I am happy to share the concert notes of two wonderful concerts that I attended in past couple of days. The first of those, an evening concert by Vidushi Sumithra Vasudev and team, at the Music Academy, Chennai, on 19th December 2022, was one dripping with traditional renditions and a serene music presentation. The second one I attended, another evening concert on the next day by Vidwan Palghat Ramprasad and team at the same venue, was another brilliant musical treat for all those who were fortunate to attend.
Vidushi Sumithra Vasudev was accompanied by Vidushi Padma Shankar on the violin, Vidwan B Ganapathyraman on the mridangam, and Vidushi Bhagyalakshmi M Krishna on the mohrsing. The songs presented were the following
* Hasti vadanAya namastubhyam - navarOj - misra Ekam - Muthuswami Dikshitar
* kOrina varamOsagumayyA - rAmapriyA - rUpakam - Patnam Subramanya Iyer
* ma ramaNan umA ramaNan - HindOLam - rUpakam - Papanasam Sivan
* kurai Edu enakkini - nATTakurinji - misra cApu - Ambujam Krishna
* palukavemi nA deyvamA - pUrnacandrikA - Adi - Thyagaraja
* rAgam tAnam pallavi - bhairavi - jhampa tALam (2-kalai)
(pallavi - bhairavi bhArgavi bhArati dEvi nIyE tunai; rAgamAlikA in sAlagabhairavi, vasantabhairavi, sindhubhairavi)
* orutti maganAy pirandu - beHAg - Adi - Andal
I started late for the venue, but was lucky to find traffic a little less than expected. Though I missed the first song (likely a varnam), I was a bit suprirsed / shocked to find parking inside the complex itself. The song in navarOj was setting the tranquil scape for the entire evening. It was rendered in a serene vilambit kAlam with precision - kudos. Then vidushi Sumithra took up a detail exploration of rAmapriyA rAgam, followed by a suitable AlApanai by vidushi Padma. Patnam Subramanya Iyer's kOrina varamOsagumayyA was the composition recited in detail. After a brisk version of mA ramaNan umA ramaNan in HindOLam, the vidushi took up a detail AlApanai of nATTakurinji. Both vidushis' AlApanais were followed by Ambujam Krishna's composition kurai Edu enakkini, set to misra cApu tALam. The team gave a complete coverage of the rAgam as well as the song, in line with it being the main choice of the day.
nIyE tunai bhairavi
A medium tempo rendition of the pUrnacandrikA kriti palukavEmi nA deyvamA was then followed by the grand bhairavi rAgam tAnam pallavi. Vidushi Sumithra had planned the songs and the pallavi very well to give appropriate importance, as well as to stick to the schedule. The pallavi line 'bhairavi bhArgavi bhArati dEvi... nIyE tunai' was sung in jhampa tALam (2-kalai) with eduppu on 1st beat after samam (onnu taLLi). The rAga dEvatais were definitely standing with the team, as she called out nIyE tunai, in this majestic rendition. She rendered the pallavi in 3 other -bhairavi rAgams, namely sAlagabhairavi, vasantabhairavi, and sindhubhairavi. She then covered the mandatory variations of the pallavi in different nadais, followed by the kalpana swarams.
Laya vidwan Ganapathyraman and vidushi Bhagyalakshmi provided excellent percussion support throughout the concert. Probably they were left with a few minutes less for their laya vinyAsam exposition after the pallavi, yet made their knowledge, imagination, and skills known to the audience. Vidushi Sumithra then closed the concert by singing the Andal tiruppAvai, orutti maganAy pirandu set in rAgam beHAg, followed by the tradition mangaLam. As I walked out refreshed with a wonderful evening of soft music steeped in tradition, the cool weather outside added to the satisfaction.
However, there was one small blemish for the evening - on the part of rasikAs. When 80% of season ticket holders do not turn up (my guess / opinion), it is indeed sad for multiple reasons. It being Monday, there may be valid reasons for some, but not expected from such a high number! I wonder what changes in the ticketing, scheduling, and any other processes, would help change this in future.
