Musiri Chamber - Divine Nagaswaram Concert of Desur Selvarathinam and party

Usually I do not write the notes on concerts that are webcast live, especially, if it will be available online for a while for everyone to enjoy for themselves. No 3rd party commentary (mine) is required for the rasikas who view such concerts. However, in this case, I would like to bring the outstanding concert to the notice of the rasikas who may miss this one. Here are the simple concert notes, while the rest is available for you to enjoy direct from YouTube.

Kanchi Kamakshi Temple Vidwans Desur Selvarathinam along with his sons Shri Shanmugasundaram (dressed in red) and Shri Sethuraman (sitting on right hand side of Shri Selvarathinam, in white) performed on Sunday morning, 22 December 2019, from 10 AM, along with Vidwan Velliambakkam Palanivel (blue shirt) and Vidwan Pondichery Saravanan (olive green shirt).

Simply put this was a divine concert with amazing shruthi alignment of all 3 Nagaswaram vidwans, very well supported by the Thavil vidwans. In the words of a parama rasika of Carnatic Music, especially Shri Muthuswami Dikshitar kritis, the Musiri house was converted into a temple by their music. In conclusion - don't miss watching /listening to this - if you don't have time, do so in parts. Full stop.

Triple Nagaswaram - Desur Selvarathinam and Party

1. siddhi vinAyakam sEvEHam - mOHanakalyANi - Adi - Harikesanallur Muthaiah Bhagavatar
2. rItigowLai - janani ninnuvinA - misra cApu - Subbaraya Shastri
3. Arabhi - sAdincenE O manasA - Adi - Thyagaraja
4. lalitA - HiranmayIm lakshmIm sadA bhajAmi - rUpakam - Muthuswami Dikshitar
5. shuddha sAvEri - dArini telusu konTi - Adi - Thyagaraja
6. karunincuTaku idi samayamayyA - sindhumandAri - Adi - Patnam Subramania Iyer
7. shanmukhapriyA - ekAmrEsha nAyakim - Adi - Muthuswami Dikshitar
8. shrI cakrarAja simHAsanEshvari - rAgamAlikai (cencuruTTi, punnAgavarALi, nAdanAmakriyA, sindhubhairavi) - Adi - Agastiyar
9. beHAg kriti jAvaLi
10. kApi - pazhani ninRa - rUpakam - Periyasami Thooran
11. eppaDi pADinarO - karnATaka dEvagAndhAri - Adi - Shuddhananda Bharathi
12. bAgeshrI kriti
13. tiruppugazh in HamsAnandi
14. mangaLam

Repeating the conclusion - Don't miss. PS: When you go to Kanchi Kamakshi temple hope you get time to listen to them in the divine settings.

YouTube channel name - Musiri Chamber
URL for this concert - https://youtu.be/I3HR6rBrpz8

PS: Thanks to clarification by Shri Sethuraman, son of Shri Desur Selvarathinam, item number 9 is a jAvaLi - nirupama svAmi ninnu - beHAg - rUpakam - Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar. Also, item number 12 is jaya jAnaki ramana - bAgeshrI - kanDa cApu - Badhrachala Ramadasar.

Excellent concert of Vidwan Sunil Gargyan

Anna Nagar Music Circle Trust hosted Vidwan Sunil Gargyan for the February concert, accompanied by veteran violinist Vidwan V V Ravi, Vidwan Trivandrum V Balaji on Mridangam and Vidwan V Sivaramakrishnan on the kanjira. It was heartening to see the hall was nearly full on Sunday evening (17 February).

Vidwan Sunil began the concert with the navarAgamAlikA varnam 'valaci vaci'. The second item was in rAgam ShanmuKapriyA, which he outlined briefly in a short AlApanai, before rendition of 'siddhi vinAyakam' of Shri Muthuswami Dikshitar, in rUpaka tALam, at a fast pace. It was in a very fast clip, wherein he and Vidwan Ravi presented well, though a slower rendition can allow to bring out more beauty in this composition and the rAgam. The kalpana swarams rendered by both of them were breathtaking, as it was in the same high speed.

