TR Vijaykumar - Violin
V Raghuraman - Mrudangam
S Selvapandian - Khanjira
Duration: 2 h 30 min
Approximate Songlist:
01. inta calamu (varNam) [S @ charaNam] - bEgaDa - Adi
02. mEru samAna - mAyAmALavagowLa - Adi
03. palukavEmi [Sketch, S @ pallavi] - pUrNacandrika - Adi
04. sankari sankuru [R, N @ syAma kriSNa sOdari, S] - sAvEri - Adi (tiSra gati)
05. amba yeninE moralida - aTANa - Adi - Ponniah Pillai
06. vANanai madicUDiya (dEvAram) [R, N @ vIranai viDamunDanai (?), S, T] - kIravANi - miSra cApu
07. nADupai balikEru - madhyamAvati - khaNDa cApu
08. Sketch Thanam Pallavi - suruTTi - miSra jhampai [2 kaLai] (eDuppu samam + 1)
Pallavi: gaNanAdanai manavEdanai tIravE nI ninai iha para sukham tarum (gaNanAdanai...)
Ragamaliga swaras in sahAna, rItigowLa, kApi.
09. druvad thillAna (ni ri ni ri ga ma ga ri sa) - pUrvi - rUpakam
10. nI nAma (mangaLam) - sowrAStram - Adi
Sri NSG and his team presented an enjoyable concert last evening. The bEgaDa varnam was presented well in two speeds, and the subsequent burst of swaras were well-executed with NSG using the janTa sequences of RR GG MM very well in both madhya and tara sthayis. While mEru samAna was presented well, I felt an alapanai or some neraval and swaras might have lifted the presentation further, almost because I have never heard this composition presented alone. NSG's sketch of pUrNacandrika was right on the money with an emphasis on RGMRS phrases. PalukavEmi was sung nicely in an MMI-ish gait, but the swaras suffixed to the composition were too brief to make much of an impact. NSG then started a sAvEri alapanai, which was very succinct, with all the classical gamakas on the madhyamam to give the full sAvEri effect, and his juxtaposition of the rishabam and dhaivatham by singing them alternatively in the alapanai was very aesthetic (e.g. RR,,,, DD,,,,). He concluded his ragam with some thanam patterns in the mandra sthayi which were excellent. Shyama Shastri's composition was sung in a very emotive manner, and the neraval at syAma kriSNa sOdari was rendered in two speeds, with a nice use of tail flourishes like a super-fast SRMPDS at the end of an avarthanam of neraval, and the mEl kAla neraval was rendered with a typically excellent grip over kala pramanam in thanam style. The kalpana swaras were dominated by mathematical exercises which were a little much for me and seemed to detract from the beauty of sAvEri. I think he could've chosen to sing more elaborate swaras in first speed before indulging in kaNakku. Of course, a vocalist is free to sing as he pleases, but I'm not one for excessive kaNakku (mostly because I don't really understand it
, but also because it's not as effective as sarvalaghu in demonstrating the raga bhavam). Ponniah Pillai's aTANa composition was a lovely filler before the main item, and NSG sang the atANa nishadam with excellent shruti shuddam, fleshing out the beauty of the composition and the raga very well. NSG was specifically asked by the organizers to sing kIravANi, which is as much his raga as kharaharapriya was SSI's or kAmbOji was MMI's, and I certainly wasn't complaining. Every time NSG takes up kIravANi, he seems to uncover some long-buried nuances, and manages to sculpt a different figure of the raga, and the kIravANi he presented last evening was truly a gem. NSG's alapanai was quite imaginative with phrases like SM,,, SP,,, SD,,, , exploiting the inherent beauty of the scale itself. He sang long, beautiful karvais at panchamam and tara shadjam, with a lovely S, (R,GRS) N D P, D N S.... leading up to the tara shadjam. In the tara sthayi, however, both NSG and the violinist seemed to brush bhairavi a bit much for my comfort (especially around tara rishabam). NSG made good use of the madhyamam, singing an extraordinary RGM,,GR with a gorgeous jaru to the ma. Thirunavukarasar's dEvaram was sung brilliantly by NSG, with an outstanding neraval which was mostly in vilamba kalam, where NSG gave a lot of MMI-esque touches with thoroughly exploring merely the word "vIranai" and punctuating his neraval with ample moments of silence to allow the rasikas to absorb his music as he himself seemed thoroughly dissolved in it. There was definitely quite some magic in that neraval, with some imaginative moments as well as NSG sang neraval with just alternating N R - N R phrases (which the violinist returned as R N - R N, which offered a pleasing contrast). The swara prastharam was very creative as well, with NSG singing sequences like MN NM MN(mandra), with great emphasis on the power of flat notes in kIravANi, and then proceded to sing some nice patterns like P,DN M,PD G,MP and M,PDN, G,MPD, R,GMP, , demonstrating how judicious use of dattu sequences can bring out the melody of kIravANi. He continued this display with other noteworthy patterns like SS SS(tara) NDPMGRS; RR RR(tara) SNDPMGR; GG GG(tara) RSNDPMG, etc.
