Vijay Siva @ Bangalore Gayana Samaja , Talavadyotsava

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 Stotram composed by Veda Vyasa and
divAkara tanujam ( Tala - chatusra ekam) by muthuswAmi dikshitar

5. This was followed by a short and sweet sari evvare - sri ranjani - adi TAlam- Saint thyagarAja

6. kamalAmbikE - tOdi (Maybe he guessed that an avid lover of that ragA was present amongst the audience)- tishra Ekam - muthuswAmi dIkshitar (ragA, neraval & swara @ viyadAdi Bhoota Kirane Vinoda Charane.) My friends from Oracle, Vinod and Sharan were both present and were glad that their names figured in this Kirtanam.

We took a quick break to have bondas (home made taste) , bhajjis and coffee at the Gayana Samaja canteen. I complimented the Mami who runs this canteen for making such wonderful potato bondas.

Excellent Tani Avartanam by ArjunKumar, GuruPrasanna and Arun Kumar. Special mention of Arun Kumar is an excellent Jazz drummer( more on this aspect in my next post) and proved to be equally proficient at playing the Morsing.

7. matada baradeno - khamas - naraharidasa (Bangalore Nagaratnammal popularized this song and many people believe it to be her own composition.)

8. muddugAre yashoda - kurinji - annamAchAryA

9. jab jAnaki nath sahaya kare tab - tulsidAs bhajan in rAg Mishra Khamaj. I have listened to the same by Pt. D.V. Paluskar, one of the doyens of Hindustani classical music. Vijay Siva's rendition was good too and he pronounced Hindi words clearly.

B.Krishna , a good Mridangist and speaker, in his speech mentioned that DK PattamAl and DKJ practiced and perfected each new song at-least 300 times, before presenting them on stage. Their tradition (chastity in renditions, purity of music etc) is being carried on by Vijay Siva.

10. niraimadi - thirupugazh in Hamsanandi which D.K. Jayaraman used to sing often and Vijay Siva followed his Guru's footsteps. ( Sometimes I wonder what happened to Balaji Shankar, another disciple of DKJ who used to sing beautifully and has sunken into oblivion.)

11. Mangalam - Pavamana - sourashtram - Saint ThyAgarAja.

Summing up, an excellent concert by Vijay Siva. The Tani was the highlight of this concert. Charulatha Ramanujam proved yet again that she is a wonderful violin accompanist.

I also met my friend Shri. Balu from Charsur Digital Workstation at the venue. I became an annual member of theirs by paying Rs. 100 and purchased DKJ's renditions of Dikshithar's KamalAmbA NavaVarana Kritis. Am also looking forward to their Paddhati release of one of TMThyagarajan's live concerts at the Semmangudi Birth Centenary celebrations at Bangalore Gayana Samaj, within a couple of weeks.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Obsessive Compulsive Asaveri Listening Disorder ?

I seem to suffering from OCALD (My sister who is a doctor and practicing psychiatrist while discussing her cases talks about OCD wherein people continue to do the same thing again and again.) In my case I have been hooked on to listening to Ragam Asaveri since last week. Developed a liking for this Ragam after listening maestro Veena Balchander's Dikshithar Kirtanam "Chandram Bhaja Manasa". Balchander, supported by a couple of his disciples, has rendered this song both vocally and on the veena. I have a vintage recording of M.S. Subbalakshmi singing this song self accompanied on the Veena (at Kalki Gardnes). I also seached Sangitapriya and found renditions of this song by Brindamma , DK Pattammal and Sowmya. Some more on the details on Asaveri. It is a janyam of HanumatThodi .In its Arohanam, Ga and Ni are omitted. In Avarohanam, all the seven swaras are included. Hence, its Jati is Audava-Sampoorna. It is an early morning raga which is very pleasant to hear. It is an ...
Read more

Degradation of poeple's tastes in film music ?

I had been to Chennai (Madras) over the weekend. I have been trying to procure the CD of a movie titled Sringaram - The Dance of Love ( As the name indicates, the movie is based on the Bharatnatyam system of dance) since a while . The music for this movie has been composed by Violin virtuoso Shri Lalgudi G Jayaraman . It is his first attempt at composing music for films and I read that he won the National Award for Best composer for this movie. That strengthened my resolve to get a copy of this CD. My first bet was Landmark, a wonderful book shop chain which also stocks CDs (picked up a few books on music - The Spiritual Heritage of St. Thyagaraja , The Madras Quartet by Indira Menon and Great masters of Hindustani Music by Mohan Nadkarni - a music critic for Times of India for many decades.). The registry at their help desk indicated that they were not aware that a movie of this name existed. I then decided to try my luck at music shops in T Nagar , the cultural hub of Chenn...
Read more

My tribute to Kanekar Uncle ( Pandit Narendra Kanekar)

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...
Read more