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Uma Sankar and Shuchita Rao
02/23/2015
Carnatic Concert update by Uma Sankar
The Winter Session concert of KHMC was held on Feb 7th 2015 at the mini concert hall which was beautifully arranged at the home of Smt and Sri. Lakshmi Mahalingam and Mali Santhanakrishnan. With a lot of speculation due to inclement weather, finally we had the concert. We had Master. Srivatsan Raghavan who is one of the senior most disciple of Smt Tara Anand on vocal, Smitha Krishnan (Student of Shri. Delhi Sundararajan) on violin and Master Ullhas Rao, student of (Shri Pravin Sitaram on Mridangam).
The concert started with a very beautiful krithi, Shri Ganesha Charanam in Ragam Thilang, set to Adi talam, composition of Shri. Papanasam Sivam( who is Popularly known as Tamil Thyagayya) with a few rounds of brisk kalpana swarams. Immediately without further adieu, Srivatsan moved into the Ragam Tanam Pallavi,which shows his enthusiasm and involvement in Manodharma singing. He sang a Dwiraga Pallavi in Ragams Madhyamavathi and Dharmavathy set to Khanda triputa talam. The Pallavi lines were "Paalinchu Bangaaru Kamakshi Bhagavathy Gunavathi Dharmavathy". He chiseled the raga alapana with very beautiful sangathis and had a good grip in his thanam singing and Swara kalpana.The Swara Kalpana was also sung in raagamalika. He ended the concert with Tungatheera virajam in Yaman Kalyan, a Kamalesha dasa composition.The violinist Smitha was very enthusiastic and very well supported the main artist. A short and an apt tani was performed by Ulhas with koraippu which was meticulous.
The senior concert of the evening was by Smt Ragini Sanath ( Student of Smt Nagamani Srinath) on vocal, Smitha Krishnan on violin and Krishnan Mahadevan( Student of Shri. Tiruvarur Krishnamoorthy) on Mridangam which started off after a small break. Refreshments were provided by Mali Family and Friends. The concert started off with a Varnam Sri Jaya lalithe in Raga Behag, set to Adi talam composed by Veena Venkatagiriyappa. This was followed by Namo Namo Raghukula Nayaka in Nattai set to Roopaka talam, composition of Annamayya. The Next song was the sub main of the concert , Ragini chose Atana and sang Raga Alapana followed by the very popular krithi, Anupama Gunambudhi. She Sang a few brisk and melodic swara Kalpana. This was set to Khanda chapu, composition of St.Thyagaraja. The main Raga for the evening was Hamsanandi, Ragini elaborated a beautiful Raga Alapana followed by the krithi Chestaya Maadadiru, a few sangathis for the neraval was sung followed by few rounds of swara Kalpana.Few other compositions were poolu Chellare in Anandabhairavi, Yarenendaro in Saramathi, Sri Chamundeshwari in Bilahari and ended the concert with the mangalam Marajanaka mangale in Madhyamavathi. Ragini presented compositions by covering various composers and also brought out very rare krithis and varnam not usually heard at concerts. Smitha ably accompanied the main artist and followed her diligently. Her Raga alapana for the two main Ragas were very pleasant to listen to.Able percussion support was given by Krishnan on mridangam. He played a thani and also accompanied in the most compact manner to support the main artist.
The Hindustani half of February 7, 2015 KHMC concert were presented by Dr. Pradeep Shukla and his students between 7pm and 10pm.
Neil and Maya Pandit, a brother-sister duo opened the Hindustani segment of the KHMC concert on February 7 with a pleasing rendition of a chota khyaal in the evergreen evening raga Yaman. “Aaj bajaayi kaanha baansuri†, a beautiful composition set to fast tempo 16 beat cycle teentaal was developed using sargam alaaps and aakar taans. The young children displayed a good sense of pitch and were comfortable singing in adjusting the tempo midway through their rendition to suit their preference.
Rithika Saxena and Ishaan Sane presented a second jugalbandi in raga Bihag next. The composition “Sata Bachan kahun Sajan†set to medium tempo 10 beat cycle jhaptaal was elegant in its construction. Rithika and Ishaan made a good attempt at rendering fast taans in a raised tempo. Selena Banerjee presented the final presentation in the junior segment of the KHMC Hindustani series. Endowed with a mature and sweet voice, Selena presented two compositions in raga Durga. She improvised spontaneously and embellished her presentation of the traditional composition “Sakhi Mori Room Jhoom†with bol-alaaps and taans. She concluded with a taraana in 12 beat cycle ektaal, presenting it with great flair and confidence. Shuklaji accompanied all his students on the harmonium and Rohit Panchakshari provided great support on tabla.
In the senior segment, Dr. Pradeep Shukla accompanied expertly by Shri Ramchandra Joshi on harmonium and Rajesh Pai on tabla presented khyaals in night ragas Bageshri and Darbari, a nirguni bhajan in mishra Jogiya and a kannada bhajan in raga bhairavi for the finale. “Kaun gat bhayi†a vilambit khyaal set to 12 beat ektaal cycle in Bageshri was fluid and reposeful while “Goondh lao ri maalaniya†in fast tempo teentaal had a wonderful mukhra phrase striking the shadja note in the upper octave with pleasing precision. The nirguni bhajan “Mai tho ek niranjan dhyaaoongi†penned by the medieval poet Gorakhnath and popularized by the late Pandit Kumar Gandharva set to Satva taal came next. Shuklaji created a meditative atmosphere with his soulful rendition. He explained to the audience the distinction between “sagun†poets who wrote poems eulogizing hindu deities such as Ram and Krishna and “nirgun†poets who praised the formless God . “Tulsidas and Meera were famous sagun poets while Gorakhnath and Kabir were the famous nirgun poets of the medieval times†he said. KHMC’s president, the reputed Mridangam player from Boston area, Mali Santhanakrishnan who spontaneously took on the task of providing accompaniment on manjeera, educated the audience on the 7 beat cycles Mishra chapu and tisra triputa as well as 14 beat cycle khanda jaati atta taal in the Carnatic system. Nuances of the role of the accompanist were discussed in an interesting dialog between the artists and the audience.
“Kina Bairan Kaan Bare†in Raga Darbaari †a composition set to 16 beat cycle teemntaal in medium tempo, popularized by the legendary Ustad Amir Khan of Indore gharana, was Shuklaji’s next musical offering. Darbaari always succeeds in creating a grand atmosphere due to the prominence it gives to the notes in the lower octave (mandra saptak) and the somber mood it creates. Shuklaji rendered a variety of creative boltaans and aakaar taans in his exposition of the khyaal. He concluded with a rhythmic bhajan in Kannada language in the customary Raag Bhairavi. In doing so, he brought to the audience a glimpse of his guru the late Shri Madhav Gudi and his grand Guru, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.
The evening of wonderful classical music ended around 10pm and though the cold winter made its frigid presence felt in full force outside the host Mali Santhanakrishnan’s residence, the members of the audience left for their homes with gratitude in their hearts, their spirits warmed by the music presented during the afternoon and evening.
About KHMC : KHMC (Karnatic Hindustani Music Circle ) is a non-profit organization proudly serving the Karnatic and Hindustani musical heritage in NE area. KHMC organises 6 free concerts annually and provides established and young local artists a platform to share their Music with community in a traditional inhouse set up . For more information visit facebookpage. For membership and more information send your inquiries to khmc.group@gmail.com . The next Concert is Scheduled for March 21st at Canton, MA. Please check the event page of Lokvani or visit Facebook page of KHMC for updates on upcoming concerts.
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