On the next evening, Vidwan Palghat R Ramprasad was accompanied by Vidwan M R Gopinath on the violin, Vidwan J Vaidyanathan on the mridangam, and Vidwan S V Ramani on the ghatam. The songs chosen for the concert were:
* rAju veDala jUtAmurAre - tODi - rUpakam - Thyagaraja
* shrI mAtrubhUtam - kannaDA - misra Ekam - Muthuswami Dikshitar
* mA ramaNan umA ramaNan - HindOLam - rUpakam - Papanasam Sivan
* sharanara surabhOja - pUrvikalyANi (my guess) - Adi - Kamaleshadasa
* Emani nE nI maHima - mukhAri - Adi - Subbaraya Shastri
* HaridAsulu veDale - yamunA kalyANi - Thyagaraja
For this Tuesday concert, on 20th December, I started earlier to the venue. However, the people in the city decided to turn out in more numbers on the roads (and in the concert venue too, though not in line with my expectation for Vidwan Ramprasad and team). I was late and ended up meeting a friend in the canteen. It was supposed to happen before the concert, but met only as the first song had been completed. Valet parking could not help much, the delay of 10 to 15 minutes having happened by the time I entered the academy complex in the car. We nibbled on a "Sardar vadai" (whatever that may be - Punjabi or Gujarati or just a fancy name) and coffee, as we heard strains of a wonderful tODi and rAju veDala through the speaker setup in the canteen. After catching up on the history missed out in 3 years, in just a few minutes, we headed out to our seating areas. We kept in touch on WhatsApp - as good as being seated next to each other, as the conversations continued about the kritis, rAgams, rendition, etc - minus the sounds of talking sitting next to each other - as the team completed the tODi kriti.
Vidwan Ramprasad gave a very short glimpse of kannaDA before taking up the Muthuswami Dikshitar kriti shrI mAtrubhUtam. Then he took up a detail AlApanai of HindOLam. As I was wondering whether it will be sAmaja varagamanA, rAmanukku mannan, or other wonderful kritis in this rAgam, he took up mA ramaNan umA ramaNan. Though it was 2 out of 2 for me in 2 days, of the same song, the presentation details were different. While on the previous day it was a simple full rendition of the song between two main songs, on this day it was a very detail handling of HindOLam. The kalpana swarams also poured out showing his imagination as well as his expert knowledge of the laya aspects, which is not surprising considering his lineage from one of the stalwarts of laya.
After a brief AlApanai of pUrvikalyANi (my guess), he sang the rarely rendered kriti sharanara surabhOja, a composition of Kamaleshadasa. A search of the internet sites could not confirm the rAgam, nor was there info of the rAgam it is usually sung in. So, I will stick to assuming pUrvikalyANi, unless an expert corrects me.
mukhAri nI maHima
Vidwan Ramprasad then took a very detail exploration of mukhAri. It was bhava laden AlApanai with elaborate manOdharma coming to the fore. The relaxed and slow build-up and completion of AlApanai, were clear signals that it would be the most important rendition for the evening. Vidwan Gopinath on the violin played a good follow-up to the AlApanai as he had settled down into the groove by then. As the kriti Emani nE nI maHima unfolded we got a complete package of the Vidwan's control, vidwat, alignment to shruti, involved singing, appreciation of the laya vidwans' sensitive & superb accompaniment (J Vaidyanathan and S V Ramani), etc. The goddess of mukhAri was completely displayed in all detail in the AlApanai, kriti, neraval, and kalpana swarams. A wonderful laya vinyAsam rounded off the evening, as we were quite close to the close of the concert schedule. Vidwan Ramprasad then sang a rare Thyagaraja composition set to yamunA kalyANi, 'HaridAsulu veDale', before closing with the traditional mangaLam sung at a leisurely pace.
The rasikas are indeed fortunate to listen to such soothing music on both days. The fact that the bhairavi pallavi keeps running in the mind and the mukhAri elaboration pops into the head unannounced, are enough proof for me that the artistes were able to keep my undistracted attention on their music & soak my mind in that experience.
Special thanks to very good balance of the sound systems and settings, which many a times has been found wanting in many venues in the past, including Music Academy. In my opinion, it is nothing wrong in restating that the sensitive music was made more enjoyable by the acoustics and sound systems.
PS: This post is by a human, and not a bot, and the human is not bought either.
Disclaimer: If anyone thinks the above is artificial intelligence, it may be true about my music knowledge - but AI/ML not involved in the writing, facts, or opinions.
