TNS season continues-Reviews of concerts on 7th and 9th march2007

TNS season continues


Review of the concert on 9-3-2007 at Raja annamalaipuram bhakthajanasabha

There was a felicitation to TNS as sangeethakalanidhi before the concert and the function itself started late and the speeches went on and on so that when the concert started it was almost 8pm and TNS had to catch the train at 10.30! He was awarded the title of sangeetha seva siromani by the organisation and he thanked them nicely and mainly the rasikas who have nurtured him and he said that it is a great blessing to be able to appreciate good music .The greatest rasika of all was Srirama himself whom Thyagaraja gave the title (TNS said here is the instance where a man gave title to God ) rasika siromani and that great rasika inspires the musician to sing and the listener to derive joy from his music..It made this rasika to feel that we are indeed blessed by the Lord to be able to hear and understand and experience the joy of listening to such a great genius of music, TNS.

The concert started with the krthi 'sadguru swami' in ritigoula, a composition of Poochi Iyengar on Thyagaraja as it was the first concert during Thyagaraja aradhana celebrated at sringeriparavachana mandapam by that organisation,.Hence all the rest were Thyagaraja krthis.

'Thelisirama' in Poornachandrika that followed was gripping with his racy but beautiful svara, Neraval-svara was at 'rAmayani brahmamulaku peru, and the sahithyabhava itself was not sacrificed for the speed and he brought out the difference in the two usages of the word 'rAma,' one meaning women and another, Srirama, with his expressive way of singing.the sangathis.

The next was a mukhari krthi 'Epanitho,' rarely heard, which was followed by 'sari evvare,' in gangeyabhooshani.The sangathis in 'nagadhara sura,' with akAra were beautiful and followed nocely by the violinist Shertalai Sivakumar. The various inflexions in 'sari evvare' were in keeping with the sahithyabhava.

TNS took up next the Yadukula kambodhi piece , 'heccharigaga ra ra,' and brought out the whole picture of the raga without the alapana, but through the singing of the sahithya itself by hearing which, one could imagine the way it would have been sung by Thyagaraja himself. Surprisingly , may be not so to his rasikas, TNS sang the neraval-svara for this , at 'ninnujoodavacchi bagini.'

After a quick ,'vidamuseyave,' in karaharapriya there was a bhava-laden 'Etijanma' in Varali.which made one exclaim 'Etijanmamihti hA' not to listen to such music forever without break

Then came 'sarsasamadhana,' in Kappinarayani, which was full of the stamp of his excellence everywhere. Long since, this krthi has been adopted by him by sealing it with his mudra and today it was even more explicit. The marks of his special effects were:
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1. The first line 'sAti dheyvamamevvare brovave' was split into 'dheyvam evvare' to bring out the meaning clearly and also in anulpallavi, the line was sung as 'paramasambhava agresarundanutsu' and not as 'gresarundanutsu' as it is sometimes sung.

2.In 'Paluku ravanundu theliya leka poye' TNS displayed the anguish that Thyagaraja would have felt that Ravana did not know that Rama was the supreme purusha.
3.'Hithavu matalentho' in the charana showed Rama send message to Ravana with well meaning words, by TNS singing the word 'hithavu mata' with a lot of 'hitha,idham,' and the next line 'Sathavu gana ayodhya nicche nantivi,' where TNS stressed the word 'nicche to bring the meaning that Rama offered even ayodhya to him to bring him to senses.Here this rasika is reminded of the Thyagarajaramayana Harikatha by TNS where he expalned the reason why Thyagaraja said that Rama offered Ayodhya to Ravana. Rama has already promised Lanka rajya to Vibhishana and performed his coronation. But he had Ayodhya within his power as Bharata would offer it to him as soon as he goes back after fourteen years which was drawing to a close.So he thought that it is safe to offer him Ayodhya and keep his word.Then in singing the word 'ragahathamuchesithivi,' the raga flowed like anything through sangathi and in short, the krthi was never heard like this before.

.Last but the best was Saramathi, which was saravathi, full of essence. It flowed like a pravaha of ganga, sometimes like a bindusaras at others like the cataract and became a torrent later, as ir was 9pm and getting late for his journey, and flooded the hearts of the rasikas.When he started 'mokshamu galadha ' it left no doubt in the mind of the rasikas that for only those who worship the Lord by music the moksha is assured, which was emphasised by TNS by singing 'sadbhakthisangitha jnanaviheenulaku mokshamu galadha.' In 'sAkshathkaranee,' one could feel the sakshshatkara of the nadha brahman.

Then TNS sang 'meluko,' in bouli, 'pahi kalyanaram' in kapi and ended the concert with 'srirama jayarama,' inmadhyamavathi.

Shetalai Sivakumar who accompanied on Violin and the veteran accompanist Guruvayur Dorai on the mridangam gave beautiful assistence despite the paucity of time with 100% cooperation.

Others may have had high BP because it was late for him to catch the train but not TNS He took his time to give a full fledged concert within the span of one and a half hour.! An elixir of high potency!

Thus the mini season was concluded gloriously and the next awaited event is on 27th March when TNS is going to do Harikatha on Valmiki ramayana in Hamsadvani for five days. Await day to day reviews of the same.

Veena concert at Hamsadvani on 7-3-2007

TNS started the concert with Anandhabhairavi and the krthi was 'marivere' of Shyama sastri and it was delightful anandha bhairavi.Next was raga alapana in Panthuvarali, the raga with Poorvikalyani, which alternatively finds place in most of his concerts,especially in veena.The krithi was 'apparamabhakthi ' of Thyagaraja with beautiful svaraprasthara, just as he would in his vocal concerts.

After a quick 'sarasasamadhana,' TNS played Hemavathi, doing grahabhedha and the Dikshithar krthi 'srikanthimatheem' with the kalpana svara at 'sukasounakadhi,' as usual. Next was 'sallare rama, ' of Thyagaraja in ahiri, a melodious rendition and the kadhankuthoohala krthi 'raghuvamsasudha ' that followed proved to be off -beaten track and was gamaka oriented and did not sound like playing on a typewriter.

The main raga was bhairavi which was lustrous but soft like the autumn sun, (bhA raveh iva) with the spectrum of colours(ragas) in the thanam, the ragsa being, kedaram,kanada,sahana,subapanthuvarali,begada, hameer kalyani, revathi and surutti. Giving rise to wild guesses as to what would follow next, TNS chose to play the royal krhi of Thyagaraja ,'kolyvaiyunnade.' It was just like hearing him singing and he also sang the pallavi a little as a treat to the rasikas.

The concert ended with a javali in kamas, chinnanjirukiliye of Bharathi and thillana of svathithirunal in dhanasri.






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