Sudha Raghunathan in San Diego on 05 April 2009

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 07 Apr 2009, 11:37

Vocal: Sudha Raghunathan
Violin: Jaishankar Balan
Mrudangam: Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan
Ghatam: TV Vasan

Approximate Songlist:

01. mAthE malayadwaja (dAru varNam) - khamAs - Adi
02. gajavadana bEDuvE (S @ pallavi) - hamsadhwani - Adi
03. entharO mahAnabhAvulu - srI - Adi
04. rENukA dEvi rakshitOgam - kannada bangla - khanda cApu

05. srI chakra rAja nilayE (R, S @ pallavi) - sivasakthi - Adi
06. swara rAga sudha (R, N @ mUlAdhAra, S, T) - shankarAbharaNam - Adi

07. vishamakkAra kannA - senchuruTTi - Adi
08. innudaya baradE - kalyANa vasantham - khanda cApu
09. bhavayAmi gOpAlabAlam
10. Viruttam in sahAna and sivaranjani, followed by kurai onDrum illai
11. mann ke ankhe (sAi bhajan) - vakulAbharaNam
12. thillAna - brindAvana sAranga
13. mangaLam - sowrAshtram - Adi

Sudha concluded the San Diego festival with her concert. I loved her rendition of the khamAs varNam (a request--nice to know she gets non-tukkada requests), which she rendered thoroughly in two speeds. She then spoke briefly about dedicating this concert to her guru and grandguru, MLV and GNB respectively, and spoke about how they were both trailblazers in the CM world. As such, I expected a trailblazing concert from Sudha as well, and certainly expected an RTP, which is one of the defining features of the GNB/MLV school. I was let down on both fronts.

Sudha's krithi renditions today felt soul-less and hurried, as opposed to her Singapore concert last year where she rendered even common krithis like entharO and kA vA vA with innovative flourishes and to borrow a cliche breathed new life into old compositions. Her creative spirit was lacking in this concert, though she explained she had missed a connection and travelled 36 hours to get to San Diego and was jet lagged, so I'm more than willing to overlook this concert as an aberration (I can afford to be so charitable given the rest of the weekend had gone as described in other reviews).

Sivasakthi ragam had several combinatorial phrases using the scale and was lacking in melody, I felt. She did use a nice sequence of PS (mandra) - SP - PS (tara) notes that was nice. GNB's krithi was rendered therafter. Sudha broke into yet another speech exclaiming how she had been so immersed in music that she didn't even know the time or how much time she had left, and when told she had another hour and a half, launched straight into shankarAbharaNa alapanai (at this juncture I could see swara rAga looming nearby and abandoned all hope of a pallavi). The shankarAbharaNam was mediocre and she did try to bring in some Hindusthani phrases about the dhaivatham and nishadam but her efforts weren't successful. Her shruti tonight was rather good, and her voice was in pretty fine shape as well, but it felt perpetually strained in the tara sthayi. Still, the sowkhyam with which shankarAbharaNam is usually delivered was missing in this concert, and I really felt she was short on ideas here (I do seriously think she was jet lagged; whenever she spoke she was having trouble collecting her thoughts and she's usually a very fluent communicator). Swara rAga sudhA was rendered poorly and a thorough neraval in two speeds followed, which was also lacking in sowkhyam, but the elaborate final kOrvai in the swara prastharam was really engaging (as it was in Singapore last year as well).

