A big photo of Mrs. Saraswathy (Rani Anantharaghavan), tambura artiste who passed away recently was kept garlanded at one end of the dais. Before start of the programme, Gayathri Girish remembered her long association with the artiste and mentioned about her thorough professional attitude and friendly demeanour towards all artistes. She dedicated the concert to the great soul and mentioned that eventhough her mortal remains are no more, she will be enjoying music from the space. Husband and other family members of Saraswathy had come for the occasion. It was a very nice gesture of Gayathri Girish to have made this a memorial concert for Saraswathy. List of songs.
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- Varnam- Sree
• Teliyaleru rama-Denuka- T
• Thyagarajaya Namaste-Begada-MD (R,S)
• Saravanabhavaa samayamitira-Pasupatipriya-HMB
• Enraikku sivakripai-Mukhari-NS (R)
• Ardhanareeswaram-Kumudakriya-MD (S)
• Karunakarane sivasankarane-Keeravani-PS (R,N,S)
• Tani
• Jo Achutananda-Kapi-Annamacharya
• Tava dasoham-Punnagavarali-T
• Kurai onrum illai-Ragamalika-Rajaji.
Gayathri maintained her usual standard of excellence. Her voice in fine mettle, the three ragams Begada, Mukhari and Keeravani were rendered well with the manodharmam riding high, the characteristic pidis intact. For Thyagarajaya Namaste, liberal doses of mel kala swaras at Sakalagama manthra thanthra added lustre to the song. Enraikku sivakripai was rendered with sincere portrayal of the emotional content. Karunakarane Sivasankarane- one of her favourite songs, which I have heard on many occasions, was rendered with neraval at Parasivane Karpagambigai pranapatiye appended with mel kala swarams.
Mike continue to give problems in this hall. There was no feedback to the artistes on the stage. After three songs, Gayathri Girish told the same to the mikeman and he raised the volume very high. It was assault on the ears of the audience. Then we shouted to reduce it. I think there are no separate controls for feedback and the hall. It was then reduced and the artistes had to continue without any feedback. You can imagine the plight of the artistes. Ragasudha Hall should attend to this problem. Or is it too much to expect when the concerts are offered free.
The accompanists were excellent. The alapanas and swara returns of Mysore Srikanth were excellent. Tonal sweetness, thick and thin shades, manodharmam, vidwath all came well to embellish the concert. Poongulam Subrmaniam also kept the right volume and supported the other artistes with his imaginative and beautiful strokes. Guruprasanna played well.
I could see Nick with his camera and clicking from vantage points in the hall
Before this concert, there was the excellent concert of J.B.Srutisagar (Flute) and J.B.Keerthana (Vocal). They presented an excellent Kalyani for Biranavaralichibrovu- a favourite of DKP school as the main song. They concluded with the Paras Javali-Chelinenetlu. What was interesting was that Srutisagar played the first half of Kalyani and then J.B.Keerthana continued followed by B.Ananthakrishnan on the violin. After finishing his quota of Kalyani, young Srutisagar, with liberal dose of vibhooti and kudumi, clad in Panchakacham and shirt, left the stage presumably to do Sandhyavandanam. After Violin has finished, he resumed the stage. A very rare artiste in today’s world.