NJ Nandini@Arkays(Parampara) on Apr 22nd,2018

[rajeshnat]

NJ Nandini@Arkays(Parampara) on Apr 22nd,2018
-----------------------------------------------
Vocal : NJ Nandini - disciple of Parassala Ponnammal and vechoor harihara subramania iyer's brothers grand daughter.
Violin : Usha Rajagopal
Mrudangam : B GanapathyRaman
Ghatam: D V Venkatasubramaniam

Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow
Day/Duration : sunday/ 2 hours - 06:40 to 08:40 pm
Concert Type/Crowd : Free concert
Hall : Arkays Hall, Luz
Occasion : Parampara Series

1. ika naina nA moravina (RS, N,S) - pushpalatikA - Tirupathi narayanaswami
neraval in akaLanka nIvE AdhAruDani Ashrayincu nannAdarinca rAdA for 4 mins
3 mins swaras
2. gopAlaka pahimAm anisham - revagupti not bhoopAlam - ST

3. taayE tripoora sundari (R, S) - suddasAveri - PT
8 mins alapana and 4 mins alapana return
6 mins swaras
4. devi brOvasamayamiddhE (R,S)- cintAmani - SS
2 mins alapana and 4 mins swaras

5. sarasa sAmA dhAna (S) - kApi narAyani - T
4 mins swaras

6A. tAmadam eN swami (R S T)- tOdi - papanAsam Sivan
11 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
9 mins swaras
6B. tani

7. kanakamaya - husEni - ST
8. manadirkku ugaNdhadhu (R) - sindhubhairavi - TSI
2 mins alapana with no violin return

9. shankara sree giri - hamsAnandi - ST
10. neenAma - sowrashtram -T

[rajeshnat]

NJ Nandini is an artist whom i have been hunting to hear for atleast 3 to 4 years and glad that i finally heard her for the first time. What can I say 10 years back the joy of hearing say a k gayathri or Amrutha venkatesh , 6 years back the joy of hearing Brinda manickavasagan(?m) or one vidushi who was just way too good who is no more with us Ranjini Hebbar. Nandini can be compared to few of these stars. There is deep intensity in her approach and she presented with great polish with superb azhuttam and magical voice quality.

Her start in pushpalatika just reminded not of MS amma with a detailed neraval that she sang in edinburgh or UN , but she reminded more of one of the finest superstar of intense classical carnatic music - TK Rangachari . The brigas were so polished and there was just zero drag - kind of explaining TK Rangachari here.Nandini followed that TK Rangachari course with a bright start in pushpalatika. The next in bhoopalam was the swati krithi and she did well , this krithi is quite tough as there is way too many jathis, the gopalaka pahimam was a typical antha kalathu ariyakudi #2 drop no R , No N and no S .I am not a big fan of that unless it is a more weighty krithi than gopalaka pahimam but there was enough verve there.

What a lovely sudda saveri , her ornamentation of alapana had lot of great new bhaani supernova GNB sangathis . I enjoyed the intense sudda saveri alapana and the presentation of taaye tripura sundari krithi and swaras . For the very little that I have heard of her guru Golden Girl (parassala ponnammal) , I found the same great diction and polish in her thamizh krithis . KVN has sung a rare raga alapana of cintamani was my faint recollection and I liked her boldness in presenting cintamani raga alapana and then the famous ominipresent ss krithi devi brOva samayamiddhe . Swaras were creative and I am assuming it is way too difficult to sing long patterns in cintamani as it may side step into other ragas.

The low point of her concert was kapi narayani . Singing very fast number sarasa sAma dhana was only in her head but never came to her throat . At quite a few places her sarasa sama dhana entropy was noticed where she was inhaling and exhaling into the microphone .

What a joy it was to hear her todi , there was elaboration with great todi flow .She also had in her mind hey it is just 2 exact hours concert so make few cuts here and there. The alapana was extremely GNBish and her verve in tamadam en swami krithi and swaras were superb .Those goosebump extraordinary lines like pOdum pOdum inta piravi gives way too much tOdi rAsa and I loved her intense GNBish classicism. The unwriten rule in concert is sing a todi very well and indeed this nandini sang the todi very well.

