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.

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