Parassala Ponnamal in San Diego on 05 April 2009

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 06 Apr 2009, 12:52

Vocal: Parassala Ponnamal
Vocal Accompaniment: Bama Krishnan
Violin: RK Shriramkumar
Mrudangam: Ramkumar Balamurthi
Khanjira: Cleveland Balu

Approximate Songlist:

01. pada varNam - tOdi - Adi
02. vallabha nAyakasya (S @ pallavi) - bEgaDa - rUpakam
03. durusuga (R, N @ parama pAvani, S) - sAvEri - Adi

04. manasA eTulO (brief S @ pallavi) - malayamArutham - rUpakam
05. pAdAra vinulamE - hindOLavasantham - Adi
06. pAhi jagajjanani (R, N @ sOmabimba mahA, S, T) - vAchaspathi - Adi

07. kAnthanODu (Sketch) - nIlAmbari - rUpakam
08. pankajAkshanAm ramEsan - tOdi - rUpakam
09. tharuNi nyAn - dwijAvanthi - misra cApu

10. sAnantham kamalAmanOhari - kamalAmanOhari, hamsadhwani, bhUpALam, tharangini - Adi
11. nIlabanna pAhimAm - suruTTi - Adi
12. karpagamE - madhyamAvathi - Adi

After attending four performances in a row today, I'm naturally very fatigued, but I cannot sleep tonight without sharing my experience listening to Parassala Ponnamal (PP, hereafter).

Before launching into the music, I must comment about the extremely dignified presence of PP on the dais, a manner of singing that completely eschews any violent body language, a soft shake of the head in appreciation of the accompanists, and an aura of tranquility that permeates her music as well. NidhAnam is the best word I could use to describe the grand dame's music. From the start of the tOdi varnam, she sang each line of every composition in vilamba kalam, and with a majority of artistes opting for a madhyama kala presentation these days (which I also thoroughly enjoy), PP's concert today was a most refreshing change and for two and a half hours, it almost seemed as if the clock's batteries were wearing thin and time was ticking by slower and slower and slower. PP's concert started with a slow and beautiful rendition of a particularly lovely pada varnam in tOdi I have never heard before (its starting lines almost have an ahiri-esque feel), and subsequently she hummed a short sketch of bEgaDa, and within a few bars of her humming, we were able to guess that vallabha nAyakasya, the perennial SSI favourite, would follow, and this was a recurring theme throughout PP's raga portraits during the concert, where without resorting to explicitly singing lines from the krithi to follow, she would customise her sketches to the song, highlight some of its characteristic prayogas, and leave no ambiguity whatsoever in the raga and the krithi she would be taking up. PP's voice culture is amazing and her deep, bass voice maintains such tonal consistency in all the octaves (though she did struggle a wee bit in the tara sthayi today), and it's really a pleasure to listen to her delve into the depths of the mandra sthayi with that voice of hers (has she ever sung the bhairavi swarajathi?), which she did frequently today commencing from the sAvEri alapanai.

PP's sAvEri ragam was razor precise, and she covered most of the major phrases of the ragam in a short span of about 4-5 minutes. Even her raga essays today were done slowly, exploring the important gamakams of every raga with stunning clarity (I imagine she's a wonderful teacher, as she was effectively teaching us music for 2.5 hours this morning). Her oscillations of the dhaivatham in sAvEri, and the rishabam, were all excellently executed and as a result sAvEri shone in all its splendour. PP took up durusuga, a relatively rare krithi these days, and did good justice to it and explored the composition further with a crisp neraval at parama pAvani, followed by a few rounds of swaras. PP's music has absolutely no frills and no false pretenses--it is sheer, naked, unadulterated, uncompromising classicism, and this was ably demonstrated in her all her manOdharma exercises today, especially her kalpana swaras, which are very to-the-point. She did not venture into long swara exercises with kOrvais, keeping the exercises straightforward and using simple swara patterns to demonstrate the various faces of the raga and krithi in question, borrowing some phrases from the krithi itself, and elaborating these phrases briefly before concluding the presentation. This is not to say the vidushi does not display creativity, as she sang some really interesting sangathis for all the krithis today, and I was told she used some very intelligent and smooth gati changes in her sangathis as well (mostly the sangathis with which she'd conclude the krithi), but the laya dolt that I am, I missed these completely (so I guess she really does manage these gati transitions well!).

