by Rajkumar Anantharaman (rananth@randomc.com)
Sri Seshagopalan treated the listeners with a mathematically elegant and vocally soothing concert on 17th October, 1998 at the Hindu Temple of Atlanta. His accompaniments Sri. Varadarajan on the violin and Sri. Pazhani Kumar on the mridangam did a commendable job to keep up with this virtuoso. The concert which lasted a whopping 3 hrs and 15 minutes was a veritable joy and never seemed dull at any moment. Sri Seshagopalan's "kanakku" in his swaras kept the concert exciting and pulsating. Its truly amazing that he sees a mathematical pattern in swaras to match the thaalam that we wonder how does he do all that. I am sure Ramanuja, the mathematical wizard of India would have been awed by this musical wizard who uses permutation and combinatorial math to music.
Now to the song selections for the day. (Thanks to Kishore for sending this song list...)
1. Karunimpa -- Sahaana - Adi - Thiruvottiyur Thyaga Iyer -- Varnam
2. Sri
Mahaganapathim - Gowlai - Misra Chappu -- Muthuswamy Deekshitar
3. Annalum
Nokki -- Hamir Kalyani -- Adi -- Arunachala Kavirayar -- (From Raama
Naatakam)
4. Sri Kanthimathim - Hemavathi - Adi -- Muthuswamy
Deekshitar
5. Pashupathi Priya Composition -- Adi
6. Nannu brovu lalitha -
Lalitha - Misra Chappu -- Muthiah Bhagavathar
7. RTP - Thilang, Kedaragowla,
Behaag, devagandhari -Khanda Thriputa Taalam
8. Venkatachala nilayam - Sindhu
Bhairavi - Adi --Purandaradaasaru
9. Thukdaa -- Maand
10. Pavamaana --
Souraastra -- Adi -- Thyagaraja --(Mangalam)
Seshagopalan presented Sruthi Bedam in Ri for "Sri Kaanthimathim" in Hemavathi and it turned out to be "Bowli". Thilang RTP was good too. Pashupathi Priya, a rare raaga, was elegantly treated by Seshagopalan. Varadarajan displayed superb mastery over violin in his raagam followups espescially during RTP. Pazhani Kumar played very softly and provided great accompaniment to Seshagopalan. His thani, though short, was neat. Some of the "korvai" 's in his thani were quite impressive.
On the whole, an inspiring and entertaining show by the threesome.
Review by : Rajkumar Anantharaman (email : rananth@randomc.com)