Bombay Jayashri in LA - 10/04

[Sindhuja]

This was a fund raiser for Shankara Netralaya, Chennai and I believe Sankritilaya folks of Bay Area along with SIMA in LA organized this concert here. Kudos and many thanks to all for a pulling off a very well organized event.

Violin: Embar Kannan
Mridangam: Anantha R. Krishna
Khanjira: Shree Sundarkumar

List:
1. Neeve gathi - Nalinakanthi varnam - Adi, LGJ
2. Bagayannaiyya - Chandrajyothi, Deshadi, Thyagaraja - short ragam
3. Sogasuga mrudanga - Sriranajni, Rupakam, Thyagaraja - R, N, S
4. Anandamruta karshini - Amrutavarshini, Adi, Dikshitar
5. O Ranga Sayee - Kambodhi, Adi, Thyagaraja - R, N, S
6. Karunanidhiye - Bowli, M.chapu, P.Sivan
7. RTP in Shanmugapriya - Tishra triputa, ragamalika swaras in Valaji, Revathi, Madhuvanti
8. Muruganin marupeyar azhagu - Behag, K.chapu , Guru Surajananda (?) - short R
9. Rageshri thillana - Adi, LGJ
10. Pavamana

I've always been a fan of Bombay Jayashri not only for her voice and music but also her very poised and dignified demeanor (why I also love Pantula Rama). I hadn't heard her live in a very long time and was excited about this concert - and it was a very good one. It was probably not her best day -sadly it was very clear that she had throat problems and found it difficult to sing in the tara sthayi, but I still enjoyed the concert very much. A common problem I have with Nalinakanthi renditions is that they lack the "nalinam"! Who better to sing such a beautiful ragam than the graceful Bombay Jayashri! It was a lovely start with a short sketch of the ragam followed by the very beautifully constructed varnam. She rendered it in a medium pace which made it even more enjoyable. I must admit I'm a total sucker for this ragam so this probably biased the rest of my concert experience. Bagayannaiyya was nicely done and I really liked her alapanai although short. After this concert I felt like she is a raga-singing specialist - what amazing control over her voice, and what beautiful phrases come out of it! It probably has to do with her general disposition - her alapanais are very soulful (and at the same time also have the excitement element) and I enjoy them more than her neraval and swaram. Sriranjani ragam was also delightful. Neraval was at "kritichE" in the charanam but swaram was in the pallavi. Her swaras were interesting - after alternating between some nice tishra and chaturshra patterns, she sang a few ending on tALamu, followed by a few ending on mridanga tALamu, and finally the rest ending on sogasuga. Her final kOrvai had the LGJ stamp all over - and that also had three portions, each ending on each of the above words in turn. I was happy to hear amritavarshini, a raga not sung very commonly. Her main piece was O ranga sayee. But honestly, her alapana threw me off a bit. It was beautiful to hear, brilliantly executed and her voice was just rolling with brigas with utmost ease - but I wasn't very sure that it was Kambodhi till the end! It sounded very scalar, very few typical Kambodhi pidis, and if I remember right she had a lot of karvais on the madhyamam and sang it plain. In parts it sounded like Senjurutti. She did use ni3 but very sparingly. I had to arrive at Kambodhi by elimination. (And thankfully it wasn't just me.) I realize that O Rangasayee uses more of SRGMPDS and MGPDS is almost absent (?) and also uses Ni3 sparingly - so technically her alapana fit the song, but somehow it was still very different from standard Kambodhi! Embar's reply was also exactly like what she had sung: it too sounded very different from the regular. (I remember Malladi Brothers also sang a non-traditional Kambodhi in San Diego a few years ago and I think I in fact wrote about that here too, but I think that was non-traditional in a different way... need to revisit my notes.) I wish I had the opportunity to talk to her and ask what the rationale behind this Kambodhi was. Clearly I was missing something. May be folks here can help! Neraval and swaram at Bhooloka - standard fare with the kizh kalam, mel kalam, kuraippu (at dha) and all that jazz.
RTP in Shanmugapriya (again!) was good. I again liked her ragam - her voice was literally on a roll! The tanam was disappointing though - she had the mridangam accompanying her throughout and that's a complete no-no for me. (Aruna Sairam also had the mridangam playing for the last part of her tanam.) For almost the entire tanam one could easily "put" a neat adi thalam. And it was worse on the violin - since there were no tanam syllables to be heard, it sounded just like he was playing some swaras with thalam (both mridangam and khanjira were playing here). In a lec-dem a few years ago, TMK had made the point that tanam *should not* be accompanied by percussion, period. He said that this was not a question of preference, but one of respecting *form*. The beauty of tanam he said, was that it has a rhythmic element but at the same time has fluidity: when one is accompanied by percussion when singing tanam, one might get "trapped" in a particular beat/ count. That reasoning made a lot of sense to me and has stayed with me since, and that is exactly what happened here. That fluidity was missing. But the R and P were enjoyable nevertheless.
The Rageshri thillana is probably my most favorite thillana among Lalgudi's - and she rendered it beautifully. It was definitely a highlight of the concert for me.
I am huge fan of Embar Kannan also and really enjoyed his accompaniment. I particularly loved his Sriranjani. I felt Anantha Krishnan underplayed a bit, nevertheless enjoyed his accompaniment and thani. The khanjira thani was fantastic! I haven't heard him before - glad that I now know about him.

