Vocal Concert by R K Srikantan and R S Ramakanth

At Jayanagar,  organised by Advaitha Samsthe on 13th June  2010.
Vocal: Vid. R K Srikantan and Vid. R S Ramakanth
Violin: Vid. M A Sundaresan
Mridanga: Vid. Arjun Kumar
Ghata: Vid. Giridhar Udupa

01. varNa - ninnE kOri - kAnaDa-  Adi - tiruveTTiyUr tyAgayya
02. gajAnanayutam - chakravAka - Eka - dIkshitar
03. hamsadhwani AlApa - jayamahishAsuramardini - rUpaka - muttaiah bhAgavatar
04. vandE sadA padmanAbham - navarasakannaDa - Adi - maharaja swathi tirunal
05. dEvagAndhAri AlApa - tulasamma - Adi - tyAgarAja
06. mukhAri AlApa - entani nE varNintu shabari - rUpaka - tyAgarAja
07. taNi in rUpaka tAla
08. koniyaDe - kOkiladhwani-Adi-tyAgarAja
09. kalyANi - varavakoDu enage - khanDa chApu - kanakadAsa
10. tOdi - kangaLidyAtakO kAvEri rangana nODadA - rUpaka - shrIpAdarAya
11. bEhag - maDi maDi maDi endu - Adi - purandara dAsa
12. tillAna - dhIm dhIm dhIm .. - kannaDa - Adi -
13. mangala

Review :

This one was a poignant concert by the nonagenarian legend Dr. R K Srikantan and Prof. R S Ramakanth. With excellent accompaniment by the accompanying artists, the vocalists took the elite  audience to the core of aesthetics. This concert was organized by Shri. Arun Kumar of Advaitha Samsthe and the hall was a very good one with good acoustics. The concert began with nennE kOri - a varNa in kAnaDa, which was followed by gajAnanayutam in chakravAka with swarakalpana at gajAnanayutam. Then came the AlApa in hamsadhwani which had a special flavor, followed by jayamahishAsuramardini, with swarakalpana at jaya... Later, AlApa by Vid. Ramakanth in dEvagAndhAri was very good bringing out the bhAva of this special rAga which was complimented extraordinarily on violin by M A Sundaresan; a rare krithi - tulasamma followed this. The main item was mukhAri (entani nE) which was elaborated with AlApa  and  swarakalpana and nereval at kanulAra sEvinci. taNi in rUpaka was very very good. After taNi, there were dEvaranAma's which were rendered very well each starting with a short AlApa. The concert ended with a tillana in kannaDa. One could notice good diction, bhAva and very good krithi-rendering - some signatures of RKS style. All the krithi's were rendered with full bhAva with full justice to the rAga-bhAva. The accompaniment on violin was just too good. Vid. M A Sundaresan's essays in dEvagAndhAri, mukhAri and  bEhag were outstanding. Vid. Arjun Kumar and Vid. Giridhar Udupa followed up very well to make the concert a grand one.