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Fabulous concert by TNS
Madurai TN.Seshagopalan presented another fabulous concert - this time in the Infosys Hall, Ramakrishna Mission School, Bazulla Road on 8 January 2012 which marked a fitting grand finale of the Music Festival of Mudhra. Although it was billed as a Four Hour Concert, it happened to be a FIVE HOUR CONCERT unheard in the recent times. Yes. The concert started at 5.10 PM and concluded at 10.15 PM. SD.Sridhar , Patri Satishkumar and H.Sivaramakrishnan (Ghatam) were the accompanists. Being the day of Thiruvadirai, it turned out to be a thematic concert on Lord of Kailasa.
The list of songs is - .
Varnam- Nayaki
Sidhivinayakam seveham-Mohanakalyani-Adi
Sree Dakshinamoorthim bhajare-Thodi-M.Chapu
Ee vasudha- Sahana-Adi
Mokshamugalada-Saramathi-Adi
Enneramum undan sannidhiyil-Devagandhari-Adi-
Sabhapathikku-Abhogi-Adi
Kanakasabhapathikku namaskaram-Athana-Adi
Kripanidhe-Hamsanadham-ADI
Anandanatanaprakasam-Kedaram-Adi
Kanakanaruchira-Varali-Adi-Thyagaraja
Thani
Giripriyam-Kathanakuthoohalam-Adi
RTP-Chenjurutti
Pallavi- Guha Muruga Shanmugha Nee Vaa
Kaa Vaa Kovey - Khanda Triputa 2 kalai
Tuma bina more- Meera bhajan- Pilu
Virutham - followed by Thillana in Chandrakauns
Vachanamiga-Thirupugazh- Behag
Vangakadal-Thiruppavai-Suruti.
Virutham in Madhyamavathi
Mangalam
At the beginning of the concert, Shri Mudhra Bhaskar announced that this unique concert will be shortly released commercially by Mudhra and hence he requested rasikas to desist from recording through any device.
The concert had a sprightly start with the Nayaki varnam Sarasijakshi with swarams in two kalams appended to it. This varnam was on the Manjunatha Swamy which was quite appropriate for the concert. This was followed by raga alapana of Mohanakalyani as a prelude to the song on Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. Liberal doses of swaras were rendered for the song. Many avartanams ending in ga had nice combinations.
Next, he took up an elaborate slokam on Dakshinamurthy in Thodi ragam followed by the kriti Sree Dakshinamoorthim bhajare.. An elaborate alapana of Sahana followed and Thyagaraja's Kovur Panchrathna kriti was taken up for elaborate exploration. The neraval at Daasavaradathyagaraja hridyayanivasa was most enjoyable with dazzling swaras in second kalam adding glitter to the song. Mokhsamugalada and Enneramum were rendered in their pristine form sans any raga alapana or swarams. But the prominence was given to the sahithya bhava and the sangathis for Mokshamugalada were brimming with raga bhavam. It was not treated as a filler. Sabhapathi(kku) was decked up with ornaments in second kala swarams with lot of swarakshara prayogams very intelligently coined- sari samaanamaakuma, sariga sari samaanamaakuma, magaa sabhapathikku etc. For the song Kripanidhe of Muthiah Bhagavatar, the alapana contained dhaivatham, as a janya of Neethimathi, as per the praacheena padhathi. For Aananda natana prakasam, liberal swaras were rendered at Sangeetha vadya vinoda which included very interesting khanda nadai prayogams also.
At this stage, Kanakanaruchira was taken up. I was wondering what connection this song has got in a thematic concert devoted to Lord Siva. But as the song progressed, he took up neraval at the lines “raamanaama rasikudu kailasa sadanudu sakshi” in the charanam 7-starting with kaminchi premameera. Then, I understood the relevance of the song in this concert. Elaborate neraval was done taking just five words and elaborate swarams in both kalams followed. The swarams had lot of kanakku vazhakku inbuilt in them, reminding some of his concert of the eightees- may be fifty avartanams of koraippu. Having good accompaniments by the side would have prompted him to explore into his favourite territory once again.
