AndyMusicBlog-thodi

The next concert we attended was of Hyderabad brothers at ParthasArathi Sabha. Some details for those who didn't read my blog last year. This sabha was founded in 1900 and is the oldest music Sabha in Madras. It seems to be caught in a time warp - old auditorium, tall fans, not too great acoustics . Wonderful pictures of Lord Parthasarathy at the venue. Vocal: Hyderabad Brothers Violin: S. Varadarajan Mridangam: Karaikudi Mani Khanjira: N Amrith 01. kanjadalAyadAkshi - kamalAmanOhari - Dikshithar - Adi - Crisp rendition. 02. samayamidE nannu brOva (S @ pallavi) - kEdAram - MDR? - rUpakam 03. nI paramA nAma (sketch, S @ pallavi) - Ananda bhairavi - St. Thyagaraja- Adi 04. sogasujUda tharamA - kannada gowLa - St. Thyagaraja- rUpakam 05. pAmarajana pAlini (R, N @ kAmikAntha paladAyini, S) - simmhEndramadhyamam - Dikshithar - rUpakam 06. palukuTEchE palamEni (short sketch) - phalamanjari - St. Thyagaraja- rUpakam 07. vidajAlathurA - janaranjani - Ad

We had decided to meet up at the Music Academy at 8.30 to pick up daily tickets for Bombay Jayashree's concert. We bought the tickets and realised that even if had arrived 10 mins later than we did,all the tickets would have been sold out. Bombay sisters were singing at the Academy in the morning. Listened to their Ritigowla and found their voices pleasant ( after a long long time. ) Met my friend KumAran from Charsur Digital Workstation and he talked about Sanjay's concert at Krisha GAna Sabha being excellent. I bought the new Paddhati CDs of Sangeeta KalAnidhi Palakkad KVNarayanaswamy which contained a Navaratri Mandapam concert of his (all Swathi Tirunal compositions.) We then went to Bharat KalAchar to listen to veteran vocalist Parassala B PonnamAL. (Excerpt from an earlier blog post of mine : Parassala PonnamALis one of Semmagudi SrinivasIyer's senior disciples and blessed with a rich, deep and sweet voice which belies her age. (She is almost 85) My grandma was an a

I was in Chennai last weekend for attending Carnatic music concerts during the December season, 2008. We left from Bangalore on 24th December and reached Madras (aka Chennai) on 25th morning. I'd taken along printouts of the concert schedules from 25th to 28th. As in 2007, I had a tough time deciding on which concerts to attend as various Sabhas host concerts of front ranking artistes simultaneously. I was slightly sad that I couldn't attend any concerts of Vijay Shiva and Vedavalli mami as they had no concerts scheduled during this time-frame. The first concert I attended was at The Madras Music Academy.The Music Academy auditorium named after TTKrishnamachari has excellent acoustics with Bose Speaker systems and paintings of Purandaradasa , the Trinity and Swathi Tirunal by S.RAjam adorn its walls. Prof. T.N.Krishnan was scheduled to play at 9.15 AM and arrived at the venue a little late. He was accompanied on the violin by his daughter Viji Krishnan and son Sriram Krishnan

Vocal : Sanjay Subrahmanyan Violin : H K Venkatram Mridangam : Tumkur Ravishankar KhanjirA : Guruprasanna 01.) jalajAkshi ninne ( varNam) - chakravAkam - Patnam Subramanya Iyer - Adi Talam 02.) tyAgarAja gurum AshrayE - kEdAram - M D Ramanathan - Rupakam Heard this Kriti in a live concert for the first time. (Last heard this kriti in a vintage MDR rendition). Being highly innovative, Sanjay always chooses to do something novel in his Kucheris. 03.) MandAri - Brilliant Alapanai by Sanjay- paralOka bhayamu -St. Thyagaraja - Adi tALam.Neraval & swarAms @ ‘dEva lOkamani tannukollulO tyAgarAjanuta’ 04.) kAntimati annai nI gati - kAnaDa -Adi Talam - PApanAsam Sivan. Another kriti which people have rarely rendered in concerts. mahArAjapuram Santhanam used to sing this kriti with great fervor and Sanjay's rendition reminded me Santhanam's kAntimati.

