A Carnatic Vocal concert by Vidwan Pattabhirama Pandit

Organised by Suswaralaya College of Music, Bangaluru  at  Srividya Auditorium, Our School, Near BNM College of Engineering, Banashankari 2nd stage Bangalore, as a part of week long Annual Music festival of the Music School on 30th October 2009. Vidwan R S Ramakanth was felicitated with the award swaralayashringa on this occasion. Several Music-related books and CDs were also released as a part of inauguration.

Vocal: Vid. Pattabhirama Pandit
Violin : Vid. Nalina Mohan
Mridangam : Vid. V Krishna
Ghatam : Vid. Sukanya Ramagopal


List (not complete) :
01. varnam - viriboni - bhairavi - aTa tAla
02. vAtApi - hamsadhwani - Adi - dIkshitar
03. evaranI - devamruthavarshini - Adi -  tyAgarAja.
04. pantuvarALi AlApa - ninnE nera nammi nAnu - Adi - tyAgarAja
05. sAma Alapa - annapirne - dIkshitar
06. simhEndramadhyama  AlApa (elaborate) -  ninnE nammitinayya - Mishra chApu - mysUru vAsudevAchAr
07. olidEnu jE - ? - Adi (Quick piece; could not identify the rAga. It seemed like harikamboji janya)
08. swararAgasudha - shankarAbharaNam - Adi - tyAgarAja
09. taNi - Adi


Review:
The concert started with viriboNi in bhairavi which ended with a few Avartha's of swarakalpana. Then  vAtApi in  hamsadhwani also was presented neatly with a short  swarakalpana. evarAni in devAmruthavarshini was impressive. devAmruthavarshini is a rare rAga with evarAni by tyAgarAja  being the only krithi in this rAga. This was followed by a short AlApa in pantuvarALi and ninne nera nammi with a fast  swaraprastara at the end. The artist then took up a well knit AlApa in sAma and annapUrNE - a typical dIkshitAr krithi rendered in slow pace; the sarvalaghu pattern at slow-pace on Mridangam by Vidwan  V Krishna added beauty to the rendering of this krithi. simhEndramadhyama was one of the main items. The artist rendered the AlApa with full bhAva bringing out different colours of this rAga  in tri-sThAyi. There was a small bunch of briga's in the AlApa. ninne nammitinayya of Mysore Vasudevachar was rendered well with an impressive neraval and swarakalpana at pannagEndrashayanA-pannagAri-vAhana. Another main piece was swararAgasudhA in shankarAbharaNa. There was no AlApa for this krithi, but the the krithi was eleborated at paramAnanda with nereval and swarakalpana. This was followed by a good taNi in Adi-tAla. Vidwan V krishna and Vidushi Sukanya Ramgopal inspired the vocalist with good follow-up especially at nereval and  swarakalpana. Vidushi Nalina Mohan supported the vocalist on violin. Special highlight of the concert is the nereval and swarakalpana typical of KVN, the vocalist being a disciple of KVN.

Hindustani Vocal Concert by Sri Koushik Aithal at Praharshini, IISc

Organised by Praharshini on 28th Oct. 2009 at Choksi Hall, IISc.
Vocal : Sri Koushik Aithal accompanied 
Harmonium : Sri Madhusoodan Bhat 
Tabla : Sri Gurumurthy Vaidya 
Tanpura: Sri Avinash Acharya


List :
01. Raag Puriya (for 40 min.)
02. Raag Bhpali (for 40 min.)
03. Raag Kedar (for 25 min.)
04. Kabir Bhajan in Pahadi
05. Basavanna's vachana in Bilaskhani Todi

Review: 

This concert was organized by Praharshini - a students' group of IISc. The hall was a small  hall with  a capacity of 100. It was a  very good concert by Kaushik, a disciple of Pt. Parameshwara Hegde. He has a rich voice with a  good flexibility. His rendering was flawless. The accompaniment on Harmonium and Tabla was also very good. The accompanying artists followed up the main artist very well and inspired him throughout the concert. The acoustics  of the hall was ordinary. At some points when vocalist turned his face away from the mike, the volume of  Tabla exceeded the vocalist's volume. Except this, it was an excellent concert.

