S Aishwarya @ HCL Concert series 22.05.2018

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Sivaramakrishnan
Posts: 1582
Joined: 02 Jan 2010, 08:29

S Aishwarya @ HCL Concert series 22.05.2018

Post by Sivaramakrishnan »

HCL Concert Series
Kasturi Srinivasan Hall,
Music Academy, Chennai
22-05-2018
06.00 -08.00 pm.

S.Aishwarya-Vocal
Manda SriRamya-Violin
Sumedh Ramakrishna-Mridangam

Mani and Jayaraman- Tambura(s)

Sruti- 5.5 kattai (G#)

Compositions:
Invocation sloka– Om Nama: Pranavaarthaaya
1 Abhogi-Varnam- Evari bodha- Aadi
2 Gaanamurthey-Ganamurthi-Aadi-Tyagaraja
3 Kokilapriya-Manayatha manjula vaagvilaasaam –Rupaka- Mysore Maharajah
4 kathanakuthulam-Raghuvamsasudha- Aadi-Patnam
5 Jyotiswarupini- Ragam Tanam Pallavi- Jyotiswaroopini -Misratriputa (2 kalai)
6 Naathanaamakriya – Viruttham- ‘Petrathaai thanai’ followed by
Aaraar aasaipadaar- Misra chapu- Muthuthaandavar
7 Dhanasree-Tillana- Aadi-Swati Tirunal
Mangalam

HCL has been providing regular opportunities for young talented artists in music and dance. One programme each for carnatic music and dance is organised by the Corporate sponsor at periodic intervals in the prestigious venue of Music Academy, Chennai. The concert for the month was by Aishwarya -great grand daughter of Bharat Ratna M.S. Subbulakshmi and grand daughter of Radha Viswanathan. There was a good turn out of rasikas who were received at the venue by a beaming Srinivasan-Geetha Dampathi who are back in India with their daughter after her recent successful concert trip to the US.

The concert started with the Invocation sloka on Lord Dakshinamurthy-characteristic of MSS concerts. The well known Abhogi varnam was rendered in two speeds in the Pallavi and anupallavi. The charana segment was rendered fully in Tisra nadai which was quite unique. Ganamurthey was the next song.

An aalaapana of Kokilapriya followed for a rare kriti of Mysore Maharaja Manayatha manjula vaagvilaasaam with a few rounds of swaraprastaaras at the Pallavi. (I was hearing this in a concert for the first time though I later learnt that Sri Palghat K V Narayanaswami used to sing it elaborately).
The ‘pace-maker’ or the fast-piece kriti of the concert was Raghuvamsasudhaambudhichandra Sri Rama which was rendered with its celebrated chittaswara at the anupallavi and charana.

A Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi in Jyothiswaroopini raga was the main item of the concert. The Pallavi sahitya was Guruguhabhavaantarangini Jyotiswaroopini Vichintaye(a)ham in a 2 kalai Misratriputa taalam with eduppu at ‘first finger’. Ragam and Tanam were rendered in detail. The Pallavi was executed nicely with all requisite features and Swaras in Ragamalika featuring Behag, Lalitha and Bagesri. The finishing Korvai was preceded by the ragas in reverse order.

The young, promising accompanists Manda SriRamya on Violin and Sumedh Ramakrishna on Mridangam followed closely and with verve.

The post main kritis included the evocative Aaraar aasaippadaar in Naathanamakriya with a preceding viruttham full of bhava and the sprightly Tillana of Swati Tirunal in Dhanasree.

An evening of good concert by a young team.

Jigyaasa
Posts: 587
Joined: 16 May 2006, 14:04

Re: S Aishwarya @ HCL Concert series 22.05.2018

Post by Jigyaasa »

Sivaramakrishnan wrote: 24 May 2018, 12:42 3 Kokilapriya-Manayatha manjula vaagvilaasaam –Rupaka- Mysore Maharajah
tALa - tiSra jhampa

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

Re: S Aishwarya @ HCL Concert series 22.05.2018

Post by arasi »

Sivaramakrishnan,
Thanks for the review. Which rAgAs did she elaborate on, and in NS?
Srimati Aishwarya ;) seems to have tackled a number of challenging new items in the concert. May her art get better and better as years go by...

Sivaramakrishnan
Posts: 1582
Joined: 02 Jan 2010, 08:29

Re: S Aishwarya @ HCL Concert series 22.05.2018

Post by Sivaramakrishnan »

Arasi,
Raga alapana was rendered for Kokilapriya and Jyotiswaroopini.
Neraval was done elaborately in RTP and swaraprastara in both.

thanjavooran
Posts: 2972
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 04:44

Re: S Aishwarya @ HCL Concert series 22.05.2018

Post by thanjavooran »

Sivaramakrishnan,
Thanks for the great review of the young team.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran
25 05 2018

SrinathK
Posts: 2477
Joined: 13 Jan 2013, 16:10

Re: S Aishwarya @ HCL Concert series 22.05.2018

Post by SrinathK »

It was a fairly short, but very good concert by a young and enthusiastic team. Aishwarya has now begun to carve out an identity and style of her own while retaining the tradition of MS Amma and Radha Mami.

