The music and dance festival of Shanmukhananda Sangeetha sabha continued with
the concerts of Ms. Vidya Srinivasan, a Delhi based artists and Sh. Sanjay
Subramanian from Chennai at the other venue – Delhi Tamil Sangam, New Delhi.
The evening program was by Ms. Vidya Srinivasan. She started off with a kriti of
Saint Thyagara, in Mayamalagaula – Tulasidala followed by Tolijanma in Bilahari,
which was very appropriate for the occasion. . The raga alapana in
Subapanthuvarali and Madhyamavathi and the kirtanas ‘Yennalu Yorake in Chapu
tala and Ramakadha Sudha were rendered with clarity. The songs Tavata Soham of
Tyagaraja, Mayamma Yani ne of Syama Sastry and Karunajalathe in Nadanamakriya
were good selection. The accompanist S/Sh. Annadurai on the violin, Srinivasan
and Ganesh on the mridangam and Kanjira gave able support.The second part of the twilight was starred by Sh. Sanjay Subramaniam with Sh. MA
Sundareshwaran on the violin and Tiruvarur Sh. Vaidyanathan on the mridangam. He
commenced the concert with a varnam Chalamela in Darbar followed by a
composition of Thyagaraja –Emanadichevo in Rupaka tala. The melakarta raga
Naganandini (30mela) with ‘Sattaleni dinamu ‘ was a rare piece and was well
received by the audience. It was nice of the artists to have announced the raga.
Then it was perhaps time for Syama Sastry’s Sankari Shankuru in Saveri– A very
well rendered alapana and kriti with niraval in ‘syama Krishna sodari. After a
crisp kriti in Mukari, Sanjay rendered the popular, pleasing janya raga -Mohanam
with Nannupalimpa. The raga itself to be sung in the late evening, with
well-elaborated alapana and swara prasthara made the evening very enjoyable for
audience present there. The artist has a knack to keep the audience spell bound
by the way he renders the raga alapana, the kriti or the swaras. The weather
though very fine for the audience was not too friendly to the artists’ voice –
but of course it did not spoil the evening. A brief Ragam Tanam Pallavi in Thodi
was very well presented. The concluding session was ragamalika, Chidambaram
pogamal, etc., etc., and was well appreciated by all.
Sh MA Sundareshwaran on the violin gave an excellent support with his bow magic
and Sh. Vaidyanathan gave a comfortable support to the artist with a brief Tani,
which was splendid.
The Music and dance festival continued with another exquisite music recital by
Nadabhushanum Bombay Jayshri Ramnath and Party on the Saturday the 5th
March.’05. She was accompanied on the Violin by Sh. Vittal Ramamurthy, Naiveli
Skanda Subramaniam on the Mridangam and Sh. Tiruvanandapuram Rajagopal on the
Kanjira.
Jayshri started the concert with Ponnayya Pillai’s composition in Mayamalagaulai
– Mayatita swaroopini in Rupaka Talam and then a tyagaraja kriti in Darbar –
Mundu Venuka set to Adi thala. Papanasam Sivan’s kriti in Sahana was rendered
excellently by Jayashri and Ranjani Niranjani in Ranjani was also very good. ‘O
Ranga Sai’ in Kamboji raga was well knit piece and the artist showed her
competence with full maturity and dexterity. The swara kalpana was excellently
presented. Later the RTP in Subhapanthuvarali was remarkable. The remaining part
of the day was allotted for light songs including the vruttam of Tirupanazhwar
pasuram – Kondal Vannanai Kovalanai followed by Tottu Tottu pesugiran kannan She
concluded with a meera Bhajan ‘Hari Tuma Haro’ which reminded us of MS mami.
The accompanist Vittal Ramamurthy gave able support on the Violin and Skanda
Subramanian and Rajgopal presented an excellent support on the mridangam and
ghatam respectively.
The Grand Finale of the Festival was by Padmasri Ms Sudha Raghunathan who was
conferred the title of Nada Kalanidhi by the Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha. One
could say that all the rasikas of Sudha were in the auditorium to enjoy her
concert. The two and a half an hour concert was magical spell of delectable
Music. Even Lord Anjaneya – who is supposed to be definitely present in some
corner wherever some good music is on – would have found it difficult to find a
free corner in the Hall due to the overflow of enthusiastic crowd of rasikas and
wished the concert was held in a larger appropriate hall.
She started with an Ata Tala Bhairavi Varnam and Sree Jalandara in Gambiranattai-
a composition of Jayachamaraja Wodayar in Adi Talam. The Shanmukhapriya raga
alapana was good and Sivan’s kriti Parvati Nayakane was very well rendered and
the Niraval ‘Nee Maravade ennarul jagadeesa’ was well presented. The swara
prastharas were note worthy. After sprite kritis in Atana, Suruti and a
purandara dasa kriti it got leisurely with the main piece in Mohanam with
Nannupalimpa of Tyagaraja. One could hear all aspects of the raga, even though
different artists already rendered this raga many times in the festival. Due to
paucity of time she could not do justice to the light songs but somehow managed
two songs- Kurai Ondrum Ellai and Thaye Yashoda. The sabha should plan for a
bigger hall and longer time slots for artists of such order. The accompanists as
usual and to the expectation gave their best and were well appreciated.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