MallAdi brothers (SrirAm PrasAd and Ravi KumAr) Dr. Mysore M ManjunAth - Violin Arjun Kumar - mridangam N. Amruth - KhanjirA I try and attend as many concerts of Malladi brothers in Bangalore as possible ( Their gurus VidwAn Voleti Venkateshwarulu and VidwAn Nedunuri Krishnamurthy have been all time favorites at home.) MallAdi brothers commenced their concert with an Adi TAlam varnam in AnandaBhairavi. 2.) GajAnayu sadA Pada -Thodi - (not sure whose composition it is ?) - Adi 3.) NAgaswarAvali (GarudaDhwani) - Sripate - St. Thyagaraja - Adi Racked my brains over the identifying the ragam but was able to . Brilliant swarams by both of them. 4.) MukhAri - ksheenamai - St. ThyAgarajA - Adi 5.) Simhendramadhyamam - KAmAkshi KAmakoti Peetha Vasini - Dikshithar - Rupakam . Neraval and swarams at Nadabindu KalAswarupini katyayani. 6.) Vara RAga laya - Chenchu Kambojhi - St. ThyAgarajA - Rupakam . 7.) SAveri - Excellent alapanais by Ravi KumAr and Manjunath . DurusugA Kripa - Shyama Shastr

Am back to blogging after a hiatus. There weren't too many concerts in Bangalore since last few months (and I was busy with work too.) Unnikrishnan was accompanied by Charulatha Ramanujam on the violin, senior Vidwan A.V.Anand on the Mridangam and Srisylan on the Ghatam. List of songs rendered : 1.) SAmiNeeTodi - PantuvarAli Varnam - Adi TAlam 2.) Sugunamule - Chakravakam - St. Thyagaraja - Rupakam 3.) Varali - karunayelA kanden - St. Thyagaraja - Adi I have always liked Unni's renditions of Varali. This was no exception. The only other recording of this kriti which I have listened to is by Semmangudi SrinivAsaier. 4.) Dhanyasi - bAlakrishnaPAdamalar - PApanasham Shivan - Adi 5.) BahudAri - BrovabAramA - St. Thyagaraja - Adi Exquisite alapanai by Charulatha . 6.) KirvANi - kaligi yunte - St. Thyagaraja - Adi This was boring (only a maestro like MSS or KVN can do justice to Kirvani ) and we left after listening to it for a while.While listening to Unni's concerts I have no

Yesterday I had the rare privilege to attend a chamber concert by veteran vocalist Sangita KalAnidhi Smt. R. Vedavalli. She was accompanied by Smt. Charulatha Ramanujam on the violin and Shri Anoor A. Sarma on the Mridangam. I have always been a die-hard fan of her music (do check out older blogs of mine for more details ) and didn't want to miss this opportunity. I am attaching details of the artistes by pasting the original invite from Essae Music foundation. Vocal support was provided by her senior disciples Smt Sumitra Vasudev and Smt. Sumathi. 1.) SarasiJAkshi - Varnam in Sri RAgam 2.) Sariyevvare - Shriranjani - St. Thyagaraja - Adi 3.) Entara - Haraikambhoji - St. Thyagaraja - Adi (Neraval and swarams at SheshuduShivuniki) 4.) praNatArTiharAya namastE vara - sAmantAm Muthuswamy Dikshithar - Adi - This was the first time I heard this kriti and had to refer to my book on Dikshithar kritis on getting home to identify the rAgam. 5.) brOvavammA tAmasamElEbirAnabrOvavammA - Ma

My tribute to vocal maestro Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer on his 100th Birth centenary. The first thought that came to my mind is that had I been born a day earlier, I would have had the privilege of sharing my birthday with this great maestro. People (musicians /his students/ critics ) have written a lot about this doyen of music who also earned the name Pita Maha of Carnatic music as he had a long innings of 70 + years as a performing artiste and lived to a ripe old age of 96. So I won't delve on these aspects. I felt that the best way of paying tribute to SSI on his birthday was by listening to a concert of his as he he will leave on for ever in the form of his music. I chose a vintage concert of his in which he is accompanied by Lalgudi G Jayaraman and Vellore Ramabhadran. I had picked this concert album released by Carnatica at the Rama Navami Festival at Fort High school ground music this year. It includes a lot of songs which SSI made famous and which one will always associate

I attended a concert by Smt. Kalpakam Swaminathan at Bangalore Gayana Samaja yesterday morning. She is a brilliant artiste who plays the Thanjavur Bani and an acknowledged master of Muthuswamy Dikshithar Compositions. What I found more amazing is her energy and dedication to the art of Carnatic music at the age of 87. An article by Gowri Ramnarayan published in Hindu on Smt. Kalpakam Swaminathan http://www.hindu.com/fr/2007/07/27/stories/2007072750570300.htm She was accompanied by Sri Cheluvaraju on the Mridangam and a disciple of hers on another Veena. Reached the venue a little late. Listened to the following songs by her. Meenakshi Memudam Dehi - Purvikalyani , Muthuswamy Dikshithar GowliPantu- could not identify the composition. Ragam, Tanam, Pallavi - Dharmavati (It was announced later that she learnt the composition by Veena Seshanna just the day before the concert , as a tribute to the Veena maestro, which shows her greatness.) Tillana - Chenchurriti. She was conferred the pres

