Chitravina Ravikiran and Irshad Khan in San Diego on 04 Apr

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 05 Apr 2009, 13:44

Jugalbandhi Concert
ChitravINa: Ravikiran
Sitar: Irshad Khan
Violin: Akkarai Subbulakshmi
Mrudangam: Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan
Tabla: ? Chaudhary (different from stated in the programme; really sorry)

Approximate Item List:

Part I: Sitar Solo
01a. Khyal style [own] composition (brief alap) - rAgEshri - rUpak (7-beat tAl)
01b. tharAna - rAgEshri
02. Ghazal-like composition (didn't catch the name) - yamani

Part II: Jugalbandi
03. Mutant Ragam "Thanam" Pallavi (Thani) - kharaharapriya/ kAfi - Adi
04. Irshad Khan's composition - bhairavi/ sindhu bhairavi

This is going to be a brief review because I'm really treading on shaky ground here due to a total ignorance of 65% of this evening's performance (not that it's stopped me from trampling all over this forum with my half-baked opinions before). The concert started nearly an hour late due to the accruing delays over the day (they could have done away with one particularly awful, cliche-ridden and hyper patriotic [to America] speech earlier in the day, but since he was being presented an award for his dedicated service to the community, it might have been rude, just a tad), and in light of the delay, Ravikiran opted to forgo his planned solo portion, claiming that since he's a "backyard" San Diego artiste, we could listen to him any other time (organizer Dr Venkatachalam cleverly baited him in the end saying that Ravikiran now owes us a solo recital and as a result is obligated to return soon).

As such, the concert commenced with a solo recital by the sitarist. RAgEshri was introduced as a rAg evoking tranquility, and after a brief alap, the sitarist's own composition was rendered (he sang it as well). I enjoyed the sitarist's playing for its nuanced tonal modulation with his rapid alternation between fast, vigorously plucked phrases to slow, elongated plucks. The elongated notes were particularly emotive and aesthetic and although I didn't really understand the essence of rAgEshri (somehow I've been conditioned to look for evocative pidis like in Sahana, Nattaikurinji, etc, and have a distinct difficulty connecting to note, rather than phrase, based expansion of ragas), the vaDanATTu (North Indian) section of the audience was wah-wahing throughout, so I presume the sitarist did a good job portraying the raga (I certainly liked it a lot, but the connoisseurs seemed to be blown away by the performance). More than the rAgEshri, though, I was held captive by the yamani light-ish song rendered next which had a lovely melody and Irshad Khan's singing of the lyrics added to the beauty of the rendition. Yamani sounded somewhat like our YamunakalyANi.

Next, the actual jugalbandi commenced, and it was excellent. For one, they picked Kharaharapriya for elaboration as opposed to the ubiquitous Yaman/ Malkauns. Two, I love Kharaharapriya in any shape or form. Three, finally I got to listen to an RTP (sort of, but close enough) (not that I was expecting them to launch into chakkani rAja after the ragam, but given my RTP-related luck in the season as well as here, I could not rule out such cardiac arrest-sparking shocks). The Kharaharapriya raga alap(anai) was shared in short segments by the two instrumentalists, but more than the individual passages, the moments where they responded to each other's phrases really struck me. For instance, Ravikiran would play a really simple phrase, i.e. RG,,M. In response, Irshad Khan would put a Hindusthani spin on the same phrase by ornamenting the swaras differently. In many ways, this jugalbandi was a demonstration, a musical lecture of sorts, of the differences between HM and CM, and it is this aspect that captured my attention the most. From these slower and shorter phrases, the instrumentalists progressed to more complex, faster phrases, and there the differences in ornamentation hitherto demonstrated overlapped, intermingled, and interfered with each other showcasing the macroscopic, rather than microscopic, differences between the two musical forms (using the exact same phrase, mind you). The raga alapanai was just excellent, excellent stuff.

