Raji Gopalakrishnan@MFAC on Dec 10th,2018

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rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Raji Gopalakrishnan@MFAC on Dec 10th,2018

Post by rajeshnat »

Raji Gopalakrishnan@MFAC on Dec 10th,2018
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Vocal : Raji Gopalakrishnan
Violin : Kalpana Venkat - disciple of T Rukmini
Mrudangam : Melakaveri Balaji
ghatam : Chandrasekara Sharma

Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow / Ticketed Concert
Day/Duration : Monday/ 2 hours and 40 mins
Hall : MFAC Hall

01. karunimpA - sahAnA - patnam
02. vara vallabha ramanA(S)- Hamsadhwani - GNB
7 mins swaras

03. cinna nAtanA -kalanidhi - T
04. ParalOka sAdhanamE manasA (R N S)- poorvikalyani - T
8 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
neraval for 5 mins in shree rAma bhajana
swaras for 6 mins

05. shree mAthrubhootam - kannada - MD
06. vellai thAmarai - bhimplas - bharathiyar

07. neekela dayarAdhu (R S) - sarasAngi - Ramaswamy Sivan
7 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
6 mins swaras

Mylapore Fine Arts Club (MFAC) is perhaps the most merit focussed sabha . Quite a few sabhas will usually give quite a few wild card entries for artists which are high on crowd pull and low on musical pull .Certain sabhas give chances to relatively too many youngsters in prime evening slot . Ofcourse few but not all youngsters deserve that quick evening slot break. I am personally not finding anything like that MFAC and to an extent they are very fair to the artistic community looking quite long term and valuing experience in music .

About till say 2010 or so, MFAC had all their concerts starting at 6 pm slot . Those years we had a whole 3 hours or even 3 and half hours concert performances as the start was 6pm. But since Academy spearheaded the split of evening slots as evening I and evening II slot since 25 years back or so, the MFAC also fell in Academy way . Like academy both the evening concerts have one simple combo ticket.Only few more sabhas have not yet fallen to evening I and evening II ticketed slots.Over a period of time I think evening I will get more and more popular as the exodus of 8pm plus is also seen in evening II concerts. Even few male artists in academy this year have moved to evening I which is never a case as they usually take evening II.

I wanted to hear Raji who is the finest manaseega varisu of MLV ammA, took few hours away from work and rushed to MFAC. There is quite a lot of musical osmosis with Raji in presenting numbers that carry a lot of sampradaya touch .At the same time with her tutelage under TMT and TRS ,there is also quite a spark in presenting an unique pallavi which has no legacy at all. However every performance cannot rest with past persona , as a rasika we just have to hear and see how it goes that particular day.

There are two kinds of mike asura problems that are bit rampant , one is percusssion jacked up volume . The other is violin jacked up volume . Personally jacked up overall absolute volume is okay for me .Halls like MFAC even with jacked up volume ,you can move and sit considerably away from speakers . But if the vocalist volume is lower than the violinist where does the rasika go . In this concert vidushi kalapana venkat volume was a notch higher and for most part till the end of bharathiyar krithi (#6). Also violinist kalpana could have showed restraint and pause for vocalist that also did not happen which was even a bigger issue than relative volume. During the course of krithis for many segments till #6 , many occcassions I kind of felt that kalpana venkat was accompanied by Raji gopalakrishnan.

Start in sahana was sedate , i just came into the sabha at half point of sahana. The second hamsadhwani with GNB krithi was well done more in the swaras .I bit noticed that violinist kalpana venkat was in continous play mode . Swaras in hamsadhwani was well done by Raji few poruttams like ga ri ga , ri ga , ga did bring a great start atleast for the vocalist and percussionists team. Vidushi moved to kalanidhi ragam with the most known krithi of kalanidhi - chinna natana .Chinna natana was just okay with a usual course.

Poorvikalyani submain was well done in alapana and the return in violin was also nice .With paralOka sAdhanamE i felt the longer interplay of violin play during course of krithi did rob the vocalist reach . Neraval was measured and swaras were just having the usual course. I expected more MLV daredevil artistry,but it did not come. Two quick fillers end to end without N or S were bit surprising and is not my cup of tea. Shree mathrubhootam was bit better and vellai thamarai promotion to premain was a flop to me, it was not great bhim plus instead bhim minus.

