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.