rAji gOpAlakrishnan@hamsadhwani on March 19th,2009

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 20 Mar 2009, 20:13

rAji gOpAlakrishnan@hamsadhwani on March 19th,2009
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Accompanied by kumbakOnam mr gopinAth - violin and shertalai ananthakrishnan - mridangam

1. viribOni (varnam) - bhairavi - pachimirium AdiappA
2. Mahaganapathim (S)- Nattai - MD
3. raghuvar nannu (R N S) - pantuvarAli - T
neraval in "manasuna nIki marulu konnAnu"
3 minutes of alApanai , 2 mins violin return
4 mins each for neraval and swaram

4.Ananda naTana prakAsham (R) - kedAram - MD
5.Samana Rahithe(R)- Sarangatharangini -GNB
9 mins alApanai
6.pArvati ninnu -kalkaDa -SS

7A. RTP - nAttaikurinji -
pallavi line "vaDivelai paNivathE eN velai adhigAlai"
swara rAgamAliga in nAttaikurinji + bOwli?? + kAnadA+ valaci + varAli +nalinAkAnthi

+hamsAnandi
12 mins alApanai , 7 mins violin , 6 mins of tAnam ,24 mins of pallavi + swararAgamAliga
7B.tani for 9 minutes

8A. slokham "neelAmbarishya shyamala??" - hameerkalyAni -??
8B.Khelati mama hrudaye (Sadasiva Brahmendra)
9. hari amsanE hara vamsanE - ratipatipriya - k rAmarAj
10. Adideva paramAtmA - sindhubhairavi - AC

Having heard smt rAji in few concerts , her voice has an unsagging pitch and her manOdharmam just stands out and she can go on and on like smt mlv. But however yesterday this vidushi did not have the best of voice finesse as I observed she did not go as charged as her previous concerts that I heard , but however the way she delivered was top class.

Her viribOni and nAttai did not have the charge , just felt the sound output was not adjusted well and possibly she was singing little far away from the mike. SOmewhere at the start of swaras in nAttai the sound system picked and she sang very creative swaras there.

When I hear Smt rAji, the mlvian delivery is there , no other way to express it better than raghuvara nannu , for me personally this krithi I heard for the first time when Smt Mlv sang in 80's , rAji started on a very high pitch and was excellent in alApanai , just felt she tested her voice there and then settled for a fairly mediocre neraval , swaras were good but still not sparkling as a typical submain pantuvarAli.

kedaram alApanai was detailed though the first half had a neelAmbAri sAyal (did you observe that Sri rAmaraj sir and another reviewer),the krithi rendition was very good . The next rAga alApanai was detailed and was for about 9 mins , I took my time to distinguish from hamsAnadam, smt rAji quizzed the rAga and I and another lady shouted at the top of my voice and got sArangathArangini. Certainly the krithi rendition was not as great as her alApanai

The pick of the concert was undoubtedly rtp. How beautiful is nAttaikurinji , kind of rAga where you can choose to sing in a medium tempo and not strain the voice . The tAnam with mridangam was superb. Her swarakalpana in general is miles ahead of most of the female musicians and I liked all of them , the top pick was hamsAnandi , really top class manOdharmam

hameerkalyAni was dealt quite well with a slokham and sb's krithi in hameerkalyAni (ssi sings in atANA)was very good. Shri rAmarAj + rAji combo of rathipathipriyA to attack a well established jagathjanani of ghanam krishna Iyer+ DandapAni Desigar was there at the start but fizzled out a bit. The last sindhu bhairavi was beautifully sung.

GoPinAth is one of the finest violin accompanist ,he is capable of giving the best of essence of rAgas with the right proportion , every return was excellent only the nAtttaikurinji rAga alApanai had a little off key nAdham and was bit mediocre,overall excellent.

Shertalai played very good and was running quite well with the vidushi and was able to catch quite well the swara patterns of vidushi.His tani was mediocre

Overall the disappointment of not hearing a depleted neraval and not having a grand main was perhaps incidental , but she is always a deep classical musician who is miles ahead of many female musicians of today.

Overall the 2 hr 15 minute concert was very good .

vageyakara · Post by **vageyakara** » 20 Mar 2009, 21:05

Hi Rajesh
While endorsing your view s totally I wish to add the following Though generally Raji sings the common ragas with consummate skill , I always rate her rendition of vivadi ragas as excellent simply due to the reason as follows:
she is unparralleled in handling these ragas where even angels fear to tread.onn that count her kalkada , inspite of s brief outline was superb.Like wise her short essay of Saranga tharangani. I hVE NEVER HEARD even GNB dwelling in long ALAAPANAI IN THIS RAGAM. . Perhapps her unbriddled obeisance to the Yewster mASTERO that too during the year of his birth centenary
As u rightly pointeed she is unquestionably the best among female artists of her category. Very shortly she is singing AIR National programme Please lend ur ears to the same .
Rama

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 20 Mar 2009, 21:12

ramAraj sir
No doubts whatso ever with me about her vidwat and impeccable delivery. Did you find neelAmbari sAyal in the first half of kEdaram alApanai(just curious there!!!).