Sunday 27th July, 2008 to Sunday 3rd August, 2008 - Evening Music Concerts Daily 6 PM Sunday 27th July, 2008 Sri SANJAY SUBRAMANYAM - Vocal Sri S. VARADARAJAN - Violin Sri NEYVELI B. VENKATESH - Mridangam Sri G. GURUPRASSANNA - Khanjira Monday 28st July, 2008 Sri T.M.KRISHNA - Vocal Sri H.K.VENKATRAM - Violin Sri GURUVAYUR DORAI - Mridangam Sri GIRIDHAR UDUPA -Ghatam Tuesday 29th July, 2008 Prof. T.K.KRISHNAN - Violin Sri VELLORE RAMABHADRAN - Mridangam Sri M.A.KRISHNASWAMY - Ghatam Wednesday 30th July, 2008 Sri BELLARY M.VENKATESTACHAR and M.RAGHAVENDRA - Vocal Sri MYSORE M. NAGARAJ - Violin Sri H.S.SUDHEENDRA- Mridangam Sri M.GURURAJ - Morsing Thursday 31st July, 2008 Sri T.V. SHANKARANARAYANAN - Vocal DR. MYSORE M. MANJUNATH - Violin Sri B.HARIKUMAR - Mridangam Sri B.N.CHANDRAMOULI - Khanjira Friday 1st August 2008 Sri LALGUDI J.G.R.KRISHNAN & Smt. LALGUDI VIJAYALAKSHMI (VIOLIN-DUET) Sri PATRI SATISH KUMAR - Mridangam Sri AMRUTH N - Khanjira Saturday 2nd August 2008 Smt. RANJAN

40th MUSIC CONFERENCE AND BIRTH CENTENARY OF SEMMANGUDI SRINIVASA IYER Conference President : Bellary M Venkateshachar Theme of the Conference : Semmanugudi Experts Sessions : Monday 28th July, 2008 to Saturday 2nd August,2008 Daily 9.45 AM to 12.30 PM Monday 28st July, 2008 Semmangudi's Life and Achievements - Sangeeta Kalanidhi Dr. Sri R.K.Srikanthan Semmangudi's Research in Music - Sri. T.M.Krishna Pallavi - Bellary Venkateshachar - Demonstration - M.Raghavendra Tuesday 29th July, 2008 Semmangudi - The Ideal Guru - Sangeeta Kalanidhi Prof. T.N.Krishnan Laya Excellence in Semmangudi' music - Sangeeta Kalanidhi Vellore Ramabhadran Neraval - Smt. Neela Ramgopal Wednesday 30th July, 2008 Semmangudi - The Tunesmith - Sangeeta Kalanidhi Madurai T.N.Sheshagopalan Kucheri planning of Semmangudi - Sri. V. Subramanyam Semmangudi Bani - R.K.Padmanabha New Compositions promoted by KrishnaRaja Wodeyar IV Thursday 31st July, 2008 Social and Public Services by Semmangudi Reminis

The Bangalore Gayana Samaja, Sri KR Road, Bangalore, 560004, Cordially invites you to the BIRTH CENTENARY OF SEMMANGUDI SRINIVASA IYER Sunday 20th July, 2008 to Sunday 3rd August,2008 40th Music Conference Conference President : Bellary M Venkateshachar Theme of the Conference : Semmanugudi Inauguration : Sunday 27th July, 2008 Experts Sessions : Monday 28th July, 2008 to Saturday 2nd August,2008 Daily 9.45 AM to 12.30 PM SADAS : Sunday 3rd August,2008 at 10 AM Conferring titles and honoring "Artistes of the Year" Sunday 20th July, 2008 to Saturday 26th July, 2008 - Daily 6 PM Sunday 20th July, 2008 RUDRAPATNAM BROS. - Sri R.N.Thyagarajan and R.N.Taranathan Smt. AKKARAI SUBBALAKSHMI - Violin Sri GURUVAYUR DORAI - Mridangam Sri B.N. CHANDRAMOULI - Khanjira Monday 21st July, 2008 Sri MALLADI BROTHERS (SRIRAM PRASAD & RAVI KUMAR) Sri H.K. VENKATRAM - Violin Sri ARJUN KUMAR - Mridangam Sri N. AMRUT - Khanjira Tuesday 22nd July, 2008 Sri. A. CHANDANKUMAR - Venu aka flute Sri G

