Vid Vijay Siva @ Astika samajam, thiruvanmiyur - 28 June 08

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 29 Jun 2008, 08:32

Vid Sri N Vijay Siva - vocal
Vid R.K.Sriramkumar - violin
Vid Satish kumar - mridangam

Venue - Gyanabharati kalyana mandapam, Thiruvanmiyur
organized by Astika samajam, Thiruvanmiyur

This concert was organized as muthuswamy dikshitar day..

I do not have song list, i went half way through when sriramkumar was playing Sankarabharanam. Vijay sang Akshayalinga Vibho, neraval & swaram for badari vana mula...and thani avarthanam..Vijay followed this with short sketch of paraju and chintaye maha linga, and another song (i don't recollect now), and then virutham for mayuradhi rudam sloka in raga yamuna kalyani, sindhu bhairavi & chenchuruti. He sang gajamba nayako, and then to conclude Sri Abhayamba (Manipravalam keerthana in Sree ragam) and swasti prajabhya sloka.. (Sri Abhayamba was my request to artist in morning, one of my daughter's favourite..)

The speech by organizer was interesting with annectodes. He mentioned about how vijay's music is pure, and on few incidents involving GNB, karikalabha muhkam etc. I understood that Vijay sung Karikalabha mukham earlier, and also hamir kalyani (Venkatasaila vihara??) and huseni (not sure about song)..The speech also mentioned about sahitya suddham of vijay and how the organizer's friend was able to byheart dikshitar keerthanas and receite to a veena vidhwan during a walk in a park. The veena vidhwan was simply stunned and sat then and there...(This was about 60 years ago..)

I had oppertunity to meet many forumites... ram, vijay, bharat, vgovindan, shyam etc. It was a pleasant experience. Hope one of them will provide complete songlist and detailed review. I could'nt concentrate much and hence couldn't note down details on the concert, so not writing anything about concert(;-(;-

-hari

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 29 Jun 2008, 09:11

It was a really nice concert with a great list.

Didn't note all the songs. So any correction welcome.

1) Karikalabha - Saveri
2) Shri Balasubramanya - Bilahari - NS
3) Parimala Ranganatham - Hamirkalyani - AS
4) Guruguhaya - Sama - N
5) Shri Kalahasthisha - Huseni - AS
6) Shri Kamalamba - Ahiri (preceded by a Shlokam if I am not mistaken)
7) Akshayalinga Vibho - Sankarabharanam - ANST
8) Chinthaye Mahalinga - Paras
9) Somasundareshwara - Shudha Vasantham
9) Ragamalika Shlokam followed by Gajamba Nayako - Chenchurutti
10) Shri Abhayamba - Shri

The Bilahari Swarams were really good and so was the Neraval for Sama. The Huseni Alapanai was the best of the concert to me along with the Ahiri Kamalamba Krithi rendition. His Manodharmam in Huseni was amazing at certain points. Post main, the Paras Krithi was soothing. Long time since I have heard this. Infact, quite sometime since I heard the Ahiri and Huseni Krithis as well. Shriram Kumar accompanied wonderfully. All his replies were to the point and very appropriate. Satish Kumar on the Mrudangam was very good as well.
Sathej

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 29 Jun 2008, 09:26

Satej,
Didn't Vijay Siva sing the paras kruti in MA during the season? I heard it for the first time then.
Vijay Siva and Sriram Kumar make a great combo.

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 29 Jun 2008, 09:36

Well, I didn't attend that concert. So am not sure.
Sathej

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 29 Jun 2008, 09:59

I hear the song - chintaya malalinga in paras frequently in shruti worldspace - sung by vijay... during raga outline, it looked very similar to kamala manohari, and in fact a mami sitting next quipped that he is going to sing kanchadalayatakshi....(;-

what was neraval line in guruguhana in sama? No alapana, swara, but neraval???

-hari

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 29 Jun 2008, 10:09

Yes, just the Neraval. Am not sure of the line. I think it was at sakalAgama mantra sArajnAya .
Sathej

vgvindan · Post by **vgvindan** » 29 Jun 2008, 10:17

A high quality performance by Vijaya Shiva and the combo.

In Tamil there is a proverb 'agala uzhuvadinum Azha uzhu' - 'rather plough deep than wide'.

The present concert format is good for lesser quality artists to thrive and undermining the competent artists - like Vijaya Shiva. Unless rasikas understand what they are missing, the CM would continue to slide. I yearn for a bhAva-laden concert - where numbers do not matter.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 29 Jun 2008, 20:21

Govindan,
Nice to hear from you in a concert review thread. Yes, Vijay Siva's concert certainly is an example of 'Azha uzhudal'! I am happy you were there.
You are right about many performers caring less about going deep into the music and bhAvam. Luckily we have a few of them who do pay attention to both those aspects in their singing. They come in different varieties but they all are experts in 'Azha uzhudal'!
Of course, our own tastes play a part in acknowledging them. Let them all be as individualistic as they come--to make CM rich in texture and expression, for the benefit of rasikAs and posterity.

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 29 Jun 2008, 21:18

Arasi,
it is such musicians who educate us, the rasikas, and raise our level of appreciation also. As you said, there are still a few of them and we are happy for that.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 30 Jun 2008, 00:37

Sad to have missed this concert, and the meeting with fellow rasikas, and at a venue not so far from my home.

Vijay Shiva always seems to me to deliver pure no fuss music. Really great.

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 30 Jun 2008, 01:12

Music of some is educative; some are innovative, some make us contemplative; some are enlightening, and some are pure bliss. Luckily we have all of them available. Its for us to pick and choose what we want and when we want.

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 30 Jun 2008, 09:48

A parade of weighty classical rAgAs on after the other - brilliant concert planning.

arasi: yes, he did sing CintayE mahAlinga mUrtim at the Academy last year in his concert.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 30 Jun 2008, 13:05

It was an amazing concert.
to fill in the blanks left by s_hari. the veenai vidwan who Sri Narasimhan mentioned was Cheranmadevi Subramanya Sastrigal. The friend of Sri Narasimhan who recited the MD kritis is Dr. Veezhinathan.

Beyond the concerts, the speeches by Sri Narasimhan of Asthika Samajam Thiruvanmiyur are a class apart themselves. His anecdotes start from the 30s and 40s and he quotes a lot of artists and their renditions. It is quite a thing to be able to give such references.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 30 Jun 2008, 15:02

Great concert, great team and great to meet all the folks from Rasikas...rounded off with a gosspiy dinner at Woodlands too!

annanagarrasika · Post by **annanagarrasika** » 04 Jul 2008, 08:43

What I like about Vijay's concert the standard is always consistent and of high quality. This was one such concert. Akshya Linga Vibho was outstanding and so was Sri Kalahasteesa.