Vignesh Ishwar-Shyama Shastri kritis@Thane on 20/02/2011

Vocal - Vignesh Ishwar
Violin - Smriti Sunderrajan
Mridangam - Rohit Prasad
Kanjira - Karthik Srinivasan

Vignesh presented an outstanding 2.5 hr chamber concert at Thane today morning. Vignesh is a disciple of Anatharama Bhagavathar of Mumbai and also Sri T.M.Krishna. The audience consisted of youngsters from Mumbai, all learners and serious practitioners of music.

The stellar list was as follows:

1. himAdri sutE - kalyANi - Adi -tisra naDai - N,S @ shyAma krishNa
2. kAmAkSI - yadukula kambodi - misra cApu - R (sketch)
3. mIna lOcana - dhanyAsi- misra cApu - R,N,S @ kAmapAlini
4. mAyammA - nATTaikkurunji - Adi
5. sari evvarammA - bhairavi - khaNDa jhampa -R,N,T @ parama pAvani
6. kanakashaila vihAriNi - punnAgavarALi- Adi
7. pAlincu kAmAkSI - madhyamAvati -Adi

Vignesh started off the concert with a brisk himAdri sutE; the neraval and kalpana swarams were done very well! Smriti's replies were also apt and to the point. After a lilting kAmAkSI, the dhanyasi alapana was done beautifully, bringing out the beauty of the raagam. Neraval and swarams at kAmapAlini were very well done!

mAyammA was rendered with deep emotion.The mature and the slow rendering brought out the bhAvam of the rAgams and the composers very well. The kAlapramanam was just perfect! I would be failing in my duty if I did not praise Rohit's vAdyam here!

sari evvarammA seems to be Vignesh's forte! I had missed his Academy concert (where he sang this) and he more than made up for it! The AlApana was extremely mature and soaked in bhAvam! Vignesh's neraval at parama pAvanI was brilliant! Im going to be humming this for a long long time now!

My personal favorite of the concert was kanakashailavihAriNi. At my request, he ended with pAlincu kAmAkSI, most of the audience joined with him. That was like a crown on the top of the tribute to the great composer.

Except for some initial voice trouble and distraction, the whole concert was very memorable. Smriti's bhairavi Alapana was excellent and so was her dhanyasi. Her sharp piDis brought many AhAs from the musically sound audience.

Rohit's accompaniment was brilliant, especially to the slow kAmAkSI, mAyammA, sari evvarammA and kanakashaila. The tani was good; perhaps a little change to the routine Adi tAlam sollus to fit the structure of the khanda jAti jhampa tALam would have enhanced the performance. Karthik was sharp with his playing and played just at the right places, lifting the overall effect!

Vignesh is very hard working, gifted with a smooth but powerful voice and his music is very mature. 

TNS Krishna @ Nadopasana, Dombivli, Mumbai on 6/2/2011

I am a big fan of TNS and his son. 

The list up to 9:00 pm was as follows:

vandanamu -sahAna - Adi -T- R
shObillu- jaganmohini - rUpakam - T - S @ saptaswara
sAmajavara - hindOLam - Adi - T -R,N,S @ vEdashirO
gAnamUtE- gAnamUrti - Adi -T
sItAvara- dEvagAndhAri - Adi- T
alagallAla - madhyamAvati- T