Maharajapurams kickoff Sri Ramanavami Mahotsavam Isai Vizha

Oh Yes! The festivity is back with a bang. This is the third year in a row that am be attending it :).

Yesterday it was supposed to be T.V.Shankaranarayanan, but given to some mishap in his family he didn't make it. At first I was disappointed but then I was happy when saw Maharajapuram Srinivasan. For those unfamilar with carnatic mavens, his dad Maharajapuram Santhanam is a doyen in the art of carnatic music and is infamous for owning - "Bho Shambo" song ;). No one renders it with the majesty with which he does.

The concert was majestic with Naagai Shri Muralidharan on the violin, Thiruvaroor Bakthavatsalam on the mridangam and Sri.V.Suresh on the ghata. The violinst's fingering seemed so immaculate, his fingers literally thazhuvi'fying (thats a tamil'ish word btw) the instrument. It was such a pleasure watching his fingers. There are very few artists who fingering is so captivating. I know that at the end-of-the-day its all about the sound, but nevertheless this is something you can enjoy only in such a free-for-all tharai ticket kutchery ;)). Needless to say I enjoy the friendly taunts / exchanges between the percussionists. And yesterday it was a crowd pleaser for what the duo played was as majestic as the vocalist's renditions. Very enjoyable it was, and I know thats a subjective statement so just bear with it ;).

The only songs I recognized were Swaminatha Paripalaya in raaga naattai, raguvira raNadira in raaga husEni and of course bhO shambhO in raaga rEvati \:D/. I almost left the concert just before the last one after a ton of phone calls. The moment I heard he start it I ran back to listen to it, switching off my mobile ;)). Gladly it was the last piece and was simply brilliant.

Plenty of good concerts starting this saturday, so I better get back to finishing as much as I can before hand. I don't know about the artists but sitting for 2-3 hours is real physical drain for me. Glad I had enough space to sit in a different posture every 2 mins :p. Otherwise I seem to have somehow lost the flair for blogging lately. Even been considering stopping it for good, but then I decided to keep it. So no bachoo attempts to write review's / song lists this time like I used to :(.