Two concert notes for the seventh report

This is the seventh note, and probably the last, for the 2018 music season. I will cover two concerts in this report.

On Thursday, 27th December, we were excited to attend the concert of Shri Abhishek Raghuram, accompanied by Shri J B Sruthi Sagar on the flute and Shri Anantha R Krishnan on the mridangam, at Narada Gana Sabha. The next day we attended the concert of Vidushi Aishwarya Shankar with added intention of sampling the "leaf lunch" of Pattappas, at the Music Academy.

Vidwans Sruthi Sagar, Abhishek Raghuram, and Anantha R Krishnan (L to R)

Shri Abhishek started the evening with a sedate AlApanai of Hamsadhvani. The flute accompaniment suits as much as a violin accompaniment would, in my opinion, and Shri Sruthi Sagar played a nice follow-up. 'vandEHam jagat vallabham' was the kriti chosen, which was followed by kalpanaswarams. He then chose saHAnA as the next rAgam for elaboration. With the relaxed items one after the other, we were wondering whether he was cautious after his throat infection 2 weeks earlier in the Kerala temple, where he cut short his concert after the first varnam.

Shri Abhishek sang Ee vasudhA following his AlApanai and it was rendered full of bhava. Moving phrases, lilting sangatis and can one doubt the scope of saHAnA in those aspects! The team thoroughly enjoyed the presentation, oblivious of the audience - competing with each other for small twists in korvais and sangatis which surprise one-another bringing out individual excellence! The appreciation of one another by the beaming smiles, raised eye-brows, etc., are really worth watching - we are not only audience but spectators in this concert.

And then the plane took off with pantuvarALi as the third piece for the evening. With this we were treated to Shri Abhishek in his regular full flow. A very long elaborate AlApanai he sang, which included to slow unfurling and the fast brigas at the end as well. Shri Sruthi Sagar then played a beautiful follow-up including show of his fingering skills at the conclusion. 'rAmanAtham bhajEHam' was the composition for this main item of the evening, kAshiramakriya rAgam as per composer Muthuswami Dikshitar's nomenclature. kAmavardhani / pantuvarALi are the names given to this rAgam - or they have all become synonymous now, if there was nuanced differences earlier.

This was followed by extended neraval and innovative kalpanaswarams. The sets of kalpanaswarams ended with different portions of the composition. Both the neraval and kalpanaswarams brought out the camaraderie of the 3 artists, each goading the other to higher levels of manodharma. This was followed by usual brilliance of Shri Anantha in his tani avartanam. With just this 3rd piece we found about 2 hours of the concert were over. The main had taken up about 1:20 hours or one and a half hours, and we did not notice - drenched in the excellent music.

A brief AlApanai in bhairavi was followed by a superb 'ela rADAyane kAmini', rendered at a brisk pace. The melody is still ringing in my ear. We were hoping the next one would be a rAgam tAnam pallavi, but a gentleman came and requested Shri Abhishek giving two options. We could only hear that "I will sing candracUDa itself". He launched into a soulful darbArikAnaDA followed by a melodious candracUDa. Though we have heard him sing this before, everytime he manages to move us by the rendition. And then suddenly the mangaLam was sung. Oh my - only 2:15 minutes? This was a bit disappointing - maybe the 7 PM slot is for 2 hours or extended by 2:15 only, at Narada Gana Sabha - we don't know. We obviously want more - and this team deserves more time to present a full concert.

The hall was nearly full, but it was a bit disappointing to note that the first two rows was just half-full. This, I think, is because a single ticket is issued for both the 4 PM and 7 PM concerts. There are a few rasikas who like only the one or the other, and hence the some seats stay empty.

Another interesting aspect is that relatives of Shri Lalgudi G Jayaraman had monopolised the evening at Narada Gana Sabha. 4 PM concert was by Shri Ganesh and Shri Kumaresh. 6:45 PM concert in the NGS mini-hall was a Shri G J R Krishnan for Charsur, in the Samskritam series. Isn't it also a dilemma for the family members to choose between these concerts? At least Smt Jayanthi Kumaresh avoided the dilemma by playing a concert in distant Guwahati the same evening, and not be tugged by conflict of schedule at NGS.

Vidwan B S Prashanth, Vidushi Aishwarya Shankar, Vidwan G Badrinath (L to R)

The next day, we decided to attend the 11:45 AM concert of Vidushi Aishwarya Shankar at the Music Academy. Chidambaram Shri G Badrinath played the violin and Shri B S Prashanth played the mridangam. After singing a short shlokam in kalyANi, Vidushi Aishwarya began the concert with the kEdAragowLa varnam, sAmi dhaya jUDa. A very relaxed shrI varalakshmI in shrI rAgam was the second song. Vidushi Aishwarya chose latAngi rAgam for the first major item of the afternoon. A very nice AlApanai was followed by Shri Badrinath's crisp essay of the same. marivere dikkevvaru was rendered including kalpanaswarams.

