PALLAVI DARBAR- 2019- DAY 4 - 2/6/19- MFAC

[SrinathK]

Venue : MFAC, 2/6/2019

Live review:

Vocal :
Vasudha Ravi
Aishwariya Shankar
Anahita Ravindran
Apoorva Ravindran

Violin - Shraddha Ravindran
Mridangam - Sumesh Narayanan

Theme of the day - Pallavi jam

@CRama, sorry but I just had to beat you to this one being my first Pallavi Darbar concert. Also ran into Vijay Siddharth here.

Song list :

vanajAkshi - kalyANi - Adi - varnam

nambinEn unnai murugaiyyanE idi samayamurA pAlisO - kalyANi - Adi 2 kalai 1/2 eDuppu - Pallavi 1

sEvikka vEndum ayya - AndOlikA - Adi (3/4 eduppu) - Pallavi only

paramAnanda gOvinda - bilahari - Adi 5/4 eDuppu

pallavi - temporal progression - vAchaspati
pallavi - lyrical yatis - bhairavi - mishra jhampa 2 kaLai

pallavi - 3 kalai - harikAmbhOji
pallavi - shankarAbharaNam - Adi tala 4 kalai 1/4 eDuppu - dasharathE karuna payOnidhE ina kula tilaka

mAnita guNa suguNA naduni (??)- tODi - Adi tala multiple kaLai

Pallavi - shanmukhapriya - kadir vaDivEla unadu pAdam tunaiyE - sankeerna naDai Adi

Pallavi - sAveri and gowrimanOhari - Adi khanDa naDai - mAdhava sOdari tripurasundari sAveri gowrimanOhari enna Adari

Pallavi - shanmukhapriya - chatushra aTa tisra naDai - multiple naDais

Pancha naDai pallavi - keeravAni - demo

Aditya hridayam puNyam - sourAshrtamam - sankeerNa tripuTa 2 kalai 4.5 eDuppu - rAgamAlika - jyotiswaroopini, bhUpALam, udaya ravichandrika (N3)

Pallavi - rasikapriya - priyE gitapriyE sangeethapriyE shruti swara laya rasikapriyE - rasikapriya - also rAgamAlika and tAlamAlika - simultaneous rendering in 4 talas of same total count

Mini tani Avartanam in khanDa tripuTa

RTPs are really the true test of musical acumen. However, the sheer variety of things that one can do with them is mind blowing.

Following the introduction by Shashikiran, the concert got off to a nice start with the Adi tAla varnan in Kalyani with an extra line in the final chittaswaram. I think being away from the sabhas since December has made my hearing far too sharp - that or the speakers were set just way too loud at the start. That corrected, the first pallavi was again in kalyANi with around of neraval and trikalam and swaras in both speeds at various eduppu points in various speeds.

Vasudha Ravi explained that the kalyAnI pallavinwas in Tamil, telugu and kannaDa manipravalam. Apoorva talked about the concept of kaLais in pallavis and announced the next pallavi was going to be a demo sEvikka vEndum ayya (pallavi only).

And so it was, with a tricky slow speed trikAlam to demonstrate chatushra tishram and the challenge of singing them in higher speeds as odd numbers don't fit into the tala.

The next was a bilahari pallavi with a rare +5/4 eDuppu (paramAnanda gOvinda).

The next pallavi had a demonstration of singing alankarams with the notes of progressive duration (each note for 1,2,3,4 counts and back down again) which fits neatly into the cycle. The same concept was used in the next pallavi, a composition of TRS mama.

There are pallavis where the lyrics themselves use yati progressions. A pallavi in bhairavi was demonstrated. This also lends itself excellently for multi kala singing with each word sung in a different kala. This gives a pallavi where progressions are used both in the length of the notes and the lyrics. And these can be mixed up in many ways, giving unlimited fuel for complexities.

The next was a rare 3 kaLai pallavi in harikAmbhOji which Aishwariya Shankar explained is not actually called 3 kaLai but by another name. That was followed by a test match 4 kaLai pallavi in shankarAbharaNam in which trikAlam was demonstrated on both the pallavi and the tAla Speed as well, the two types of speed variation on both beats and melody.

The next concept was a pallavi in vividha kaLai - where kaLai varies with a tala cycle. (Now this is getting complicated). 1st 2 beats in 4 kaLai, next 2 in 2 kaLai, next 2 in 1 kaLai and the last 2 in 1/2 kaLai!!! Dang, Anahita and Apoorva nearly broke the metronome with that one.

