Sudha Ragunathan's SIFA concert Apr 6th

[iamsundar]

Sudha Raghunathan
Kamalakiran Vinjamuri
Akshay Ananthapadmanabhan
Sowmiya Narayanan (Ghatam)

Sudha+Kamalakiran+Akshay put together a high power performance, as part of SIFA’s 40th celebrations in SF Bay Area.

Sudha started off with a sublimed Vasantha varnam, followed by Purandharadasar’s Jaya Jaya Jaya Janaki Kantha in Naatai.

A brisk rendition of Emani Pogadudura (Veera Vasantham) was followed by a madhma-kaala Dikshithar krithi Sri Ramachandra Rakshathumam. I’d have to add, Kamalakiran distinguished himself with his crisp SriRanjani alapana.

Main piece for the concert was Koteeswara Iyer’s Rishabapriya creation - Gana Naya Desika. Sudha presented the Krithi in honor of S Rajam, who had popularized Koteeswara Iyer’s 72 melakarta compositions. Nereval & Swaram at “Saptha swara Sangeetha Kunjara Dhaasan” was top-class. Again, Kamalakiran’s responses were like Andre Russell’s sixes… it was a true delight. Akshay + Sowmiya Thani was decent (I enjoyed Akshay’s close accompaniment much more than his Thani).

A short Bhairavi interlude Yaro Ivar Yaro, was followed by a wonderful RTP. Pallavi - Narayana, namo narayana, sri sathya narayana, anudhinamunu ravumaiyaa (Sudha-Dhanyasi, Karna Ranjani, Panthuvarali & Begada); Thaanam was short, but the swaram+pallavi rendition was very enjoyable.

Sudha wrapped by the 3+ hr concert with a couple of thukadas (Paanduranga bhajan, chinnanchiru killiye,).

Rasikas were put through a test ..with a delayed start, a one-off location, parking nightmare and long intro+video, before the concert could even begin; but it was well worth it for the rasikas who passed this patience test.

[rajeshnat]

A short Bhairavi interlude Yaro Ivar Yaro, was followed by a wonderful RTP. Pallavi - Narayana, namo narayana, sri sathya narayana, anudhinamunu ravumaiyaa (Sudha-Dhanyasi, Karna Ranjani, Panthuvarali & Begada); Thaanam was short, but the swaram+pallavi rendition was very enjoyable.

Iamsundar,
I think the pallavi phrase is KArumaiya instead of ravumaiyaa. I just referred that sudha sang this 4 raaga rtp in Dec 2017 academy concert. Just curious did she sing alapanas , taaanam , neraval and swaras in all four ragas without asking parts of those 4 to be played by violinist. Thanks for your review. I am also bit surprised to hear yaaro ivar yaaro in bhairavi as a filler before RTP, great move to address big 5 ragas as she had taken rishabhapriya as main.

[thanjavooran]

Sundar
Excellent review. NAMO great at a right time. In my experience generally SIFA takes longer time for introduction. The video depicting what?
Thanks for sharing.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran
07 04 2019

[iamsundar]

A short Bhairavi interlude Yaro Ivar Yaro, was followed by a wonderful RTP. Pallavi - Narayana, namo narayana, sri sathya narayana, anudhinamunu ravumaiyaa (Sudha-Dhanyasi, Karna Ranjani, Panthuvarali & Begada); Thaanam was short, but the swaram+pallavi rendition was very enjoyable.

Iamsundar,
I think the pallavi phrase is KArumaiya instead of ravumaiyaa. I just referred that sudha sang this 4 raaga rtp in Dec 2017 academy concert. Just curious did she sing alapanas , taaanam , neraval and swaras in all four ragas without asking parts of those 4 to be played by violinist. Thanks for your review. I am also bit surprised to hear yaaro ivar yaaro in bhairavi as a filler before RTP, great move to address big 5 ragas as she had taken rishabhapriya as main.

Hi Rajeshnat - You are right, could have been “Karumaiya”.