A Carnatic Vocal concert at Ananya, Malleswaram by Vid. Shrikantham Nagendra Shastri

on 22nd Oct. 2009
Vocal: Vid. Shrikantham Nagendra Shastri
Vocal support: Sri. Ganesh
Violin : Vid. C N Chandrashekhar
Mridangam : Vid. Cheluvaraju
Morsing : Vid. Satavalli Bharadwaj

List:
01. varnam - vanajAkshi - kalyaNi - Adi -
02. nAta (short AlApa) - kamalAmbike mAmava - Adi - jayachAmarAj voDeyar
03. mArgahindoLam (Alapa) - mArgahindoLa rAga priye - Adi - dIkshitAr
04. bilahari (Alapa) - paramAtma sAdhakara kula kELvanE (A ranga gIte) - khandachApu
05. pUrvikalyANi (Alapa) - jnAnamosagarAda - rUpaka - tyAgarAja
06. shudhdhasAvEri (Elaborate Alapa) - dAriNi telusukonTi - Adi
07. taNi (Adi tALa)
08. vaddanTE kopamA - suruTi - Adi - jAvaLi
09. mangalam





Review: 

The concert started with a shlokam - shuklAmbaradharam in kalyANi followed by  vanajAkshi, a Adi-tALa varnam in kalyANi; after singing the  chiTTeswara-s, the vocalist added many kalpanAswara-s to the charaNam. This was followed by a short AlApa in nAta and kamalAmbikE mAmava. Then came a not so short AlApa in mArgahindolam and a dIkshitAr krithi mArgahindolarAgapriyE in slow pace, elaborated with kalpanAswara. A rangagIte in bilahari was the surprise of the concert. Another elaborated item was jnAnamosagarAda in pUrvikalyANi. The main item was dArini telusukonTi in shudhdhasAvEri, decorated with kalpanAswaram in two speeds and  trishra. The violin accompaniment by Vidwan C N Chandrashekhar was excellent. His support to the main artist was notable and his AlApa in mArgahindoLam, bilahari, pUrvikalyANi and shudhdhasAvEri supplimented the AlApa by the vocalist. Vidwan Cheluvaraju and Vidwan Satavalli Bharadwaj supplemented on Mridangam and Morsing very well. taNi by Vidwan Cheluvaraju and Vidwan Satavalli Bharadwaj was very good. Vidwan Shrikantham Nagendra Shastri has a very good manodharma with a  good diction.

Link to the Audio Recording :  http://ifile.it/pgzt3hu/ShrikantamNagen … t_2009.WAV

Vijay Venkatesh - Flute Concert @ IISc

At Choksi hall, IISc organised, by Samskrta Sangha of IISc on 9th October 2009.
Flute: Vijay Venkatesh
Violin: Satyaprakash K R
Mridangam: Raghu Bhagavath
Morsing: Amruth Kumar

01. Karunimpa-Sahana-Adi- Tiruvettiyur Tyagayyar
02. amruthavarshini - AnandAmrutakarshini - Adi - muttuswami dIkshitAr
03. varanArada - vijayashrI-Adi-tyAgarAja
04. Kharaharapriya - rAmaNee - Adi-Tyagaraja
05. JananiNinnuVina - ReethiGowlai - Misra Chapu - Subbaraya Sastry
manavyALa - NaLinakanti - Adi
06. manavyALa - NaLinakanti - Adi
07. Kiravani-Devi Neeye tuNai - pApanAsam sivam
08. sindhubhairavi - venkaTAchala - Adi
09. mangalam - pavamana

Attended 2 concerts recently

Will write more abt these two concerts soon when I get some time.

1. Vijay Venkatesh - Flute with Satyaprakash on Violin , Raghu Bhagavath on Mridangam and Amruth Kumar on Morsing, at IISc organised, by Samskrta Sangha of IISc on 9th October 2009.

2. Vid. Balasubramanya Sharma - Vocal concert organised by Tyagaraja Gana Sabha at Vani School, Rajaji Nagar on 11th October 2009. TT Srinivasan on Violin, Dhruvaraj on Mridangam and Ravikumar on Ghatam.
Comment: Vid. Balasubramanya Sharma has a very good voice with a powerful lower register.

Manasa Nayana sings at Shankara Mutt

At Shankar Mutt, Shankarapuram, Bengaluru on 27th September 2009.
Vocal: Vid. Manasa Nayana
Violin: Vid. Sunita Ramabhadran
Mridangam: Vid. Radhesh

01. varna - mahishasuramardini - Andolika - Adi - muttaiah bhAgavatar
02. vandEnishamaham - hamsadhwani - Adi - mysore vAsudevAchar
03. sArasamukhi - gowdamalhAr - Rupaka - muttaiah bhAgavatar
04. ranjani AlApa - sadA sAranga nayane - Adi - mysore yogAnarasimha
05. bhajarEmAnasa - pUrNachandrika - Adi - jayachAmarAja voDeyar
06. bilahari AlApa - shreechamunDEshwari - Adi - mysore vAsudevAchar
07. brahmAnDavalaye - mAnd-Adi
08. mangalam