As if that wasn't enough, they demonstrated anulomam and pratilomam with that!! And it doesn't end there. The next pallavi promises to change kALais at every beat and use all possible eDuppus in all speed variations. What in the world??

Well they just turned that one cycle of kaLai variation per avartanam to two cycles of variaton per avartanam!!

Well with that, only now they came to the topics of naDais as such. Straight away jumped to the sankeerna Nadai pallavi sung by the Alathoor brothers at the MA!! Yeah that one.

The next was a rAgamAlika pallavi in sAvEri and gowrimanOhari with thrilling flash changes of the ragas. rAgAmAlikA pallavis offer many possibilites in alApana and tAnam as well and it was demonstrated in a pallavi with sAvEri in the first half and gowrimanOhari in the second with lyrics to match.

Vijay seems to have downloaded the entire recorded history of CM into his brain with the facts he's sharing here. Brings back the good ol days of school for me...

The ways by which the khanDa naDai can be brought out in the trikalam was demonstrated with Sumesh Narayan subtly tapping the naDai subbeat in the slow speed part. At the speed they are going, I can't keep up.

The next pallavi was on shanmukhapriya preceded by a tanam. The speciality was that the naDai was concealed throughout in the tAlA nd we were at our wits end what it was. It was actually a multi naDai pallavi!!! Anahita and Apoorva demonstrated how to formulate a pancha naDai pallavi rhtymic pattern.

The next was a demo of a pancha naDai pallavi on keeravAni.

The next item was an idea for a thematic pallavi using the Aditya Hridayam, an idea of Shashikiran. The theme extended into the raga as well as the tala names (sankeerNa tripuTa) as well as the rAgA names with a mention of Dikshitar hintingnat the gAyatri mantra in suryamurtE. The neraval was done in rAgamAlikA.

The last pallavi was a composition of Shashikiran in rasikapriya and used the ragas of the 6 chakras of the pratimadhyama series (1st raga of first chakra, 2nd raga of 2nd chakra and so on) for the swaras. Sankeerna jAti tripuTa tAlA was used to fit in the 72 aksharas, along with tisra jAti roopaka tAla in multi nAdai, and a couple of other tAlAs all adding up to 72 aksharas. It felt like all the previous pallavi ideas packed into one.

As if to add to the agony, all 4 talas were each handled by a different musician and the pallavi was therefore sung in all 4 talas at once in parallel! And the metronome was finally broken! The swaras were sung in all the 6 rAgAs, one rAgA per musician, one of which was handled by the violinist, before concluding in rasikapriyA again with a complex kOrvai that was so complicated it needed a go around to land right the second time. Melakartha chakravyuham

A mini tani in khanDa tripuTa wrapped up a wonderful presentation that broke our hands and the metronome and revealed the amazing potential of the RTP, the highest peak of this art form. I had a great time meeting the artistes back stage and Aishwarya Shankar very kindly explained to me how this whole anulOmam and pratilOmam in pallavis worked and how the trikAlam is done in various naDais as well as cross patterns.

Many other items were on the drawing board as well but couldn't happen due to the lack of time. The artistes deserve special praise for their coordination on and off the stage. What a demo it was! Bravo!

Now to massage these sore thumbs...

[SrinathK]

Akkarai sisters are killing it with the sruthi bhedam AlApanA with each rAgA in a different tonic on the scale of kalyANi. And the pallavi is also going to follow the same line. rAgamAlika tAlamAlika naDaimAlikA pallavi.

Also in the audience are Anahita and Apoorva, Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna and @mahavishnu's father. I met @CRama as well.

Meanwhile I am getting irritated by all these people just walking in and slamming the door shut. Dear God, we Indians have no awareness despite being born in the land of consciousness.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

(Posting from the Darbar venue:)I

Thanks Srinath for the instant, authentic review of the informative 'Pallavi Jam' by a few young stars of the field.
Don't worry, CRama wasn't there (but showed up for Akkarai), so your post has been timely. I was a bit late for the Pallavi Jam due to a traffic jam at the Eldams road 'signal' due to breakdown of a bus. But the proceedings at the Darbar was smooth yet enlightening.

Now at Akkarai sisters. Kalyani Ragam. The junior executed a srutibhedam to Sahana taking Ri of Kalyani as the Aadhaar. But seemed a very lengthy exercise at it. Subhalakshmi did another bhedam with Sindhubharavi with Ni as Aadhar. Tanam too is invaded by the ragabhedams.

