VEENAVAADHINI Pilgrimage with Dikshitar

Tiruvateeswarar Temple is a beautiful serene place in the heart of Chennai, right in the midst of busy Jambazaar (Tiruvetiswaran Pettai). Muthuswamy Dikshitar has composed the beautiful "Tiruvateeswaram Namami" in praise of the Lord here, and his consort Champakavalli. As part of our Pilgrimage with Dikshitar, a small group of us sang this song sitting in front of the shrine just after the abhishekam was performed. It was a wonderful experience. We started off with Mahaganapathim in Nattai, and then Sri Guruguha in Devakriya was rendered. We concluded with Somaskandam, a Nottuswara Sahityam, and Sri Abhayamba as mangalam.

Those who participated in the group singing along with us were Kamakshi, Meenakshi, Vidya, Rajani, Archana, Bhuvana, Syamala Thyagarajan, Selvaprasad (violin) and Venkataraman (Mridangam). Smt and Sri HP Ramamurthy, and the temple authorities organized the prasadam.

The audio recording of the song is available on Veenavaadhini's podcast.

VEENAVAADHINI Chamber Concerts

TRINITY UTSAVAM

Sri Ramdas Menon, alumnus of Sri Guru Guha Gana Vidyalaya, Kolkata, presented a very neat concert based on the theme of Trinity Compositions on 4th May, 2008. Right from the kalpanaswarams for the charanam line of the Saranga Varnam Inthamodi, his grip over laya and his intuitive strength to explore this aspect of manodharma was very evident. The highlights of the programme were an elaborate Madhyamavathi before the exquisite Syama Sastri kriti Palinchu Kamakshi, and swara patterns for the line Nirgunarasapoorna shariram in the Dikshitar kriti Margasahayeshwaram in Kasiramakriya. The rarely sung Bhuvinidasudane in Sriranjani was the Thyagaraja composition presented. Balagopala was chosen to be the main kriti. Ramdas concluded the concert with Sri Venugopala in Kurinji raga.

Sri VL Kumar, a seasoned violinist, who accompanies all popular musicians of today, provided the absolute essence of all the ragas he essayed, be it Madhyamavathi, Bhairavi, Sriranjani or Ragachudamani. Sajeev Namboodiri on the mridangam was subtle and appropriate.

Svetaganapathim, Sringararasamanjari, Margasahayeshwaram etc filled us with a sense of deja vu, belonging to the same school of music as we did. Added to this was the presence of Sri B. Karthickeyan (Secretary of Guruguha Sangeeth Sammelan, Kolkata), Kartic-da to us, who happened to be in Chennai on that day, and we happily relived some moments from our days in Kolkata.

VEENAVAADHINI Music and Festivals

On 20th April we celebrated Rama Navami through music. There were four mini-concerts, the details of which are as follows:

1. Kum Kamakshi and Kum Meenakshi - Veena Duet
Starting with the Nagaswarali Varnam Sakethanagara Rama, the sisters went on to play a brief alapana of Hamsadhwani, followed by the Thyagaraja kriti Raghunayaka, suffixed with a few swarams. Thavadasoham was neatly played thereafter. They concluded the concert with Rama Janardhana, a nottuswara sahityam of Muthuswami Dikshitar.

2. Kum Bhuvana - Vocal
Ramachandrasya Dasoham in Dhamavathi gave a good beginning to Bhuvana's recital. Raga Alapana of Mohanam was competently sung as a prefix to Rararajeevalochana, a beautiful krithi of Mysore Vasudevachar. She concluded her recital with Maasil Ayodhiyil, a ragamalika composition of Neela Ramamurthy. Bhuvana was ably accompanied on the violin by Kum Priyamvada.

3. Kum Priyamvada - Violin Solo
Priyamvada gave an impressive violin recital, showing a lot of maturity for her age. Amongst the items presented included the Thyagaraja Kriti in Jhankaradhwani, Phanipati Sayee, and Brovabarama (Bahudari).

4. Sri J Thyagarajan - Vocal
An old timer who has acquired his musical knowledge primarily by listening to live concerts of masters from the days of yore, took the audience back to the golden age by presenting some gems like Ramachandraya Namasthe, Mamavapattabhirama, and Pavanatmajaagaccha. His Thodi alapana was testimony to his understanding of music, proving how "Kelvi Gnanam" plays a very important role in musical growth. He was accompanied on the violin by Smt Syamala Thyagarajan.

Sri Venkataraman, grandson of Chittoor Subramanya Pillai played mridangam beautifully for all the above concerts.