Then, after a quick indication of dEvagAndhAri, she took up nA moralagimpavE of Saint Thyagaraja - rarely heard song, I think and first time I am hearinng this. A brisk 'kumaran tAl panindE' of Shri Papanasam Sivan in yadukula kAmbhoji followed this, setting the stage for the main song of the afternoon.

tODi was the rAgam chosen and suddenly it struck me that I had not listened to any other tODi elaboration in the entire season. Seems like this season the artists have chosen a bigger variety to expand horizons for the rasikas by bringing out more compositions from as many sources as possible. A very good AlApanai was presented in unhurried manner, but towards the end it seemed to come to a close quickly without the usual faster pace akArams. We then noticed that she was trying to manage the time properly as it was only a 1 and half hour concert. Hence the slightly abrupt descent and closure of AlApanai. Shri Badrinath presented a short version as well before Vidushi Aishwarya presented Amba nadu vinnapavini of Pallavi Gopala Iyer, followed by neraval and kalpanaswarams. Shri B S Prashanth played a spirited tani avartanam.

Vidushi Aishwarya then closed the concert with viruttam in dEsh and jOnpuri, followed by Purandara Dasa's 'Hari citta satya' in jOnpuri (usually rendered in pUrvi kalyANi). This was a good concert within the time constraints of 1 and half hours. The fulfilling concert was then followed by filling stomach - the 2nd treat for the day was the 'paet pooja' of Pattappas meals served in banana leaf, like a 'kalyAna sAppADu'.

Wish all rasikas a very Happy New Year, and hope 2019 is great for all, along with more melodious, musical accompaniments.

Shertalai Shri Ranganatha Sharma's brilliant concert constrained by time

Not enough time to showcase voice, skills and knowledge

at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan on 4 December, 2018

Allotment of just an hour and 15 minutes (or 1:20) for some top artists is very restrictive. Shertalai Shri K N Ranganatha Sharma's concert today at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan was one such, which was supposed to begin at 5 PM and end before the following 6:30 PM concert. On top of it, we had veteran maestros accompanying him like Mridangist Shri K V Prasad and Ghatam Shri Vaikom Gopalakrishnan. This time constraint we can avoid in some way, if possible - by providing at least a half-hour extra to make it at least a 2 hour concert.

Shri Ranganatha Sharma began the concert with a relaxed dEva dEva kalayA in mAyAmALavagowLa by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal set to rUpaka tALam. He sang short set of kalpanaswarams before concluding this piece. Then he presented a brief and crisp AlApanA of janaranjani. Expected the kriti on Lord Ganapathi as per structure of the 2nd song being in praise of Him. 'gaNapatE suguna nidE' of Harikeshanallur Shri Muthaiah Bhagavatar was presented as expected, including the chitta swarams.

4 December, 2018 - at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Another brief AlApanA in dEvagAndhAri was followed by shrI tulasammA of Saint Thyagaraja. With these three songs presented in relaxed manner, we were next expecting main presentation of the evening. Shri Ranganatha Sharma's style seems to start the main AlApanA in teasing manner (only my own opinion), where lay rasikas come to conclusion of one rAgam, before the full structure is unfurled. Today the AlApanA started with the uttarAngam sounding like vAcaspati. Only after a few phrases, with a slow descent to the shuddha rishabham he gave the picture of rAmapriyA (ramA manOHari as per Dikshitar school). He then launched into a very good AlApanA with standard structure of exploring the same.

I say this about his teasing manner, because in an earlier concert about a week ago, at Raga Sudha Hall, for Parivadini (you can read review by Shri Balasubramanian Gurumurthi), he started presenting the uttarAngam like kalyANi. Only when he descended to the shatsruti rishabham (R3) did we know that it was kOsalam - and it was a brilliant kOsalam on that day. Today, however, due to time constraints, it was a bit shorter presentation of rAmapriyA. The violinist also presented his version of AlApanA with skill and softness within the scope presented by the vocalist (please help in identifying the violinist). With both these rAgams, kOsalam on other day and today's rAmapriyA, I am convinced Shri Ranganatha Sharma needs better recognition and more time - it will be for the benefit of all rasikAs for sure.

Having heard 3 different composers in first three songs, I was hoping for a Dikshitar song. He presented mAtanga shrI rajarajeshwari very well followed by extended kalpana swarams. Set to rUpaka tALam I was wondering if the tani avartanam may not be included in this part, even though the 1 hour mark was reached. Indeed that was the case and gave ambiguous feeling. Expectations of another main song while also wondering whether he will not be able to do justice to that song, due to paucity of time.

Shri Ranganatha Sharma then sang Saint Thyagaraja's composition in kalAvati, 'ennaDu jUtunO inakula tilaka' in brisk manner before taking up AlApanA in mOHanam. I am sure he is capable of a full-fledged presentation of this important pentatonic scale. He sang a good AlApanA though not elaborate enough to satisfy our thirst. Again the violinist played his interpretation in short and crisp fashion, before the song mOHanarAmA. This song included neraval and kalpanaswarams befitting a main song, followed by the tani avartanam. It was good to see that none stirred from seat at tani avartanam, even though it was already about 6:30 PM (time for next concert). Shri K V Prasad and Shri Vaikom Gopalakrishnan played a very good unhurried tani avartanam showing their knowledge and skills well - and it ended near 6:40 PM.

Shri Ranganatha Sharma then rounded off the concert with a brief sketch of beHAg followed by sAramaina. This was a very good concert, with a superb voice booming in the hall over the wonderful music system. The volume of the other 3 accompanying artists could have been set a bit higher, to make it a nice even concert. These sounded a bit subdued, compared to his voice, which was not fully recognized by audio team, even though there were a few indications from the dais for adjustments.

Shri Ranganatha Sharma has been added to my list of favorite artists especially after these two concerts I have enjoyed in span of a dozen days.