K.gAyathri@NGS(mini) on Mar 25th,2009

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 26 Mar 2009, 22:50

K.gAyathri@NGS(mini) on Mar 25th,2009
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Accompanied by L.rAmakrishnan - violin and R.SankaranArAyanan - mridangam

This concert was organized as part of pApanAsam sivan Rasikas trust , I have atleast atended 5 or 6 concerts of this trust in the last few years at the same hall.Undoubtedly hearing all sivan's number is classical and perfect. Usually there would be a theme within Sivan's thematic concert , I dont know what it is as I was late(would love to know that from any one else in the forum) .

1.
2.
3. sivakAma sundari (?)- mukhAri
4.tunai purindaruL(R S) - varamu
6 mins alApanai , 5 mins violin and 3 mins swaram
5A. kArthikeya kAngeya (R N S T)- tOdi
12 mins alApanai, 8 mins violin , 9 mins neraval and 6 mins swaram
neraval in maalmaruga shaNmuga muruga guHaa mahapatiyum vidhiyum tozhum
5B. tani for 9 mins

6. shree mAdhavA vAsudevA - behAg
7. sOdhanai sumaikku - kApi
8. karpagamE - madhyamAvati
9. shree rAma jaya mangalam - shuruTTi

I was late by about 30 minutes ,kum k.gAyathri was just beginning sivakAma sundari she presented it wonderfully the mukhAri bhAvam with all its great emotive swirls was there topped with excellent diction.

Her next alApanai was perfect in varamu and well presented , her krithi rendition was very good , though her swaras did not gel well with the mridangist,possibly more because little less responsive support by the mridangist there.

The best piece was her tOdi alApanai, she sang an excellent to outstanding todi alApanai , her start in keezh kAlam and then cruising slowly to tAra sthayi bringing lot of nAdaswara pidis and then she ended it beautifully almost I should say tOdi was in its full glory. Personally to me my favourite tOdi krithi is kArthikeya kAngeyA , somehow shivan has brought more tOdi grandeaur than all other vageyakkarAs in every line bringing all the bhAvam of tOdi .

Usually one hears the two charanams kunRutORum and maalmaruga shaNmuga, I also heard the 3rd charanam kaamaribuvin abiraama too , this being a long krithi in a difficult thamizh was beautifully rendered by k.GAyathri , I felt she lost a bit of breadth in the 3rd charanam . She spaced then wonderfully to sing a lovely neraval at the end of the krithi in the lines maalmaruga shaNmuga, how many touch points to start and end and what a lovely krithi it is . The swaras were bit short her excellence dipped there more in quantity (makes me wonder nowadays lot of musicians are cutting short grand main as a little above than just sub main)

I slept and awoke in behAg and kApi as the rAgas demanded too, had more liking for the second sOdhanai sumaikku. The evergreen karpagamE was just good and her last shuruTTi was mediocre as she was referring a chit of paper there .

L.rAmakrishnan(sishya of kanyAkumAri) has improved by leaps and bounds , very good shruthi suddham , excellent azhuttam and he matched very well with K.gAyathri . The blue eyed boy R.shankaranArayan has set quite a high expectation in all these years to me he was not that laya smart as what he is generally capable of , I felt he did not give lot of quick shrimushnam rolls and embellishments there. His tani was very good though .

Overall the disappointment of the concert was that it ended in 2 hours . I cant understand why nowadays concerts though starting at 6:30 pm are not even sung for 2 and half hours. One should mandate a minimal 2 and half hours concert . Would have been nice if she had sung atleast one viruththam. Overall a very good concert, this vidushi has got both depth and emotive style and incidentally both are in abundance ,she is heading surely north in her musical career , would be fair to also add that both supporting vidwans are also cruising up

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 26 Mar 2009, 22:59

Seems like an elaborate affair, the thodi. IIRC, MS has sung a version of the krithi with all the charanams in it. I think that cutting off a grand main is not as big a crime as singing a half-past-six RTP, as seems to be the way people sing these days. But yea if she had sung just 2 hours she could have actually sung another 45 minutes worth of RTP in another major raga (A Kalyani or Dharmavathi to make up for the lack of prathimadhyamas) and put the thani there instead.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 27 Mar 2009, 08:26

Rajesh,

I appreciate the way you broke up the timing for Karthikeya . Speaks a lot about your meticulousness.