Seems to be a complex offering from the sisters.

Leaving the remaining review to Srinath / CRama.

[SrinathK]

My thumbs are done for the day. @CRama over to you. I will just stick to tidbits

One thing, the kind of crowd that comes for these concerts include plenty of musicians and veteran rasikas and students. I am sitting in rarefied air here.

The trikAlam is going into the kaLai progressions - 1 kaLai, 1/2 kaLai and even 1/4 kaLai in various tAlas all adding up to 5 and multiples. The swaras are insane.

It looks like the Pallavi Darbar has taken the creative coefficient into orbit. Every artist performing here is showing what they're truly capable of, with aplomb. Absolutely mental stuff. Right up there with Roger Federer and the rest of the lot at the French Open.

[SrinathK]

More rAgamAlika swaras from Akkarai sisters - hamsAnandi, madhuvanti, bahudAri, and back to kalyANi.

Tani and percussion was extraordinary. Final korvai was just too good. Standing ovation at the end of it - what an effort to so effortlessly handle shruti bhedam at this scale by both vocalists AND violinist. Unbelievable!

There was a huge contest from all over the world apparently. The prizes are coming up.

Had to leave here. Hope someone reviews Saketharaman.

[CRama]

Srinath, Thanks for that detailed review of Akkarai Sisters concert. It was highly technical and intellectual effort which they performed with their hard work, imagination and precision.

I felt happy that they chose Kalyani for one of the ragams. As I stated earlier, I still love the big five (or six) for the pallavis. Nobody else chose Kalyani in this festival. As I entered Akkarai senior was methodically unfolding the ragam Kalyani and it was aesthetically superb. But I want to definitely give my opinion in this. The alapana of Sahana and Sindubhairavi through Grahabhedam was a mixed bag. While Sahana revealed itself after a few seconds in the initial round, in the succeeding rounds it was more of a hide and seek game. Sindubhairavi – it was hiding for most of the time.

Technically it was a spell binding exercise.

Happy to meet you Srinath.

[CRama]

Srinath, You have given the list of the pallavis presented in the jam. If you can give the details as to which musician sang which pallavi it will be wonderful.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Innovativeness at its peak:
To match the RTP of Akkarai sisters with its high-volt ragabhedam fete, percussionists Neyveli Narayanan and Karthick had brought in two instruments (in addition to the regular 'samam' pitch) to match Rishabha and Nishada bases for anchoring Sahana and Sindhubhairavi respectively and used it during niraval segment (Of course the violinist didn't need a separate vaadyam). It was camaraderie all over. But the general observation was that the ragabheda was not that OK in projecting an aesthetic element. Sahana was better than sindhubhairavi in conveying the ragabhava.
The sisters however could prove their acumen and skill in front of a discerning, sensitised, appreciative audience.
**
The 'Palindrome pallavi' by Saketharaman arguably in an effort to propitiate the rain Gods and which marked the finale of this year's Darbar was on a different plane.

At the end of Pallavi Darbar 2019, one could perhaps describe that the young brigade has taken RTP to a digital era!

[rajeshnat]

At the end of Pallavi Darbar 2019, one could perhaps describe that the young brigade has taken RTP to a digital era!

Nice point indeed RTP is moving to a digital era. With srinath (a relatively young brigade rasika) indeed wrote a lovely review to explain all about mixed fruit jam pallavi. Thanks to Srinathk. I am wondering how long was this whole thing that you reported srinathk ? Last year we did not have pallavi darbar this year we are having it and it is lovely to see the reports from crama,srinathk and srk.

[CRama]

Rajesh, Last year we had Pallavi Darbar. Abhishek raghuram sang three pallavis- Natakurinji, Denuka and Sankarabharanam.
I think last year there was no jam.
Mahavidwan TNS gave a lec dem on Pallavis. He was awarded the pallavi Chakravarthy title.

[rajeshnat]

Yes yes sorry i got crossed with Bharath Sangeeth Utsav which did not happen last year , indeed there was a pallavi darbar.

[SrinathK]

IIRC the Pallavi jam went for 2 hours. The 2nd was under 90 min.

[rajeshnat]

IIRC the Pallavi jam went for 2 hours. The 2nd was under 90 min.

When you said 2nd was under 90 mins, may I know where it started and ended, not clear with your post.

[CRama]

Concert 3.
Saketaraman- Vocal
H.N.Bhaskar- Violin
Patri Satishkumar- Mridangam
B.S.Purushothaman- Ganjira.