Most female artist get into extreme semi lightness post tani and i liked her boldness in taking up kanakamaya in huseni which reminded her guru and her paramaguru (golden girl and super golden boy semmangudi). I only knew few years back this shankara giri krithi in hamsanandi . If my memory is right i think thamarakkad nambuthiri introduced me to this krithi and later amrutha venkatesh also sang .It is one phenomenally great number in hamsanandi , I am even conjecturing now that Sivan may have composed srinivasa tiruvenkata after listening to shankara giri. I adore expressive throw ragas and hamsanandi finish gives joy. The intermediate potpouri of sindhubhairavi of the greatest living vageyakkara Tanjore sankara iyer was sung well but nothing to beat the preceding gem of huseni-kanakamaya and the post facto hamsanandi-shankara giri

The violinist Usha played well in cintamani but for most other pieces her press was not that smooth.Little more tonal quality would have been better . GanapthyRaman played sensitively and i felt very good . Venkatasubramaniam was very subdued , their tani was just ok. I wished instead of 2 hours the concert could have had another 30 mins .Nandini could have had more time to soak her melody filled voice with extreme sensitivity to present pracheena kutcheri .

There are way too many concerts in chennai during season from nov to jan. I read few years back that chennai is not recognizing NJ Nandini, if my memory is right she also wrote in a blog or something . I think there is a minor prejudice yes in chennai but there is also a major lack of awareness in chennai sabhas not knowing about Nandini. Looking surely forward to hear NJ Nandini RTP (will i get one in chennai , hope so ). NJ Nandini appears to head in the direction of MLV -->>> Raji Gopalkrishnan --->>> Sangeetha Swaminathan --->> NJ Nandini (each of them quarter generation apart) .

Overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 hours concert

[sureshvv]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2o7vCp ... e=youtu.be

[rajeshnat]

sureshvv and crama
you both were there , your *detailed * comments please.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

* At Chennai I first listened to Nandini a couple of years ago at an Isai vizha (afternoon) concert in Mylapore Fine Arts Club. Many were hearing her for the first time but could instantly spot a very talented artist in her.

*Recently I listened to her singing a Meera Bhajan immortalised by none other than Lata Mangeshkar and it was really good.

*She sings with confidence.

[sureshvv]

She came into the limelight with Carnatic Idol where she made it to the final rounds. Her voice moves effortlessly and has a magical sweet timbre (MLV & Raji G. are good comparisons). She is extremely smart, imaginative and original. This particular concert was sheer bliss from start to finish.

[MaheshS]

I listened to this yesterday, a bale bale concert indeed. The Thodi was very good, the alapana and swarams for Devi Brova was a nice surprise, don't think I've heard an alapana / swarams for this raga before. I love the way Ganapathyraman accompanies, brilliant.

[chetants]

Rajesh, just fyi, Gopalaka Pahimam is in Revagupthi and not Bhoopalam as it is usually mistaken....

NJ Nandini is an artist whom i have been hunting to hear for atleast 3 to 4 years and glad that i finally heard her for the first time. What can I say 10 years back the joy of hearing say a k gayathri or Amrutha venkatesh , 6 years back the joy of hearing Brinda manickavasagan(?m) or one vidushi who was just way too good who is no more with us Ranjini Hebbar. Nandini can be compared to few of these stars. There is deep intensity in her
Overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 hours concert
....

[shankarank]

Heard partially. The svarams to atItam of tripura sundari were good. Still yet to go through with the full concert.

[rajeshnat]

Rajesh, just fyi, Gopalaka Pahimam is in Revagupthi and not Bhoopalam as it is usually mistaken....

For the same song few reviews in the past i have put revagupti and once i have put bhoopalam. Bhoopalam has a subhapantuvarali tinge , i cannot recollect how nandini sang now but it did not have the subhapantuvarali tinge. Revagupti must be right .
I am also assuming there is no swati gopalaka pahimam in bhoopalam meaning there are no 2 versions one in revagupti and another in bhoopalam. Tx chetants , we will still wait for *detailed* review of CRama.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
Isn't she a violinist too?
Sankara Srigiri was popularized by Ananthalakshmi Sadagopan in the forties. She recorded it too, I think.

[rajeshnat]

The violinist and vocalist is KP Nandini. This is NJ Nandini golden girl's sishya from the land of thiruvananthapuram.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

I listened to this yesterday, a bale bale concert indeed. The Thodi was very good, the alapana and swarams for Devi Brova was a nice surprise, don't think I've heard an alapana / swarams for this raga before. I love the way Ganapathyraman accompanies, brilliant.

Ravikiran played Devibrova as the 'main' at Musiri Chamber on 18.Feb 2018 and a week after that (25.2.18) P Ganesh rendered it elaborately at Sastri hall for Chennai fine arts.

It was coincidental though at both places there was a request for it from different persons -both accompanists!! Enough?

(see my reviews of both the above concerts in these threads)

I did come across Chintamani quite a few times during the last couple of months too.

[sureshvv]

The svarams to atItam of tripura sundari were good. Still yet to go through with the full concert.

