Sowmya - Krishna Gana Sabha, Aug 21

[jnaanasoonyam]

Sowmya - M Narmada - Kovai Prakash - AS Krishnan
Krishna Gana Sabha, Aug 21, 6.30 pm

Chalamela (Varnam) - Shankarabharanam - Khanda Ata - Swati Tirunal
Ra Ra Mayinti - Asaveri - Adi - Tyagaraja (S)
Jalandhara Supeetha - Valaji - Adi - Muthiah Bhagavatar (R, N, S)
Mayamma - Ahiri - Adi - Shyama Shastri
Tandai Tai - Devamanohari - Rupakam - Papanasam Sivan (S)
Vazhi Maraittirukkude - Nattakurinji - Mishra Chapu - Gopalakrishna Bharati (R)
Vara Narada - Vijayasri - Adi - Tyagaraja (S)
Palintsu Kamakshi - Madhyamavati - Adi - Shyama Shastri (R, S, T)
Ugabhoga in Sindhubhairavi & Yamunakalyani
Krishna Nee Begane - Yamunakalyani - Adi - Vyasaraya
Smarasundaranguni (Javali) - Pharaz (with M2) - Rupakam - Dharmapuri Subbarayar (Audience request)
Mangalam - Saurashtram - Adi - Tyagaraja

Almost 3 hours of blissfully pure classicism from one of today's finest artistes and a personal favorite of mine. The song selection was kind of eclectic - I haven't heard a Madhyamavati main in ages, and this alapana was superb in terms of manodharma. The icing on the cake was the penultimate ugAbhOga followed by Krishna Nee. In my 40+ yrs of listening, I daresay that I haven't listened to a more bhava-soaked Krishna Nee from anyone else, except perhaps Balamma (the late T. Balasaraswati). Perhaps our friend Coolkarni - I don't see much of him here now, what happened? - can pull out a Balamma rendition from his treasure chest for our pleasure...

The alapanas of Nattakurinji & Valaji were right up there in the top-rung. The lightning fast swara patterns in Vijayasri were a revelation to me - haven't seen Sowmya do too much of that. Kind of reminiscent of MDR's rare lightning spells in Malavi! As for accompanists, Narmada must be rated as one of the best among today's crop in terms of tonal fidelity. She embellished the swara patterns excellently in Asaveri & Vijayasri and her Madhyamavati was equally good.

I confess I haven't heard Kovai Prakash before, but he was very good and it looked as if he has played several times previously for Sowmya, since he anticipated some of the sangatis and capably embellished them. No disrespect to AS Krishnan, but I personally don't prefer a Morsing accompaniment, especially when played as support for the violin interludes. The good man seemed to have been held up by traffic - he hurriedly clambered onto the stage just as Sowmya was finishing the Valaji alapana.

[sureshvv]

Nice review!

Felt "Mayamma" could have been avoided as it is becoming rather commonplace now. Kind of dampened the proceedings a little.

Is there a Pharaz with M1? Are there different kritis that employ M1 and M2? You have made me curious.

[gundakriya]

Suresh, refer this recent thread on a Rama Ravi concert. The same m1/m2 thingy was discussed there:

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=3365

[Ragjay]

Hi I read the review with interest. It being a Gokulastami series concert the main krithi could have been on Lord Krishna from the Trinity. I am not too sure whether the interest of the rasika would have sustained looking at the list of songs sung. No gana ragam sung other than the varnam.... This seems to be the present order BFN Ragjay

[arasi]

jnaanasoonyam,
A nice review. Look forward to listening to this classicist during the season.

You ask for 'krishnA nI bEgane bArO' by Balasaraswathi.
bEganE bArO, 'cool moon', to grant that wish...