Sriram Parasuram and Anooradha Sriram @ IFAS, Chennai

Venue: Balamandir German Hall, Prakasam St, T.Nagar, Chennai

Date: 01 May 2007

Organizer: The Indian Fine Arts Society (G.N.B. Day)

Vocal: Vid Sriram Parasuram & Vid Anooradha Sriram

Violin: Vid Embar S. Kannan

Mridangam: Vid Pathri Sathish Kumar

Ghatam: Vid B.S. Purushothaman

List of songs:

1) evari bOdhana (varnam) – AbhOgi – Adi – paTTaNam subramaNya iyer (S)

2) karimuka varadA – nATTai – Adi – g.n. bAlasubramaNiam (AS)

3) ranjani niranjani – ranjani – Adi – g.n.bAlasubramaNiam (A)

4) varada nipuNa – pUrNacandrikA – Adi (tisra gati) – g.n. bAlasubramaNiam

5) sadA pAlaya – mOhanam – Adi – g.n.bAlasubramaNiam (AS)

6) kamala caraNE – amritabehAg – Adi – g.n.bAlasubramaNiam

7) santatamu ninnE – valaji – Adi – g.n.bAlasubramaNiam (A)

8 ) rAgam tAnam pallavi – tODi – misra tripuTa (2 kaLai) (T)

rAgam – tODi; tAnam – tODi, rItigauLa, kalyANi, takka, hindOLam, AndOlikA & back to tODi

pallavi wordings: “mama kulEshvaram shAstAram santatam, cintayEham Ananda tANDava puravihAram” – g.n. bAlasubramaNiam

9) rAdhA samethA – misra yaman – Adi – ??

10) nI nAma rUpa mulaku (mangaLam) – saurAshTram – Adi – thyAgarAja

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

 

 

The concert by Vid. Sriram Parasuram & Vid. Anooradha Sriram followed that of the Trichur Brothers and a short talk by Dr. V.V. Srivatsa on GNB. All songs they sang except for the varnam and the mangaLam were compositions of Sri G.N. Balasubramaniam.

The star accompanists (Vid. Embar S. Kannan, Vid. Pathri Satish Kumar and Vid. B.S. Purushothaman, all of them my personal favorites) stole the show. Vid. Embar S. Kannan’s alapanas and tAnam were worth their weight in gold. Vid. P. Satish Kumar played excellently for all the songs. In my opinion, he is the best out of the mrudangam artists of the present generation when it comes to playing for songs. His imagination is very fertile. He is very quick in calculations and in translating the calculations readily into patterns that are presentable and enjoyable. Many of his endings for songs are intelligently (& instantly) derived from calculations that either the vocalist or the violinist uses. Vid. B.S. Purushothaman followed him like his shadow for all the songs. Both the percussion artists were very appreciative of each other.

The pallavi line in the RTP “mama kulEshvaram shAstAram santatam, cintayEham Ananda tANDava puravihAram” was structured as follows (B=beat; 1 Avartanam of misra tripuTa, 2 kaLai = 22 B):

starts 5B after samam ……

ma (0.5B) ma (0.5B) ku (0.5B) lE (1B) shva (0.5B) ram (1.5B) shA (1B) stA (1B) ram (1B) san (1B) ta (0.5B) tam (+gap = 2.5B) cin (1B) ta (0.5B) yE (0.75B) ham (0.75B) A (1B) nan (1B) da (0.5B) tAN (1B) Da (0.5B) va (0.5B) pu (0.5B) ra (0.5B) vi (0.5B) hA (1B) ram (0.5B)

The pallavi was sung in trikAlam.

The taniavartanam played by Sri P. Satish Kumar and Sri B.S. Purushothaman was really good. It comprised the chatusra and tisra naDais and a kanDa kuraippu. While doing kanDa kuraippu, Sri Satish Kumar and Sri Purushothaman used tisram and double speed versions of patterns of 5 along with the usual patterns of 5 to add variety. For example, instead of playing 2 patterns of 5 aksharams in chatusram, they would play 3 patterns of 5 aksharams each in tisram or 4 patterns of 5 aksharams each in double speed. Sri Satish Kumar also played other varieties for the 80 aksharam patterns like the following:

tha ki Ta thom, tha ;, dhi ;, ki;, Na;, thom;,

tha ki Ta thom, tha; dhi; ki; Na; thom;

tha ki Ta thom, tha, dhi, ki, Na, thom,

tha ki Ta thom, (tha dhi ki Na thom – 3 times)

The kuraippu involved many other intelligent structures as well that I couldn’t note down.