Picture courtesy : Secretary Srikanth Krishnamurthy

Vidwan Sunil chose to give a good AlApanai of saHAnA to start the third song for the day. Both he and Vidwan Ravi brought out the melodious rAgam very well before the rendition of Shri Gopalakrishna Bharathi's lyrics 'tillai ambalatAnai'. After the song, Vidwan Sunil announced that the composition was set to saHAnA by Vidwan Sanjay Subrahmanyan.

The fourth rAgam began with a brilliant AlApanai of pUrna shadjam. The elaborate AlApanai by him and Shri Ravi were excellent and brought out the full facet of this rAgam. Even though there are some swara sancArAs similar to allied rAgams, there was no doubt left that he was singing pUrna shadjam only by using its own unique phrases. 'lAvanya rAmA', a composition of Shri Thyagaraja set to rUpaka tALam, was the kriti that was sung. Following it, a brisk rendition of a rare malayamArutam kriti danuDevvuDO dAsharatE was presented followed by a vilambita kAlam 'cEtah shri bAlakrishnam' in dwijAvanti of Shri Muthuswami Dikshitar.

The rAgam varALi was chosen for exploration. Vidwan Sunil presented it well and Vidwan Ravi followed it with a compact AlApanai showing his prowess on the violin. The song that was sung, 'mAmava mInAkshi' is a composition of Shri Muthuswami Dikshitar set to mishra Eka tALam. A brisk 'idi nyAyamA shrI rAmacandrA' in rAgam mALavi, composed by Shri Patnam Subramanya Iyer was the interlude before the grand main item for the day.

A very elaborate presentation of kApi AlApanai was a treat for all of us. The ease with which he covered the tri-stAyis and full throated singing without holding back was thoroughly enjoyed by us. Vidwan Ravi followed up with a shorter and crisp kApi. We hoped it would be 'inta sowkhya maninE' and it was indeed this composition of Shri Thyagaraja. The last time I heard it as a main song of the concert was in the 90s! Loved this treat which rounded off a nice choice of kritis. Excellent neraval at 'swara rAga laya' was sung, followed by kalpana swarams too. The tani avartanam that followed was very elaborate and nuanced too. Vidwan Balaji showed so many variations on the mridangam, while Vidwan Sivaramakrishnan chose to present some lightning strokes, which for me were unbelievable. To be able to roll them out with one hand, while other percussion instruments have two hands to bring out the similar sol was breathtaking.

The tukkaDa section of the concert included vandu kEtpAr illayO, a rAgamAlikA set to HindOLam, aTAnA and bilaHari, a composition of Shri Oothukkadu Venkatasubbaiyar (I believe; Vidwan Sunil announced as Smt. Ambujam Krishna; experts can help here) and khaMAs rAga viruttam followed by karpUram nArumO in kanda cApu tALam.

This was one of the satisfying concerts and evening well spent for us. We could see that Vidwan Sunil has a bright future ahead.

December 2018 Music season - Tidbits - Part 1

Tidbits mid-season from here and there

(plus hits and bites on many everywhere)

Part 1 of . . .

December season has the musical highs, as well as the accompanying fun, awkward moments and woes. Here are some of them to chew on, mid-season.

A picture from the previous season - 30 December, 2017 - winners of best concert of the season

Why is it that some folks wear those overpowering perfumes and land up in a tightly packed small hall, which is already warmed up by the excited bodies in spite of the A/Cs going full blast? Boy o boy, was it a hit on everyone's nostrils and for some it struck the brain and probably nearly made them faint. Please folks, can you take it a little easy on the perfume in such places. Maybe you can try it in huge auditoriums, like NGS / MA, but please don't in the Raga Sudha Hall! You have some weddings too, like at Antila, that can present you with the right opportunity to overpower everyone within 3 floors of you.

Hindustani methods are mostly followed in every thani avartanam. That is my opinion. What do I mean by that, am sure you ask! Well, the presentation of the percussionists starts at a leisurely place, in vilambita kaalam and possibly a 2-kalai chowka taalam. However, as the different exchanges move forward, the taalam speeds up and soon the beats are closer placed. At the end of the kuraippus and korvai one can see the vast difference in the taalam as the singer / instrument player has to switch back to his/her 2-kalai chowka taalam in vilambita kaalam to finish the presentation of the item. It is very obvious at this time, though the earlier change of speeding up is very gradual and less noticeable. If we were to have an electronic taalam keeper, one will find that at times the taalam is at 1.5 times the speed - or they finish 1.5 avartanams near the end of the tani avartanam compared for every avartanam used during the start of the piece.