Now the time is 8.50 PM. The Concert was scheduled to be up to 9.00 PM. TNS asked Mudhra Bhaskar- “Pallavi padalaamnu irukken, paravayillaya?” What more can we desire? The hall was still 75% full and the audience shouted, “Paadalam. Paadalam!” After a quick filler Giripriyam, there was a pleasant surprise for me - Yes, RTP in Chenjurutti. I felt that he has chosen to sing this pallavi specially for me like God coming to the house of the bhaktha to give darsan. Chenjurutti was sung most melodiously for 10 minutes- such an elaborate exploration I have never heard! After the thanam and pallavi in Chenjurutti, nervaval was done in ragamalika - in the other prominent madhyamasruthi ragams- Nadanamakriya, Punnagavarali, Yamunakalyani, Manirangu and Sindubhairavi. It was absolute bliss. While rendering swaram, he started from Sindubhairavi in reverse order. After few rounds of first kala swarams, he made a string of all the ragams at least for about ten rounds in the second kalam, which was simply amazing and breathtaking. Only people of his calibre can do such feats. The Pallavi was finished at 9.40 PM. The audience was about 50% even at that time. Still, he was in no mood to complete the concert- nor the audience wanted to leave. He sang all the tail enders and the concert ended at 10.15 PM.
It was a fabulous concert and words fail to describe it. His voice was in very good form which enabled him to express his imaginations most effectively. The audience who wanted to hear a long concert- assembled in good number and the hall was 80% full. He had good accompaniments. SD Sridhar played his solos and returns quite well. He was able to reply to the complicated koraippu swarams in Varali very well. Patri Sathish Kumar - he is already a star. He followed with good level of anticipation and his combination with SD Sridhar during the swara sessions were very lively His tani with Sivaramakrishnan was an absolute treat.
The large audience enjoyed every bit of the entire concert. They expressed their appreciation most liberally at the appropriate places. The highly receptive audience gave a well deserved standing ovation at the end of this marathon concert. We will look forward to the commercial release of this concert.
-As reported by C.Ramakrishnan
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Remembering Madurai Mani
The doyen Madurai Mani Iyer's centenary is being celebrated in a grand manner this year. The forum has slated many programmes for this year. On 31st December, an enlightening talk was presented by mrudangam maestro Umayalpuram Sivaraman and the concert which followed by Sikkil Gurucharan was dedicated to Mani Iyer’s memory.
Sivaraman had the rare honour of accompanying Madurai Mani on many occasions and thus, the first hand information he shared about Mani's music was a treasure trove of information. Sivaraman highlighted the sruti and laya sudham of Mani Iyer and how he kept everything in perfect proportion, be it a concert or his own personal life. Sivaraman has a very interesting way of communicating with the audience. His penchant for perfection which is a hallmark of his music was also reflected in his speech which had all the necessary ingredients put together perfectly in the most coherent manner.
K.Jayaramakrishnan and Y.Prabhu, Secretary of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha graced the occasion.
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Drama Utsav Awards
Raadhu's Drama Academy organized its 20th Margazhi Drama Utsav on 24th December. To mark MGR Remembrance Day, the MGR Excellence Awards were presented to various eminent personalities in the art and cultural field. Mudhra Bhaskar, Secretary of Mudhra organization was honoured for his notable contribution to art and culture.
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Music Appreciation Programme
As a special event in its fest, Mudhra conducted an interactive Music Appreciation Programme by O.S.Thiagarajan and Dr.Radha Bhaskar. The focus of this session was in highlighting the salient features of selected musicians of the past like Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, G.N.Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, Alathur Brothers and Semmnagudi Srinivasa Iyer in a conversational format.