Interesting that she chose the same ragaa-quadruple for the RTP; she weaved them together in her R, T and P. Kamalakiran initiated the T, but Sudha took over to wrap the Thanam. Pallavi-laa, narayaa swara-padithi paadinaa…. And it was well done.

[iamsundar]

Sundar
Excellent review. NAMO great at a right time. In my experience generally SIFA takes longer time for introduction. The video depicting what?
Thanks for sharing.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran
07 04 2019

Election season laa, NaMo draws attention everywhere!

The intro video was a Sankara Netralaya ad - which was informative and moving. But the Sudha intro reg. her Samudhaya charity work, came across as pure unadulterated self promotion. Overall, a 1-hour time tax (not including commute time) on a 3-hour concert curbs appeal.

[arasi]

Pallavi line: kAvumaiyya makes sense. Wasn't it in telugu? anu dinamunu gAvumaiyya?
Even in India, where speeches used to go on, they are making them (preambles) short these days. SIFA surprises me.
Kamalakiran, another child of the US, growing up musically right in front of our eyes as it were, is extremely talented. Nice of veterans like Sudha to have him, Akshay and Sowmiya accompany her

[gajaa]

It is Anudinamumu KAvumaiyya - the pallavi line of the Poochi Srinivasan Iyengar Kriti.

And clearly I have myself read in a couple of reviews here about the same pallavi that she presented in earlier season concerts.

Separately, I have never seen SR diving into the tanam aspect and doing full justice to it so far. In fact, during an interactive session, I even asked her “what do you think of the tanam”. Her answer betrayed more or less - her actions on stage. “It’s just another way of creative raga exploration and it doesn’t matter if the violinist does it or the vocalist”’she had said. Now, I leave the interpretation of that to you’ll.

[prabhathpr]

More details of the concert :

Ninnukori - varnam

Slokam - sriraghavam aplameyam

Jaya jaya jaya janaki kanta - natta - jampa - purandara dasa ( S @ janaki kanta)

Emani pogaduthura rama - veeravasantham- adi - tyagaraja

Sri ramachandro rakshatu mam - sriranjini- mishra chappu- dikshitar (NS)
( neraval at sita kalyana mahotsava)

Gana naya deshika- rishabhapriya- adi- koteswara iyer (ANS)
(Birth centenary of S rajam. And he used to propagate a lot of koteswara iyer krithis and has in fact sung these krithis in all 72 melakartha ragams. Hence she wanted to pay her homage and obeisance to him by rendering this composition)
Interesting Swaraksharams...

Yaro evararo- bhairavi - adi - arunachala kavi

Rtp - sudhadhanyasi, karna ranjini, subha panthurali , begada - mishra jampa 2xkalai khanda gati (later broken down into khanda chappu) - pallavi - Narayana namo narayana shri satyanarayana

Ugabhoga - guru Mata guru pita , followed by bare panduranga

Chinna chirukiliye

Yadavaraya - ragamalika - adi - kanada dasa
(Pallavi in Basant, charanam 1 in sindhu bhairavi and charanam 2 in durga)

Viruttam (murugane chentil ) followed by tillana in behag by lalgudi jayaraman - dhim tha dhim janutha dheerana - adi talam tisra nadai

Mangalam

Overall a good concert. The best thing was the RTP. Accompaniment wise violin and mridangam were ok. Thani failed to impress. Ghatam could be much better. SR should avoid the tendency to make use of local artistes for accompaniment, whatever the reason for that be.

[gajaa]

More details of the concert :

Ninnukori - varnam

Slokam - sriraghavam aplameyam

Jaya jaya jaya janaki kanta - natta - jampa - purandara dasa ( S @ janaki kanta)

Emani pogaduthura rama - veeravasantham- adi - tyagaraja

Sri ramachandro rakshatu mam - sriranjini- mishra chappu- dikshitar (NS)
( neraval at sita kalyana mahotsava)

Gana naya deshika- rishabhapriya- adi- koteswara iyer (ANS)
(Birth centenary of S rajam. And he used to propagate a lot of koteswara iyer krithis and has in fact sung these krithis in all 72 melakartha ragams. Hence she wanted to pay her homage and obeisance to him by rendering this composition)
Interesting Swaraksharams...

