Sowmya in San Diego on 04 April 2009

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 05 Apr 2009, 03:58

Vocal: S Sowmya
Violin: RK Sriramkumar
Mrudangam: Neyveli Narayanan
Khanjira: Cleveland Balu

Duration ~ 2.5 hours

Approximate Songlist:
01. sarasUDa (varNam) - sAvEri - Adi
02. pAhimAm srI (S @ pallavi) - janaranjani - Adi
03. kA vA vA (R, S @ pazhanimalai) - varALi - Adi
04. koniyAdEnAyedadaya- kOkiladhwani - Adi
05. pArvathi ninnu nE - kalgaDa - Adi (tisra gathi?)
06. ranjani niranjani (R, N @ kanchadalalOcha, S)
07. sarasIjanAbha sOdari - nAgagAndAri - rUpakam
08. rAma kathA sudha (R, N @ bAmA mani jAnaki, S, T) - madhyamAvathi - Adi
09. kAdalenum thIvinilE - khamAs - Adi
10. kaNDena kanasinalli- chandrakauns
11. cennikkuLa nagar vAsan (kAvaDi chinthu) - senchuruTTi

Before Sowmya's concert, local children and students sang six kAmAkshi navAvarna krithis and the tots sang thiruppugazh and kAvadi chindu. I particularly enjoyed the group presentation of the OVK krithis as the singers sang with harmony, and their shruti was good for the most part, and the vilamba kala rendition of nIlalOhita ramaNi was particularly excellent. I was very impressed by this group and Chitravina Ravikiran also appreciated their efforts and also congratulated their guru, Dr. CM Venkatachalam, for training his sishyas so well. The kids who sang thiruppugazh also did a fine job for their age and there was good synchronisation here as well. I was, unfortunately, thoroughly disgusted by people in the auditorium chatting loudly with the major artistes who'd come in amidst the kids' singing, creating a commotion by getting up in the middle of the auditorium and snapping photos of the artistes (the artistes were not guiltless either for returning the chatter, not paying attention to the kids for even a moment, and for agreeing to take photos in the middle of the performance), and there were even groups of people standing on the side of the auditorium and chatting and posing for pictures. Even though only kids were singing, imagine how much effort has gone into their preparation for their big day, and imagine how the guru and parents might feel about such disgraceful behaviour by a section of the audience and the big artistes! On the other hand, imagine the gurus' and parents' pleasure at seeing others in the audience and the major artistes appreciate even one or two of the compositions, admire even a couple of the difficult sangathis their kids pulled off. The culprits should've been ejected by gunDAs. Or maybe shot (after all, it would be pity to let all my marksmanship training in the army go to waste--of course we only shot static cardboard targets). Rant over.

Sowmya's concert finally started (late, it goes without saying). Actually, rant is NOT over. These constant delays of concerts feed a vicious cycle where the first concert begins late for some reason, people arrive late in anticipation for the next concert, that concert starts even later as a result of late audience arrival, etc. It must be tremendously difficult to organise these large scale events and 95% of events organised by Indians start late (hence the IST joke, right), but as a stickler for punctuality, I cannot tolerate delays no matter the reason. If the programme says 6.30PM, the program should damn well start at 6.30-6.45(latest).

Soooo, Sowmya's concert. After all that negativism, let me assure you that I thoroughly enjoyed Sowmya's concert. The sAvEri varnam, one of my least favourite varnams, was rendered for the second time in two days, and there was a short and snappy kalpanaswara segment at the end of the piece. I'm a huge fan of pAhimAm srI, and was naturally very excited when Sowmya took it up as the second item (I think it's a nice, sprightly composition that functions well early in the concert). I particularly enjoyed the kalpana swaras where after a fast sequence, Sowmya broke into a slow and gamaka-filled R G M P,,, (with a lovely quiver about the panchamam), which was highly aesthetic. Sowmya's voice was in fine fettle this morning, and to quote a friend, her voice obeyed her mind's every command. VarALi, one of the ragas I never tire of hearing, was rendered next with Sowmya producing a thoroughly classical alapanai of the ragam with a noteworthy lovely brigha-type swoop up the arohanam of the ragam in the madhya sthayi. What I especially love about Sowmya's voice is that her brighas never sound forced, choppy, or coarse, but instead sound extremely natural and fluent and as a result synthesises well with gamaka-oriented singing as well. KA vA vA was surprisingly taken up after the alapanai (usually consigned to filler status) and sung extremely well. The kalpanaswaras in varALi were one of my highlights of the concert, where Sowmya first took up pazhanimalai instead of the pallavi for singing swaras (interesting move), and then followed it up by singing swaras and the eduppu line in different nadais, making it a really interesting and enjoyable exercise.

