Nirmala Rajasekar@Sringeri Temple on Sept 24th,2017
----------------------------------------------------------------
Veena : Nirmala Rajasekar
Violin : V V Ravi
Mrudangam : Tanjore Murugabhoopathy
Ghatam : SV Ramani
Morsing : DS Krishnan?? (There is a AS Krishnan is there a misprint in being put as DS Krishnan )
Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow , Free concet
Day/Duration : Sunday/ 1 hours and 45 minutes
Time : 6:45 to 8:30 pm
Occasion : As part of their yearly navarathri
1. mAya theetha swaroopini (RS,S) - mAyamAlavagowlai - Tanjore ponniah pillai
swaras for 9 mins
2. AnandAmruthavarshini (R,S)- amruthavarshini - MD
5 mins alapana and 3 mins return
3 mins swaras
3. janani ninnvinA (R)- reetigowlai -subbarAyasastri
6 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
4. kalAvatI kamalAsana yuvatI (R) - kalavathi - MD
5A. devi neeyE thunai (R Taanam N S T)- keeravani - PSivan
6 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
7 mins taanam with mrudangam
N and S for 8 mins in alai magal kalai magal
5B. tani for 3 mins
6. thEdi unnai saran adaindEn - durga- bharathiyar (tuned by BM Sundaram)
7. purahara nandana - hameerkalyani - MD
8. nenjukku needhiyum ??? - sindhubhairavi - Bharathiyar
Nirmala Rajasekar@Sringeri Temple on Sept 24th,2017
-
rajeshnat
- Posts: 9927
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Nirmala Rajasekar@Sringeri Temple on Sept 24th,2017
Last edited by rajeshnat on 26 Sep 2017, 10:37, edited 1 time in total.
-
rajeshnat
- Posts: 9927
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: Nirmala Rajasekar@Sringeri Temple on Sept 24th,2017
Sunday was a nice day, wanted to go to the primary belt of cm mylapore -alwarpet to participate in the tmkrishna concert where akkarai family is hosting to commemorate their grandfather susheendram sp sivasubramaniam centenary. Around preevening time i was near mambalam , the traffic snarl was worrying me and I thought let me settle with the secondary belt of cm -mambalam . I just decided to go to T Nagar sharada sringeri temple , they are not holding that many concerts as they used to have is my guess. I think they had gurucharan, rk murthy, vidushi A kanyakumari(today) and nirmala rajasekar (yesterday) . I heard few recorded music of Nirmala rajasekar few years back and this is the first time I am hearing her live . She is from windchill land of minnesota in usa but she had a sunaada chill in her veena with few unnecssary hiccups .
She started with a lovely alapana in her saraswathi veena . The pluck was strong and the gamaka suddam was right there in mAyamAlavagowlai -mmg is an amphoeteric raga it gives me a touch of pathos and also a touch of happiness.. I love these kind of starts that too with mAyatheetha swaroopini from tanjore ponniah pillai , it is one fine number from the vaggeyakkara who perhaps must have prayed overnight 200 years ago to the two of the greatest vageyyakkaras Sadguru thyagaraja and mudduswami dikshitar and there he got mAyA theertha swaroopini . There is so much musically inspiring flow in this krithi and with the sparkling swaras she got me into a zone of intense classicism.
The second number started with a lovely alapana in amrithavarshini, there is a famous recording of the greatest veena mahavidwan S balachandar she gave me nearly the same contours of that raindance , the swaras were beautiful and the pluck was as heavy lifting (oops may be heavy plucking)the aksharas of her patterns were well done- amruthavarshini sparkled . The rain god was also dancing but that started even from MMG.
She moved to a very pristine raga reetigowlai , the alapana was bit slow but could get aurally the charm of her veena sunadam , her sweeps showed she had some great control with the difficult instrument , especially she kept moving seamlessly in both sides and gave a lovely sunaadam in perhaps the krithi which has little longer sahityam - janani ninnuvina did all the trick.
kalavati was well done but for her little anavsiyam . What a joy it was to hear her keeravani. She distilled and gave it as a sathukudi juice for a 102 degree convalescing patient who just got well . Lovely taanam and that sparkling sangathis with nice swaras made my day .She slightly again brought in her little anavsiyam but still devi neeye was just worth it. Madurai meenakshi was with her in keeravani.
I did not know that musicologist BM Sundaram was the tunesmith of durga krithi thEdi unnai saran adaindEn which she announced. she again tested with a round of anavsiyam which really got into my nerves . The purahara was well done and the last nenjukku needhi that ms amma sing just did not register , i felt that song is more like a school prayer - i just do not get any big zing feeling with that sindhubhairavi song .