The sitarist then started playing some faster passages (not quite like thanam--don't they call it Jod Jhala or something like that?), and Ravikiran responded by playing classical thanam. Irshad Khan also responded to some of the thanam phrases, especially arohanam-avarohanam phrases like PMGRS- DPMGRS- NDPMGRS in the HM style. Luckily the thanam ended quickly because this is the phase I believe where CM and HM seemed most disparate and almost desperate to establish even a semblance of a connection to legitimise the inclusion of the segment (in a TNK-Rajam recording I've heard though, Rajam develops the ragam in an increasingly fast and rhythmic manner while TNK plays classic thanam and the contrast is wonderful and the exercise, lasting 20 minutes or so, culminates harmoniously--so thanam can be worked into a jugalbandi format).

The pallavi rendition was elaborate, with even a faster neraval passage (played excellently by Akkarai) and Irshad Khan and Ravikiran were feeding off each other and this was especially apparent in the kalpana swaras (swaras for our CM parts of the pallavi rendition; I don't actually know what the sitarist was playing exactly), and both the instrumentalists played some lightning fast-plucking phrases well into the upper octave which expectedly brought the house down each time (by the end of the pallavi rendition, the audience was clapping each time Ravikiran/Irshad finished his turn--very supportive but also a bit much). The applause during the pallavi rendition also demonstrated that the North Indian audience members were either greater in number or louder than the South Indians since the wah-wahs drowned out the chu-chus 3:1.

If at this juncture you're wondering what exactly Akkarai was doing during these two hours, you've asked a pertinent question. She wasn't doing much. Going into the concert, I was already apprehensive of the violinist's function in the concert due to the obvious asymmetry (CM has a violin in addition to mrudangam, but HM only has tabla). Indeed, Akkarai had no defined role in the concert other than reverting Ravikiran's phrases during the alapanai (and even there, the sitarist was returning the phrases in the HM style, and this was far more interesting and appropriate). She only played two short solo returns (one thanam and one fast neraval and she excelled both times expectedly, but her talents were wasted and also not really needed for this concert) during the whole concert and was an appreciative bystander for the most part. What she did play was spot-on, but this concert would have been less awkward if she hadn't been included or if a harmonium (or even violin) player had been added to the HM side.

The percussionists played well for the most part and were often asked to respond to the other side's swara segments (tabla for Ravikiran, mrudangam for Irshad Khan) and they gave good responses all the time. The thani was once again short but more than anything demonstrated that the mrudangam was louder than the tabla. Also, given the mrudangam's louder sound, there also seemed no point in having both percussionists play simultaneously as they did for much of the pallavi rendition. Thank god the tabla player had a chance to demonstrate his artistry earlier during the sitar solo.

Though I'm not generally a fan of jugalbandis, this particular concert was enjoyable, interesting, and most importantly, meaningful. It demonstrated the commonalities of both musical styles, it highlighted and enumerated their differences in a crystal clear manner, and was not merely an exercise of two disconnected parts pretending to form a whole by virtue of performing simultaneously, and it wasn't a happy and superficial attempt to superglue both musical forms together either.

Bravo to the organizers for arranging such a wonderful series of concerts. I've loved all the concerts so far and look forward to Parassala Ponnammal, Kunnakudy BMK, mOhiniATTam, and Sudha tomorrow.

BTW, I also attended a bharatanATyam recital by Smt. Shobha Sharma, who held the packed auditorium (the only sold out event) in raptures for nearly two hours. She was very graceful, emoted flawlessly, and provided succinct explanations in English (while dancing) about the piece she was about to dance to for each item. The main was a husEni swarajathi, and enna thavam was also superb (her various interpretations of just the word "amma" at the end were extraordinarily moving). She concluded with LGJ's thillana in Brindavani. The live music was also great.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 05 Apr 2009, 14:18

bilahari wrote:The North Indian audience members were either greater in number or louder than the South Indians since the wah-wahs drowned out the chu-chus 3:1.