Conferring of Awards by Percussive Arts Centre (founded by Sangeetha Kalarathna Bangalore K. Venkatram) , Organizers of the 5 Day music festival. 1.) Palani Subramanya Pillai Memorial Centenary Award to Smt. D.K.PattamAl 2.) Palghat Maini Iyer Memorial Award to mridangam maestro Sri Madurai T.Srinivasan 3.) Bangalore K. Venkataram Memorial Award to Dr. R. Sathyanarayana 4.) H. Puttachar Memorial Award to Sri N. Vasudev 5.) PAC - CMANA Endowment Prize to Sri B.S. ArunKumar (Courtesy: Carnatic Music Association of North America) This was followed by laya VinyAsa a TAla VAdya Kucheri by Vrushti (Percussion Ensemble Of Percussive Arts Centre) directed by Anoor Anathakrishna Sharma, B.Krishna (mridangam - shadja), G.Guruprasanna (khanjira), B.S.Arun Kumar (drums), Anoor Anathakrishna Sharma (dolu /thavil), Udayraj Karpur (tabla), B.C.Manjunath (konakkol & mridangam - panchama) with M.K.Pranesh (flute) The composition was a raga malika in Kalyani, ShankarAbharanam and Shanmukhap

Vijay Siva - vocal Charulatha Ramanujam - Violin Arjun Kumar - Mridangam Guru Prasanna - Kanjiri B.S.Arun Kumar - Morsing This concert was part of the 5 day festival organized by Percussive Arts Center Foundation. We reached the venue a bit late and came to know from a mAmi sitting beside us that we had missed the first couple of songs which were : 1. nAda tanumanisham - Chittaranjani - Adi - Saint ThyAgarAja 2. innum parAmukham eno - begadA 3. karuna judavamma in Ragam PantuvarAli (Adi 2 kalai ) by Shyama Shastri was in progress as we entered the Venue. He sang Neraval & swarams @ marakatAngi panchanadisu rani. 4. Vijay Siva sang a nice Alapanai in Yadukula Kamboji. Since it was a Saturday, I assumed he would sing Dikshithar Navagraha Kriti. He did just that. After a befitting reply to his AlApanai by Charulatha, he sang "niLAnjana-samAbhAsam ravi-putram yamAgrajam chAya-mArtaAnda-sambhutam tam namAmi shanaishcharam" a Shloka dedicated to Lord Shani from the Navagraha

I saw this mail on the sangeetha priya forum : "Dear rasikas, I have uploaded the concert of Sri TNS held yesterday at Sree Ramaseva Mandali, Bangalore. Date: May 7th 2008 Vocal - T N Seshagopalan Violin - H K Venkataram Mridangam - Guruvayur Dorai Ghatam - M A Krishnamurthy 01 ata tala varnam - kalyAni 02 bhuvinidAsuDanE - srIranjani 03 muddumOmu - sUryakAntam - 04 endukku dayarAdurA - thODi 05 slOkam - rAgamAlikA and shObhane - pantuvarALi 06 nagumOmu galavAni - madhyamAvathi 07 virutham and rAma manthrava - jOnpuri 08 vadana sukhaja - mAnd 09 mangaLam Location: http://sangeethamshare.org /krishna/TNS-Ramaseva-Mandali/" Adding my reply to this mail: Download this concert at your own risk or if if you want to have a hearty laugh.TNS was in worst form and we were forced to walk out of the venue in less than an hour (as did many others in the audience.) I might sound sarcastic but I guess he was trying to set a Guiness Record for maximum times somebody goes off key in a live p

Vocal recital by Neyveli Santhanagopalan Violin - Charulata Ramanujam Mridangam - K.V.Prasad Khanjira - B.N.Chandramouli I've always been a fan of Neyveli Santhanagopalan and regularly watch his music lessons on Jaya TV. He sang just 4 songs during the 2 hrs. I was present at the venue but everyone of them was well sung. 1.) Karunimpa - Sahana Varnam 2.) Meru Samana - Mayamalavagowla -St. Thyagaraja- Adi - Neraval and swarams at "shObhillu kanaka bhUSaNamula" 3.) Niravati SukhadaRavichandrika - St. Thyagaraja - Adi Tala 4.) Meenakshi meMudam Dehi - purvi Kalyani (gamakakriya) Dikshithar - Adi - neraval and swarams at "madhumadamOdita hRdayE sadayE " Mayamalavagowla and Purvikalyani were extremely beautiful. His was one of the best concerts I heard at Ramaseva Mandali this year