Sarasangi was well done and the violinist volume was bit brought down .I specifically asked the sound engineer who briefly came into the hall to check .I usually identify sarasangi with the sibling charukesi, and at times after identifying sarasangi ,i start doubting if that could be charukesi .To me vidushi Raji continued to show her intense sarasangi class. Last year I heard her in academy where she sang the same ramaswamy sivan composition in sarasangi and i again got the same . Swaras were well done she just rationed to give more time to RTP - perils of having 3 short fillers.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 12 Dec 2018, 11:26, edited 1 time in total.

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Raji Gopalakrishnan@MFAC on Dec 10th,2018

Post by rajeshnat »

08A. RTP in dharmavati for 45 mins
taaanam maliga and swara maliga in ragas dharmavati + tilang?? + varAli +nattaikurinji
17 mins alapana inclusive of 7 mins violin return
11 mins taanamAligA with mrudangam
Pallavi line was Raji's own in kanda triputa
Pallavi line - mAl maurgan vElan kandan guhan, manam kanindhu aRul tharum
08B. tani for 19 mins

09. dharisanu?? dheera prAna viharE??? - hameerkalyani - ???
10. shirparai yOgiyar (karpagamE kaDaikkaN) - madhyamavati - PSivan
11. pavamAna

MLV atlast came in Pallavi . Rather Vidushi Raji threw all the legacy out and just sticked with her own personal creativity. Dharmavati?? alapana was quite well done . But i liked taanam the most . Taanam with mrudangam is not that much taken by many artists - if i start counting which i just did as i wrote ,i dont need even 5 fingers. Vidushi Raji started with mrudangam and gave a lovely taanamAliga for 10 to 11 mins . The transition from dharmavati to thillang?? was lovely. VarAli contrast with heavier shade and then the gentle sweep with nattai kurinji was lovely contrast and was immensely pleasing. This taanam with nice mrudangam support represented ageing right - carnatic music.

She than annouced it was her own pallavi .Pallavi amaippu was very creative with nice shorter words and in ragamaligas she took the same 4 ragas . I was dead sure the second raga in taanam was thilang but i was not even 50% sure if she sang tilang in swaras did she sing bahudari in swaras not sure why she did what she did, There was possibly a case of some thing that i did not get in her thillang or bahudari during swaras .I am even wondering if she sang thilllang or some mishra raga or some raga closer to thillang . in short not sure of 2nd taanamaliga and 2nd swaramaliga ragam.

IN tukkadas MLV and GNB again came with himagiri tanayE ,the last filler was a hameerkalyani that i am possibly hearing for the first time but it was pretty good. karpagamE with mylapore goddess in mind is a great closure for fine arts in mylapore.

vidushi kalpana venkat played very well in her returns .During the course of krithi she should practice bit more passive or alltogether skip bowing for few phrases. Her volume jack up above vocalist may have been an error away from the monitor . IN krithis with vidushi Raji showing more restraint and with madhyamaKAla sthayi focus there could have been better alignment with the vocalist ,possibly this aspect is her own creation.

Balaji from melakaveri was seasoned he noticed the Raji's bit restrained choice way too early and he kept the relative volume less. THe young chandrasekara sharma just was as good as balaji he showed his most aggression only in tani and he was following restraint order of balaji. Tani was well done more in the first half.

Overall a very good concert for 2 hours and 35 mins.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 12 Dec 2018, 11:26, edited 1 time in total.

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Raji Gopalakrishnan@MFAC on Dec 11th,2018

Post by arasi »

"Bhim plus instead of bhim minus" :) Add one more to Rajesh's refreshing expressions list! Dyed in the wool rasikA he is--or, should one say a born rasikA whose impressions and wanting to share them with us with all the details and nuances of a concert is something we all appreciate...

Raji Gopalakrishnan's singing appeals to me a great deal. I wish the violinist's overplaying hadn't hampered her style and spontaneity...

grsastrigal
Posts: 861
Joined: 27 Dec 2006, 10:52

Re: Raji Gopalakrishnan@MFAC on Dec 11th,y

Post by grsastrigal »

Melakkaveri Balaji is playing mridhangam. In the other post by sureshji, he is playing for sangeetha swaminathan.

Date is same !!. Am I missing something ? or one is 4.30 and other is 6.30 ??

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Raji Gopalakrishnan@MFAC on Dec 10th,2018

Post by rajeshnat »

GRS
I stand corrected , Monday was Dec 10th not 11th . reedited the post thanks.

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