Bravo to the organizers for arranging such a wonderful series of concerts. I've loved all the concerts so far and look forward to Parassala Ponnammal, Kunnakudy BMK, mOhiniATTam, and Sudha tomorrow.

bilahari,
wah-wahs drowned the chu chus is lovely, perhaps there is more silence there too because of that!!! That was a nice and very creative line.

I am expecting you are going to be in a bliss tomorrow for atleast 2 concerts , the golden girl is just going to rock, and even BMK Jr is a brilliant singer who is one of the top picks in that category. Both the golden girl and BMK have got exceptionally high voice weight.

I wish you bit of luck with sudhA, I hope it is not a race towards bhavayAmi gopAla and kurai onrum illai, but more towards vishwanahtem bhajeham .

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 05 Apr 2009, 15:47

bilahari: Was the swarajati in Adi? If so it could be nI aruLAyO tAyE of ponniah piLLai. Ravi has translated it in the Sahitya thread.

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 05 Apr 2009, 17:34

Is it a brief review?, MORE A THESIS THAN A REVIEW. well done. do you think of me? gobilalitha

uday_shankar · Post by **uday_shankar** » 05 Apr 2009, 23:04

bilahari,

Excellent review as were all your other reviews recently. Glad to see a kindred soul who's interested in the nuances of instrumental music also.

Keep 'em comin'.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 06 Apr 2009, 00:05

Excellent stuff Bilahari! Incidentally Rageshri is not very different from Nattaikurinji, in fact some even refer to the 2 as counterparts! Like all HM ragas, is bidi-based rather than note-based - CM is really the culprit there! Almost all definitions of raags give more prominence to pakkads than the arohana-avarohana sequence.

Rageshri is also a captivating raga once you get used to it - you can try picking up CDs of Rashid Khan or Kishori Amonkar both of which are among the better. Parween's is a flashier version but I have a weakness for her music no matter what purists think! I heard a great rendition at the NCPA last year and also have a CD.

There is also a Thillana in the raga I think - Lalgudi's?

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 06 Apr 2009, 00:07

Oops meant pidi-based in the post above...now, bidi-based ragas would be quite a sight...

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 06 Apr 2009, 00:23

Great review Bilahari ! Keep them coming.

Look forward to more such "half baked" reviews in future too

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 06 Apr 2009, 01:47

Vijay: I relate to ragas more through prayogas that bring out the raga identify and not based on swaras ( due to my deficiency in that department). When we say 'pidi' or 'pakkad', we mean the characteristic prayogas of that raga, I assume. Given such a listener, would Rageshri sound similar/same as Nattaikuriniji or the pakkad and pidi are different enough that they are really different ragas sharing the same aro-ava sequence? Or they share prayogas but the execution style and ornamentations are different to make thems sound different? ( I guess even in that case HM people are more prone to call them separate ragas, I suppose )

I sampled these two pieces to see if I can sense Nattaikurinji.:

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/Uq2 ... As1NMvHdW/
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/sqO ... As1NMvHdW/

Hope MIO labeled these correctly. I think I can sense the commanility between these two but not much nattakurinji. The Nikkil Banerjee piece in the initial stages has some distinct melody that sounded folkish and familiar but did not match my conception of NK. May be sampling a few minutes here and there is not the way to go about this. I need to spend more time with this.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 06 Apr 2009, 06:03

The violinist was probably there for accompanying RK in his solo section but since that was cancelled, she just was there for the jugalbandhi part.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 06 Apr 2009, 09:29

My frame of reference of rAgheshri is a madurai somu's tukkada no ninaikAdha nEramiLLai . I thought it is more close to bhAgeshri.

musik · Post by **musik** » 06 Apr 2009, 12:41

Hello bilahari-

BTW, I also attended a bharatanATyam recital by Smt. Shobha Shankar

The artist was Smt. Shoba Sharma

The main was a bhairavi swarajathi (not amba kAmAkshi; does anyone know other swarajathis? I really enjoyed it. It frequently makes use of P,M,G,R,S, with that phrase's characteristic lazy gamakas which bring out all of Bhairavi),

The swarajathi was in Huseni
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... useni.html

Regards.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 06 Apr 2009, 12:47

No I did not mean that they have similar pidis/pakkads...what I meant was

1) Nattaikurinji and Rageshri are both phrase based and
2) They share largely the same notes - although they are not exactly the same.