This year's RamaNavami festival at Fort High School commenced with a recital by KJY. Dr KJ Yesudas - Vocal Mahadeva Sarma - Violin Tiruvarur Bakthavatsalam - Mridangam Radha Krishnan - Ghatam 1. Valachi vacchi - Navaraga malika Varnam 2. Vatapi ganapathim - Hamsadhwani - MD - Aadi (Neraval and Swarams @ pranava swarupa) - nowhere close to his old recording where he has sung Vathapi for an hour and one doesn't get bored for a single minute. 3. Guruvina gulama - Hamsanandi - Purandara Dasa - Adi - This was preceded by a big lecture on Guru Bhakti. 4. Entaveduko - Saraswathi Manohari - St. Thyagaraja - Adi 5.Enanittu mecchisuveno - Dharmati - PD - Aadi (A, S @ Enaniku mechisuveno) 6. Balakanaka - Atana - St. Thyagaraja - Adi 7. Ennalu urake - Subhapantuvarali - St. Thyagaraja - Adi. Very boring and lack lusture interpretation of this pensive ragam in contrast to a vintage MS recording from AIR where she has rendered this kriti beautifully. 8. Sriramam Ravikula - Narayana Gowla -

Vijay Siva - Vocal Vidushi Charulatha Ramanujam-Violin Vid Neyveli Narayanan - Mridangam Vid Amrit - Kanjira 17 Apr 2008, Rama Seva Mandali, Fort High school, Bangalore Song list 1. Chalamela - Darbar Varnam - Adi - Tiruvotriyur thyagayya 2. Sugunamule - Chakravakam - Roopakam - St. Thyagaraja Neraval @ shrI nAyaka kSimiyincumu and Swarams @ Sundara raghurama (part of pallavi line!) 3. Venkata saila vihara - Hamir Kalyani - Adi - Subbaraya Sastri (Ragam, swara @ pallavi line) Reminded me of his guru DKJ's rendition of the same. 4. Iko Namma swami - Manirangu - Aadi - Purandara Dasa (had listened to DKPattamal's rendition of this song on Amritavarshini, Bangalore's FM Channel for Classical music a couple of days before.) Vijay Shiva stuck to the DKJ/ DKP school's style of rendition. 5. Dakshinamurthe - Shankarabharanam - Misra Jhampa- Muthuswamy Dikshithar(Ragam, Neraval & Swaram at "akshaya suvarNa vaDa vruksha moola sthi- tE") followed by a good tan

Vocal : Jayashri Ramnath Violin : Embar Kannan Mridangam : Poongulam Subrahmanyam Ghatam : S. Karthik Venue : Ramanavami celebrations, Sree Rama Seva Mandali, Chamarajpet, Bangalore. 26-04-2008. 1. Deva deva Jagadeeshwara – Poorvikalyani – Adi -Swati Tirunal 2. Raghuveera ranadheera – Huseni – Rupakam – St. Thyagaraja 3. Nannu vidachi – Reetigowla – Mishrachapu – St. Thyagaraja. Soulful rendition of Ritigowlai. 4. Teliyaleru raama – Dhenuka – Adi – Thyagaraja [N, S at ‘Vegalechi neetimunigi bhooti poosi’. ] Racy rendition packed with swarams in a fashion similar to Semmangudi. 5. Shankaraachaaryam – Shankarabharanam – Adi – Subbarama Dikshitar [R,N,S,T] Didn't like her Alapana much as she strayed into Kalyani mutiple times but the kriti was rendered well. 6. Smarane Onde saalade – Malayamaruta – Adi – Purandara Dasa 7. RTP – Brindavani Saranga - left the venue after listening to the Alapana for a while as it was pretty late by then. Good concert but I liked her

Vocal Duet - Rudrapatnam Brothers (Sri R N Thyagarajan and Sri R N Tharanathan). Violin - Sri V V Ravi. (Couldn't recognize him as I have seen photos of his when he was much younger and had black hair) Mridangam - Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri Umayalpuram Sivaraman. Khanjira - Sri N Amruth. This was one of the earliest concerts we attended at Ramaseva Mandali this year. Rudrapatnam brothers have been favorites of mine and I have always made it a point to attend their concerts in Bangalore. 01 Tulasidala - Mayamalavagowla- St. Thyagaraja - Rupakam 02 Guruleka Etuvanti - Gowri Manohari- St. Thyagaraja - Jhampa Talam 03 Chanitodi - Harikamboji - St. Thyagaraja -Adi Talam 04 Dhanyudevvado - Malayamarutham - Varada Venkatesha (sounded a lot like Ramapriya to me) Elaborate alapana by the elder of the two brothers followed by VVRavi. 05 Manasa Sri Ramachandruni - Isa Manohari- St. Thyagaraja -Adi Talam 06 Marakatha Mani Varna - Varali - St. Thyagaraja -Adi Talam. Detailed alapana by younger of

