Dr.Sreevalsan Menon

At the Indian Heritage Academy in Koramangala the hall was packed to capacity for the carnatic concert of Dr.Sreevalsan Menon from Trichur, Kerala. He was accompanied by a specialist team consisting of Smt.Charulatha Ramanujam on violin, Sri. Jayachandra Rao on Mridangam and Sri.MA Krishnamurthy on Ghatam. The overall concert experience was that of peace and tranquility- sowkyam, which is a very important face of this Classical Indian Music system.

Starting with a traditional todi raga varnam Eraa naapai , Dr.Menon presented the pleasant composition Rakhshamaam Charanaagatam in Gambira nattai. There were few avarthanams of swaram meshing seamlessly into the sahityam. A well received devagandhari alapana which was ably reciprocated by the violinist, was followed by Vina raadaa naa manavi, a composition of Thyagaraja. A detailed presentation of the sub-main piece in Kalyani with Thyagaraja's landmark kriti Vasudevayani with neraval and swaras at Raaga Taala gatulanu was very impressive. Close on the heels of this major piece came a fairly detailed Saveri alapanai and the selected song was a Muthuswamy Dikshitar piece Kari Kalabha mukham. There was also a suitable swaraprasthara.

Before taking up the main item of the evening, Sreevalsan preseted the ever green Swati tirunal's Bhogeendra saayinam in the lovely raga Kuntalavaraali. Although a filler, he chose to give a short swaram sequence for this song as well. Then, Kapi was taken for elaboration. The thyagaraja's master piece Intha Sowkya mani ne was majestically presented to bring out all its beauty. Neraval and swraprasthara was at Swara raaga laya. This was followed by tani aavarthanam by the percussionists.

The tail pieces consisted of the lilting folk song in kannada Etara cheluva rangayya, incidentally also displaying the genius of Purandara dasa in producing a wide variety in his compositions. A malayalam piece Karuna cheyvaan was a beautiful one. An MD Ramanathan composition in Bhageshri, Saagara sayana vibho was a masterly emotional presentation.

The accompanying artists definitely lifted the quality of the concert which was in itself of a very high calibre from Sreevalsan menon. The important aspect was that there were no excesses of any kind and the mood of involvement and enjoyment was never disturbed. The selection and sequencing of the songs gave the programme a wholesome satisfactory effect.

Concert recording is posted here with the permission of the artist. It is downloadable.

http://www.mediafire.com/?5l742s8elzlsfsg

Dr.Sreevalsan Menon hails from Trichur in Kerala and is a disciple of Padmasri Neyyattinkara Vasudevan. An “A” Grade artist of AIR and Doordarshan Besides achievements in music, he is a Ph.D holder in Agriculture Extension and currently Associate Professor in Kerala Agriculture University.

Awards

Awards from the Madras Music Academy, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005

Conferred title Nada Oli by Nada Inbam Chennai, 2003

Krishna Gana Sabha Award, Chennai 2004

Special award for December season 2003, from Dr Nalli Kuppuswamy Chettiar, Chennai

Vaikom Vasudevan Nair Memorial Award 2005

Conferred title "Yuvakalaratnam" instituted by Kaladarpanam , 2001

Chembai Memorial Trust Award in the year 2001.

Music Academy 2008 Awards

Musician of the Year 2009, Bhasma, Kuwait

Vayyangara Madhusudan Award 2009

Countries visited

Performed music concerts on various platforms in USA, Canada , Africa and the UAE

Important Concerts

Concerts in Madras and other places accompanied in the Mridangam by Sri Umayalpuram Sivaraman, Sri Guruvayur Dorai, Sri Kamalakara Rao, Sri Mannargudi Eswaran, Sri Tiruvarur Bhaktavalsalam , Sri Trichur C Narendran.

Madras Music Academy 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005

Akashvani Sangeeth Sammelan - October 2001 at Mysore, 2004, Madurai.

National Programme of The Doordarshan 2003

Cleveland Tyagaraja Festival, Ohio, April 2004

South Zone Music concert of Doordarshan.2001

Third North American Hindu Convention, Chicago 2005

Jugal Bandis with Sri Ramesh Narayan, Kalamandalam Hyderali

Invited Audience programme - Swathi Festival of AIR, Thrissur and AIR, Calicut

Performances in Kairali, Surya, Jeevan, Asianet and Amritha television channels.

Soorya Festival 2003, 2005,2006

Ramaseva Mandali , Fort high school Grounds , Bangalore, 2003, 2006

“Music Transcends” (International Conference by Jayamangala) Symphony, Washington, 2004.

Indian Embassy hall, Dubai, 2005

Navaratri mandapam 2009

Films and Theatre

Rendered Neelambari, Mohanam and Hamsanadam raga alapanas in the award winning film "Mazha" (2000)

Rendered classical songs in plays such as "Neelavelicham" (1995) and "Mahakavyam" (2001)

Directed and rendered songs for movie TD Dasan Std VI B.

Lecture demonstrations and Extension programmes

One day Orientation programme on Carnatic classical music for children as part of the News paper in Education Programme for The Hindu Young World (November 2002).

Studies on attitude towards carnatic music, emotional impact of ragas among college students etc. in various colleges including the Cleveland State University, Ohio