After a short malayamArutham, PP sang one of the most memorable pieces of this weekend for me--a krithi I've never once heard before (and googling it doesn't yield results either): pAdAravinulamE AgAramE in hindOLavasantham. Not only is this composition in a rare ragam (it had flashes of hindOLam and sAramathi), but the vidushi sang some extraordinarily moving sangathis in this composition, with a particularly brilliant interpretation of the words "nAdam nAmamu" or something like that. This is one of those "I can't describe it in words and you had to be there" moments which I shall thus stop trying to describe.

Here, I should assert that I had gone into this concert having heard only one live recording of PP, where her voice comes across as rather hard and sometimes jarring, but listening to her live, I must emphasise that although her voice has tremendous strength and gambIram, she modulates her voice excellently, producing some soft flourishes where needed like in the hindOLam, and singing other phrases with her characteristic azhuttham such as in sAvEri. I should also point out that Smt PP did all the singing independently today and her sishya didn't need to step in more than a handful of times (and that too only in compositions, never in manOdharma). At 82, she is well capable of rendering whole concerts by herself (I would count myself lucky to be alive at this age; my aim is only 75).

Vachaspathi was the main ragam for the morning. PP was struggling midway through the alapanai, her voice wasn't reaching the higher octave easily, but she still managed to sing some emotive and imaginative phrases in the ragam, with a lovely gamaka-laden descending phrase D,,P P,,M M,,G G,,R R,,S, and then adding a lovely soft touch in the shadjam while singing DNSND,,, and there was also a nice SRGM,,,GRSNDP with a fast swoop into the mandra sthayi, which is an octave that as I've mentioned thoroughly suits her voice. Pahi jagajjanani was rendered very well, but I was more impressed by the thorough neraval in vAchaspathi, with PP singing an extraordinary second speed passage with great breath control. It was just amazing stuff.

I have never heard of PP rendering RTPs, so I wasn't expecting one this morning, and as a result looked forward to some nice tukkadas (maybe an elaborate slokam, but then nobody renders 20-30 min slokas these days), and I wasn't disappointed at all. The way PP started a nIlAmbari sketch right after the thani was just magnificent. She started, as usual, by humming a few phrases shortly to herself, and then launched into a full sketch, and it was really lovely. While PP showed the raga's proximity to shankarAbharaNam in her sketch, RKSK demonstrated the yadukulakAmbOji effect in his version, and they were both excellent. KAnthanODu was rendered well. A tOdi krithi I've never heard before was rendered next, and then it appears RKSK requested PP to sing tharuNi in dwijAvanthi.

PP's dwijAvanthi today was the single highlight for me this whole weekend. The bhAvam with which she rendered this piece would even have rivalled KVN's peerless rendition (interestingly, the former brings out all the depth of the raga in her deep, strong voice while the latter moves through it with the agility of his thin voice). For the second time today, I had goosebumps just listening to the super vilamba kala rendition of the dwijAvanthi padam. It felt wrong to break out into applause after this rendition, thereby ruining the mood set by the piece.

I also really enjoyed the ragamaliga piece, which is a rare one (PP has a great repertoire, I must say), and I was especially interested in the tharangini segment which sounded nothing whatsoever like mAyE. SuruTTi and madhyamAvathi provided a bhava-laden conclusion to a tranquil, moving, inspiring concert.

RKSK was exceedingly good today, playing in the same vein as PP, with his strong, fluid bowing, chiming in on occasion when PP stopped to take a breath, complementing her music with his own techniques like a special moment during the vAchaspathi kalpanaswaras where he used cut-bowing to play second speed swaras to great effect (usually swaras are played in individual bows), replaying some of PP's nice phrases around the DND interface in vAchaspathi, highlighting the nishadam in the raga alapanai of vAchaspathi, bowing totally in mandra sthayi during the nIlAmbari rendition, producing a lovely sketch of the raga as well, and, and, he's RKSK. 'Nuff said.

Local artistes Ramkumar Balamurthi and Cleveland Balu gave fitting percussion accompaniment. Both of them were completely unobtrusive (as was RKSK), simply offering their solid and sensitive support in the background for a vidushi whose music only needs such nondescript wallpaper. By offering such accompaniment, which extended to a crisp and soft thani, both artistes demonstrated the meaning of the word "accompaniment."

