Dr.Kadri does the honours for Narada Gana Sabha

I had absolutely no idea of hitting for the concert today ... was home early, n by 6 I realized it was only a weekday and I could still make it ... so skipping my evening snacks n with a bit of doubt (for want of time) I flit to the sabha ... 20 min in traffic ;) ... I normally drive with least need for applying brakes, but today I was @ the other end of the spectrum ... n thanks to my reflex I saved myself from crashing into a share auto ... "A** H***" was what came to my mind ... the way Detective Spooner says in "I, Robot" ... ha ha :))

NGS opens up for the season today, with their inaugural function precided by virtuoso violinist T.N.Krishnan ... with a swamigal presenting awards n crowd accolade to scores of kids ... the concert started 9 minutes late ... @ 7:09pm IST.

First the non-music part of this session. There was this old person by the name Subramanian, who wan'd to sit b/w me and a guy from abroad (very geeky, he was like einstein). So we began to talk, all of a sudden he came up with that funny US accent #-o, fine I'll like up to that. After a lil chat, I asked bluntly "where ryu put up in US of A?" ... "California, mathematics professor @ cal state univ" ... oh oooh #-o ... enuf of that story.

The crowd was variegated, kids playing rubix cube, that geek person "kannathula kaiya vechundu, closed his eyes (which @ time I mistook as sleep), oblivious" :)) he he, other alien people squatting on top of the chair =)), that was some sight ... n all sorts of people ... the atmosphere was gud ... no further ado

Kadri Opens up for Narada Gana Sabha

A brief synopsis of the songs that I recognized by self, or with the help of folks nearby. A few are left out, thanks to my ignorance. Raagams / alapana's n such not included.

1. marugElaraa - this went of with improvisations and variations (sangathi's if I am not mistaken) for over 20 mins :-o ... fantastic it was ... the songs following a prelude in the raagam ... absolute feast to the ears ... the Dr was as quick as ever on his sax, but kanyakumari madam was not quite keeping up for the 1st 5 mins during those quick outpour of swaras ... after the warmup, it was flabberghasting ... of course, mistakes which makes the concerts interesting and the artists expertise @ reconcling with something amazing
2. kaapi raagam - this was for almost 40 mins ... absolutely mindblowing .... made the previous one dwarfed ... the morsing was exceptional .. sounds and effects I have never heard before ... most of the crowd was ecstatic about it ... the "Thak" sound from the ganjeera was quite harsh ... but then maybe we got used to it in a while ... the Meelam-Ganjeera-Morsing sequence was absoutely delightful ... I dun understand the math in them but I do see the patterns increasing/decreasing in numbers ... so pleasing ... of course to begin with Kadri vs Kanyakumari duet was sweet ;) ... she was in grooves by then keeping up with the pace ... @ times we couldn't differentiate b/w the two instruments ... such sync :-o ... gods they were tonight O:-)

Cycling b/w percussions n morsing :)
3. Sai Bhajan: Shri Lakshmi Namo Narayana - some thing close to that title
4. Theeradhe Vileyattu Pillai - ha ha ... my favourite since his fusion album series Dream Journey.
5. Mamata Thungayile - I know I am way off mark ... but this is what I heard from the gentleman next to me ~x(
6. Innu Daya Baarade - yaaaaay ... another one of the tracks I came to know from Dream Journey ... in fact I like this one a lot as well
7. Venkatachala Nilayam - bhajan kind, but I like this song on the sax
8. bhaagyada lakshmi baarammaa - in madhyamaavathi for closure, one of my favourites :) ... n that too rendered @ relative pace of Rajdhani Express ... no words to express the joy I had listening to it
   

The acoustics in the hall was quite harsh, a bit too loud (which I am used too), and the feedback reaching its peak occassionally leaving the audience %-( at times ... no sound engineer.

At the end almost the entire crowd stood up on their feet for the final accolade for the troupe ... n that geek who sat next to me too, with his hands up waaay over his head ... for the 1st time he looked @ me as we were dispersing ... gave a hearty smile and say ... "it was just amaaaazing!!!" ... it truly was ;) ... a lovely evening until now

ladies and gentlemen ... gud night and gud luck - adios