Now is that something to complain about - probably not. However I wonder whether the percussionists can do even more variations in more complex nadais, if the taalam were kept at the slow speed. It could give more scope to the mridangam, kanjira, ghatam and morsing players, if one were to keep the slow pace throughout. More complicated korvais and many more variations could probably be played with ease, don't you think in the vilambita kaalam?

It was not rare to see people reading magazines and newspapers in the decades ago, while enjoying the music. Though magazines were less of a problem, newspapers were a nuisance - noisy to open, flip, fold, etc. Now-a-days, of course it goes without saying, many are on their mobile phones to either post their opinions (minority) or keep checking news, social media, etc. (majority) It was interesting to see one gentleman in the 2nd row of a hall (already mentioned in that particular concert's notes) happily reading a newspaper. Probably he was doing it noisily, as a VIP from the first row had to step up to him and admonish him (after which the reader folded, and after a few minutes was out of the hall, probably bored without parallel activities). Though the mobile phone usage by others has not been bothering me much it has indeed made me wonder which gets priority in our brains - music or the masala? Your views please!

Can you identify the star on the dais, other than the violinist Shri B U Ganesh Prasad?

When we complain about the audience, it is OK, but couple of folks took the cake and ate it too, when doing on the dais - disturbing the concert. They ate it because they were the percussionists in the concert, when they decided to start chatting during the AlApana of the main artist. They kept at it for "longer than it can be ignored" duration and disturbed the main artist so much. The artist had to break off the AlApana and a stare at the mridangist had to set the 'concert ethics' right! I did not expect the lack of professionalism on the part of experienced percussionists (was this AlApana of a top artist so disinteresting). Ooh la la. If they were my friends I would have let it rip at them after the concert. However, I am just a lay rasika who should not poke nose into giving top artists some advice.

Back to the audience - we seriously really need to control our movements and respect the fellow rasikas. Sabhas need to do something to stop movements in the middle of songs. Like the volunteers in tennis matches, who stop movements in-and-out of the stadium except during the breaks between games, we need the sabhas to enforce the rule of in-and-out only during the gaps between songs. It is really annoying when the interruptions are frequent, especially in the "free concerts"... okay, okay... since it is free for me, I should bear with it? Oh wait. It is free for them too - does that mean they are going to run amok and trouble all rasikas? Hmmm... You decide folks.

Yes, yes, it is well known that people should switch off their mobile phones or put them on silent mode. But wait, we don't announce that anymore. That means, there are many who don't do it anymore. Every concert I hear a dozen or two interruptions by the mobile phone. Now, there are going to be one or two people who genuinely forget to switch off or switch to silent mode. An announcement before every concert should likely reduce these interruptions to one or two (by old person or two whose problem(s) we have to be sympathetic to). So, please organizers, continue to announce before every concert - it may really help (along with chaperones at the gates for the control of flow of people).

Back to sound advice. Or rather just observation of solace for the experts who are fighting every day with the equipment. If Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan itself has problems with the sound, at times, where we are supposed to have one of the best sound systems if not "the" best in Chennai, then what can we say about other sabhas, halls and kalyana mandapams. During the concert of Shri Abhishek Raghuram there was a hum heard, but I believe only on the dais, probably from the monitors (lucky for the rasikas in the seats). In the concerts of two vidushis Gayatris (K and V, latter after the first), there was feedback heard and at times for the rasikas too. However, this time it seemed to have been reduced if not eliminated after a while and multiple attempts - just tells us so much about the complexity of creating a re'sound'ing success.

OK, I will sign-off with a confession until the next hit-or-miss comments on everything but music. Except for a concert in Arkay CC, where I waited for a particular song to complete before entering, the few times I have been late to a concert, I have entered in the middle of the presentation wonly. We are like that wonly, when seats are likely to be gone in any delay of a few seconds. But I do try to avoid in case seating is not likely to be a problem and I happen to be late. Leaving mid-way is usually not a problem, as I leave only between songs or when the artists are re-tuning their instruments.