Review:
The concert started with a beautiful varnam in Andolika followed by vandEnishamaham in hamsadhwani which was elaborated with a short AlApa and a short kalpanAswara. Then came a small piece sArasamukhi in a rare rAga gowDamalhAr. This was followed by an elaborated AlApa in ranjani and sadA sAranga nayanE - a rare krithi by mysore yogAnarasimha. The main item bilahari mesmerised the audience. The neraval and kalpanAswara showed the proficience of the artist. This was followed by an impressive taNi by Vidwan A Radhesh who inspired the artist throughout the concert with a good follow-up. Violin accompaniment by Vidushi Sunita was very good. Her support to the main artist and the ability to repeat many swara-patterns were notable. Manasa's voice was very good and flexible. Two charecteristics of the concert are - the concert was filled with dEvi krithis, the occassion being navarAtri and the krithis were mostly by mysore vAggEyakaras. The only dearth in the concert was the not-so-good acoustics of the hall.

Sadarame - Part 2 rocks

Directed by a scholarly musician Vid. Deepak Paramasivan, the drama Sadarame - Part 2 was a successful one. This drama was enacted by the members of "L-iddaru Kannadigaru" - a students' group of IISc. This drama was organized by Kannada Sangha, Nityotsava and L-iddaru Kannadigaru - of IISc on 24th September 2009.
The drama had many songs which were set in Classical Carnatic Raagas. The Music troup for this drama consisted of Deepak as director, Deepaika, Shubha, Deepak, Janakirama and Basavaraj Talwar on vocal, Anand TNC on keyboard and Ganesh Garg on Tabla.

Carnatic Veena Concert at IISc

Praharshini - a students' group of IISc, Bangalore organised a Carnatic Veena Concert on 9th Sept. 2009
by
Vidwan D. Balakrishna
accompanied by
Vidwan Arjun Kumar on Mridangam
and
Vidwan Dayananda Mohithe on Ghatam

List:
01.nenarunchara - simhavAhini - Adi - Tyagaraja
02.mAmava sadA janani - kAnada - rUpaka - Maharaja Swathi Tirunal
03.vAchAmagOcharame - kaikavasi - Adi - Tyagaraja
04.evarura - mohana - mishra cHApu - Tyagaraja
05.raghuvamsha sudhA - kadanakuthUhalam - Adi - Pattnam Subramanya Iyyer
06.kharaharapriya - rAga AlApana
07.kharaharapriya - tAnam
08.kharaharapriya - rAma nI samAnamevaru - rUpaka - Tyagaraja
09.taNi - rUpaka
10.krishnA nI bEgane - yamunA kalyANi - mishra cHApu - Vyasaraayaru
11.tambUri mItidava - sindhubhairavi - chaturashra Eka - Purandara dasa
12.Mangalam

Review :
This was a great concert by D Balakrishna which exposed his talent in Mysore style of playing Veena known as Mysore Bani. He brought out the nuances of the instrument, at the same time pleasing the audience with rich Bhava and scholarly sanchara-s. Arjun kumar and Dayananda Mohithe supported the main artist with good follow-up and presented a neat tani towards the end.

Link: Praharshini

A Carnatic Vocal concert at Keshava Samskrithi Sabha

on 13th Sept. 2009
Vocal: Vid. R K Shrikanthan
Vocal support: Vid. Manasa Nayana
Violin : Vid. C N Chandrashekhar
Mridangam : Vid. Jayachandra Rao
Khanjira : Vid. Amruth

List :
01. Saami ninne kori - Shriraaga - Adi
02. Vinayaka ninnu - Hamsadhwani - Adi
03. Reetigowla Alapana - Paripalayamam - Rupaka
04. Nenendu - Harikamboji - Adi
05. Purvikalyani Alapana - Paramapavana - Adi
followed by tani
06. Bhajanaseyave - Sama - Rupaka
07. Enage Ane ranga -Kedara
08. Mohana-short Alapa - Antarangadali Hariya Kanadava Huttu Kurudano - MishraChaapu
09. Kaapi -short Alapa - Narajanma bandaga -Adi
10. Mangala
Review :
It was an impressive concert by RKS. ManasaNayana supported the main artist very well. His alapana and kalpanaswaras were also impressive. As usual, Chandrashekhar gave an excellent accompaniment on Violin. Jayachandra Rao and Amruth followed up the krithis very well, to make the concert a grand one. Tani in Adi-tala impressed the audience.