The concert was full of little "easter eggs" like this. Let us see how many you can spot

[CRama]

Yes. It was a fantastic concert from the young vidushi from my own place- Trivandrum. I once met her in my friend’s house in Trivandrum some eight years back. At that time, she was just learning music. Even though I have heard about her music from many friends, this is the first time I heard a concert of her. Presently she is learning under Parassala Ponnammal Mami and earlier she had good grounding in music from stalwarts like Dr.Bhagyalakshmi. Prof M.N.Murthy and Prof. Kumarakerala Varma. Being settled in Trivandrum could be the reason, why we are not able to hear as frequently as we wish to.

Her start with Ikanaina was refreshing. The neraval at Akalanka neeve is bound to bring memories of MS Amma, as she has immortalised the song in the Carnegie Hall concert recording. Other singers like DKP,DKJ,MLV etc have also sung this song- neraval at different places. The neraval by N.J.Nandini did bring memories of MS Amma’s neraval as it was mostly on the same lines. Yes. I have heard T.K.Rangachary also.

Gopalakapahimam- I have heard this only in Revagupti in Kerala and also from vidwans like KVN, Neyyattinkara Vasudevan- two vidwans who are synonymous with this song. Dr.S.Ramanathan and his disciple Sowmya have rendered in Bhupalam. But Unnikrishnan renders in Revagupti. The variation between both the ragams is the gandharam. Nandini rendered this in Revagupti only.

Nandini’s swarams were mostly laid out in attractive patterns and contained some simple vyavaharam/porutham in them. In the final korvai swaram in respect of Taye Tripurasundari, she did srutibhedam to Sudha dhanyasi and Mohanam in flash- many would not have even noticed it. Very intelligently executed. Very rarely you come across alapana and swaram for Devibrova samayamide. It was done well bringing out the raga bhavam in alapana, swaram and kriti with all the sangatis in tact- without any overdoing. Tamadam en swami- I have never heard in any live concert for many decades. The alapana and swarams brought her innate manodharmam eloquently. The large volley of swarams landing at da which is the swarasthanam for tamadam gave a swarakasharam colour and were much enjoyable.

The post tani pieces were rendered with poise and feel and she maintained fidelity to sahithyam- whether Malayalam or Tamil or Telugu. Sankarasrigiri- very popular in Kerala, but not so frequently heard in Chennai -was much enjoyable.

[rajeshnat]

Gopalakapahimam- I have heard this only in Revagupti in Kerala and also from vidwans like KVN, Neyyattinkara Vasudevan- two vidwans who are synonymous with this song. Dr.S.Ramanathan and his disciple Sowmya have rendered in Bhupalam. But Unnikrishnan renders in Revagupti. The variation between both the ragams is the gandharam. Nandini rendered this in Revagupti only.

Tamadam en swami- I have never heard in any live concert for many decades. The alapana and swarams brought her innate manodharmam eloquently. The large volley of swarams landing at da which is the swarasthanam for tamadam gave a swarakasharam colour and were much enjoyable.

Tx for your revagupti and bhoopalam, now i recollect there was some post on bowli-revagupti-bhoopalam . Now I recollect more as such both exists .

On tamadam en swami , i heard 2 live concerts before Nandini. One by Suryaprakash in besantnagar was well done and the earliest one by Sriram Gangadharan who sang so wonderfully this krithi Tamadam en swami, i think Sriram Gangadharan concert was IFA-Mudhra combo concert in RKM school.

This todi-Sivan-GNB is one himalayan combination , I dont know if Sivan did just a composition or did he graduate to an outpouring -for me this was pouring tOdi and musical ecstasy at its best - rollicking speed enna briga sangeetham and nadaswara pidis by GNB.

Kudos to far far younger NJ Nandini in taking this todi master piece Tamadam En swami and not playing safe -there is so much of MLV and GNB in her approach . God bless this young vidushi, may be she has to settle in chennai or even better bangalore (more sabha spread in non season period).

[shankarank]

The svarams to atItam of tripura sundari were good. Still yet to go through with the full concert.

The concert was full of little "easter eggs" like this. Let us see how many you can spot

Instead of Engufying for eons to get a MLV type voice, Easter eggs are definitely a better option. Get to pick'em up once a year as the lord resurrects without fail!

[Sivaramakrishnan]

There was an interview with NJN in DD Malayalam today (28 Apr) 8-8.30 am. She has excellent communication abilities. She described her musical upbringing, about her gurus and plans of moving forward in the field besides the need to popularise kriti of composers from Kerala . She sang portions of some songs too. A brilliant presentation. Best wishes in her endeavours!