Sowkhya Sangeetham - Shri Vijay Siva at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

(and mish-mash report)

Shri Vijay Siva never disappoints in providing a serene and exhilarating concert. It was one such on the Sunday morning (25 Nov 2018), where he was accompanied by the talented youngsters Shri L Ramakrishnan on violin, Shri Palghat Harinarayanan on Mridangam and Shri Sunil Kumar on Kanjira. I am sorry that I don't know the names of Shri Vijay Siva's two disciples who provided vocal support, as well as played the tambura.

Shri Vijay Siva did not include any gimmickery, just like any of his trademark concerts, while presenting an excellent compact traditional 2 hour carnatic concert. After a brief shlokam he began the concert with vandEHam jagat vallabham in Hamsadhvani. It set a brisk pace to the start with a few kalpana swarams also in the rendition.

HimAcala tanayE in Anandabhairavi was presented next. The soft rendering was soothing and set the stage for the rest of the sowkhya sangeetham. When he chose an AlApanA in sArangA next, I was anticipating the panca-bhUta kriti arunAcala nAdam. However, the phrases presented in the AlApana did not seem to indicate it - I wondered if it would be nIvADa nE gAna or enta bhAgyamu. It was a pleasant surprise to hear a rarely sung Thyagaraja kriti Emi dOva balkuma. This rendition included kalpana swarams in a relaxed gait.

A click from a different concert in 2017

Taking a diversion in this report, Shri Vijay Siva, unlike most musicians, does not give any gap between songs (unless accompanists need to fine-tune their instruments). Shri Sanjay Subrahmanyam also does not give more than those 3 to 5 seconds between songs, before commencing the next. This reminded me of comments on a lecture demonstration of the previous day (Saturday), where Shri Sriram Parasuram was talking of Nagaswaram Maestro T N Rajarathnam Pillai (at Raga Sudha Hall, as part of Parivadini series). In his opinion, the format of the thavil interludes in the AlApana of Nagaswaram not only gives a breather to the artists to recharge lungs, but also helps him/her make a fresh start on the AlApana. This format, suggested Shri Sriram, could also be followed in vocal concerts, to provide vocalist with a brief rest for him/her to provide an elaborate exploration of the rAgam. Only in the case of rAgam and tAnam before the pallavi, this "exchange" pattern is followed allowing for elaboration in this manner. It could be extended to other main AlApana and sub-main (as seems to be the current term) AlApana also.

Coming back to the concert, Shri Vijay Siva then started with just ta-nun-na (mandra stAyi ni-pa-sa??) to indicate, in just half-a-second, that the next rAgam would be kEdAram. Just brilliant to sing that quite unique and short phrase in the right manner. The knowledge, vidwat and experience comes out in such nuances. Again, I was hoping that he will take a panca-bhUta kriti - and he did not disappoint. His AlApana had indicated clearly that it was Ananda naTana prakAsham that was going to follow. kEdAram was presented in elaborate manner and the serene rendition of the Dikshitar kriti followed. As was expected, there was nice neraval at sangIta vAdya vinOda tAnDava, followed by kalpana swarams in brisk tempo.

The next item was a short vasantA rAgam song composed by Shri Papanasam Siva "mA dayai nidhiyenum". Then came the magnum opus in kharaHarapriyA.

We can say that the AlApana covered the entire scope of the rAgam. He presented most of it in a full throated manner and near the end, he switched to the gentle lilting soft vocalisation to give the "konjal" face of kharaHarapriyA. It was very moving indeed. Shri Ramakrishnan presented a good and compact version of this rAgam. In the end, Shri Vijay Siva sang some characteristic phrases from cakkani rAjA in the AlApanA, giving clear indication that the composition will be the one to follow. This composition was given the full treatment, including the expected neraval at kanTiki sundara. The kalpanaswarams also covered the entire facet of the rAgam followed by a brilliant tani avartanam. Shri Harinarayanan and Shri Sunil kumar thrilled the audience as well as the artists with their exchange.

