Sowmya at MA on 24 Dec 2008

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 24 Dec 2008, 23:52

Vocal: S Sowmya
Violin: Dr. M Narmada
Mrudangam: Neyveli Narayanan
Khanjira: Udupi Sridhar

Approximate Songlist:

01. vanajAkshiro (varNam) (S @ charanam) - kalyANi - Adi
02. nAdasudArasA (S @ pallavi) - Arabhi - rUpakam
03. mayUranAtham anisham (R, S @ vEdanutha) - dhanyAsi - mishra chApu
04. AdikoNdAr antha - mAyAmALavagowLa - Adi
05. manasulOni (S @ pallavi) - varamu - Adi
06. kaluganapada - pUrNalalitha - Adi
07. sundarEswaruni (R, N @ rAja rAjuniki, S, T) - shankarAbharaNam - Adi
08. RTP - maNirangu - khanda triputa
Pallavi: ranganAda ramaNi rangEshwari pAhi chitha chinthAmaNi
+ Ragamaliga swaras in sAvEri, surutti, and other ragas I didn't catch
09. gOvindAsritha - Adi
10. yAr pOi solluvAr - thOdi - mishra chApu
11. bUmi mecchidum - senjurutti

Sowmya started her concert singing the Kalyani Adi tala varna in a faster pace, and followed it up with a rapid-fire second speed rendition. The Arabhi that followed was well rendered and with rather melodious swaras, especially the sequences culminating in MGR,,,, bringing out the beauty of the rishabam in the raga. My third Dhanyasi of the season soon followed, with a competent alapanai, and a nicely sung mAyuranAdam. The swaras were not especially noteworthy. Following the Dhanyasi, the concert dipped slightly for me with three fillers rendered in succession, and the only one that made any impact on me was the very good rendition of Manasuloni, replete with fast kalpanaswaras with nice janta sequences.

Sowmya then sang a pretty standard Shankarabharanam ragam with classical phrases, though her voice was not in its usual fine fettle and she struggled to maintain both the tara shadjam and gandharam. However, she recovered well and sang some nice phrases in the tara sthayi. Sundareshwaruni was sung very well, and I enjoyed the neraval and especially the kalpana swaras that followed, where she produced a sublime glide from M to D, and the final korvai was also interesting, ending with SSS, RRR, and GGG in the tara sthayi, with the violinist completing these phrases the second time Sowmya sang the korvai, producing a great effect.

The RTP in Manirangu that followed was a mixed bag, with the early movements of the raga suggestive of Madhyamavathi and to me, even Ananda Bhairavi, with slow gamaka-laden P M G R S. The Madhyamavathi effect continued rather liberally throughout the raga essay, but Sowmya managed to pull things back during a very precise thanam. The pallavi rendition was crisp and I was glad Sowmya chose a ragam that's more limited in scope to elaborate for a short pallavi, as the 20-25 minutes she spent on the exercise seemed just right for that ragam. She sang the pallavi in three speeds after completing kalpana swaras and it was a nice way to end the rendition. Yar Poi Solluvar provided a nice close to the concert.

Narmada was solid all the way on the violin, providing a classic accompanist's touch in the Shankarabharanam alapanai where she highlighted some phrases that Sowmya had not, and played the salient points of Sowmya's alapanai as well. Her Manirangu raga effort was good and left the ragam unambiguous, though she played some repetitive phrases. She provided good responses in neravals and kalpana swaras and was an asset to the concert (now this is sounding like a letter of recommendation for her).

The percussion team was quite good, and supported Sowmya well. Nothing especially remarkable here. The thani was short and kept me engaged.

Overall, a fine concert though she has probably seen better days! Went home reminiscing her brilliant Edayya Gathi at the Singapore concert earlier this year and feel I might probably have expected too much from her going into this concert.

Vijay attended the concert as well, and I caught up with him after NSG's concert and can provide a second consultation on the concert!

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 25 Dec 2008, 00:48

Yeah it was nice to chat with Bilahari after the concert. I quite enjoyed the concert (alongwith Coolji who was completely lost in the music!). As usual, Sowmya's presentation was a great mix of the intellectual and classicism.

I too felt that she prolonged her initial stay in the M to R region on the ascent. Although there was nothing grammatically "incorrect" (and it would take a foolhardy soul to suggest something like that about this great Vidushi), a few more dollops of PMGR/PPMMGGR etc. would have provided more punch/pakkad right upfront. Just a layman's opinion.

I found the "fillers" quite interesting - Poorna lalitha, in particular - if I got it correctly, a janya of 19th mela. Sankarabharanam was grand and the krithi a welcome change from the usual. Pallavi featured trikaalam and tisram which were immaculately rendered.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 25 Dec 2008, 10:27

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 25 Dec 2008, 13:25

bilahari wrote: 03. mayUranAdam anisham (R, S @ vEdanutha) - dhanyAsi - mishra chApu

It's mAyUranAtham, a reference to Lord Shiva...

bilahari wrote: the final korvai was also interesting, ending with SSS, RRR, and GGG in the tara sthayi, with the violinist completing these phrases the second time Sowmya sang the korvai, producing a great effect.

I loved this part... Sounded really nice... The violinist, as you've put it was with the main artiste thru n thru...

bilahari wrote:I was glad Sowmya chose a ragam that's more limited in scope to elaborate for a short pallavi, as the 20-25 minutes she spent on the exercise seemed just right for that ragam.

She sang a MaNirangu RTP last season spanning more than 40 minutes at KGS...

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 25 Dec 2008, 20:42

Thanks for the correction, Jigyaasa. Would like to have heard that expansive Manirangu...

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 25 Dec 2008, 20:43

Coolji, you can say that again about the last row at the Academy! I was stuck in the left corner last week and there was a hole in the adjacent wall from which many a mosquito arrived to feast on my blood.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 25 Dec 2008, 23:21

Yeah the last row is terrible - but it is one of the few things that have escaped Murali's attention. Hats off to him for completely overhauling the place from the mess it was 2 years back. Loos, audio systems, seats - they have all been refurbished and the result is easily the best place in Chennai to listen to music. Valet parking has been introduced and something is finally being done about the archives.

My suggestion is that they price the last row at a huge discount - say 25 bucks...