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Review

Audiorec is well known among classical music fans for having brought back old masters like Pt Nikhil Banerjee and BGAK back to life. Started in 1987 Audiorec is based in UK, with an expanding catalog of various artists and genres.

This CD by Sampath Kumar presents a Carnatic Nadaswaram concert. This is also my first album of Sampath Kumar. Thavil support has been provided by Thangai Velan. It features eight compositions by mostly modern composers. In fact, the surprising fact about the CD is that it has no composition by any of the Trinity !

The CD starts with a krithi dedicated to Vinayaka in Mohana Kalyani, composed by Muthaiah Bhagavathar, Siddhi Vinayaka. Sampath Kumar has a good command over both Raaga and Thala. His mastery over the instrument is also quite good. The next four compositions are Tamil krithis, I'd not heard before. Listening to unknown compositions on instruments is always less enjoyable.

The krithi Sampath Kumar takes up for some elaboration is Ododi Vandhen by Ambujam Krishna, one of the few woman composers. It has a rather long solo play by Thavil. As expected the compositions after that are light. Rama Rama Shri Purandara is erroneously described as a bavageetha in the Liner Notes. At the end are featured a Meera Bhajan and finally a nice Thillana by Lalgudi Jayaraman. Meera Bhajan is played in a curious mixture of hindustani and carnatic styles, no dobt influenced by the inimitable Ustad Bismillah Khan

In the end, this CD is a worthwhile addition to any Tamil Nadaswaram fans. Overall 3.5 stars for the music and 4.0 stars for the recording. Recommended.

CD Information

Tracks

Nu.	Composition	Composer	Raaga	Taala	Time	Rating
1	Siddhi Vinayaka	Muthaiah Bhagavathar	Mohana Kalyani	Adhi	7:45
2	Kalaichelvam	Andan Koil Selvarathnam	Vandhana Dharini	Adhi	6:56
3	Enna Dhavam	Papanasam Shivan	Kapi	Adhi	9:33
4	Kurai Ondrum Illai	Rajaji	Ragamalika	Adhi	5:54
5	Ododi Vandhen	Ambujam Krishna	Dharmavathi	Adhi	22:35
6	Rama Rama	Shri Purandara Dasa	Thilang	Rupakam	7:24
7	Meera Bhajan	Meera	Kalyani	Eka	11:47
8	Thillana	Lalgudi Jayaraman	Revathi	mishra	4:26

Liner Notes

Good liner notes with profile of the instruments, raagas and composers. No information about the artists is given, though, which is very strange. Also the language is not tight ... I hope a machine did not traslate from Tamil ! There are several sentences which either should have been left out or are just wrong. For eg. Carnatic music is described as practiced primarily in the state of Tamil Nadu ... I wonder how people of other states would react to that. Shri Purandara Dasa compositions are described as "bavageetha" ... probably the author confusing Devaranama with bhava geethe (which are modern poems ... equivalent to Sugam Sangeeth).