Anandam Margazhi Sangeethothsavam (Anandam Margazhi Music Festival 2023-2024)
Wishing all of you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year 2024.
My concert performed on the last day of last year, i.e. Sunday, 31 December 2023, at Anandam Senior Citizens Home in Ambattur, Chennai, India was indeed a very special, memorable and wonderful way to say goodbye to 2023 and welcome 2024.
The co-artistes were Kalaimamani Srimathi Meera Sivaramakrishnan (Violin), Shri Aditya Rajkumar (Mridangam), Shri Madipakkam Gopalakrishnan (Kanjira) and Shri G. Ganapathy (Ghatam).
The concert began with an invocation to Lord Vinayaka with the krithi “Sri Ganesa Charanam” in the Raga Thilang, Tala Adi, composed by Papanasam Sivan.
The Thyagarajaswamy krithi “Marukelara” in Raga Jayanthasri, Tala Adi which ensued built up the tempo of the concert.
The Navagraha Krithi “Smaramyaham Sadharaghum” in Raga Ramapriya, Tala Rupakam, composed by Muthuswamy Dikshitar, sought the blessings of the Navagraha moorthis for the oncoming year 2024.
The Shyama Sastri krithi “Marivere Gathi” in Raga Anandha Bhairavi, Tala Misra Chapu, was in praise of Goddess Meenakshi of Madurai.
The Papanasam Sivan krithi “Nekkurugi” in Raga Abhogi, Tala Adi, that followed appealed to Lord Muruga to bless the people with a happy and healthy life.
The main item of the concert was a Ragam, Thanam, Pallavi in Raga Shanmugapriya, Tala Adi (2 kalai – half tempo), the takeoff point at zero base (samam).
The sahitya of the Pallavi, composed by my talented nephew Aditya Rajkumar, who was also the mridangam artiste, “Skandha Muruga Shanmuga Velava / Shivan Parvathi Kumara”, in praise of Lord Muruga, sought His blessings for a secure and protected life.
Meera played a beautiful Raga Alapana of Shanmugapriya, bringing out the salient characteristics and features of the Raga.
The Ragamalika Swara Kalpana closely followed the Kunnakudi Sangeetha Bani developed by my revered Guruji, Violin Maestro Padma Shri Dr Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan. Guruji will always play six ragas in sequence, and when he reaches the korvai swaras, he will deliver them in dwi-raga manner, two ragas for each tala cycle of the korvai (Poorvangam and Uttharangam), in reverse, and then return to the Pallavi.
In this concert I rendered Mayamalavagowla/Panthuvarali, Karaharapriya/Hemavathi, and Gowrimanohari/Dharmavathi by shifting the Madhyamam M1 (Suddha Madhyamam) to M2 (Pradhi Madhyamam).
Aditya, Madipakkam Gopalakrishnan and Ganapathy played a beautiful Thani Avarthanam (percussion solo) with very nice and melodic thisra nadais (triple tempo rhythmic movements).
The percussion solo was followed by the krithi “Aarumo Aaval” in Raga Maand, Tala Adi, composed by Kannan Ayyangar.
The two-hour concert concluded with the krithi “Karunai Dheivame Karpagame” in Raga Sindhu Bhairavi, Tala Adi, composed by Madurai Srinivasan, followed by Mangalam (Valediction).
Our special thanks to Anandam Senior Citizens Home for giving us this wonderful opportunity. It was indeed a very humbling experience meeting up with the senior citizens there and receiving their blessings and good wishes.
Gurubhyo Namaha.
Venkateswaran Somasundram
