Aishwarya at SV Lotus Temple, Fairfax, Virginia.

[Ranganayaki]

S Aishwarya Vocal
S Soundarya Vocal Support
Kamalakiran Violin
Shrikar Chittari Mridangam
Samyuktha Sriram Ghatam


1. Dakshinamurti Sloka followed by Jalajaksha – Varnam – Hamsadhwani- Adi -
Maanambuchavadi Venkatasubbaiyer
2. Yochana Kamala Lochana – Darbar – Adi – Thyagaraja
3. Raghuvansha Sudhambudhi – Kathanakuthoohalam – Adi – Patnam
Subramanya Aiyer
4. Rave Himagiri Kumari – Todi – Adi – Syama Sastri
5. Viruttam: Petra Thai Thanai Maga Maranthalum – Ramalinga Swamigal,
followed by Shiva Shiva Shiva Bho – Nadanamakriya – Misra Jhampa Tala –
Jayachamaraja Wodeyaar
6. Drishti Ninna Padadalli – Shuddha Kalyan – Adi? – Purandara Dasa
7. Tarana – Bagheshri
8. He Nutan – Sindhubhairavi – Rabindranath Tagore
9. Kurai Ondrum Illai – Adi – Ragamalika – Rajaji
10. Maitreem Bhajata – Adi – Ragamalika – Kanchi Mahaperiaval
11. Mangalam.

This was a good concert with disappointing sound settings. Like every other Carnatic concert, the sound was too loud and echoed in the auditorium in this newly constructed temple. I looked forward to this auditorium, but very sadly, it has absolutely no acoustic features. I’ve been feeling that I really prefer the intimate setting of the old concerts in the main worship area. Those concerts would receive inspiration from the deities present and every concert there used to be enjoyable. There is a lot to be said for the sense of vibrant life in the temple when art is practiced before the deities and the setting is informal and intimate. Concrete is starkly lifeless!

Aishwarya began with a calming shloka (OM Namah Pranavaarthaaya) and a brisk varnam, sung in three speeds, with tisra nadai as well as 2nd kalam, the charanam as usual in 2nd kalam. Yochana Kamala Lochana kept up the pace. She sang a leisurely and detailed alap of Hemavati, deftly delineating the identity of the raga in her very first phrase, it was well done.

Todi was main, with an excellent alapana response by Kamalakiran, and the song was sung with Soundarya’s upper octave rendition for support. She was very good, and knew to tone it down just where the song reached the middle of the octave. Singing at a higher octave usually doesn’t sound good to me, but she did it just right making the rendering brighter where it is rather low. She sings very beautifully with beautiful bhava. Neraval and Swarams were at "Shama Krishna nutaa vinu naa chintanu vevega dirchi abhayameeyave." The two main pieces of the concert as well as the sloka and viruttam were my favorites, Aishwarya gave them all due weight: Hemavati and Todi ragas, Srikantimateem and the Swarajati were all very nicely done, the manodharma was flawless.

Shrikar Chittari and Samyukta Sriram were simply fabulous in the Tani. As always, I wish I had the deeper appreciation and vocabulary to express how good they were. But Samyukta played with utter clarity, and strong ideas, her ghatam seemed to be whirring in perfect control, and yet Shrikar had the whole duet firmly under his command. Shrikar is a disciple of Sri Vijay Ganesh, and already has a lot of experience playing on stage for various artists and has greatly matured recently. Samyukta learns from Sri T.H. Subash Chandran and has been building experience too, lately. I’ve seen her steadily grow over several concerts. I’m convinced that they are both going to be well known so please watch out for them in the next few years.

The post-Tani pieces were interesting. Shuddha Kalyan was good, and well rendered. I had attended a lec dem by Hindustani Singer Subhadra Desai just about a month ago, in which she described the raga of a song she was using in her demonstration: Shuddha Kalyan. She said it is very similar to Bhoop (Mohanam equivalent), except that you add the presence of teevra nishadha and prati madhyama in the avarohana without ever solidifying those swaras at all: one only uses them to glide over to Dha and Ga. I was glad to have learned that, or I wouldn’t have noticed that Aishwarya was doing just that, giving just a shade of Mohanakalyani, but without that clear identity, no strong presence of ni and ma.