She excels in the rendition of varnams (MS Amma was one of the best at this) and presentation of rarely heard numbers and ragas like mAnayata in kokilapriya. The alApana of Jyotiswaroopini followed by tanam was very well done - this is not an easy raga to handle. The pallavi was in Mishra Triputa (2 kalai, 1/2 eduppu) and she deftly handled neraval and the rAgamalika kalpanaswaras (in lalitA, behAg and bhAgEshree), including a fairly tricky kOrvai at the end.

Aishwarya's grip over laya is very good. Her attempts at naDa bhEdam in kalpanaswaras at key places are also coming along very well and in a few years down the line could become a key tool in her skillset - the most important thing in this is maintaining the sarvalaghu flow and knowing where to enter and exit out of it gracefully. I have seen many a concert where a careless use of nada bhedam can totally disrupt the musical aesthetic created by the musician up to that point. However Aishwariya does not compromise on raga bhava or the melody and does not carry the arithmetic to an excess.

raghuvamsa sudhambudhi (with the chittaswarams in 3 speeds), peTra taai tanai (viruttham) followed by ArAr AsaipaDAr and then the dhanashree thillAna were sung in true MS fashion. Towards the end, her voice showed a hint of strain (one of those days), but she worked around that and did not let it hamper her.

And speaking of voice, Aishwarya's voice now has better tone and sweetness since I last heard her in 2015. She has worked hard to culture it to this level. It's absolutely perfect in the middle and upper octaves. The upper octave is a big strength, where she easily hits the high notes with plenty of range to spare. Brighas and fine nuances come effortlessly. If there is one area to focus on in the long run, IMHO I feel it's working on having some more range and tone in the lower octave - this will happen as the voice matures and it will make a significant difference.

Aishwarya was supported by Manda Sriramya on the violin, who played with pleasing melody and did well to handle the rare ragas, the kalpanaswaras, naDa bhedams and the pallavi in a complex tala. Sumedh Ramakrishna provided good, unobstructive support on the mridangam. The mic balance was spot on, though I would have liked it if the tamburas had a bit of amplification.

Pleased to meet @cienu mama and other rasikas in person again after a long time.
Last edited by SrinathK on 25 May 2018, 18:22, edited 2 times in total.

cienu
Posts: 2387
Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 11:40

Re: S Aishwarya @ HCL Concert series 22.05.2018

Post by cienu »

Thank you Sri Sivaramakrishnan for your kind review and K Srinath for the additional comments. It was wonderful to meet both you at the concert and spend some time.
Please find a few pictures of the concert in progress.
Image
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rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: S Aishwarya @ HCL Concert series 22.05.2018

Post by rajeshnat »

While Music Academy do great things that too tieing up with HCL to bring in more youngsters , I dont know the funda of a 6 pm start and an 8 pm , i am sure that neither HCL nor academy is serving dinner. I wish academy gives atleast 2 and half hours , i am ok to compromise 3 hours here . It is evident that young aishwarya had limited time to showcase the actual jyothiswaroopam of a cm concert. The young srinathk came out satisified with AhA jyothiswaroopini RTP whereas the veteran SRK came out aiyayO jyothiswaroopini thaanA- just conjecturing more than what srinathk and SRK actually wrote. Best wishes to Aishwarya

Cienu,
Any idea of gurus of
Manda SriRamya-Violin
Sumedh Ramakrishna-Mridangam

cienu
Posts: 2387
Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 11:40

Re: S Aishwarya @ HCL Concert series 22.05.2018

Post by cienu »

rajeshnat wrote: 26 May 2018, 05:50 Cienu,
Any idea of gurus of
Manda SriRamya-Violin
Sumedh Ramakrishna-Mridangam
Dear Rajesh

SriRamya is a disciple of Sangitha Kalanidhi Vidushi A Kanyakumari and Sumedh is a disciple of Vidwan Sri K S Kalidas

The RTP in Jyotiswaroopini was indeed an elaborate execution.

Aishwarya's Raga Elaboration 9 mins
Sri Ramya's Raga Elaboration 8 mins
Tanam (both vocal + Violin combined) 9 mins
The Pallavi portion of the RTP (I have not included Tani) 30.mins
Tani Avartanam of Sumedh - 8 mins

Total RTP + Tani = 1 hour and 4.minutes.

BTW as part of a light tiffin - steaming hot Onion Vadai, Mildly spiced Cocunut Chutney, Gulab Jamun and Hot Coffee was served to all rasikas as they were coming in for the concert :)

kvchellappa
Posts: 3598
Joined: 04 Aug 2011, 13:54

Re: S Aishwarya @ HCL Concert series 22.05.2018

Post by kvchellappa »

Hope such a 'sumptuous' concert comes up in Bengaluru.

cienu
Posts: 2387
Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 11:40

Re: S Aishwarya @ HCL Concert series 22.05.2018

Post by cienu »

Pleased to share the review of my daughter S Aishwarya's concert at the Music Academy - Madras on 22nd May 2018 which has come in the latest issue of "Isai Malar".
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