Last weekend, there was a program called Vasudeva Sankeerthana at our local temple ( Sanatana Dharma Kendra, Sunnyvale) .

Several music schools presented compositions of Mysore Vasudevacharya. It was a 4 hour long program and I was present for most of it. I was listening to many of the kritis for the first time and that made it more interesting.

Here is a list of compositions sung/played during the program:

I knew these compositions before:

vandE anisham aham – hamsadhwani – Adi
praNamAmyaham Sri prANanAtham – ranjani – miSra tripuTa
marchitivEmO nannu – pUrvikalyANi – Adi
ninnE nammitinayya – SimhEndra madhyama – miSra chApu
SrI chAmunDEswari pAlaya mAm – bilahari – Adi
dEvAdidEva – sunAdavinOdini – Adi
mahAtmulE teliyalEru – riShabhapriya – Adi
lambOdaram avalambE – kAmbhOdi – rUpaka
rArA rAjIvalOchana – mOhana – Adi
brOchEvArevarurA – khamAch – Adi
rAmAbhirAma – darbAr – miSra chApu

I heard the following compositions for the first time:

SrI kESava mAm pAlaya – bhairavi – rUpaka
manasA vachasA – bEgaDe -Adi
dayalEka bratuki phalamEmi – Sriranjani – Adi
nannu brOchuTaku evarunnAru – SankarAbharaNa – Adi
bAlam gOpAlam – bhairavi – Adi
rArA eni pilacite – kharaharapriya – Adi
bhAvayEham raghuvIram – bEhAg – Adi
gAnasudhArasa pAnamu – kharaharapriya – Adi

Of these, the SankarAbharaNa kriti had a very catchy, and unusual chiTTe swara with the viSESha prayOga “snpmpgrs”. The bhairavi kriti (bAlam gOpAlam) and the Sriranjani kritis were also very impressive. The bEhAg kriti, had a distinctive feel different from other bEhags I have heard.

I had to miss out a few renditions at the end, and am typing these from the list:

mari mari vacchuna – kAmbhOdi – Adi
Sankari ninnE – kAmavardhini – miSra chApu
bhAvaya achutam vAsudEvam – pUrvikalyANi – Adi
nE pilicitE – kamAch – rUpaka
tillAna – mOhana kalyAni – Adi

(I suspect the kamAch composition in the list above might be a jAvaLi. However the kamAch jAvali in the list of Vasudevacharya compositions does not begin with ‘nE pilicitE’. It could be that the jAvali was sung starting from the anupallavi, as it often is. I’m not too sure on this.)

Overall, a very impressive program and enjoyed it very much. Just shows how many compositions of our composers is yet to be explored! And a look at the talent of some kids tells me that we don’t have to worry about future of Karnataka Sangeeta

-neelanjana