Talking about Ariyakudi, OST said that he was the pioneer in creating a kutcheri format which was appealing to both the class and the mass. His pattern had a variety fare and it was so successful that even today, we adopt it. Talking about Madurai Mani, OST said that his perfection in sruti and laya was simply astounding. GNB came like a meteor and swept the music scene by his highly intellectual and aesthetic approach to music. His music was brilliant and ragas like Todi and Kalyani found new expressions in his voice, observed OST. GNB was also instrumental in exploring new ragas and giving them a fine picture. Sruti Bhedam was yet another intellectual exercise which GNB performed with complete ease and kept the audience spellbound.
Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer left an indelible stamp on the raga Karaharapriya and the way he handled it each time, imparting freshness was indeed noteworthy. His framing of the raga in the alapana as well as the kalpana swaras was worth emulating, observed OST. Many interesting anecdotes about the stalwarts added liveliness to the talk and also helped the audience travel down memory lane into that era of the golden greats.
OST concluded his presentation by saying that the best way to gain knowledge about Karnatic music is constant listening and reading books related to it.
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Honour for Samudhra's Editor
Dr.Radha Bhaskar, editor of Samudhra and treasurer of Mudhra was honoured by Bhairavi Gana Sabha with the title “ Sabha Bhairavi” in recognition of her dedicated service to fine arts. T.S.Krishnamurthy presented the award and Dr.Nalli Kuppuswamy Cheti, A.Natarajan, K.S.Sreenivasan (Director, Oriental Bank of Commerce) and H.Ramakrishnan graced the occasion. The function was followed by a vocal concert by Sudha Raghunathan.
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Lec-dem on Annamacharya
As part of its morning lec-dem series, Indian Fine Arts Society had a presentation on Annamacharya's compositions by maestro Dr.Nedunuri Krishnamurthy. He was assisted by his disciple Vinay and Malladi Suribabu, joined him on stage. In his introduction, Vinay said that Annamayya lived for 95 years from 1408 to 1503. At the age of sixteen, he had the Darshan of Lord Venkateswara and made a vow to offer one song a day to the Lord and thus, he composed about 32,000 Sankirtanas out of which about 14,000 are available. Annamayya was also the first Vaggeyakara to compose Sankirtanas in the Pallavi and Charanam format. But, it was only in 1922 that the compositions of Annamayya were unearthed by the Tirupati Devasthanam and ever since, a lot of efforts have been made to propagate them.
Nedunuri made the following observations during his presentation “ Poetic excellence and devotion abound in the compositions of Annamayya and hence his compositions hold a special place for Lord Venkateswara. These songs may not offer as much scope for improvisation as that of Thyagaraja but bnevertheless, they are replete with Bhakthi.”
As for the monumental contribution made by Nedunuri in composing exquisite music to the songs of Annamayya, he said that the sahithya was so beautiful that it automatically guided him into choosing the appropriate raga, tala, melody etc. In this context, he made a pertinent point that the main purpose is to bring out the spirit of the song. Hence, we must concentrate on the sahithya bhava and not overload the song with a profusion of sangatis.
The first song presented was “ Sakala shanti karamu” in which Annamayya says that by chanting Lord Venkateswara's name, all negative thoughts will vanish from our mind. It was set to Bahudari raga and Nedunuri rendered it in the most soulful manner. Okapari kokapari, popularized by M.S.Subbulakshmi has been tuned by Nedunuri and here Annamayya says that when the Lord stands before him, His beauty seems to get multifold and it cannot be explained in words. This song was also rendered by Nedunuri and the feel he imparted to it by concentrating on the sahithya bhava was astounding.
Two more songs “ Purushothamudu neevu” and “Nee okkadave” concluded the presentation.
In his concluding remarks, Nedunuri said that Raga was endless and how much we derive from it depends on our own Upasana. He also stressed the importance of notation in developing one's musical knowledge.
Altogether, it was an enlightening session where within the short time allotted, Nedunuri in a simple and communicative manner was able to make the audience experience the value and import of the Sankirtanas of Annamayya.
