not sure between the two rAgas.Even when the rAga alApanai continued I was not sure between the two,only slightly sliding towards kedaragowlai. The violinist played a fairly distinct kedaragowlai. The mediocrity of kedaragowlai in saraguna pAlimpA rendition jumped into excellence during the neraval and swaram's of main. In total a fairly mixed feeling of mediocrity to excellence in main.
PUnnAgavarali the rAgam with almost continous gamakam is IMHO a difficult rAga for two to synchronize and excel.They did a ok job. The next was easily the best number to me . All the rAgas in the manave mantralayA rAgamaliga were handled very well (especially revati was wonderful). The contrast of dAsar with arunagiri nAthar in senchuruTTi was another krithi dealt excellently . The mangalam in shuruTTi was good.
Inbetween the senchuruTTi and ShuruTTi was their USP tukkada . sammandi sAppidave mAttan(describing a typical marriage feast) is perhaps the first krithi in my lifetime, where I had lyrics that I can surely say that I have fully comprehended . It had lines like "Janghri 100, dozen dozena apple pazhamum.." .My dinner appetite must have tripled , but when I went home I only got an uppUmA . Moral of the story is "If I understand the lyrics in CM , I only get uppumA"
? The violinist was just good.The mridangam artist played with a lot of enthusiasm , but certainly in krithis like prAthapavarAli , I could see a little few slips. The sister's dad in kanjira was very pedestrian.