NSG presented a special pallavi dedicated to vinAyakar on vinAyakar chaturti day. The sketch of the ragam and the whole exercise was unsatisfyingly brief (~17 min total), with the highlight being a crisp thanam in suruTTi, a ragam that isn't often taken up for RTP or thanam singing. The pallavi was beautiful and NSG sang a largely mEl kAla neraval before taking up swaras and of course, ragamaliga swaras. Singing sahAna right after suruTTi might not have been a wise decision, with the nishadam adopting a suruTTi-like character especially in RNDP type phrases with which he commenced the sahAna swaras. Only one or two avarthanas of each ragam were sung, and rItigowLa was really too brief. I definitely think the RTP should've have been sung in a far more elaborate manner, or at the least the pallavi itself, since it was a dedication to vinAyakar, or NSG could've opted to sing a ragamaliga slokam about vinAyakar instead, which would've been a better use of 17 minutes. To make up for the blip, NSG sang the pUrvi thillana popularised by MDR and KVN which was composed by the violinist Sri Vijaykumar's grandfather. NSG sang the thillana in vilamba kalam, and it was quite extraordinary, and he sang the sahitya line with each swaram named with great finesse, reminiscent of MDR.
All in all, NSG wisely refrained from singing too many phrases in the tara sthayi, given his customary difficulty with this octave, and as a result the concert was a commanding display of his strengths--replete with sowkhyam, beautiful neravals, soulful krithi renditions, vilamba kala singing, and overflowing manOdharma. Of course, the concert had its weaknesses, like the all-too-brief RTP, and NSG's struggle on occasion with shruti while singing brigha sangathis, and what I thought was an overindulgence in kaNakku in the sAvEri kalpanaswaras. But as rasikas came up to NSG after the concert, one lady summed up what I think is NSG's USP, remarking that the concert felt like it had been sung at home. It is indeed the intimacy and warmth of our vidyArthi's music that time after time, country after country, draws me and probably several others to his music more than anything else.
The violinist, TR Vijaykumar, is a sishya of LGJ, though his technique with an even, strong bow (as opposed to the LGJ school which seems to emphasise modulation of bowing strength to closely mimic the vallinam and mellinam of vocal music), and his handling of brighas all seemed to suggest his style was an amalgam of several others, and most closely allied with that of Ganesh-Kumaresh. TR Vijaykumar provided capable support on the violin, returning brigha sangathis with precision in alapanai, playing appropriate neraval responses, and returned some of NSG's imaginative patterns with great accuracy. All the while, he kept himself in the background, perhaps a little too much, but always facilitating NSG's flights of creativity. In his sAvEri ragam, the violinist used the phrase DPMPDP, DPMPDP, very well, and provided a very short but concise essay. His play during the entire kIravANi was very good, with an emphasis on plain notes in the alapanai, where he played a fast, lovely SRMPDNR,,,. He also played S-P less phrases in the alapanai, and followed up the plain notes with gamaka laden ascending patterns like S (,R,GR) R (,GMG,), covering the breadth of the raga admirably. The shruti shuddam with which he approached plain notes made it very pleasing. One of the highlights of the RTP was his swaras in kApi, where he played some beautiful LGJ type phrases. However, his almost total lack of usage of mandra sthayi complementation while accompanying for krithis left something to be desired. Nonetheless, his support was thoroughly capable and sensitive.
The percussion duo of Raghuraman and Selvapandian accompanied admirably, with the mrudangam vidwan playing with good anticipation during kalpana swaras, and he seemed to be up to the challenge in playing along to NSG's kaNakku patterns as well. The tIrmAnam to the sAvEri krithi was very well executed, and Raghuraman's accompaniment for krithis was quite good as well, though I felt he was playing for the rhythmn rather than the composition at times (I may well be mistaken, though). The khanjira was often lost in the mrudangam, but Selvapandian played with good azhuttham, especially during the thani, which was a short, decent affair.
NSG made it a point to announce most of the pieces, something I've never heard him do before, as well as invite questions about the music and concert at the end, and I'm unsure what exactly people think about the competence of kutcheri-going audience in Singapore! It was amusing to see NSG single out the Chinese man and Caucasian woman in the audience and enquire about their views on the concert and any queries they might have--they were certainly put on the spot. NSG then asked our own mridangam, Sri Mannarkoil Balaji, to speak, and he (perhaps keeping the thread about speeches in mind!) said a few words about the contrast between creating nuances on stage as a musician and appreciating these same nuances as a rasika in the audience. Perhaps he can add his views on the concert as well--it was truly a pleasure meeting him and NSG after the concert
Using Rajesh's scale, this would rate as a very good concert, though the kIravANi was really on a different plane.