A Grand Vocal Concert by Vidwan Dr. Renganatha Sharma

Dr. Renganatha Sharma comes from the rich musical lineage of Kerala, instituted by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. After doing M.A., M.Phil., and PhD, all in Carnatic Music, Dr. Sharma is now the Professor of the Music College in Madurai. He has won numerous awards from organizations like The Music Academy, Indian Fine Arts and Sri Ragam Fine Arts in Chennai. He is also Asthana Vidwan of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. He is an A Grade artist of AIR and DD and is performing regularly in both these media.

Concert Review

Sherthallai Shines at Nadasurabhi.

A vocal artist who is naturally endowed with a rich voice or who has trained to achieve it, already has a great advantage on the kutcheri platform. One such artist, who is both naturally endowed with a deep full voice and who has also carefully cultivated it is Dr.Shertallai Renganatha Sharma. During his concert for Nadasurabhi on the 11th October 2009, this music professor from Madurai, provided a greatly fulfilling experience to the large audience who had gathered for his concert. Mostly cruising along well known kritis, Dr.Sharma did not fail to throw in a rare number, which was also a memorable piece. He kept up the tempo of the concert throughout the two and a half hour period without sagging. Instead of going full length into alapana, neraval and swara prasthara for the same song, he would elaborate the raga of one song, perform a crisp neraval in another and a brisk swara rendering in a third. This definitely increased the suspense element which is important in any successful performance. Instead of the usual kritis of Reethigowla, Paapanasam Sivan's Tandava Darisanam thaa , a relatively rare Tamil piece was presented with the full impact of the beautiful raga. The depth of Shubapantuvarali in Ennalu Urake of Thyagaraja Swamy was adequately brought out. The main piece taken up for elaboration was Swara Raga Sudha in Sankarabharanam. The composition itself and its presentation had a majestic quality and was well received by the audience.

The accompanying artists too rose up to the occasion with exemplary performances. Sri. B.Raghuram, who is never a disappointment on the stage, once again produced one of his best violin supports. Young percussionists Sri. B.S.Anand on Mridangam and Sri.Guruprasanna on the Khanjira gave energetic support with full involvement. They also gave an extremely enjoyable thani avarthanam.

Annual Festival: Sri.K.S.S.Raghavan announced details of the Annual Festival of Nadasurabhi coming up from the 9th to 15th November 2009. Violin maestro Lalgudi G Jayaraman will be the recipient of this year's Sangeetha Surabhi award.He emphasised the change of venue for this year's festival. It will be St.Francis High School, Opp. Krupanidhi College, Sarjapur Road, Koramangala. More information can be had through phone-25539368, email- This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or their website http://nadasurabhi.org.

List of Songs:

1. Karunimpa- Sahana Varnam
2. Bhajamanasa Vigneshwaramanisham- Bahudari
3. Tandava darishanam taa- Reetigowla
4. Shobillu- Jaganmohini
5. Sharade Veena Vaadane Visharade- Devagandhari
6. Bhogindra Shayinam- Kuntalavarali
7. Ennalu Urake- Shubapantuvarali
8. Nannu Brovu Lalithe- Lalitha
9. Swara Raga Ssudha- Sankarabharanam (Thani)
10. Narajanma Bandage- Madhuvanti
11. Rama Mantrava Japiso- Jonpuri
12. Thillana- Misra Maand
13. Mangalam