VishamakkAra kaNNa was inevitable. So too was kurai onDrum illai. So too was the applause when she started kurai onDrum illai (this first-line-of-kurai-ondrum-illai-applause has occurred in each of the three concerts of hers I've attended). What I did really enjoy was her kalyANa vasantha purandara dAsa krithi, which was really emotively rendered, and bhAvayAmi (has been a long time since I've listened to this) was also rendered with lots of feeling. The brisk thillana was good as well. Notably, Sudha prefixed most of the tukkadas with a short viruttam, and I quite liked this. Due to shortage of time, the concert was concluded without venturing into kATrinilE and brahmamOkaTE. With chits flowing in continuously, Sudha jokingly remarked that some of them arrived too late, such as the ones requesting for mahA ganapathim at the end of the concert (she said she felt bad for the "tiny tot" who probably requested it; if it really were an adult, he/she would've been blushing like anything!). Sudha once again thanked the rapt audience and talked again about how she had been inspired by the audience and had been completely submerged in the music (after a few times this constant reference to being one with music started getting suspicious; people who're submerged in music rarely break into speeches every other item).

Jaishankar Balan did a fair job of accompanying. There were glaring shruti lapses in his shankarAbharaNam (especially with the kArvai at the tara gandharam--always noticeable when you're stopping at a note and you stop at the wrong pitch), and I felt once again that he didn't indicate the eduppu in kalpanaswaras clearly especially in hamsadhwani. Other than that he was fine.

The percussion department was excellent today and the best part of the concert was the explosive thani shared by TV and TVV, where once I even had to crane my neck to see if was the mrudangam or the ghatam being played when TV Vasan was playing his turn. TV Vasan was just extraordinary and both of them provided stroke-filled accompaniment throughout.

Earlier in the afternoon, I had also attended a mOhiniATTam performance by Smt Bharathi Shivaji and her daughter Vijayalakshmi. Next to PP's concert, this would easily rank as my favourite performance of the weekend and I am deeply indebted to Ravi (rshankar) because if he hadn't recommended that I attend this dance recital, I would have skipped it without a second thought. The dance recital was just amazing, with excellent song choices (recorded music), and the synchronisation of mother and daughter was just perfect (so much so that when they were holding each other and retreating at the end of the performance it really looked like a floating mirror), and both the danseuses were extraordinarily graceful. I loved Bharathi Shivaji's brief English explanations of the song prior to each piece, as I would otherwise have been totally lost. I especially enjoyed the pieces where two women are debating whether the man they see on a golden horse far away is Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, etc. The ashtapadi in kEdAragowLa and srI was also very well rendered. The highlight, however, was a piece in the middle where Smt Bharathi Shivaji portrayed a mother trying to put her child to sleep, studying the moon and asking herself if the moon or her child is more beautiful that night, etc. The final tableau of the danseuse with a sleeping child on her arms looking so perfectly content is a memory that I will probably carry with me for ages. There was a special touch to this presentation as upon its completion the audience burst into heavy applause and Smt Shivaji returned suddenly from backstage gesticulating to us to be quiet since she had just put the baby to sleep! It was comic genius, and her expression of mock anger was just too good. But more than that it also emphasised that the artiste and the audience are not separated in a performance, that the audience is not a mere witness but a participant in the performance, and that the audience is an integral part to the outcome of the presentation. It was just a brilliant performance and my friends who complained to me that all the mOhiniATTam performances they'd seen had the same cliched pieces were also awestruck by this performance, so, Ravi, an extremely big THANK YOU!

With Parassala Ponnamal, Kunnakudy BMK, and mOhiniATTam in succession, this was probably the best Sunday of my life! Yes, yes, I'm only 22. I get it.

I would like to conclude my reports of the San Diego festival by proposing a rough ranking of the audience number of the concerts this weekend (in descending order from most to least):

01. Shobha Sharma - BharatanATyam
02. Sudha Raghunathan
03. Bharathi Shivaji and Vijayalakshmi - mOhiniATTam
04. Ravikiran and Irshad Khan - Jugalbandi

04. Student performance
05. MSG Trio
06. Sowmya

07. Kunnakudy BMK
08. Parassala Ponnamal

(I didn't attend the Saxophone performance; I can't stand the instrument in any form--Jazz, CM, whatever.)

