Venue: Balamandir German Hall, T.Nagar, Chennai
Date: 19 Dec 2006
Organizer: The Indian Fine Arts Society
Vocal: Sri O.S. Thyagarajan
Violin: Sri Mysore Manjunath
Mridangam: Sri Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman
Khanjira: Sri B. Sree Sundar Kumar
List of songs:
1) tyAgarAja swAmi – kharaharapriyA – Adi – tiruvOtriyUr tyAgayyA (ONS)
2) apparAma bhakti – pantuvarALi – rUpakam – thyAgarAja
3) mAmava sadA karuNaya – khamAs – rUpakam – lalitAdAsar (AS)
4) Emi jEsitE – tODi – misra chApu – thyAgarAja (ANST)
5) sAgara shayana – bAgEswari – Adi – m.d.rAmanAthan (O)
6) ArabhimAnam – rAgamAlikA – Adi – tanangambaDi panchanAda iyer
7) vinAyakuni – madyamAvati – Adi – thyAgarAja
(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)
Sri O.S. Thyagarajan (OST) gave a wonderful performance filled with a lot of sowkhyam and shruti sudham. Starting with a not very commonly sung kriti “tyAgarAja swAmi guruniki” in kharaharapriya, he then sang “apparama bhakti” in pantuvarALi. The speciality was that he sang the first charanam that starts with “lakshmi dEvi valachunA ……” which is not much heard in concerts these days and then sang the usually-sung final charanam that starts with “kapi vAridhi dATunA”. The next song “mAmava sadA karuNaya” was a pleasant surprise as I have not heard OST sing it before. The elaborate toDi alapana that followed was done by OST alone for 25 minutes. Sri Mysore Manjunath followed it up with a 10 minute alapana on the violin.
OST then sang Sri MDR’s composition “sAgara shayana” at the organizer’s request. The request itself was an elaborate affair with the organizer trying to sing the song himself and even trying to do a small alapanai of bAgEswari before asking OST to start singing to which OST jovially asked – “have you finished singing” (so that I can start) ? 🙂
Percussion support of the highest calibre was provided by veteran mridangam maestro Sri Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman and by Sri B. Sree Sundar Kumar on the khanjira. The taniavartanam in misra chApu taLam was a delight to hear.
Ramkumar R 
Hello,
I attended OST’s Kutcheri at SAFE.There,the main piece was Upacharamulu in Bhairavi.It was a fantastic kutcheri with MA Sundareswaran(my Guru)on the violin.Srimushanam Raja Rao and the Ghatam Karthick were the percussionists.
Hi ram
Nice to see yr review. You seem to be back in action these days. Carry on with your good work.
My observation ( being a regular to OST for the last 2 years) this year he is providing variety which was missing in the last 2 years as he generally used to repeat Sundari Nee divya (kalyani), Chakkaniraja ( KHP), Smara sadha (bilahari) in every sabha.
Even at SAFE, his bhairavi and also Devagandhari (vinaradhana) was very good and was refreshing. Today I am attending OST at NGS ( with Trichy Sankaran)
Dear Sri Sriram,
Just saw your comment. Had gone to Smt. Gayathri Venkataraghavan’s concert today as I hadn’t attended even one of her concerts this season. Her concert was very good. How was Sri OST’s concert?
Regards,
Ram
Ram
i would say u have missed the concert yesterday. Both OST and Trichy Sankaran was at their best. particularly sri sankaran’s accompaniment for all the songs more particluarly ( Madhyamavathi and manjari) . It reminded of semmangudi.
List ( 2 hr concert)
1) Patti viduvarathu – Manjari
2) Gnanamu sagaradha – PK – N,S
3) lekana ninnu – Asaveri –
4) Rama Katha – Madhyamavati- RNST ( Neraval at Bama mani janaki)1 hr 20 min — alapana – 20 mins , Neraval, swaram – 15 min , thani – 20 mins)
5) Rama bhadra ra ra – A.bharavi – Badrachalam
6) Pahi Ramajootha pranakumara -Shadvithamarkani- Tyagaraja.
Mike was not very good for the violinist (TKV ramanujacharyalu)). Bangalore Amrit played well and Trichy Sankaran was impeccable.
Thanks a lot Sri Sriram for sharing your experience.
With so many concerts happening, its kind of becoming inevitable that I miss out on some of the good ones. But I am totally satisfied that I went to Smt. Gayathri Venkataraghavan’s concert. It was simply too good and just left me wanting for more when it ended.