So what was that which really bothered me
-----------------------------------------------------
Why should vainikas who have such control and instrumental quality in veena decide to sing sangathis by taking the microphone. She started in mmg , where she sang one line mayatheetha - i had enough forebearance there she also sang the line of mayamaalavagowlai - ok still there was enough mmg muse. For amruthavarshini she sang few lines when that guruguha mudra came in , it is not that her voice was bad but the microphone had to get placed right still my tolerance was there i thought she was showing obesiance bit more to MD who is associated more with veena
In kalavathi she sang more longer phrase .I was expecting to hear that lovely muse and register but with her singing of few lines she bit robbed and could not deliver that many sangathis . IN devi neeye thunai she exactly sang in the line the supersonic lift devadhi devan start in anupallavi.Durga with veena may be once a life time opportunity There she sang atleast half the krithi . Even purahara nandana she sang few lines. The reetigowlai she did not sing and it was so pleasing to hear without any fragmentation of - I also can sing along sangathis.
I have heard few concerts when we organized her illustrious guru kalpagam swaminathan play where she sang bit softer to mic. To the best of my knowledge the supernova balachander has not sung along with veena . I may be wrong and i have not heard . If balachandar has adopted that why cannot the musicians adopt from that supernova of veena.
She is way too serious player - make no mistake about it but if you give your share of I can also sing type of sangathis here and there , it canniabalizes the continuity of veena concert. There was a tv interview in thamizh in doordarshan where i could spot her sincerity . She indeed just plays for the sake of art , but I want her to only play and not sing that too with such a high quanta it just robs the continuity . What can I say if ML Vasanthakumari was almost like GNB who gave a near high male typecast of vocal power, similiarly this vidushi nirmala is almost in the league of S Balachandar giving that heaviness in plucking power.She had a full bench concert and I had enough clarity with her strong pluck.
The accompanist played well , they did not over soften like most veenai concert . At some point for few krithis the ending aggression of sv ramani was little too heavy. The morsing did not interfere with the moresing veena artist and i liked their short tani just quickly passed. VV ravi played well and he had longer round in keeravani as they had to change the loose contact of veena mic, his experience was showcased with zero fuss
Looking forward to hear her veena only 2nd concert . Her devi neeye thunai and anandamamrithavarshini brought me so much ecstasy.The concert started at 06 45 instead of 06 30 but she ended at 08 30 . The sabha secy never stood he was only in the corner she could have atleast gone ahead with her planned 2 hour capsule ,may be there were little more patterns that i missed in her alapana and taanam in keeravani- 15 mins more will make a big difference to concerts.
Overall a very good to excellent concert for 1 hour and 45 minutes
She started with a lovely alapana in her saraswathi veena . The pluck was strong and the gamaka suddam was right there in mAyamAlavagowlai -mmg is an amphoeteric raga it gives me a touch of pathos and also a touch of happiness.. I love these kind of starts that too with mAyatheetha swaroopini from tanjore ponniah pillai , it is one fine number from the vaggeyakkara who perhaps must have prayed overnight 200 years ago to the two of the greatest vageyyakkaras Sadguru thyagaraja and mudduswami dikshitar and there he got mAyA theertha swaroopini . There is so much musically inspiring flow in this krithi and with the sparkling swaras she got me into a zone of intense classicism.
The second number started with a lovely alapana in amrithavarshini, there is a famous recording of the greatest veena mahavidwan S balachandar she gave me nearly the same contours of that raindance , the swaras were beautiful and the pluck was as heavy lifting (oops may be heavy plucking)the aksharas of her patterns were well done- amruthavarshini sparkled . The rain god was also dancing but that started even from MMG.
She moved to a very pristine raga reetigowlai , the alapana was bit slow but could get aurally the charm of her veena sunadam , her sweeps showed she had some great control with the difficult instrument , especially she kept moving seamlessly in both sides and gave a lovely sunaadam in perhaps the krithi which has little longer sahityam - janani ninnuvina did all the trick.
kalavati was well done but for her little anavsiyam . What a joy it was to hear her keeravani. She distilled and gave it as a sathukudi juice for a 102 degree convalescing patient who just got well . Lovely taanam and that sparkling sangathis with nice swaras made my day .She slightly again brought in her little anavsiyam but still devi neeye was just worth it. Madurai meenakshi was with her in keeravani.
I did not know that musicologist BM Sundaram was the tunesmith of durga krithi thEdi unnai saran adaindEn which she announced. she again tested with a round of anavsiyam which really got into my nerves . The purahara was well done and the last nenjukku needhi that ms amma sing just did not register , i felt that song is more like a school prayer - i just do not get any big zing feeling with that sindhubhairavi song .
