TMK’s concert at Parthasarathy Swami Sabha was a complete and close to a ideal stage concert.
There are times you feel even if the artists had rendered everything good you feel something had been amiss. And yet there are times where even amidst some disadvantages you have a sense of fulfillment- a credit for the vocalist for the way he leads and balances the entire concert.
Violin -Sriramkumar, Mridangam: Srimushanam RajaRao and Kanjira: Sri B.S.Purushotaman
The concert began with one of my favourites ... the navaragamalika varnam. He began it with a unusually fast pace , so expected a 100 wala during second kalam . But he didnt venture into it and opted to stop with first kala itself. Clean recitals of Charnam and Chittai swaras in the remaining five ragas.
Then the fast and furious "Marivere" in shanmugapriya ...Jesudas style !.. Elaborate second kaala Neravals and swaras.. absolutely enjoyable...People have a tendency to wrap it up fast when they do a fast neraval / swara. Thankfully he didnt. He brought out all the possible swara combinations and was duly and neatly followed by the violinist.
The next piece in Maanji was presented in Chowkam. Class rendition of the Ragam by both the vocalist and the violinist. The keerthanai was "Varugalamo Ayya".
Next was my even more favourite Kalyani..Birana Brova.Unfortunately ragam was very short, but he did a comprehensive Neraval and Swara for the keerthanai before concluding.
The acoustics in the hall was a severe disadvantage. Music halls have gone way up installing advanced technologies for distributing uniform sound intensity. Parthasarthy sabha must certainly do something for this, atleast change their venue to a better auditorium. I had to shift to a central position, sitting at uniform angle facing the 4 amplifiers to avoid the derorogatory waves destroy each other.
The main Ragam was Reethigowla and keerthanai Vadalichi. Very well presented, with elaborate first kaala and second kaala rendition of swaram and then Thani. Surprisingly only very few Thani walkouts. Thani was good except that Srimushanam has to stop repeating the same stroles again and again in the concerts. I would have heard some of his sequences atleat thrice this season . We couldnt appreciate the Kanjira much as the acoustics played a spoilsport on the instrument. The softer taps on kanjira can be well appreciated only if the sound system is good.
Also to mention that Mridangam was very dominating.
It was then the time for delightful and surprisngly elaborate rendition of RTP in Harikambodhi.
The pallavi was detailed, captivatingly presented on Ragas Poorvikalyani, Mayamalava gowla, neelambari and amrutavarshini. with sufficient time utilized for swarams on each of these ragas.
Some thukkadas ensued then..."Saarada sharana " in the enchanting Bageshri, a javali in kamas and one more piece in Behag..a tiruppugazh? It seemed like that.Then he concluded with Raama mangalam.
He too had to cope up with his voice quaver and instability at the beginning ...but quite managed , not risking frequent hwith it to present a sumptuous feast of an extraordinary concert.