Overall, very nice concert and I don't think Bombay Jayashri can ever fail.

[rajeshnat]

In a lec-dem a few years ago, TMK had made the point that tanam *should not* be accompanied by percussion, period. He said that this was not a question of preference, but one of respecting *form*. The beauty of tanam he said, was that it has a rhythmic element but at the same time has fluidity: when one is accompanied by percussion when singing tanam, one might get "trapped" in a particular beat/ count. That reasoning made a lot of sense to me and has stayed with me since, and that is exactly what happened here. That fluidity was missing. But the R and P were enjoyable nevertheless.

Sindhuja
Start hearing taanam of Semmangudi with Mrudangam acccompaniment- at the top of my head i can think of bhairavi and keeravani. I personally prefer half of taanam without percussion and then a second half with mrudangam - that way there are always more sangathis in taanam . Fluidity is indeed there with percussion , i have to agree it can get slightly shorter.

Another shanmughapriya - you had another sprightly ragam for rtp

[manisubramaniyan]

SIMA (simala.net) helped a lot to pull this off and promoted this event to its members. Sankritilaya folks were there as Sankara Nethralaya volunteers

[Sindhuja]

manisubramanyan: I'm sorry - I wrote this up at 1 am and have been meaning to make a couple of edits including the fact that SIMA folks were a big force behind this event - editing now. Thanks for a very well organized concert to all involved.

Rajesh: yes, I can appreciate to an extent the rationale behind having mridangam for portion of the thani, but not the whole thing.

[rajeshnat]

Rajesh: yes, I can appreciate to an extent the rationale behind having mridangam for portion of the thani, but not the whole thing.

Sindhuja
You must have meant for portion of the taanam.

[mahavishnu]

Very nice review, Sindhuja. I feel quite the same way about Jayashri's music. On occasion, I've felt that she could use more excitement in her presentation. Interesting to see the usually exuberant Anantha underplaying in this context!

I look forward to their concert in the Bay Area next weekend!

[Sindhuja]

Rajesh: tanam, yes, thanks.
Ramesh: thanks! Let us know how the bay area concert goes if you have a chance.

[sureshvv]

The beauty of tanam he said, was that it has a rhythmic element but at the same time has fluidity: when one is accompanied by percussion when singing tanam, one might get "trapped" in a particular beat/ count.

Fluidity is nice. Up to a point.

Listen to Gayathri Venkatraghavan present a tanam in multiple stages with accompaniment, See how carefully the mrdangam never obtrudes, coming in only to highlight the rhythmic part and fading out to showcase the fluidity.