Coming back to the lecture demonstration, Shri Sriram (on Saturday) had mentioned that some stalwarts (primarily Thanjavur Shri S Kalayanaraman?) had suggested that AlApanA of the vocalist can be for one rAgam, which need not be followed by an elaboration by violinist. Also, before another composition in the concert, the violinist can start and present the rAga AlApanA, while the vocalist follows it by the kriti. This seemed like a very good suggestion indeed. It is also interesting that if this is followed by some "non-conformist" in current decade, along with other radical ideas, there seems to be a knee-jerk reaction of dissent from rasikas.

Shri Vijay Siva closed with "tOdudaya cevi" by Thirugnanasambandar, viruttam in nIlAmbarai, varALi and bhImplAs (or was it karnAta devagAndhAri), followed by yAdava nI bA yadukula nandana in that last rAgam and finishing with a kAvaDi cindu "centamizh nEDennum pOdinilE".

I wish that nature rained claps for this concert too, like it happened on 31st December, 2017, after his concert in West Mambalam - tippity-tap on the tin roof exactly during the mangalam, it was on that day. Chennai does need a lot of rain.

Shri Vijay Siva - Sukha sangeetham at Rasika Fine Arts

As the last line of the Mangalam was sung, a brief drizzle tippity-tapped on the tin-roof, as though the Gods were clapping for the "sukha" sangeetam of Shri Vijay Siva. It was louder than the claps from the happy spectators.

Enjoyed the superb concert accompanied by Smt. Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi, Shri N C Bharadwaj and Shri Krishna, at J G Hindu Vidyalaya school. This concert was for Rasika Fine Arts on the evening of 29th December, 2017 - a nice Friday evening treat.

Shri Vijay Siva, Smt Vijayalakshmi, Shri Bharadwaj and Shri Krishna

Shri Vijay Siva opened with a short shlokam in Kalyani, followed by a mellow Sujana Jeevana in Kamas ragam. The sweet piece set the tone for the evening. He took up an elaborate alapani of Rishabhapriya next. The ragam's unique rasa was brought out well, as expected from a stalwart like him. Smt Vijayalakshmi played a compact follow-up. Thyagaraja's Mahima tagginchuko kovayya (kindly excuse mistakes in transliteration, if any) was the kriti that was presented, with brief neraval and detail kalpana swarams included.

Next he sang a slow and relaxing O Jagadamba in Anandabhairavi, a composition of Muthuswami Dikshitar. A short Shankarabharanam alapanai preceded Annai janaki vandale set to Misra chapu talam, Arunachala Kavi composition. With a quick tempo rendition of Paramukham enayya in Kharaharapriya (Papanasam Sivan composition), he set stage for the main song.

Saveri was taken up for the elaborate exploration, which was played well by Smt. Vijayalakshmi as well. Sri Rajagopala Bala, a Muthuswami Dikshitar krithi, was taken up. Full justice for the ragam was done with beautiful neraval and kalpana swarams, followed by a spirited tani avartanam between Shri Bharadwaj and Shri Krishna. Though the sound settings for the Mridangam was a constant trouble through entire concert for Shri N C Bharadwaj, the tani avartanam was in full flow. A separate post on "sound systems", "audio personnel", etc., will be posted later.

Standard pose during viruttams / Q&A

A viruttam in sevaral ragams followed next, ending with Behag as the last ragam, followed by Oruthi maganaai pirandhu in Behag. A bhajan on Vittala, with the cymbals (1 mandatory bhajan per concert seems to be his style) in Pahaadi (I am guessing, as it sounded like Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman's tillana in that ragam - and exchange of glances, with Smt. Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi makes me think it is right) was the penultimate piece.

The thiruppugazh, Marukkulaviya malaranai kodiyade valartta, set to Purvi kalyani rounded off the concert (tisra nadai rupaka talam). As mentioned above, the mangalam was about to be completed, when the claps started from the audience. However, a sudden louder clapping came from the drizzle on temporary tin-roof of the open-air pandhal. It seemed like the Gods themselves were applauding the concert. We were mighty pleased, for sure.