Nithyasree’s Concert

Nithyasree Mahadevan – Vocal
Raghavendra Rao – Violin
I. Sivakumar – Mridangam
S Karthick – Ghatam

A few years back, I used to look forward to attending Nithyasree’s concerts. But the last season, I found her concerts boring! So this concert on last Wednesday was the first concert of hers that I went to this year. I reached the venue (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan) at 8 pm, a good one hour after the concert started, knowing well that I won’t get a place to sit. Nithaysree had just started singing an alapana of Abheri, yet another favourite raagam of mine.

The thing about the Chennai audience is that once the clock strikes 8-8:30, people start leaving, unmindful of how good/bad the musician is performing. This concert was no different. So within some ten minutes or so, I got a place to sit and that’s when the torture started with the lady sitting next to me humming along all the songs, talking loudly with the person sitting next to her and also letting her mobile ring loudly! 🙁 This one lady made sure that all the things that irritated me and many others during a concert, happened in this one concert itself. I felt my tolerance level being tested to the max. When are people like this one going to let others enjoy the concert?

Moving onto the concert, I enjoyed this concert much better than Nithyasree’s last season concerts. Here’s the list of songs: (In case anyone who came to this concert is reading this, please do let me know the complete list of songs that she sang)

1. Nagumomu – Abheri (the main piece of the concert)
2. Raamanai Bhajittaal – Maand
3. Jaya Durge – Durga
4. Vizhikku thuNai (viruttam) followed by Kanda nee oru – Ahir Bhairav
5. Nirai Madhi – Hamsanandi
6. Mangalam – Sowrashtram
7. An outline of Madhyamavati raagam

I found Nithyasree’s rendition of Nagumomu and Abheri alapana to be just good. Nothing extraordinary. Neraval for Nagumomu was done at Jagame. I liked Ghatam Karthick’s playing especially during the Tani Avartanam that followed Nagumomu. The short raagam sketch of Maand that she sang reminded me of the song, Sowkkiyama from the movie, Sangamam! Durga raaga alapana and Jaya Durge were too good. I guess the violinist didn’t know the song. I am hearing the song, Kanda nee oru, for the first time. The song had lines like (not in the exact order): kanda nee oru malai vaasi, sodharano kuLakarai vaasi, thandhayo paradesi, maamano tirumalai vaasi, maamiyo sengamala vaasi. What lyrics! 😉 It was nice to hear Nithyasree sing the songs, Vizhikku thuNai (viruttam) and Ramanai Bhajittal, which I have heard Sanjay sing so often.

If I get the time, I may go to one more concert of Nithyasree this season.

14 thoughts on “Nithyasree’s Concert

  1. Sathej

    //I guess the violinist didn’t know the song//
    Its not uncommon that the violinist doesn’t know some of the songs sung post-main. Infact, its rather rare that a violinist knows all songs in a concert. There are occasions when even the main piece of the concert is a rare one (like some novel Harikeshanallur Krithi or even a rare Swathi Thirunal Krithi) and the violinist has to cope up.
    Sathej

    Reply
  2. saravana

    yei apar…. my blogspace
    http://saravana0209.blogspot.com

    how does tis invitation it appear?
    audacious to enter into ur page & putting my url tat too in ur comments page to get noticed somehow right. i might got the image of a road-side romeo smiling at the girls or like karthick as in mouna ragam.
    but i am a beginner with or without potential(who knows this scheme of mine might become a big flop in future). ur blog motivated me to join in this community(abayam: reminisicing maniratnam movies link from wikipedia.)
    so, as an adopted guru of mine, i expect ur frequent haunts to my webpage & provide ur comments. comments nt compulsorily has to be good or nice. i prefer critics to plain things.
    will return back to occupy.

    Reply
  3. Sathej

    Aparna,
    I just meant to clarify. Nothing serious 🙂
    And yes, these people who sing along is a nuisance. They sing phrases in Alapanais. Another nuisance is people who put the Tattu-Veechu Thalam forever no matter if the artiste is engrossed in an Adi Talam or a Khanda Ata Talam:)
    Sathej

    Reply
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    Reply
  6. S. Krishnamoorthy

    ?????? ????????? ?????????? ???. ??? ?????? ??????? ????????? ???????? ?????? ????????? ?????????????????.
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    Reply
  7. Aparna

    S.Krishnamoorthy,
    I guess you had typed your comment in Tamil. As of now, Tamil font doesn’t get displayed in my blog. Please type your comment in English. Thanks

    Reply
  8. Saranya

    Hi Aparna,

    Good blog indeed. I want to mention one thing about the song kandA nee oru malai vAsi. The last line of the song will be “nee yendha vAsi AnAlum bhaktarai nEsi”. Very touching line indeed.

    Reply
  9. Aruna

    Can someone give me the lyrics of the complete song “Kanda Nee Oru Malai Vasi”?

    Thanks 🙂

    Complete list of the concert (am not sure you already have it, but I dont see anyone giving you the list in the blog above)
    01-Chalamela-Darbar-Tiruvottiyurthyagayya
    02-JanakiRamana-SuddhaSeemanthini-Tyagaraja
    03-Visalakshi-Pantuvarali-Dikshitar
    04-Yenneramum-Devagandhari-GopalakrishnanBharathi
    05-MarivereGatiNakkevaru-Maalavi-GNB
    06-Nagumomu-Abheri-Thyagaraja
    07-RamanaiBhajithal-Mand
    08-JeyaDurge-Durga-SwamiBrahmananda
    09-KandaNeeOruMalaivaasi-Ahirbhairavi
    10-Thirupugazh-Mangalam

    Reply

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