Yaro evararo- bhairavi - adi - arunachala kavi

Rtp - sudhadhanyasi, karna ranjini, subha panthurali , begada - mishra jampa 2xkalai khanda gati (later broken down into khanda chappu) - pallavi - Narayana namo narayana shri satyanarayana

Ugabhoga - guru Mata guru pita , followed by bare panduranga

Chinna chirukiliye

Yadavaraya - ragamalika - adi - kanada dasa
(Pallavi in Basant, charanam 1 in sindhu bhairavi and charanam 2 in durga)

Viruttam (murugane chentil ) followed by tillana in behag by lalgudi jayaraman - dhim tha dhim janutha dheerana - adi talam tisra nadai

Mangalam

Overall a good concert. The best thing was the RTP. Accompaniment wise violin and mridangam were ok. Thani failed to impress. Ghatam could be much better. SR should avoid the tendency to make use of local artistes for accompaniment, whatever the reason for that be.

You nailed it! I’ve felt the same at several instances regarding the usage of local artistes when traveling overseas. However I always thought it was a sensitive point that would offend local artiste patrons. Calling a spade a spade - we hardly get to attend but a few concerts of our favorite artistes sitting in these distant lands from India. We do expect that we get to experience a capsule of the same music that we get to relish in India. And that is surely going for a toss when such choices are made. I understand (but do not want to articulate) some of the obvious influencing factors for such decisions though I’m not a proponent at all. With SR esplly, these choices are quite apparent based on the location of the concert and the presumed knowledge of the audience /Sabha. This can be witnessed even during the season. Just look at the accompanist selection for an Academy concert versus an Indian Fine Arts / kodmbakkam college concert / Narada Gana Sabha. Some like Sanjay and a few others have understood this and you can see that even overseas (for the most part) - they tour as a performing team.

[arasi]

So, anudinamunu gAvumaiyA was the second part of the pallavi line?
yArO 'ivar' yArO=who's this person I behold? Not 'evar' yArO which would mean=who's which one?!!

[CRama]

So, anudinamunu gAvumaiyA was the second part of the pallavi line?
yArO 'ivar' yArO=who's this person I behold? Not 'evar' yArO which would mean=who's which one?!!

gajaa says Anudinamunu kAvumayya- Which is correct.

[thanjavooran]

prabhath,
Welcome to the forum.
Expect more such reviews of Bay area concerts Thanks. Very informative and interesting. IMO usage of local artistes for accompaniment, I consider financial crunch felt by the organizers as one of the reasons. The main performer's demand may be more.
gajaa's statment of
"these choices are quite apparent based on the location of the concert and the presumed knowledge of the audience /Sabha.
I don't agree.
Thanjavooran
08 04 2019

[shankarabharanam]

It is good read a balanced review of Smt Sudha Ragunathan’s Bay area concert.

According to me, Kamalkiran is a seasoned accompanist and I would rate him on par with any senior violin vidwan or vidushi.

I agree, a concert is a joint effort and it is elevated to the next level with good accompanist. But on this tour, it is nice to see her encouraging youngsters like kamalakiran and Akshay. Such exposures will be a valuable learning experience for them.

Also, last year during her concerts in NY/NJ she sang with Rajna Swaminathan and Vignesh Venkatraman. Those concerts were really good. In my view it is commendable of a senior artist like her to encourage such youngsters.

Assuming, the organizers are putting in all the efforts towards the success of the event, lets not forget the money involved in bringing these artists. Probably affordability is a question when you bring too many senior vidwans and vidushis (I include the accompanists).

I would also like to touch upon the sensitive issue of good quality accompanists refusing to play for women singers. Spring is a busy season for many accompanists touring US, thus they have very few to choose from.

And like her guru, one needs to appreciate her for encouraging youngsters and giving them an opportunity to share a stage with her. If not for MLV amma, we wouldn’t have seen artists like Kanyakumari, Thiruvarur Bhaktavatsalam, Mannargudi Easwaran, Shri Harishankar etc. So may be it with more exposure these youngsters would get better in the future.