Sunday Morning , 13th April, 2008 - Vocal - Smt Parassala Ponnammal Violin - Dr Jyotsna Srikanth Mridangam - Sri Ravishankar Sharma Ghatam - Sri Dayananda Mohite My first impression on seeing Smt. Parassala Ponnammal was of a grandma with a sweet smiling face. She is one of Semmagudi SrinivasIyer's senior disciples and blessed with a rich, deep and sweet voice which belies her age. (She is almost 85) I am of the opinion that vocalists like T.N.Sheshagopalan, whose was the most dismal perfomance at the RamaNavami festival this year(more on that later), ought to listen to veterans like her to know what Shruti Sudhdham is all about. My grandma was an avid fan of her music and used to listen to her performances on AIR regularly. There were hardly 10-15 people in the audience and I was saddened at the like warm support provided by Bangalore audiences to such a senior artiste. It was their loss anyways as they missed one of the best concerts at the Ramavanami festival. 01 Varnam -

07.4.2008 Mon 6.00 - 6.45 P.M. CHANDRAMANA UGADI Dr. K.J. YESUDAS - MAHADEVA SARMA - TIRUVARUR BHAKTHAVATSALAM - RADHAKRISHNAN 08.4.2008 Tue 9.00 A.M. - 9.30 P.M CONFERENCE ON RAMANA 09.4.2008 Wed 9.00 A.M. - 9.30 P.M YACONFERENCE ON RAMAYANA 10.4.2008 Thu 9.00 A.M. - 9.30 P.M. CONFERENCE ON RAMAYANA 11.4.2008 Fri 5.15-6.15 P.M 6.30-9.30 P.M POOJA GANESH & PARTY RUDRAPATNAM BROS. - V.V. RAVI - UMAYALAPURAM K. SIVARAMAN - AMRUTH N. 12.4.2008 Sat 5.15-6.15 P.M 6.30-9.30 P.M ASHWINI KALYAN (VIOLIN-SOLO) & PARTY PECIAL KARNATIC & HINDUSTANI JUGALBANDHI BY PANDIT TEJENDRA MAJUMDAR &am

My aunt called up today morning to say that Kanekar uncle (thats how I addressed Pt. Narendra Kanekar, doyen of Jaipur and Agra gharana) passed away today at Bombay. Having know him and aunty Kanekar very well for 15 years, it came as a shock to me. My aunt, Dr. Bhanu Raman who was Panditji's disciple for almost 12 years is devastated at the loss of her guru. Pt. Narendra Kanekar specialized in Gwalior, Agra and Jaipur, three principal Gharanas of Hindustani vocal music. He received his initial grooming in music from Pt. Manohar Barwe of Gwalior Gharana. He later became a disciple of Pt. Dattatraya Vishnu Kane (Kane Bua of Ichchalkaranji) of Agra Gharana. Kanebua was a prime disciple of Ustad Vilayat Hussain Khan Saheb. Pt. Ratnakar Pai of Jaipur Gharana was his Guru after he moved to Bombay. He was an A grade artiste on AIR and TV. He was blessed with a sweet yet powerful voice . Due to years of rigorous training, his depth and understanding of Hindustani classical music was l

The best concert in this series at NMKRV was by veteran vocalist Sangita Kalanidhi Rudrapatnam K. Srikanthan. Vocal support was provided by his son S. Ramakanth. He was accompanied by Mysore nagaraj on the violin and the guru- shishya duo of Srimushnam Raja Rao and H.S Sudhindra on Mridangams. 1. ) Ninnu kori yunnara - Vasantha - Adi Talam - Tacchur SingArAchari. 2. ) As i entered the auditorim, I heard the Alapanai of Saveri in R.K.S's grand voice. The krithi that followed was karikaLabhamukhaM DhuNDhi gaNEshaM - sAvEri - rUpakaM - Muthuswamy Dikshithar 3.) 4.) Kanugona Soukhyamu - NAyaki - Rupaka tAlam - St. Thyagaraja 5.) mAtaHNgi shrI rAjarAjEshvari mAmava - ramAmanOhari - rUpakaM - Muthuswamy Dikshithar 6.) Chalamelara - Margahindolam - Adi tAlam - St. Thyagaraja (I have never heard this song in any concert or recordings before.) 7.) kailAsa nAthEna samrakSitOhaM - kAmbhOji - mishra cApu - Muthuswamy Dikshithar