Coincidentallym the lecdem I attended was in fact on Taranas, and now I wish I could hear that Tarana in Bagheshri again, so I can identify the type of tarana it was, as explained by Subhadra Desai. I did not realize at the time that it was a Tarana, but I had lost focus a little. Thanks to Cienu for that information.

[arasi]

Ranganayaki,
A pleasure to hear from you and that too with a review!

Added pleasure it is to hear how well the young performers did. Saundarya is really making a mark then, in the path of laid by her older sister

Kamalakiran is a pro, and to hear about our other native young percussionists too makes us proud. How the torch bearers performed in Cleveland is also a matter of pride for all of us. Did you watch any concerts from the festival? A pity, the Cleveland thread came to a standstill, (no) thanks to naysayers Why I say this is that I heard Kamalakiran play so well for youngsters and senior vocalists alike and wonder if I mentioned it at all in that thread...

Many may know that Aishwarya is also training in HM . Her little sister Saundarya's violin playing is impressive, to say the least. She is a student of Neela Ramgopal in vocal music.

Hope the sound system gets better at the temple for everyone's listening pleasure...

[cienu]

Thank you Ranganayaki for your kind review. It was a great pleasure to meet you
The concert was indeed most memorable. The average age of the artists on the stage was hardly 16 years but the performance was truly Grand.
Thank you Arasi for your kind comments.
I am attaching below a few pictures
The concert in progress

The artists after the kutcheri

[rshankar]

Ranganayaki, thank you for that lovely review!
Cienu - vibrant pictures of the young artists... Thank you!
Couldn't help noticing the color coordination of the young ladies!

[arasi]

Yes, Ravi. It's pleasing to see when that happens. For those who think these are insignificant things in a concert, I disagree. Every bit adds to the ambience. For instance, what a difference it makes to listen to music with a plain backdrop as opposed to clashing colors and oversized logos of the sponsors to distract us! We have also seen logos displayed discretely in some instances, which does make a difference.

I was watching a Chandana program on You Tube and how everything blended well in the background! Podigai overdoes it--a bit of this and a bit of that scattered everywhere, their not coming together at all.

As for the artistes, wish some male artistes (accompanists, specially) don't get carried away and wear dazzling colors in shiny material to vie with the women on stage. An embroidered kurtA or a neutral color shirt seems suitable.

When we as the audience have to deal with sound system chaos too, our looking forward to listening to a concert can be thwarted

[melam72]

When we as the audience have to deal with sound system chaos too, our looking forward to listening to a concert can be thwarted

When my wife and I went for Vijay Siva in Ethiraj Kalyana Nilayam last season, my wife was in tears after the concert; she threatened to leave me if we ever went for another concert anywhere near Ethiraj Kalyana Nilayam.

I am not kidding.

[rajeshnat]

Good one ranganayaki after a long break

[Ranganayaki]

Thank you all for your warm, welcoming words !!

Thank you for posting the pictures, Cienu!

I wanted to post the picture of the artists posing so that everyone can put a face to these names. Aishwarya and Kamalakiran are already known to us, but not the three others. I received the picture from Cienu, but I was not able to post it! Could someone put up instructions somewhere to post a picture? According to Cienu, it is a cumbersome process. I'm not sure why!

Cienu, it was a great pleasure to meet you too!

[cienu]

Could someone put up instructions somewhere to post a picture? According to Cienu, it is a cumbersome process. I'm not sure why!

Dear Ranganayaki

The instructions are available in the Section - "Forum Use & Development"
Kindly click on the link below. One further additional instruction is that the pixel size should not exceed 1440. In some cases even after complying with the pixel size in www.tinypic.com the picture does not upload.
http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic ... 25&t=14552

Kindly also find below a 50 second video of S.Aishwarya singing the second speed of "Jalajakshi" which I had recorded on my mobile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqdFX4g ... vjcgxdaf04