Unfortunately, only about 2 rows of people agreed with me that this was the marquee event of the festival, and I was disheartened and frankly shocked by the abysmal turnout for PP's concert (9AM on Sunday, come on). This is an artiste who does not frequently venture out of Trivandrum, does not perform frequently during the season, and probably does not travel much either (this was her first overseas concert). To have given up the rare opportunity to listen to her music is essentially robbing oneself of a tremendous honour and privilege to understand what the word "classical" means in the phrase "classical music," as Smt. Parassala Ponnamal demonstrated this morning. That so many people insist on robbing themselves foolishly does not detract from the sort of performance we were lucky enough to witness and the sort of musical experience the few of us were privileged enough to participate in, and not even the extended standing ovation we gave her today can express in actions what we feel about this great lady and her great, great music.

[Other reviews tomorrow]

ignoramus · Post by **ignoramus** » 06 Apr 2009, 13:46

hi bilahari

the kriti pankajAkshanAm rameSan used to be sung by KVN, it has multiple charanams if i remember. This and the dwijavanthi piece are there in the KVN commercial recording brought out by Tharangini studios more than 15 years back. It is a lovely piece, more of a description i think of the festival.

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 06 Apr 2009, 15:15

If you want nostalgia in modern times, you have to turn to Ãƒâ€¦Ã…Â¡rimati Ponnammal.

I still remember her rendition of narasiÃƒÂ¡Ã‚Â¹Ã†â€™ha mÃƒâ€žÃ‚Â

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 06 Apr 2009, 18:12

Wonderful review... Thanks

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 06 Apr 2009, 18:46

Thanks Bilahari. You set things up nicely for me, I am planning on catching her concert when she visits our area later on this month.

The poor attendance may be due to lack of promotion. Not too many people know about her and the organizers should have taken some extra effort to profile her and use the few opportunities they have to plug her concert. But if they had done that and if people still did not come, that is their loss.

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 06 Apr 2009, 18:54

bilahari wrote:
After attending four performances in a row today, I'm naturally very fatigued, but I cannot sleep tonight without sharing my experience listening to Parassala Ponnamal (PP, hereafter).

Before launching into the music, I must comment about the extremely dignified presence of PP on the dais, a manner of singing that completely eschews any violent body language, a soft shake of the head in appreciation of the accompanists, and an aura of tranquility that permeates her music as well. NidhAnam is the best word I could use to describe the grand dame's music. From the start of the tOdi varnam, she sang each line of every composition in vilamba kalam, and with a majority of artistes opting for a madhyama kala presentation these days (which I also thoroughly enjoy), PP's concert today was a most refreshing change and for two and a half hours, it almost seemed as if the clock's batteries were wearing thin and time was ticking by slower and slower and slower. PP's concert started with a slow and beautiful rendition of a particularly lovely pada varnam in tOdi I have never heard before (its starting lines almost have an ahiri-esque feel), and subsequently she hummed a short sketch of bEgaDa, and within a few bars of her humming, we were able to guess that vallabha nAyakasya, the perennial SSI favourite, would follow, and this was a recurring theme throughout PP's raga portraits during the concert, where without resorting to explicitly singing lines from the krithi to follow, she would customise her sketches to the song, highlight some of its characteristic prayogas, and leave no ambiguity whatsoever in the raga and the krithi she would be taking up. PP's voice culture is amazing and her deep, bass voice maintains such tonal consistency in all the octaves (though she did struggle a wee bit in the tara sthayi today), and it's really a pleasure to listen to her delve into the depths of the mandra sthayi with that voice of hers (has she ever sung the bhairavi swarajathi?), which she did frequently today commencing from the sAvEri alapanai.

.........................................

Unfortunately, only about 2 rows of people agreed with me that this was the marquee event of the festival, and I was disheartened and frankly shocked by the abysmal turnout for PP's concert (9AM on Sunday, come on). This is an artiste who does not frequently venture out of Trivandrum, does not perform frequently during the season, and probably does not travel much either (this was her first overseas concert). To have given up the rare opportunity to listen to her music is essentially robbing oneself of a tremendous honour and privilege to understand what the word "classical" means in the phrase "classical music," as Smt. Parassala Ponnamal demonstrated this morning. That so many people insist on robbing themselves foolishly does not detract from the sort of performance we were lucky enough to witness and the sort of musical experience the few of us were privileged enough to participate in, and not even the extended standing ovation we gave her today can express in actions what we feel about this great lady and her great, great music.