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Focus on Veena Seshanna's
Among the post trinity composers of Carnatic music, Veena Seshanna's (1856-1926) contribution has been significant and his swarajathis, varnas and tillanas are of great interest to musicians because of their intrinsic musical value and strikingly diverse approach. Though a well known Vainika, he was a versatile musician and a great composer.
Seshanna handled ragas like Shankarabharanam, Todi and Kalyani as well as Rakthi ragas like Saveri, Begada and other ragas like Jenjuti, Purvi, Behag and Kamas with equal ease. He has used Talas like Sankirna Triputa, Khanda Matya, Trisra Rupaka, Khanda Dhruva apart from the commonly used talas. One of his tillanas is in Chautal used in Hindusthani music. His tillana in Jenjhuti, “Dhirana tana dhimta Tirana” is familiar to all musicians. Veena Seshanna's compositions are in Telugu and Kannada.
Seshanna has composed nine varnas in ragas like Todi, Nattaikuranji and Saveri.
Mysore Subramanya, great grandson of Veena Seshanna has been making great efforts to popularize the compositions of the composer Veena Seshanna. In a presentation at the Indian Fine Arts Society, he along with senior Vainika Rajalakshmi Thirunarayan and vocalist Vasudha Keshav presented some gem compositions of Veena Seshanna. Among the songs presented were swarajathis in Sankarabharanam (Sankirna Triputa) and Karnataka Kapi ( Khanda Ata), varnams in Saveri (Misra Jhampa) and Behag-ragamalika ( Sankirna Matya) and kriti in Ganamurthe ( Rupakam).
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Abhang Vaibhavam
In the morning series of lecture demonstrations for the Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Dr.Pramila Gurumurthy made a presentation on the form and content of Abhangs. Dr.Pramila traced the history of Abhangs and said that Abhang or Abhanga is a form of devotional poetry sung in praise of the Lord Vitthala also known as Vithoba. The Bhakthi movement in Maharashtra was initiated by Sant Dyaneswar and it was carried forward by Namdev, Eknath and Tukkaram. There are two types of Abhangs - Devadhwar Abhang and Dewiwar Abhang. The Abhangs have four charanas, the first three are of the same meter and the fourth is comparitively shorter. Abhangs by Tukkaram are the most famous.
Dr.Pramila demonstrated a few Abhangs to focus on its structure and melody. She was assisted by Jamakirama Bhagavatar who also demonstrated many popular Abhangs sung today.
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Silver Jubilee of Bharat Kalachar
Bharat Kalachar inaugurated its Silver Jubilee Margazhi Mahotsav on 26th November at Vani Mahal, Chennai. Pujyasri Swami Dayananda Saraswathi inaugurated and presided over the function. Swamiji in his speech said that the imprint of the Bharatiya culture is in our dance, music, literature, costumes and even food.He congratulated Bharat Kalachar and its chairman Mrs. Y.G.Parthasarathy for working to preserve Indian culture and for encouraging artists since its inception. In her address, Mrs. Y.G.Parthasarathy said that Bharat Kalachar was started 25 years ago by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and her husband YGP. The Bharat Kalachar Velli Vizha Sangeetha / Nrithya Kala Bharathi Awards were presented to about 40 performing artists who had grown with Bharat Kalachar and achieved global fame. Apart from this, the Yuva Kala Bharathi award was conferred on promising young musicians. The annual souvenir of Bharat Kalachar was released by Rajiv Gupta, Zonal Manager, Bank of India, and the first copy was received by Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetti.
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Award for MSG
Nadasurabhi Cultural Association, Bangalore during its annual music festival conferred the “Sangeetha Surabhi” award on violin maestro M.S.Gopalakrishnan. President Brig. N.H.Narayan conferred the award and vidushi Neela Ramgopal felicitated. The function was followed by a Violin trio concert by M.S.Gopalakrishnan, Dr.Narmada and Suresh Kumar.
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