As they say in the inaugural speech in Pallavi Darbar, year on year, the intelligent musicians in the young brigade are proving that sky is the limit for the daring musicians to prove their prowess in RTP. Saketaraman made it digital this year. When we saw two white boards mounted on both the sides, we wondered the relevance of boards in a concert. But it was a unique approach to the RTP.

Saketaraman took up PALINDROME PALLAVI. The words (in Tamizh) if read from either side will read the same. Eg, VIKATAKAVI. Palindrome in Sahihtyam, Talam and Swarams.
The sahithyam of the pallavi was Megharagame Melataalame Vaanameghamenavaa Kanaka sabesa. Kankasabesa will be replaced by the words Raamaamaaraa, Tirumaamaaruti, and Karumugilaagi Muruga and Taaraavaaraadaa in subsequent rounds. Murugan is the favourite deity for the pallavi. But here, the pallavi has been drafted as a prayer seeking the Varsham of the rain God. All these words are Palindrome. Very intelligently crafted.

Ragam. Gowrimanohari. In the tanam segment, other Manohari ragams like Ramaamanohari, Devamanohari, and Kamalamanohari were attempted.

Taalam. Khanda Triputa Mridanga yati.- with Tisram, Chatusram, Khandam, Mishram, Sankeernam and reverse order for each of the beats.

The white boards on both the sides were used very effectively to explain the Palindrome.
Saketaraman rendered an authentic Gowrimanohari alapana and Congrats to him for choosing this ragam which is rarely handled for the RTP. He did good justice to the alapana with regard to the manodharmam and aesthetic elements. The tanam gave different colours with the different manoharis. The pallavi, neraval, trikalam were executed with precision which was tight rope walking given the complexity of sahithyam and talam. A fitting finale to the Pallavi Darbar 2019.

The seasoned accompanists embellished the concert with their anticipation, diligence and intelligence.

[rajeshnat]

Saketaraman took up PALINDROME PALLAVI. The words (in Tamizh) if read from either side will read the same. Eg, VIKATAKAVI. Palindrome in Sahihtyam, Talam and Swarams.
The sahithyam of the pallavi was Megharagame Melataalame Vaanameghamenavaa Kanaka sabesa. Kankasabesa will be replaced by the words Raamaamaaraa, Tirumaamaaruti, and Karumugilaagi Muruga and Taaraavaaraadaa in subsequent rounds. Murugan is the favourite deity for the pallavi. But here, the pallavi has been drafted as a prayer seeking the Varsham of the rain God. All these words are Palindrome. Very intelligently crafted.

It took me some time to read again and again to get the palindrome .
The last known palindrome i knew was ma la y al am

THis pallavi you can read both forward and backward and you get the palindrome
mE ga Ra ga mE
mE la tA la mE
vaa na mE gha mE na vaa
ka na ka sa be SA

Then he replaces ka na ka sa be SA
with raa maa maaa raa
ka ru mu gil aaa gi mu ru ka
Taa raa vaa raa daa

Palindrome is there for atleast 90 percentile words . I am assuming saketharaman' s wife forgot her name must have also played a part in this . Few years back there was some super effort by saket and his wife to create a lovely 4 raga pallavi.

Kudos in choosing palindrome pallavi . I have personally heard once a gowrimanohari pallavi by Salem sriram in a mylapore concert. Not trying to take away the credit to lovely saketharaman and possibly his wife too helped , if rain god was in mind may be amruthavarshini could have found its place instead of gowrimanOhari. THere is always a next time for saketh. kudos, i wish i was there for the whole pallavi series. I had to be responsible so i saved water by travelling temporarily outside of madras.

[arasi]

How apt, Rajesh! Palindrome is mAlai mATRu in tamizh. In the tamizh literary thread Nostalgia, (under Languages), Pasupathy has plenty of examples, including his own palindromes.
A couple's joint effort, you say. this Pallavi strand is (mAlai)…:)

[rajeshnat]

A couple's joint effort, you say. this Pallavi strand is (mAlai)…:)

I am not sure on whether the couple did , but there is a possibility. MAy be some one can clarify if Mrs Saketharaman was also part of this pallavi creation.

[CRama]

If Mrs saketaraman collaborated, he would have definitely announced. In the absence of that, why should we presume.

[CRama]

Link for the Pallavi jam given below.
https://youtu.be/JBRfgG3Knp0