VVS - Varasiddi Vinayagar Kovil - 28 Dec 2011

[bilahari]

V. V. Subramaniam - Violin
V. V. S. Murari - Violin Support
T.V. Gopalakrishnan - Mrudangam
T. Radhakrishnan - Ghatam

Duration: 2h

Approximate Songlist:

01. srI gaNapatini (sketch, S) - sowrASTram - Adi - T
02. nAda tanum aniSam - cittaranjani - Adi - T
03. annapUrNE visAlAkSi (R) - sAma - Adi - MD
04. Ananda naTamADuvAr (R, S, T) - pUrvikalyANi - rUpakam - NS
05. marugElara O rAghava (sketch) - jayantasri - Adi - T
06. mI valla gunadOSa (R) - kApi - khaNDa cApu - T
07. bhajan (?) - sindhu bhairavi (?)
08. nI nAma rUpamulaku (mangaLam) - sowrASTram - Adi - T

I capitalised on the rare opportunity to hear Sri VVS, and it proved to be a nice concert.

VVS played a beautiful sketch of sowrASTram, and brought out the beauty of the kriti with careful gamakas. He played some dazzling rapidfire swaras at the end too. His sAma ragam was especially beautiful and benefited from his impeccable shruti shuddam. The pUrvikalyANi ragam was elaborate and I liked his sangatis in the mandra stAyi. There were several brigha passages too, with VVS and VVS Murari alternating. I liked VV's starting the composition with "naTamADuvAr". The swaras that followed the composition were especially well done and featured some beautiful tiSram, and notably, there was sowkhyam even in the second speed kaNakku patterns.

TVG accompanied sensitively for kritis and uplifted their presentation, but the tani just became unbearably loud to have any musical value to my bewildered ears. After the tani, VVS spoke about how close he and TVG have been since childhood about how TVG used to practise umpteen hours a day with the singular aim of hearing a "sabAsh" from PMI, who ultimately blessed him with a "asAttiyam, DOi!" It was a touching anecdote. Radhakrishnan just blended into the background for the most part but played beautifully whenever he had the chance. I do like the sound of his ghaTam very much.

After the tani, VVS played an elaborate kApi ragam that had very Hindusthani and folkish touches. It was certainly an original manner of playing kApi. It was nice to hear mI valla gunadOSa as well.

I really like VVS's bowing azhuttam and his usage of the entire bow, as I've noted before. He used several elongated notes and elongated glides to P/S this evening, and while they were often effective in bringing out the beauty of ragas like in sAma, they did give a melodramatic touch to his music, which was also readily evident in his stylised kriti presentations. VVS Murari was well up to the task of accompanying and returned phrases with great alacrity and contributed swara and alapanai passages of his own. He was impressive.

Also, it was nice to listen to good music in an open hall by the temple with a lovely evening breeze, but with the breeze also wafted the, er, bovine vapours from the mATTu pannai adjacent to the hall.

[tiruvarur]

Bilahari, you've been true to your image and showed that you are indeed a violin buff! This concert was a bad miss for me.

I have been to this temple and I was smiling at your reference to the 'bovine vapours'! It is earthy and rather unbearable at the same time, isn't it?

[bilahari]

Tiruvarur, yes - it is at once earthy and unbearable like you say! It was certainly an interesting experience.

I was debating between TNK trio at Kalakshetra and VVS but VVS concerts are just too hard to come by these days. Indeed, I often prefer the articulation of music on instruments like the violin, flute, vINa, and nAdaswaram. They offer a certain tonal purity that the voice often obscures.

[semmu86]

I liked VV's starting the composition with "naTamADuvAr".

I have heard VVS play this krithi 3-4 times in his concerts and usually starts in the same style, accompanied With the classic tilt of the head, a wink towards the mrudangam artiste of the day, a nonchalant smile, adding flavor to the entire proceedings.

notably, there was sowkhyam even in the second speed kaNakku patterns.

This is the hallmark of true greats like Lalgudi and VVS. It wont seem as if the elementary kaNakku pattern was rehearsed for hours together before the concert and played in a tense way during the concert with the nervousness of hoping it should come to the eDam. I always say this example about VVS.... DKJ-VVS-UKS cncrt, early 80's. DKJ sings a brilliant pallavi in thODi "mA maramum nizhalum kuyilum"..... The way VVS accompanies and plays trikAlam in that tricky eDuppu should go down as one of the greatest lessons on how mathematics can turn into sowkhyam