The music and dance festival of Shanmukhananda Sangeetha sabha continued with the concerts of Ms. Vidya Srinivasan, a Delhi based artists and Sh. Sanjay Subramanian from Chennai at the other venue – Delhi Tamil Sangam, New Delhi.

The evening program was by Ms. Vidya Srinivasan. She started off with a kriti of Saint Thyagara, in Mayamalagaula – Tulasidala followed by Tolijanma in Bilahari, which was very appropriate for the occasion. . The raga alapana in Subapanthuvarali and Madhyamavathi and the kirtanas ‘Yennalu Yorake in Chapu tala and Ramakadha Sudha were rendered with clarity. The songs Tavata Soham of Tyagaraja, Mayamma Yani ne of Syama Sastry and Karunajalathe in Nadanamakriya were good selection. The accompanist S/Sh. Annadurai on the violin, Srinivasan and Ganesh on the mridangam and Kanjira gave able support.

The second part of the twilight was starred by Sh. Sanjay Subramaniam with Sh. MA Sundareshwaran on the violin and Tiruvarur Sh. Vaidyanathan on the mridangam. He commenced the concert with a varnam Chalamela in Darbar followed by a composition of Thyagaraja --Emanadichevo in Rupaka tala. The melakarta raga Naganandini (30mela) with ‘Sattaleni dinamu ‘ was a rare piece and was well received by the audience. It was nice of the artists to have announced the raga. Then it was perhaps time for Syama Sastry’s Sankari Shankuru in Saveri-- A very well rendered alapana and kriti with niraval in ‘syama Krishna sodari. After a crisp kriti in Mukari, Sanjay rendered the popular, pleasing janya raga -Mohanam with Nannupalimpa. The raga itself to be sung in the late evening, with well-elaborated alapana and swara prasthara made the evening very enjoyable for audience present there. The artist has a knack to keep the audience spell bound by the way he renders the raga alapana, the kriti or the swaras. The weather though very fine for the audience was not too friendly to the artists’ voice – but of course it did not spoil the evening. A brief Ragam Tanam Pallavi in Thodi was very well presented. The concluding session was ragamalika, Chidambaram pogamal, etc., etc., and was well appreciated by all.

Sh MA Sundareshwaran on the violin gave an excellent support with his bow magic and Sh. Vaidyanathan gave a comfortable support to the artist with a brief Tani, which was splendid.

The Music and dance festival continued with another exquisite music recital by Nadabhushanum Bombay Jayshri Ramnath and Party on the Saturday the 5th March.’05. She was accompanied on the Violin by Sh. Vittal Ramamurthy, Naiveli Skanda Subramaniam on the Mridangam and Sh. Tiruvanandapuram Rajagopal on the Kanjira.

Jayshri started the concert with Ponnayya Pillai’s composition in Mayamalagaulai – Mayatita swaroopini in Rupaka Talam and then a tyagaraja kriti in Darbar – Mundu Venuka set to Adi thala. Papanasam Sivan’s kriti in Sahana was rendered excellently by Jayashri and Ranjani Niranjani in Ranjani was also very good. ‘O Ranga Sai’ in Kamboji raga was well knit piece and the artist showed her competence with full maturity and dexterity. The swara kalpana was excellently presented. Later the RTP in Subhapanthuvarali was remarkable. The remaining part of the day was allotted for light songs including the vruttam of Tirupanazhwar pasuram – Kondal Vannanai Kovalanai followed by Tottu Tottu pesugiran kannan She concluded with a meera Bhajan ‘Hari Tuma Haro’ which reminded us of MS mami.
The accompanist Vittal Ramamurthy gave able support on the Violin and Skanda Subramanian and Rajgopal presented an excellent support on the mridangam and ghatam respectively.

The Grand Finale of the Festival was by Padmasri Ms Sudha Raghunathan who was conferred the title of Nada Kalanidhi by the Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha. One could say that all the rasikas of Sudha were in the auditorium to enjoy her concert. The two and a half an hour concert was magical spell of delectable Music. Even Lord Anjaneya – who is supposed to be definitely present in some corner wherever some good music is on – would have found it difficult to find a free corner in the Hall due to the overflow of enthusiastic crowd of rasikas and wished the concert was held in a larger appropriate hall.

She started with an Ata Tala Bhairavi Varnam and Sree Jalandara in Gambiranattai- a composition of Jayachamaraja Wodayar in Adi Talam. The Shanmukhapriya raga alapana was good and Sivan’s kriti Parvati Nayakane was very well rendered and the Niraval ‘Nee Maravade ennarul jagadeesa’ was well presented. The swara prastharas were note worthy. After sprite kritis in Atana, Suruti and a purandara dasa kriti it got leisurely with the main piece in Mohanam with Nannupalimpa of Tyagaraja. One could hear all aspects of the raga, even though different artists already rendered this raga many times in the festival. Due to paucity of time she could not do justice to the light songs but somehow managed two songs- Kurai Ondrum Ellai and Thaye Yashoda. The sabha should plan for a bigger hall and longer time slots for artists of such order. The accompanists as usual and to the expectation gave their best and were well appreciated.