KoniyAdE is not an especially gripping krithi for me, but the subsequent rendition of the kalgaDa krithi was fantastic, with Sowmya sponging the melody out of this vivadi (is it vivadi? sounds dissonant to me) ragam with excellent modulation of her voice. (Side note: Notice how au courant rasikas.org discussions are?! Sarma, marriage proposals, and kalgaDa, and I get to listen to this krithi! A thread on audience behaviour in the US and voila, a relevant experience for me this morning. A thread on pUrvikalyANi as a main, and I got to hear one last night!)

Ranjani was the submain this morning, and I was excited to hear one of my favourite and increasingly rare ragas rendered elaborately. Sowmya's ranjani ragam was very crisp and one standout moment for me was when she used coupled phrases like GM-MD-DS quickly-- just sounded so nice. RKSK started off playing the phrase S,,,RGS,,, with a really short RG, which was rather unusual for me because most people render the SRGS,,, with equal time weight for S, R, and G. The wonderful Ranjani niranjani was sung with an excellent neraval. Both of Sowmya's neravals today were comprehensive in two speeds and really illustrated her imagination and artistry. Her tara shadjam centered phrases in the neraval were particularly excellent. The swaraprastharam that followed was very imaginative especially around the swaras M and D, with Sowmya singing some nice dattu phrases MD MND MSD and there was also a nice phrase of MMMMM... DDDDDD... with Neyveli Narayanan replaying the pattern wonderfully, and she followed that with GND,DD and a further deluge of dattu sequences. Creative stuff.

After a nice nAgagAndAri, MadhyamAvathi was taken for main (one of the extremely few concerts I've attended without an expansion of any of the big 6 ragas). Sowmya sang an elaborate alapanai with excellent thanam type phrases around the tara shadjam (S,SNNNSNNS-SNNSNNS- etc), and also SP-less phrases which sound so good in madhyamAvathi (RMNRM,,,,). Yet another one of my favourite krithis, rAma katha, was rendered next (all krithi renditions were spotless today, but that doesn't need to be mentioned when Sowmya is the vocalist) with another excellent neraval in two speeds. Madhyamavathi, for me, is perfectly suited for second speed neraval and thanam and Sowmya gave a fine demonstration of speedy neraval without compromising the sahitya one bit (one syllable?), and she showed her solid control over kalapramanam with the lovely choppy phrases in the neraval. SP-less phrases were explored once again in the kalpanaswaras, and Sowmya decorated several swaras and sangathis this morning with some lovely quivers touching many swaras associated with the main swara (the kind of phrases violinists love as it shows off their finger dexterity so well, but which must be so difficult for vocalists to pull off; for me, it appears a step or two more difficult than brighas).

The tukkadas were very well rendered, and I particularly enjoyed kAdalenum thIvinilE, especially when Sowmya sang different sangathis just of the word rAdE, with one sublime Hindusthani-eque swoop at the end.

RKSK was very good this morning, playing really crisp and faithful responses. His shruti was very good, but his bowing seemed slightly screechy, especially in the upper octave. He is really a model accompanist in the manner in which he follows and supports the main artiste. He's my favourite accompanist and I have raved enough about him elsewhere.

Neyveli Narayanan was really excellent and accomapanied with great sensitivity. I particularly enjoyed his accompaniment to krithis, with customised playing for each sangathi. His playing is so soft and soothing and never overpowering or obnoxious. His accompaniment while Sowmya was singing swaras in various nadais in varALi was also excellent. I wasn't that taken by his accompaniment for Sowmya at MA last year, but he really blew me away today. The khanjira's sound was once again overpowered by everything else but Cleveland Balu played enthusiastically during the thani. The thani was extremely short, with only one individual round per artiste before the kOrvai came in a hurry, and this is the second mini thani in two days. I feel bad for the percussionists and if it weren't for all these late starts, perhaps they might have been enthused enough to play longer thanis (though the delays do not curtail the concert duration, to the organizers' credit).

Rant 3: No pallavi, AGAIN! Boo.
Rant 4: People walking in and out of the auditorium per their whims and fancies, people walking about in front of the stage, walking on the stage while the artistes are performing, activity on side of the stage fixing garlands and what not of the trinity's pictures during the concert (prompting Sowmya and RKSK to turn around and see what's going on several times)-- I guess I just have to sigh and suck it up as "c'est la vie!"

