D K Jayaraman@Seshadripuram concert series,2008

A few of my blog readers who are carnatic music rasikas must be wondering what is wrong with me. But they would understand if they attended today's grand and sensational concert by none other than DKJ's greatest disciple himself, Vijay Siva. It was DKJ's spirit and soul that was present in every musical note emanating from Vijay Siva today.
It is a shame that he gets such poor response from the Fort High School grounds,each year. On the contrary,I am glad there is Seshadripuram. Atleast one good sabha that can get crowds for the right kind of musicians. It is not wrong then,that artistes are biased towards Seshadripuram. We all know that music thrives best where it is appreciated the best!

Personally speaking, my association with Vijay Siva's music began in 2002. Very late,compared to the other contemporary carnatic musicians I was listening to then.But,the impact of his music was so strong that soon, I was one of his biggest fans. The most important plus point his music has is its strong adherance to Sampradayam,or tradtional roots! Not to miss the style and diction of that particular school which went on to become the famous 'DKP-DKJ' baani. I appreciate the honesty of this wonderful singer more than anything else. Every concert,be it small or big,important sabha or no,he delivers a Ragam Tanam Pallavi(RTP),arguably the most difficult of any musical form in the universe(this is no exaggeration!). For students of carnatic music,an RTP is a must!

Coming back to today's concert,he began with the shlokam 'Sadaa baala roopapi' followed by 'kari kalabhamukham' in raga 'Saaveri'. He sang it in madhyama kaala thereby setting the mood of the kutcheri perfectly. He followed it with a brisk 'Saamaja Varadaa' in 'Shudda saaveri',naturally with kalpana swarams which were beautifully quick and crisp. The immediate piece was the classical 'Ninnuvina' in 'Purvikalyani'. The beauty of this combination,of two fast kritis with one slower one does have a lovely calming effect on the listener. The next one to follow was the rare 'Nenarunchara' in 'Simhavahini', a beautiful raga by itself. For those of us (in the raga-identification-gang,Sharan,Anand and Vinod and myself in particular) who missed it today, 'Simhavahini' is a janya of 'Charukeshi' with the scale : Sa Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da1 Ni2 Sa and Sa Ni2 Da1 Pa Ma1 Ga3 Ri2 Sa. What followed this one,was a masterpiece 'Nee paada mule gatiyani' in 'Bhairavi'. Obviously,this was the main song of the concert. The alapanam was really heavy carnatic and Charulata Ramanujam was just too good on the violin here. Bhairavi has endless possibilities,it is a personal favourite of mine. It makes me want to give up all my London dreams and just find myself a small house in Mylapore,Chennai. Thats what Bhairavi does to me!! The neraval was for the anupallavi 'panchanadeeshwara..'.Listening to this piece of sahityam repeatedly brought me back to the banks of the river Kaveri(my previous blog post!),right into the town of Tiruvayyaru,the confluence of five rivers,as the song describes!

The tani was excellent and enjoyable, Neyveli narayanan on the mridangam.Unfortunately, I dont remember the ghatam artiste,I have not heard him before. This was followed by the 'Bhajare Bhaja Maanasa' in Kannada. I bvery nice song,I had not heard this before.

What followed now was UTOPIA. An RTP in raga Abheri. I know Nagaraj Mandya is smiling now! Nagu,you would know how much I love this raga. You missed a wonderful nadai pallavi in this superbly sung raga. It was a tishra jati triputa tala with the laghu in tishra nadai and the dhruta in Chatushra Nadai. Oh,it was mind-blowing!! As usual,I struggled in the mel-kaala. However,I am happy to tell you that my taala sense is much better now atleast the keezl-kaala with nadai change. This one was a damn good challenge!! :) :) I could go one writing on this RTP today,but to make ti short,the ragamalika had Mohanam,Thodi and Valaji. The kalpana swarama alternated between mel and keezl kaalam patterns in the tishra and chatushar nadais in two passes. Well, thats the best I could describe the wonder!!
The pallavi went like :- 'Paaka Uruga Nenji Pankaaya Kannan Ninaittu'. I am very sure,I have got the sahityam wrong,partly because it was chaste Tamil and partly because I was trying hard to notate it as he sang and I got too confused big time!!

Soon after the RTP, he sang D K Pattamal's famous 'Intha Cheluvage Magalanu Kottanu' in 'Abheri'. The next one was 'Jayadeva' kavi's ashtapadi 'Radhika Krishna thava Virahe' in ragamalika - Khamas,Vasanta,Mukhari and Shanmukhapriya. The came a 'Sahana' in the form of 'Ini Enna Pechirukkudu'. I dont know much about this one,never heard before. I vaguely remember Sanjay singing it,not sure. Then came a viruttam on Lord krishna accompanied by 'oruthmaghanai pirandu',beautiful,beautiful Behag!

The last one was a tribute to none other than two great personalities, Lord Rama and DKJ. Vijay Siva has always sung something as a tribute to this great guru.Usually,it is a song with this guru's name in it. Today it was the majestic, Yadukula Kamboji kriti of saint Tyagaraja, 'Sree Rama,Jayarama'. I loved the tempo of this song. At that hour in a carnatic concert,when everyone is happy,tired and hungry,a slow paced Yadukula kambhoji can act like a lullaby. Am not kidding, I was falling asleep.

Another noteworthy aspect today was the fact that three of the kritis that he sang had the names of the reigning dieties of very famous temple towns in Tamilnadu. Ninnuvina showerd praises on 'Ekambreshwara' and 'Kamakshi' of Kanchipuram, 'Neepadamule' contained 'Panchanadeswaram' and 'Dharmasamvardhini' of Tiruvayyaru and 'kari Kalabhamukham' had Lord Ganesha of Myladudurai.

All in all,I enjoyed a lot. Vijay Siva is an artiste beyond compare in today's lot. He must be listened to more and more. Bangalorean crowds really need to reprioritise, I feel. It was very disappointing two days ago,to see few people in Fort High School,they missed a wonderful RTP in Anandabhairavi. Anyway,Seshadripuram sabha rocks!!

As goes the famous sanskrit saying, 'Yathaa guru,thathaa shishya', DKJ and Vijay Siva represent gurukulam in its most correct sense.