So what was that which really bothered me
-----------------------------------------------------
Why should vainikas who have such control and instrumental quality in veena decide to sing sangathis by taking the microphone. She started in mmg , where she sang one line mayatheetha - i had enough forebearance there she also sang the line of mayamaalavagowlai - ok still there was enough mmg muse. For amruthavarshini she sang few lines when that guruguha mudra came in , it is not that her voice was bad but the microphone had to get placed right still my tolerance was there i thought she was showing obesiance bit more to MD who is associated more with veena
In kalavathi she sang more longer phrase .I was expecting to hear that lovely muse and register but with her singing of few lines she bit robbed and could not deliver that many sangathis . IN devi neeye thunai she exactly sang in the line the supersonic lift devadhi devan start in anupallavi.Durga with veena may be once a life time opportunity There she sang atleast half the krithi . Even purahara nandana she sang few lines. The reetigowlai she did not sing and it was so pleasing to hear without any fragmentation of - I also can sing along sangathis.
I have heard few concerts when we organized her illustrious guru kalpagam swaminathan play where she sang bit softer to mic. To the best of my knowledge the supernova balachander has not sung along with veena . I may be wrong and i have not heard . If balachandar has adopted that why cannot the musicians adopt from that supernova of veena.
She is way too serious player - make no mistake about it but if you give your share of I can also sing type of sangathis here and there , it canniabalizes the continuity of veena concert. There was a tv interview in thamizh in doordarshan where i could spot her sincerity . She indeed just plays for the sake of art , but I want her to only play and not sing that too with such a high quanta it just robs the continuity . What can I say if ML Vasanthakumari was almost like GNB who gave a near high male typecast of vocal power, similiarly this vidushi nirmala is almost in the league of S Balachandar giving that heaviness in plucking power.She had a full bench concert and I had enough clarity with her strong pluck.
The accompanist played well , they did not over soften like most veenai concert . At some point for few krithis the ending aggression of sv ramani was little too heavy. The morsing did not interfere with the moresing veena artist and i liked their short tani just quickly passed. VV ravi played well and he had longer round in keeravani as they had to change the loose contact of veena mic, his experience was showcased with zero fuss
Looking forward to hear her veena only 2nd concert . Her devi neeye thunai and anandamamrithavarshini brought me so much ecstasy.The concert started at 06 45 instead of 06 30 but she ended at 08 30 . The sabha secy never stood he was only in the corner she could have atleast gone ahead with her planned 2 hour capsule ,may be there were little more patterns that i missed in her alapana and taanam in keeravani- 15 mins more will make a big difference to concerts.
Overall a very good to excellent concert for 1 hour and 45 minutes
-
srikant1987
- Posts: 2246
- Joined: 10 Jun 2007, 12:23
Re: Nirmala Rajasekar@Sringeri Temple on Sept 24th,2017
Hi rajeshnat, you've mentioned as "Vocal : Nirmala Rajasekar" in the opening post. I wondered if it was someone else ...
-
rajeshnat
- Posts: 9927
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: Nirmala Rajasekar@Sringeri Temple on Sept 24th,2017
Corrected it is Veena: Nirmala Rajasekar
-
Sundara Rajan
- Posts: 1083
- Joined: 08 Apr 2007, 08:19
Re: Nirmala Rajasekar@Sringeri Temple on Sept 24th,2017
It is not a bad idea for instrumentalists to indicate the song being played, since it may be difficult for some listeners to identify the song for better enjoyment. I do not remember Balachander ever singing along while playing veeNa. The other great mahAvidvAn EmaNi Sankara Sastri used to sing a few lines here and there, as did Smt. Kalpagam Swaminathan. The new youngster Ramana Balachandran also sings along a few lines, which I personally enjoy. I don't know if Nirmala did so or vocalized the whole song offsetting the veeNa's nAdham that threw you off.
-
rajeshnat
- Posts: 9927
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: Nirmala Rajasekar@Sringeri Temple on Sept 24th,2017
sundararajan sir
She announced almost every song that she played , so as such the identification is not an issue. I also welcome that part . I think there are always pragmatic difficulty to keep the mic right ,sing straight etc .I lost lot of sangathis where she just sang few lines of the song and then played the rest of the krithi . It was not a touch and go affair it did rob the instrumental tonal continuity. Tx for your info in pointing that veena balachander never sings to the mic , i prefer that . I was not 100% sure of that as my exposure to balachander recorded music is not extensive.
She announced almost every song that she played , so as such the identification is not an issue. I also welcome that part . I think there are always pragmatic difficulty to keep the mic right ,sing straight etc .I lost lot of sangathis where she just sang few lines of the song and then played the rest of the krithi . It was not a touch and go affair it did rob the instrumental tonal continuity. Tx for your info in pointing that veena balachander never sings to the mic , i prefer that . I was not 100% sure of that as my exposure to balachander recorded music is not extensive.