Vocal : Vid. O S Thyagarajan & Vid. Sriram
Violin : Vid. H K Venkatram
Mridangam : Vid. A V Anand
Kanjira : Vid. B N Chandramouli
Ghatam : Vid. M A Krishnamurthy
Venue : Ramana Maharshi Academy for the Blind, Bangalore. 26-01-2008.
Theme : Compositions of Sri Shyama Shastri
1. Shankari Shankuru – Saveri – Tishra Adi [R, N, S]
2. Ninnuvinaa – Reetigowla – Rupaka [R, S]
3. Kamakshi – Varali – Mishra Chapu [R, S]
4. Biraanavaraalicchi – Kalyani – Tishra Adi [S]
5. Ninne neranammi – Todi – Mishrachapu [N]
6. Sarojadalanethri – Shankarabharana – Adi [R,N,S,T]
I had heard OST only once earlier, and that was a long time ago. I didn’t remember much from that concert... He has a great voice, and I enjoyed this concert immensely. All the kritis were rendered very well. Of course, I was complaining last week that Nithyashree’s concert on the same theme was filled with all popular kritis. This one was no better on that count : Except Varali, I’d heard all the kritis – lots of times – before. But then, for a concert of almost the same duration, the number of kritis was less than half. [She sang 13, I think]… There was some manodharma with everything. Elaborate alapanas for Varali and Shankarabharanam, both of which were superb. He did swaras in first and second speeds for Saveri too, along with these two.
The kriti in Varali, and the associated chitteswara were very nice. He said, it is believed that when Shyama Shastri rendered this composition in the Bangaru Kamakshi temple at Tanjavur, devi herself appeared before him and said “Once Moreâ€