I promise to rant less next time. But not to take anything away from Sowmya's memorable concert (I've listened to her in Singapore, India, and US in the last year!).

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 05 Apr 2009, 04:28

Bilhari - another FABULOUS review! Thanks! The observation related to the kalgaDa kriti was hilarious!

A small correction - 'aindil viLaiyAdadu, aimbadil viLaiyAdu - something that did not grow/was not learnt or experienced at 5 years of age is unlikely to be at 50'

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 05 Apr 2009, 07:03

Bilahari
That lesson on stage etiquette is meant for all performers and rasika groups. Well stated. Your review is personal but at the same time pointed. Well done....

rupavati · Post by **rupavati** » 05 Apr 2009, 09:11

Thanks for the detailed report, bilahari! Couple of observations...

1) 'kaNDena kanasinalli', is a Purandara composition AFAIk and Sowmya usually sings it in Chandrakauns
2) 'kAdalenum tIvinile' is by Bharatiyar
3) 'cennikkuLa nagar vAsan' is a kAvaDi cindu (aNNAmalai ReDDiyAr)
4) The 'vivAdi-ness' of kalgaDa comes from the shuddha niSAdam.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 05 Apr 2009, 09:45

Bilahari,
Such a nice write up on what seems to have been an excellent concert. Some of us belong to that group of rasikAs who find concerts without an RTP a bit of a let down. Wish I had heard Sowmya's 'kAdalenum tIvinilE' too. I like listening to her singing bArati and other tamizh songs which she sings wih zest. I agree too on what you say about SRK's violin accompaniment. Sowmya NN combination is a good one too.
Well, the US audience have to shape up quite a bit it seems, from various accounts. Whether in India or elsewhere, if you arrive at the concert venue early enough, you can be in the good books of friends and relatives by greeting them 'before' the concert begins. A wave, a smile is usually enough if they arrive late. We are not meeting for coffee but have come to listen to music. One can also say hello 'after' the concert too. It is annoying enough to see a wedding ceremony being totally ignored when extended family members chtter away. They see each other (after a long lapse of time, I agree). However, a concert is not a social occasion where you mix and mingle. It is great if you can do that too, before or after concerts...

jeyaar · Post by **jeyaar** » 05 Apr 2009, 09:54

Excellent review -no problem with rants-i was surprised to note about the stage activities during the concert- Audience seem to take concerts as a social gathering!
No RTP is a definite let down for us(?)Better luck in the next concert.Awaiting your reviews!

newyorker · Post by **newyorker** » 05 Apr 2009, 09:56

India is one of the few countries whose standardized timezone is at a half-hour offset from the GMT. The joke is that Indians need that extra half-hour to get to meetings on time. I dont see why concerts are any different

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 05 Apr 2009, 12:01

Ravi, you will not believe this, but ever since I learned this saying in primary school, it has stuck in my mind especially because I have always wondered why someone might choose bending as the means of illustrating the idea! I have even thought of newly melted liquids cooling quickly, solidifying, refusing to bend after some time, and I have thought this through so long and you cannot believe how distraught and cheated I feel to discover all this resulted from an error in either my textbook (I've used this saying in Tamil compositions often and was never once corrected either!) or my memory (the latter seems to be the better bet, though some Singaporean tamil textbooks had glaring errors)! All because of one letter- vi. It's as if I've just been told gravity pushes things upwards to the sky!

CML, thank you!

Rupavati, thanks so much for your corrections! And also for explaining the vivadi feel of kalgaDa. Interesting that kAdalenum thIvinilE is a bhAratiyAr composition--one of my friends felt it was very unlike his style.

Arasi, I welcome all Tamil songs since I understand a little more of these than I do of all the rest. You have given a great Edith Wharton-esque description of the social activity of the kutcheri going crowd- I love it and it's so true.

Jeyaar, I think RTP should be made mandatory in non-Chennai concerts. We wait for months to listen to a concert and when it doesn't have an RTP, it feels incomplete like a many course meal snatched away and concluded abruptly midway.

Newyorker, half an hour only?!

I have edited my original post to make it less inflammatory.

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 05 Apr 2009, 15:20

bilahari - great to see your reviews. Keep them coming. Waiting to read on ponnamaal's and kunnakudi balamuralikrishna's concerts.....

-hari

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 05 Apr 2009, 15:40

Very happy to read your reviews, bilahari. They are detailed, objective, and entertaining. Thanks!