Bombay Jayashri, P. Unnikrishnan
and Mysore Brothers CD review

by Veejay Sai

Veejay Sai is a well-known award-winning writer, editor and a culture critic. He has written and published extensively on Indian classical music, theatre, food, travel, fashion and performing arts. He loves traveling and researching literary and cultural history. He can be contacted on veejaysai.vs@gmail.com

Veejay Sai is Indian classical music/dance critic and
Special Correspondent of www.artindia.net

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Tribute to M.S.Subbulakshmi by Bombay Jayashri

It’s almost impossible to count the number of times the legendary carnatic vocalist Bharat ratna M.S.Subbulakshmi seems to re-invent herself in the world of music. This time in the dusky voice of none other than Bombay Jayashri as a tribute to the musician diva. Bombay Jayashri also makes a decent comeback into the world of classical music after her brief stint in film playback singing. The album contains ten tracks that were once sung by M.S. The alubm opens with ‘Sri varalakshmi’ in sri ragam composed by Muthuswamy dikshitaar. You must also check out some of the better known seasoned M.S tracks like annamaya’s ‘Sriman narayana’ in Bowli and ‘bhavayami gopala balam’ in Yamuna kalyani. Accompanied by embar kannan on the violin and patri satish kumar on the mrigandam, this album manages to just touch on the M.S nostalgia.

Best Moments: Bombay Jayashri’s rendering of C.rajagopalachari’s hymn ‘Kurai undrum illai’ which was made extremely popular by M.S is worth listening to in jayashri’s dusky voice. It would have been lovely to have a vocal accompanist. It’s impossible to not remember the good old M.S even as the cd moves track after track.

Kiravani – Raagam-Taanam-Pallavi – P.Unnikrishnan

Raagam taanam pallavi’s are always a real pleasure to the real connoisseurs of carnatic vocal music. Charsur digital workstation has come out with a wonderful RTP in kiravani raagam by P.Unnikrishnan. Unnikrishnan is one of those artists who is more pleasant to hear on a recording than to see on the performance stage, which is a rarity amongst artists, especially vocalists. For one thing, Unnikrishnan’s voice surely sounds so much more mature in this recording than in most of his older squeaky recordings. Kiravani, a wonderful raagam that blends the moving aspects of bhairavi with the majestic aura of simhendramadhyamam is often classified as a difficult raagam to render because of its two faces. But Unni manages it effortlessly.

Best Moments: The pallavi of kiravani ‘ninne nammiti neerajadala nayana’ rendered in a mix of hamsanandi, vasanthi and nasikabhushani exudes some wonderful notes by Unnikrishnan. His reach of the octaves is commendable. A highly recommended album for an evening listening to some serious music.

NADALOKA by Mysore Nagaraj and Manjunath

The mysore brothers are back again with a bang and this time with some excellent music for a lighter hearing. Mysore M.Nagaraj and Dr.M.Manjunath need to introduction to the world of violin music. Early in the public media as well known child prodigies, their concerts are flocked to by music lovers, unlike no other artists in Karnataka. The current album Nadaloka is a compilation of five wonderful soul-stirring tracks from the violin duo. The album opens with everyone’s most favorite classic number ‘vaathapi ganapathim bajey’ in hamsadhwani raagam, but not the regular way. A small mini aalapam precedes the track and keeps you curious about how these brothers might develop the ragaam. The second track is tyagaraja’s ‘samaja varagamana’ set to adi talam in raagam Hindolam. One of the wonderful things about this album is the ghatam by giridhar udupa. One can clearly hear the music he makes on his magic pot all through the length of each track.

Best moments: The fourth track on the album, Tyagaraja’s ‘Nagumomu kanaleni’ in aabheri raagam played by the duet of violins is a different transcendental experience on its own. Its twenty three minutes of sheer bliss. Not a note gone faulty, not a tune stretched. You’ll keep hearing this track in an endless loop.

MUSIC COURTESY: Sri Saibaba Cassette Center, Sampige Road, Malleshwaram, Bangalore.