As I read the first paragraph of your review (with which I totally agree), I wanted to congratulate the San Diego organizers in having had the courage to bring this extraordinary artiste (on whom, unfortunately, fame and fortune had not smiled) to your city.

As I read the last paragraph, I was saddened that such a great vidushi had such poor attendance at the concert. If nothing else, to get a glimpse of the glorious version of Carnatic music, one has to attend concerts of Parassala Ponnammal. I remember a year ago Sri P S Narayanaswamy staying for her concert for the entire length at Raga Sudha Hall in Mylapore.

But then, the current rage is "Madu meikkum kanne" and "Vishamakkara Kanna"; "Bho Sambho" and "Bhooth Motey".

To what abysmal levels have we sunk!

PS. You ought to hear her sing "Gajavadana" in Todi. One could die after that, satisfied that one's life is full.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 06 Apr 2009, 20:45

bilahari
That was a stunning review. On a side note, when we feel like writing more in kutcheri reviews we just take the style and perhaps the body language and expressions of that singer on that day too. To that extent your review was full of grace and meditative experience just in line with Parassala Ponnamal in San Diego on 05 April 2009. Keep them coming.

On a side note in the last kutcheri season at tattvalOka , she sang a stunning hindOlam , a rare pApanAsam sivan composition

Can some one throw more light about Ramkumar Balamurthi and cleveland bAlu, whose disciples are they?

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 06 Apr 2009, 20:54

Bilahari - she did sing bhairavi swarajathi 6 months ago in chennai.. That was during SSI centenary celebrations.

Padaravindame adarame - i thought it is saramathi? May be, ambujam krishna composition?

You seem to have pretty much enjoyed her concert, that reflects in your writeup and review. Lucky you.

-hari

thenpaanan · Post by **thenpaanan** » 06 Apr 2009, 21:26

bilahari wrote:Vocal: Parassala Ponnamal
Vocal Accompaniment: Bama Krishnan
Violin: RK Shriramkumar
Mrudangam: Ramkumar Balamurthi
Khanjira: Cleveland Balu

Approximate Songlist:

01. pada varNam - tOdi - Adi
02. vallabha nAyakasya (S @ pallavi) - bEgaDa - rUpakam
03. durusuga (R, N @ parama pAvani, S) - sAvEri - Adi

04. manasA eTulO (brief S @ pallavi) - malayamArutham - rUpakam
05. pAdAra vinulamE - hindOLam - Adi
06. pAhi jagajjanani (R, N @ sOmabimba mahA, S, T) - vAchaspathi - Adi

07. kAnthanODu (Sketch) - nIlAmbari - rUpakam
08. pankajAkshanAm ramEsan - tOdi - rUpakam
09. tharuNi nyAn - dwijAvanthi - misra cApu

10. sAnantham kamalAmanOhari - kamalAmanOhari, hamsadhwani, bhUpALam, tharangini - Adi
11. nIlabanna pAhimAm - suruTTi - Adi
12. karpagamE - madhyamAvathi - Adi

....
[Other reviews tomorrow]

Thanks for the wonderful review. Do you know if a recording was made and would it be available for free or for purchase?

Ever a PP fan,
Then Paanan

suma · Post by **suma** » 06 Apr 2009, 22:10

Thank you bilhari.
Looking forward to hearing her in cleveland.

sethu · Post by **sethu** » 06 Apr 2009, 22:54

If octogenarians sing this way, I wish artistes age faster. As bilahari had rightly said, her music was so simple, pristine and straight from the heart. I loved the way she handled saveri (btw, someone had told me that she has a special liking for the raga). Piece 5 was padaravindame adarame and RKSK mentioned after the concert that it was in hindola vasanta and composed by Ambujam Krishna. The half-hour after her Vachaspati were pure bliss. I wish she sang Dwijavanti and Nilambari for some more time. She gave a lesson in tukkada singing (which were not really tukkadas). She was still strong enough to continue with a thodi RTP but she had to stop somewhere. The accompanists blended with her music smoothly and perfectly.

The small crowd was definitely a disappointment and I hope it is not a detriment to bring more such artistes here. Hats off to the organizers for bringing her here.