Sanjay sings at NMKRV, Ramalalita Kala Mandira every year to packed audiences . This year was no exception and reached the venue half an hour in advance so that we could get seats in the auditorium. He was accompanied by S.Varadarajan on violin, Arun Prakash on Mridangam and B.Guruprasanna on Khanjira. 1. Pankajakshi - Kambhoji pada varnam - Ramaswamy sivan - Ata tAlam 2. Telisi Rama chandra - purna chandrikA - St. Thyagaraja - Adi tAlam 3. Manasa Yetulo - malayamArutham - St. Thyagaraja - Rupaka tAlam Neraval and swarams at "kalilo rajasa" 4. Ranjani niranjani - ranjani - GNB - Adi tAlam - One of my favorite rAgas and I thought he'd sing DurmargaChara but 5. Nannu Vidachi - Reethigowla - Thyagaraja - Rupaka tAlam This was rendered with lot of fervour and devotion and I liked this rendition almost as much as that by Maharajapuram V. Santhanam. 6. ShankarAchAyam - sankarAbharanam - Subbarama Dikshithar -Adi tAlam Sanjay always includes one major Carnatic Raga like Thodi,

SRI RAMA LALITHA KALA MANDIRA - SPRING MUSIC FESTIVAL - 2008 AT MANGALA MANTAPA, N.M.K.R.V College for Women, 22nd Cross, 3rd Block, Jayanagar, BANGALORE PROGARAMME AT 05.30 PM ON ALL DAYS 08.02.08 - Kadri Gopalnath -A Kanyakumari - Patri Satishkumar - B Rajasekhar - N Amruth 09.02.08 - T M Krishna - Charulatha Ramanujam - Arjun Kumar - Sukanya Ramgopal 10.02.08 - Sanjay Subramanian - S Varadarajan - Arun Prakash - Guruprasanna 11.02.08 - R K Srikantan - R S Ramanath - Mysore Nagaraj - Srimushnam Rajarao & Sudhindra 12.02.08 - Priya Sisters - M A Krishnaswamy - Patri Satishkumar - Madipakkam Murali 13.02.08 - SUDHA RAGHUNATHAN & Party Concerts at Ramana Maharshi Academy for the Blind (near Ragigudda Temple) 13.02.08 - Bombay Jayashree & Party 14.02.08 - U SRINIVAS & Party 15.02.08 - R.K.PADMANABHA & Party

The Annual composers festival at BTM cultural Academy normally has packed audiences. This concert by Malladi brothers on Saint Thyagaraja's was no exception. Having listened to Malladi brothers some days back at Bangalaore Gayana Samaj, I knew this is not a concert to be missed. After a long time, my entire gang of music friends from office (Vinu, Kavi, Sharan, Rekha and I) attended a concert together. They are wonderful Jodi singers and have learnt music from their father Malladi Suri Babu, Voleti Venkateshwarulu and Nedunuri Krishnamurthy. They are currently receiving advanced training from Dr. Sripada Pinakapani, the famous surgeon musician and guru of stalwarts like Voleti and Nedunuri. R.K.Sreeram Kumar was to accompany them on the violin but couldn't make it at the last moment and was replaced hurriedly by Mysore Shrikanth. The percussion accompanists were Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma on the Mridangam, Giridhar Uduppa on the Ghatam and N.Amruth on Khanjira 01.) Muddu Momu

TMKrishna at Bangalore Gayana Samaja - Aanandaa Music festival. H.K.Venkatram - Violin, Trichy Sankaran - Mridangam, B.Purushottam - Kanjira Theme - Muthuswamy Dikshithar kritis 01.) dakSiNAmUrttE vidaLita dAsArttE - shankarAbharaNaM/mishra jhampa 02.) paHncabhUta kiraNAvaLiM candra mauLiM - kiraNAvaLi/khaNDa EkaM 03.) kamalAmbAM bhajarE rE mAnasa - kalyANi/Adi (2 kaLai) 04.) vINApustaka dhAriNIMAshrayE - vEgavAhini/mishra jhampa 05.) vAtApi gaNapatiM bhajEhaM - hamsadhvani/Adi 06.) vINAbhEri vENuvAdyAdi - AbhEri/Adi 07.) rAmacandrabhaktaM bhaja mAnasa - gEya hEjjajji/Adi 08.) shrI subrahmaNyAya namastE namastE - *kAmbhOji/tishra EkaM I have been panning TMKrishna's performances of late on my blog. But he was in excellent form and sang all compositions of Dikshithar beautifully. I specially need to mention his Sri Subramanyaya Namaste in Kamboji. HKV was not at his performing best while playing Shankarabharanam but his Kamboji Alapana was good. Trichy Shankaran was brillian

