Margazhi @ the MAA, Dec 2024

 Sometimes things happen unplanned - spontaneously and effortlessly.  The unexpected Darshan of Guruvayoorappan after a dozen years was one such. And the December 2024 Margazhi at the MAA, TTK Road was another, days of beautiful concerts by the best of the best in a Concert Hall known for its acoustics, ambience and renown and where only the best get to perform. The MAA awards the Sangeetha Kalanidhi every year to the best Carnatic musician - vocalist or Instrument vidwans. More info @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangita_Kalanidhi 

The Academy set at the end of TTK road in Madras evokes so many emotions in me - nostalgia, reverence and awe; the level of expertise, dedication it demands of its artistes is the highest in the country. Artistes are aware of this honour too; they perform at their best here. And in the traditional format as laid out for the concert, starting with Varnam and then Krithis in familair and unfamiliar ragas with Alaapana, including heavy weight ragams like Thodi, Bhairavi, Karaharapriya etc, RTP, Thillana etc

2024 was a year where I attended just a handful of concerts before the Margazhi - Dr. Sudha Raghunathan in Feb, Dr. S. Soumya in May. It has been a bit of a hectic year in addition to some unusual health challenges, though minor were a real pain. 

To end the year on such a high note, has been such a wonderful blessing. Here's an image of my crumpled-up sheet of the program, which is a proud souvenir. The best concert for me was undoubtedly Sikkil Gurucharan with Mridangam Vidwan Umayalpuram Sivaraman Sir, who at 89 is still the best mridangist we have. I hear Sivaraman Sir accompanies only Gurucharan currently. And the highlight of the concert was 2 Thani Avarthanams, with Sivaraman Sir, saying it is only the second time in his life that he has done a Thani Avarthanam twice. 

The other concerts I attended: Jayant - Flute, Sruthi Sagar - Flute, Jayanti Kumaresh - Veena, Kanyakumari and Embar Kannan - violin, Mandolin by U P Raju and Nagamani in the instrumental concerts. 

The vocalists - Sudha Raghunathan, Abhishek Raghuram, Ramakrishna Murthy, Sandeep Narayanan with Trichy Shankar on the Mridangam.

And Namasankirthanam by Savitha Sreeram & group .

All the concerts were A class and the ambience and atmosphere so serene and pure. I wish I could have heard the other top musicians too, a bit of regret, may be greed...

Attending a concert at the MAA for me personally is like visiting the old temples - Kapali Kovil or Thuîrupathi or Guruvayoor or Vadakkunathan or Kumbakonam, there is something special here that I don't experience in any other concert halls.