A very good review. Way to go Gayatri.Keep it up

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 27 Mar 2009, 09:36

bala747 wrote: But yea if she had sung just 2 hours she could have actually sung another 45 minutes worth of RTP in another major raga (A Kalyani or Dharmavathi to make up for the lack of prathimadhyamas) and put the thani there instead.

bala747,
Usually in thematic concerts of vageyakkAras there would not be a RTP(I would love to have atleast one though). She must have sung one prati for sure , that number I must have missed as I was late.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 27 Mar 2009, 11:25

MS amma has sung kArtikEya kAngEya with all the caraNams.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 27 Mar 2009, 16:59

Isn't it 'kArtikEya gAngEya gowri tanayA'? (gAngEya being the one who bears the gangA - SivA)

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 27 Mar 2009, 17:16

rajeshnat wrote:
bala747 wrote: But yea if she had sung just 2 hours she could have actually sung another 45 minutes worth of RTP in another major raga (A Kalyani or Dharmavathi to make up for the lack of prathimadhyamas) and put the thani there instead.
bala747,
Usually in thematic concerts of vageyakkAras there would not be a RTP(I would love to have atleast one though). She must have sung one prati for sure , that number I must have missed as I was late.

Yes, but if it was a Papanasam Sivan thematic, there could have been a pallavi about PS.. Why not? My poor knowledge of tamil is a hindrance but if you can find a nice translation to "Papanasam Sivan, a devotee of Muruga was a great composer" I am sure it can be set to music.

I have heard one Thyagaraja concert with a pallavi that went "Thyagarajaya namaste, ramabhaktaya namaste" in Saveri. I forgot who sang it because I was very young (8 or 9) but I remember it as a Thyagaraja-themed concert in Bombay in 1988 or 89

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 27 Mar 2009, 17:21

rshankar wrote:Isn't it 'kArtikEya gAngEya gowri tanayA'? (gAngEya being the one who bears the gangA - SivA)

Yes but in Tamizh, there is always the Ka Ga mixup... (The hindi Khali becomes the tamizh Gaali, Gaadi becomes kaadi). .And Gaangeya means the SON of the one who bears the Ganga, Siva.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 28 Mar 2009, 09:33

rshankar wrote:Isn't it 'kArtikEya gAngEya gowri tanayA'? (gAngEya being the one who bears the gangA - SivA)

Ravi
http://www.karnatik.com/c2045.shtml url gives both k and g , dont know which is right. You appear more
right.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 28 Mar 2009, 12:34

It is definitely Gangeya in Sanskrit but the song is in Tamizh where Ka/Ga are interchageable...but then why not Kankeya or Gankeya or any combination of the 2 consonants?!! When a Sanskrit word/name is used it is best to stick to the correct pronunciation of the word in that language - the culprit, if you will, is Tamil transliteration - it would be a good idea for music students to use Devanagari or even English for notations of non-Tamil songs...not that it matters much to me though - I am definitely not a pronunciation purist!

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 28 Mar 2009, 13:13

1. Swami (pada varnam?)
2. Karunaidhiye Thaaye - Bowli - Misra chapu
3. Bilahari - Sarvesa Admimayai nee udari thalladhe - Adi

K.Gayatri packs a lot of intensity in her delivery, her high sruthi enhancing the effect of the same. She also included a couple of rare compositions including a fabulous tamil varnam with a wonderful lyrical structure. Her self confidence to push herself to the limits of her performing ability added to the experience and made it a memorable concert for me.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 28 Mar 2009, 17:16

sureshvv wrote:1. Swami (pada varnam?)

I am assuming she sang this
swAmi nee maNam iraNgi - shreeranjani - pApanAsam sivan

This is a superb varnam in the last kutcheri season I heard this for the first time when gurucharan sang this varnam. Very very brilliant composition .

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 28 Mar 2009, 17:25

With suresh vv completing the first 3 in the song list , it is a big surprise that there is no prati madhyamA rAgam.

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 29 Mar 2009, 14:47

rbharath wrote:MS amma has sung kArtikEya kAngEya with all the caraNams.

Very interesting! A knowledgeable friend from the deep south informed me that this signified the deity at kAngeyanallur which seems plausible as this kriti covers all the major Murugan temples in the south. I, as a representative Chennaiite, was also berated for corrupting the pronunciation of many tamil kritis.