Malladi Brothers sang at Bangalore Gayana Samaja as part of Aanandaa Music festival. The theme of the festival was on Composers of Carnatic Music and the composer of the day was Maharaja Swathi Tirunal. They were accompanied by Embar Kannan on the violin, Mridangam maestro Trichy Shankaran and Vaikom S. Gopalakrishnan on the Ghatam (each of them being excellent artistes on their respective instruments) Song List : 1.) Kamboji - Sarasijanabha 2.) Gowlai - KAmajanaka - Adi talam 3.) Arabhi - Narasimha MAmava 4.) Useni - PAhimam brihan nAyike .Though they sang it very well, KVN's version is still the best :-) 5.) Begada - - kalayAmi Raghu RAmam 6.) Pantuvarali - Sarasaksha - Embar's style of playing is so close to that of his guru A. Kanyakumari. One of the best kritis in this concert.Tani was brilliant. The Palani Subramaniam Pillai style of playing on the Toppi was wonderfully executed by his prime disciple Trichy Shankaran. 7.) KaraharapriyA - Satatam pAvaka PAda Sevanam Left

Though I have listened to recordings of plenty of stalwarts since childhood, I never listened to much of Brinda and Mukta. My grandma used to tell me their Vilamba / Chowka KAlam renditions would bore me. I did listen to a few of their recordings off and on but found them drab and could never appreciate their music. I read many articles on them and their music in the recent issues of Sruti which I bought in Chennai recently. People have talked about the greatness of their music and henced I decided to check out for myself again. Guess their music is like Scotch - one needs to acquire a taste for it. I had a set of some of their famous Padams on my IPod. I decided to listen to these first. Kuvalakshiro in GauliPantu was the first song I listened to. I have listened to MS sing this song in one of her AIR recitals. She was a very good friend of both Muktha and Brinda and has learnt from Brindamma. I realized that MS's rendition is exactly similar to that by Brinda-Mukta. Only that 2

Since I had the brochure in Kannada and can't read the same, I got Vivek, my friend and colleague to read out only the names of main artistes yesterday as we were busy at work. Vinod (who loves listening to the percussionists) wanted details of accompanists too. Hence updating the earlier list courtesy Vivek (again). 21-01-2008 PurandaraDasa - Saralaya Sisters AnantaPadmanabha-Violin, C.Cheluvaraju - Mridangam, Sukanya Ramgopal - Ghatam, Bhagyalakshmi K - Morsing 22-01-2008 St. Thyagaraja - Malladi Brothers R.K.Shriram Kumar - Violin, Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma - Mridangam, Giridhar Uduppa - Ghatam, N.Amruth - Khanjira 23-01-2008 Muthuswamy Dikshithar- Ragam Sisters (Chennai) Nalina Mohan - Violin, Vasudev - Mridangam, Dayanand Mohite - Ghatam, S.V.Sridahr - Morsing 24-01-2008 Mysore Vasudevachar - Rudrapatnam Brothers Mysore M.Manjunath - Violin, H.S Sudhindra - Mridangam, GS Ramanujam - Ghatam, M. Gururaj - Morsing 25-01-2008 Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar - Hyderabad Sist

Hi all, The Composers festival at BTM Cultural Academy, (Ramana Maharshi Institute for the Blind, near Ragi Gudda Temple) , Bangalore is commencing on 21st Jan, 2008. All concerts begin at 5.30 PM. 21-01-2008 PurandaraDasa - Saralaya Sisters and Party 22-01-2008 St. Thyagaraja - Malladi Brothers and Party 23-01-2008 Muthuswamy Dikshithar- Ragam Sisters (Chennai) and Party 24-01-2008 Mysore Vasudevachar - Rudrapatnam Brothers and Party 25-01-2008 Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar - Hyderabad Sisters and Party 26-01-2008 Shyama Shastri - O.S.Thyagarajan and Party 27-01-2008 - Thyagaraja Aradhana from 9.30 AM onwards Requesting one and all to attend the same.