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 06 Apr 2009, 23:05

great reviews Bilahari... You are lucky... we don't get to hear so many concerts here in NW.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 06 Apr 2009, 23:53

harimau
..after reading your mini review I laughed with tears in my eyes. But let me tell you as an oldie that even in the good old days folks went just by names and reviews in the magazines than by real quality. Thomas Gray's " Full many gem of purest ray serene, the vast unfathomed caves of ocean bear.. full many a flower is born to waste its sweetness in the desert air" was literally true. The PPs and MaNakkaals have existed for over 70 years of CM history without being appreciated or recognized..

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 07 Apr 2009, 02:50

Sethu, thanks for the info on the hindOLavasantha krithi.
With regard to recordings, ordinarily non-residents of the community cannot purchase CDs but let me ask if any arrangement can be made.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 07 Apr 2009, 02:51

Harimau, that was a lovely tribute to PP. And vishamakAra kannA will feature in an upcoming review of mine!

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 07 Apr 2009, 02:57

>ordinarily non-residents of the community cannot purchase CDs

Do you mean they are not setup for selling to out of town people ( just check/cash'n'carry type thing )?

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 07 Apr 2009, 03:28

VK - it usually means that these are for the members of that particular music society/association.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 07 Apr 2009, 04:10

Ravi, I had that thought, but usually these organizations are strapped for cash and would gladly sell it to anyone who wants it. It did not jive economically to restrict it to that sabha members unless they are not setup to sell it to others or their charter and sabha by-laws are setup that way, or the artists put in such restrictions.. I was just curious. I guess another reason can be that sabhas can use such country-club like restrctions to increase their membership. In my area, such things vary from eager wilingness to sell for good money to lack of organized effort to make the recording available for purchase.

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

Bilahari,
What a review! It made me feel as though I was there in San Diego! How true it is that her music is like meditation, her concert like spending a few hours in the treasure house of CM! The pristine beauty of her singing, born out of her own love for music, fortified by years of training and by training others is somethying to hear...
When I sit in the audience and listen to her, it is almost as if it is a tour for tasting the essence of CM--a tour of gem-laden caves of our music. No ado, no bravado, simply sung, surrounded by a sweet silnce.

Thanks, Bilahari. Hope those in other US cities read this and attnd her other concerts.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 07 Apr 2009, 07:17

VK, Ravi is right. I have asked the organizers why they don't sell recordings to nonmembers, and the complication is apparently the more stringent copyright restrictions (and need to cut a fraction of the profit to artistes) imposed on a wider sale. It's much easier to gain the artistes' approval to sell recordings just to members. I will ask them, however, if it's possible for members to purchase recordings for nonmembers. Maybe that is a way to circumvent the problem?

Arasi, you have captured her music perfectly. When people were talking to her after the concert, she mentioned that after snippets of her Navarathri Mandapam performance were uploaded to Youtube, suddenly everybody wanted her to sing everywhere, and she appears really nonchalant about all the sudden fame. It's not like she's singing for the audience, anyway--it really is an intensely personal meditation she engages in while singing.

skutty · Post by **skutty** » 08 Apr 2009, 15:43

bilahari wrote:Arasi, you have captured her music perfectly. When people were talking to her after the concert, she mentioned that after snippets of her Navarathri Mandapam performance were uploaded to Youtube, suddenly everybody wanted her to sing everywhere, and she appears really nonchalant about all the sudden fame. It's not like she's singing for the audience, anyway--it really is an intensely personal meditation she engages in while singing.

For which, all credit must to Prince Rama Varma, for continuously striving to and succeding in breaking the centuries old tradition of not allowing women to sing in the Navarathri Mandapam, and subsequently uploading her concert on Youtube and then inviting her to Swati Sangeetotsavam. What a majestic artiste, delivering effortlessly with poise and grace. When she gave a concert at the Music Academy last December, the audience was comprised of Vidhwans and Vidhushis and every single soul was filled with awe and ofcourse, the regret that she had not been discovered earlier by the Madras Music scene.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 08 Apr 2009, 16:23

skutty wrote: For which, all credit must to Prince Rama Varma, for continuously striving to and succeding in breaking the centuries old tradition of not allowing women to sing in the Navarathri Mandapam, and subsequently uploading her concert on Youtube and then inviting her to Swati Sangeetotsavam.

Without any doubt, the credit goes to the Prince and Youtube. The very first time I heard her Paripahi in Saveri, I was stunned into disbelief & I heard the same song around 25 times continuosly. Sometimes,I wonder how many more gems like Smt Ponnamal may have disappeared into oblivion, unsung and unheard.