I did not mean that the pidis were same - the ragas do sound quite different. Rageshri does not have panchamam which is used in certain phrases of NK such as NDNPDNS and GMPGRS. NK also uses characteristic phrases like NDN, MGM, MGS etc. which are not typical in Rageshri. The latter is characterized by the GMR,NS phrase which is quite distinct. Also the ascent is typically SGM whereas it is SMGM in NK.

However the two ragas largely employs the same notes - 28 mela janyas, panchamam is either absent or sparing and rishabham missing in ascent. I personally don't think that is enough to call them counterparts, which is exactly the term Parrikar uses:

http://www.sawf.org/newedit/edit12022002/musicarts.asp

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 06 Apr 2009, 12:47

Rajesh Ragehsri and Bageshri are quite related - except for the difference in the gandharam the phrases are pretty much the same.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 06 Apr 2009, 13:12

Musik, thanks for the corrections. I shouldn't have messed up the artiste's name as I am highly critical of people who mispronounce their names while introducing them on stage!

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 06 Apr 2009, 13:13

Rageshri is Nattaikurinji?!! Didn't sound anything like it to my amateur ears.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 06 Apr 2009, 14:18

Bilahari, Rageshri is **not** Nattaikurinji!...They are related in terms of swaras as I've said above. They do not sound similar at all...

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 06 Apr 2009, 19:06

Thanks Vijay for the clarification. I was keying in on 'Rageshri is not very different from Nattaikurinji' and I am glad I asked. Now I know what you mean. Sorry if this caused any confusion.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 06 Apr 2009, 19:25

Sathej · Post by **Sathej** » 06 Apr 2009, 19:41

Heard a three Ragam RTP in Purvikalyani + Rageshree + Shree by TNS last season at MFAC and to me, Rageshree sounded reasonably different from Bageshree too.

Sathej

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 06 Apr 2009, 20:15

Oops, sorry vijay- I'd read your post wrongly. Didn't have a bAgEshri feel either.

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 05 May 2009, 22:18

I remember a nice film song in Ragesri - Something that went like "samundar bAr bAr AtA hain" from Balachandar's Tamizh movie "jAthi malli"

-Ramakriya

kartik · Post by **kartik** » 06 May 2009, 07:09

One of the most brilliant usages of Ragesri is by MadanMohan in "Dekh Kabira Roya",Kaun Aya Mere man ke Dware.
Bade's Ragesri effort in Mughal-E-Azam which Coolkarni refers to is the benchmark Ragesri for me.
Sanjay's Ragesri RTP in also available in Sangeethapriya.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 06 May 2009, 08:59

Nandagopal might answer this: is 'nain sE nain nAhi milAO, dEkhat sUrat Avat lAj' in rAgASri? The filmit is from is jhanak jhanak pAyal bAjE--music by Vasanth Desai?

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 06 May 2009, 09:04

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 06 May 2009, 09:35

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 08 May 2009, 08:31

Thanks Cool. When the film came out, I remember thinking that it sounded similar to bhAgESri. While bhAgESri can melt you, it also has that pensive air. I find mAlgunji to be lively. Well, that's me--someone who does not find mukhAri to be an azhugai (tearful) rAgam but a very appealing, dignified one.
Any other old film song besides 'saiyAn jAv'?

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 08 May 2009, 08:38

kartik · Post by **kartik** » 15 May 2009, 22:23

Ragesri's scale is SGMDNS/SNDMGMRS.GMRS differentiates it from Nattaikurunji.