‘Vaggeya Vaibhavam’, a musical event conceptualised and curated by Carnatic vocalist NJ Nandini, will have her disciples rendering compositions of stalwarts in Carnatic music.
“Any aspiring musician will have apprehensions about his or her first concert in a traditional kutcheri format. This is an attempt to make them comfortable about giving a public concert because they are singing together, that too with a full set of accompanying artistes. Once they are exposed to such an ambience, they will be confident about a solo concert,” says Nandini.
Twenty-five musicians, in the age group of nine to 30, will be tuning in for the event. “Most of them are from the capital city and the rest are from places such as Kochi, Bengaluru and Chennai. Six of them are learning on Skype,” the musician says.
Through the event, she also wants to familiarise the young musicians with the evergreen gems of Carnatic music. They will sing compositions of 12 composers. “I have chosen them in chronological order, from Purandarasa to GN Balasubramaniam and Lalgudi. There will be kritis of the Trinity of Carnatic music [Tyagaraja, Syama Sastri and Muthuswami Dikshitar], besides compositions of Swathi Thirunal and Muthiah Bhagavathar,” she explains.
While her senior disciples in the group have performed on a few stages, 13 of them are debutants. “They are excited about singing together because all of them will be getting equal attention on a big stage unlike the usual arangettam where the focus is on just one vocalist. I hope this will be a unique experience for them and the listeners,” Nandini says.
The seniors will have manodharma sessions and technical elements such as “Misra korappu and grihabhedam”. The programme begins with Purandaradasa’s kriti, ‘Jaya jaya..’ and concludes with thillana and mangalam. Accompanists are Attukkal Balasubramaniam, G Babu, Trivandrum Rajesh and Kalamandalam Shaiju. Although her disciples have given group performances before this one is a “level up”, she says. “They were theme-based concerts, such as those dedicated to Bharathiyar, Malayalam composers and patriotic songs from different languages. Those were held under the auspices of several organisations whereas this is my own initiative.”
The concert is at Theerthapadamandapam, East Fort, today at 5.45 pm
