the season has so far been a bit dull - concerts happening everywhere but i guess due to the recent cyclone and destruction the excitement is still not that high understandably.
anyway, today attended a moving concert by G Ravi Kiran for karthik fine arts at BVB mini hall.
i am not too fond of this hall due to its sometimes unbalanced acoustics but today was not bad though overall volume could have been higher i felt.
the mini hall was full with what appeared to be the elite mylapore crowd - i also see the carnatic music maestro sri n vijay siva in the audience.
the concert was very high on aesthetics and melody. only thing i missed was a shyama shastry kriti.
the violin artist hn bhaskar was stellar and the mridangam and ghatam artists (vijay ganesh and chandrashegar sarma as per the hindu ad) were also very 'effervescent' - though it appeared that the mridangist had some troubles with his instrument during the tani.
to me the highlight of the concert was the devagandhari alapana and the varali pancharathnam - both hard to come by during the 'usual' season lists.
here goes the list:
1) narasimha - mohanam - dikshitar (swarams)
2) karunasamudra - devagandhari - thyagaraja (detailed Ragam)
3) narmada kaveri - ? - dikshitar (i think)
4) bhogindra shayinam - kuntalavarali - swati tirunal (long swarams which was met with the mandatory applause
)5) detailed varali ragam for Kanakana Ruchira - thyagaraja pancharathnam - elaborate neraval at "baalaarka..."
6) muddugare yashoda - kurinji?
7) irakkam varamal - bihag
8) tillana - sorry missed the ragam
i like his sense of aesthetics and proportion - i wish that he continues on this path rather than the run of the mill need for speed.
best wishes,
PP.