My Chennai Diary 2008 - 26th Dec - part1

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 avid fan of her music and we used to listen to her performances on AIR regularly. )

There were hardly 50 people in the audience. But the presence of TV Shankaranarayanan and family and Hyderabad sisters will give an indication of the greatness of PonnamAL. I am of the opinion that all the present day performers ought to have been present to imbibe a few pearls of wisdom from this veteran vocalist.

Smt. Parassala B PonnamAL. - Vocal
Smt Bhama krishnan - vocal support
Mullaivasal chandramouli - violin
J.Vaidhyanathan - mrudangam
Arvind Athreya - kanjira

1. Varnam - kanakangi - todi - ata
2. mulAdhAra kshetra mooshika vAhanA - mayamalava gowlai - rupakam - Tirunelvelli shankaranarayanan (Ragam, neraval & swaras at vimala kamala mrudula charaNA)
3. marivere - ananda bhairavi - misra chapu - shyama sastri (ragam, swaram @ marivere)
The Semmangudi BAni was so evident in her singing. (TMKrishna who claims to represent Semmangudi's style ought to have listened to her today.)
4. karunai puriya nalla KArunam iduve - sri ranjani - adi - ambujam krishnA
5. sri pathe sri narayana papa mochane hare - mukhari - rupakam - Kirikattu Gopala Pillai (ragam, swara @ shanka chakra gada)
6. meenakshi memudam - purvikalyani - adi 2 kalai - muthuswami dikshitar (ragam, neraval & swaram @ madhura puri nilaye . Tani avarthanam by J. Vaidyanathan and Athreya was good.

7. thyagaraja swami pAdambujam dinamum pani maname - atana - adi - ambujam krishnA
8. sada unadu tiruvadi - manohari (sounded a lot like Useni ) - Adi - V.V.Sadagopan
9. kanta nodu - neelambari - rupakam- swathi tirunAl
10. shantamu leka - HariKamboji? - Adi 2 kalai -St. thyagarajA
11. pannaga shayanA padmanAbha - madhyamAvathi -Adi - MuthuswAmi Dikshitar.

Dr. Smt.Y.G.PArthasArathy , the Director of PadmA Sheshadri school gave a short speech and congratulated PonnammAL for her wonderful singing (She lauded PonnammAL, as a fellow woman, for striking a balance between her musical career and family). She was also proud that J.Vaidyanathan, Chandramouli and Athreya were former students of PadmA SheshAdri school.

This was the best concert I heard during the season. PonnammAL's choice of songs, her vintage style of singing, a wonderful set of ragams made this kucheri a memorable one. It was a treat to listen to this grand old lady who is a guardian of all that is precious in Carnatic music.

After some shopping at Chennai silks and another lunch at Woodlands , we went to Music Academy to listen to TNS Krishna. He was singing an RTP in LatAngi. (MAtangi Madura Meenakshi LalitAngi Latangi). Ragamalika swarams in Abhogi, ChakravAkam, and Latangi. He concluded with a Ragamalika shlokam in SAveri, sahAnA, todi and Hameer kalyani and a tillAna in Hameer kalyani. Good performance reminding one of a young TNS. (He makes too many funny faces while singing and its comical to watch him.)

Comments

Unknown said…
samayamidE nannu brOva (kEdAram) is by paTnam subrahmanya iyer. tyAgarAja gurum AsrayE (kEdAram) is by MDR.
January 21, 2009 at 7:49 AM
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