The spring festival of music by Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira began today at the Bangalore Gayana Samaja with a scintillating concert by Bombay Jaishree. Here is the concert list -
1. Jaya Jaya Swamin – Nattai – Narayana Teerth
2. Tulasamma – Devagandhari - Tyagaraja
3. Bhuvaneshwariya – Mohana Kalyani – Muthiah Bhagavathar
4. Dhaarini Telusu – Shuddha Saveri – Tyagaraja
5. Shankari Neeve – Begada – Subbarayar Shastri
6. Emi chesithe – Thodi – Tyagaraja
7. RTP – Kaapi & Behag ending in a ragamalika Hindolam, Vaasanthi, Hamsanandi and Yaman
8. Tarangam
9 Tillana – Desh – Lalgudi Jayaraman
The first item in Nattai was a brisk opener with kalpana swaras for the pallavi. Tulasamma in Devagandhari created a meditative ambience. An outstanding alapana in Mohana Kalyani followed by Bhuvaneshwariya was an instant hit with the crowd, swaras sung for the pallavi. This was followed by a quick rendition of Dhaarini Telusu and then she began Begada. There’s the standard Begada sung by musicians, with predictable sangatis/sancharas. But here she came up with some unusual patterns handling them with great finesse. H.N.Bhasker was a stalwart accompanist and supported her at every point throughout the concert. In the Begada piece, neraval was at the usual line in the charanam (“kanakadri sadhana dheena”) but surprisingly she took up kalpana swaras for the pallavi. A novel approach (and welcome). Emi chesithe nemi, Tyagaraja’s piece in Thodi set to Misra Chapu was an unusual choice and beautifully rendered with swaras for the pallavi (no neraval). The thani avarathanam by Patri Satish Kumar (m) and Anirudh Atreya (k) was energetic and brilliant.. The RTP in Kaapi and Behag set to Tisra Triputa (nada pallavi) showed trademarks of a Bombay Jaishree concert – effortlessly switching ragas at any point with great ease both at taanam, swarams and ending in a ragamalika, elevating the concert to higher level. The audience was in a trance. Last year when I heard Jaishree at the same festival I thought nothing could top the Saama-Sivarajani RTP in that concert. But I was wrong!
Comments