Next time you should ask her to sing your beautiful hamsAnandi krithi (a no she sang as a tukkada few years before in NGS)as a submain with R,N and S, of course i wish I have to be right there.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 20 Mar 2009, 21:33

Does any one know the composer of the pallavi ??
RTP - nAttaikurinji -pallavi line "vaDivelai paNivathE eN velai adhigAlai"

I am just guessing that this could be the pallavi mahAvidwan TRS

or her guru TMT or may be her own. By any chance if there is a recording /commercial CD anywhere , please post.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 20 Mar 2009, 23:55

vElai paNivadE nam vElai adikAlai avan kAlai vaDi-vElai..

thats an old pallavi. i m sure i heard TRS recording of it sometime somewhere...

however, Smt. Gopalakrishnan dropped 'avan kAlai' in this sAhityam while singing it yesterday...

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 21 Mar 2009, 00:31

i reached late for the concert. I could hear only from the kEdAram.
i liked whatever i heard.

Smt. Gopalakrishnan did a very good job in both manOdarmam and kalpitam parts. To sing a rare rAgam like sAranga tarangiNi, without getting the rasika bored, to such an elaborate extent, was indeed a great thing. She was equally at home with a rare rAgam like sAranga tarangiNi or with relatively popular rAgams like kEdAram and nATTakuranji. It was all done very well. The kriti renditions were very good as well. The elaboration of the pallavi itself, with trikAlam and the rAgamAlikA svarams were all done very well with utmost ease.

The accompanists were very supportive and played very aptly for the occasion.

A totally enjoyable concert.

carnatic_songs · Post by **carnatic_songs** » 21 Mar 2009, 00:59

If anyone recorded the Nattakurinji RTP, could you please upload it? Really want to listen to it

vageyakara · Post by **vageyakara** » 21 Mar 2009, 02:44

Dear raBharah. ur observations are absoluitely correct.Raji's handling of Ragam SarangatharangiNi was superb in deed ! She e even remdered an RTP in the same Ragamm at her zmusic academy concert furing 2008 morning session a If I rrmember correct.One should listen to her renditions in vivadi ragas (viz) KAnAKaNGI,RATNANGI, CHALANATTAI,NASIKABHOOSHANI JYOTHISWAROOPINI YAGAPRIYA, GAYAKAS PRIYA MANAVATHI SUCHARITRA.VAAGADEESWARIAND FINALLY THE MOST DIFFICULT RASIKAPRIYA.IN ALL THE ABOVE RAGAS SHE PERFORMED RTP AND ENTHRALLED THE AUDIENCE.AND proved that there is one and the only womenartist who can deliver the goods with scintillating perfection. There is no exagerarion in this.

vageyakara · Post by **vageyakara** » 21 Mar 2009, 02:45

Dear raBharah. ur observations are absoluitely correct.Raji's handling of Ragam SarangatharangiNi was superb in deed ! She e even remdered an RTP in the same Ragamm at her zmusic academy concert furing 2008 morning session a If I rrmember correct.One should listen to her renditions in vivadi ragas (viz) KAnAKaNGI,RATNANGI, CHALANATTAI,NASIKABHOOSHANI JYOTHISWAROOPINI YAGAPRIYA, GAYAKA PRIYA MANAVATHI SUCHARITRA.VAAGADEESWARIAND FINALLY THE MOST DIFFICULT RASIKAPRIYA.IN ALL THE ABOVE RAGAS SHE PERFORMED RTP AND ENTHRALLED THE AUDIENCE.AND proved that there is one and the only womenartist who can deliver the goods with scintillating perfection. There is no exagerarion in this.

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 21 Mar 2009, 09:12

I have never really had a great liking for vivAdi rAgas: shuddha gandhara ragas are OK (varALi is one of my favourites even amongst other ragas, I like chandrajyoti too). Among ShaTshruti riShabha rAgas, I can just bear nATTai.

vijisubra · Post by **vijisubra** » 21 Mar 2009, 12:26

Rajeshnat
Yes, this is a Pallavi by TRS... Velai panivade nam velai/ adi kaalai avan kaalai... superb pun on 'velai' and 'kaalai'!

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 21 Mar 2009, 16:52

I am also a great fan of RG. T he posts by rasikas give me a feeling of having enjoyed her performance personally gobilalitha