December 13, 2014 - Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha

violin - b ananthakrishnan

mrudangam - sj arjun ganesh

kanjira - sunil kumar

4-6pm

varnam - malavi - adi - ks krishnamurthy

innum paramukham - begada - rupakam - doraiswamy kavi (s)

padmanabha pahi - hindolam - adi - swathi thirunal (r,n,s)

sarasa sama dana - kapinarayani - adi - thyagaraja

kapali - mohanam - adi - papanasam sivan (r,s,t)

nannu vidachi - reethigowla - misra chapu - thyagaraja

virutham - jonpuri (uppum karpooramum...)

eppovaruvaaro - jonpuri - adi - gopalakrishna bharathi

I'd originally planned on singing a different song for the main (I won't say what song, perhaps I'll sing it before the season is over), but called a last minute audible and sang the more well known 'Kapali' by Papanasam Sivan. I have sung this many times in Chennai and wanted to avoid it this season. For various reasons I decided to just go ahead and sing it instead, but there seemed to be a good response from the audience for this familiar krithi. A special thanks to Ananthakrishnan for his support during the Mohanam alapanai. I took a break in between as my voice was getting a bit hoarse. As I recovered with some warm water, he filled in with beautiful phrases of Mohanam and maintained the flow of the ragam.

A new 'tukkada' added to my repertoire is the popular "eppovaruvaaro," made famous by Madurai Mani Iyer. I have always loved this song and although I vaguely recall singing it upon request in a wedding concert a few years ago, I have never sung it in a sabha concert. I enjoyed finishing the concert on the energetic note that this krithi provides. Arjun Ganesh & Sunil Kumar helped tremendously in maintaining that energy and added to the composition and concert.