Ganesh & Kumaresh’s Violin concert was the next one after Prasanna’s concert day before yesterday at the Margazhi Mahotsavam. They were accompanied by Sivaraman on the Mridangam and Sundar Kumar on the Khanjira. The theme of their concert was ‘Shadjam – Adhara Swaram’.
Ganesh first explained what is Graha Bedham and said that they were going to take up Kalyani Raagam for doing the graha bedham in the concert. He then explained how each raaga was arrived at by doing a graha bedham on Kalyani. By shifting the Shadjam to the position of ‘Rishabam’ in Kalyani, you get Harikambhoji raaga. By shifting it to the position of Kalyani’s ‘Gandharam’, you get Natabhairavi raaga; Hindolam by shifting it to ‘Madhyamam”s position; Sankarabharanam by shifting it to ‘Panchamam”s position; Karaharapriya by shifting it to Daivatam’s position and Todi by shifting it to Nishaadam’s position. (Hope whatever I have written is correct as this what I understood after listening to his explanation. If there are any mistakes, please do let me know).
He then gave a list of the raagams that they were going to play in the concert. The raagas were all the janyas of the raagas derived by doing graha bedham on Kalyani.
Here is the list of raagams and the song in each that they played:
1. Varnam – Kalyani – Adi
2. Sri Vathapi Ganapatiye – Sahana (Janya of Harikambhoji)
3. Mokshamugalada – Saramati (Janya of Natabhairavi)
4. Manasuloni – Hindolam
5. Narasimha Mamava Bhagavan Nityam – Aarabhi (Janya of Sankarabharanam)
6. Aadaadu Asangaadu – Madhyamavati (Janya of Karaharapriya)
7. ? – Desiya Todi (Janya of Todi)
Sivaraman used 7 different mridangams, one for each song as the shruti was changed in the Tambura for each raaga for doing a graha bedham.
After playing all the raagas, there was the Tani Avartanam. What followed next was Shruti Bedham where they played some Divya Naama Kritis (Ganesh explained what Divya Naama kritis are. They are those that have many charanams and all the charanams are in the same tune) of Tyagaraja.
It was a wonderful concert and an informative one too!