The dance performances expectedly got the most audience, which is understandable because along with the music there is actually some action on stage, and a high level of conditioning is required to appreciate manOdharma components of CM. Jugalbandi had a fair share of HM audience, thus its ranking. Sudha is Sudha (I noticed several rasikas leaving after her Sivasakthi and Sh'bharana alapanais, probably disappointed the concert didn't start with kurai onDrum illai and end with mahA ganapathim--in fact Sudha might be one of the few performers who could successfully conduct a trailblazing concert in reverse- ARI kutcheri paddathi!).

But what went wrong here? Why was the best performance the worst attended? Although the organizers made a sincere attempt to draw PP to San Diego, they did not market her as a rare gem but made her seem akin to a common commodity. They did not emphasise what a rare opportunity it is to get to listen to her. In fact, the night before her concert, the organizer even declared the Sudha concert as "the big one" for Sunday! Kunnakudy BMK is an up and comer; he probably doesn't sing to packed audiences in Chennai either, but certainly he could've been marketed better as well (I would love for him to return to give a 3h concert as Nisha Rajagopal did a month ago). I was also surprised at the lack of audience (comparatively) for MSG, who himself does not perform regularly these days (and it was the inaugural concert as well, so the musically disinterested and socially overinterested people should have come to show their face(s) and hobnob). Essentially, I'm not sure the problem here is any different from the situation in Chennai. Those who attract the crowds in Chennai do so here as well. How can things change? Is the US audience more pliable, more receptive to change than the Chennai audience? Or is it vice-versa? Or are we all in the same grim boat? What do you think?

All said and done, audience or no audience, I for one had a blast this weekend and cannot thank my stars enough that the city I'm in in US has such dedicated patrons of our art who give their everything to organising concerts all year round.

revanthv552 · Post by **revanthv552** » 07 Apr 2009, 14:52

the bhajan is mann ke ankhe kholo sai ram in the raga vakulabharanam
Sudha ji just sings this bhajan in an amazing manner
seems to be a real good concert

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 07 Apr 2009, 15:37

revanthv552 wrote:
the bhajan is mann ke ankhe kholo sai ram in the raga vakulabharanam

Nope, it is "Monkey aankhey kholo"

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 07 Apr 2009, 16:02

04. rENukA dEvi rakshitOgam - malahari - jhampa

Is this not in "kannada bangala" Ragam ?

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 07 Apr 2009, 16:15

bilahari wrote:
04. rENukA dEvi rakshitOgam - malahari - jhampa

That is in Kannadabangala. If it sounds like Malahari, that is because it shares the arohanam-avarohanam with Malahari (according to some books) and differs only in the pidis.

bilahari wrote:
Sudha concluded the San Diego festival with her concert. I loved her rendition of the khamAs varNam (a request--nice to know she gets non-tukkada requests), which she rendered thoroughly in two speeds. She then spoke briefly about dedicating this concert to her guru and grandguru, MLV and GNB respectively, and spoke about how they were both trailblazers in the CM world. As such, I expected a trailblazing concert from Sudha as well, and certainly expected an RTP, which is one of the defining features of the GNB/MLV school. I was let down on both fronts.

Hey, you got "Vishamakkara Kannan" and "Kurai Ondrum Illai". Why do you feel let down? Plus the Blind Monkey Song as a bonus.

She should keep her mouth shut about MLV being her guru. One would draw conclusions about the decline of Carnatic music.

bilahari wrote:
Sudha's krithi renditions today felt soul-less and hurried, as opposed to her Singapore concert last year where she rendered even common krithis like entharO and kA vA vA with innovative flourishes and to borrow a cliche breathed new life into old compositions. Her creative spirit was lacking in this concert, though she explained she had missed a connection and travelled 36 hours to get to San Diego and was jet lagged, so I'm more than willing to overlook this concert as an aberration (I can afford to be so charitable given the rest of the weekend had gone as described in other reviews).

36 hours to San Diego is her excuse? For a well-travelled woman, one would think she would know how long it takes to get from India to US. The problem is that one tends to sub-optimize, performing in a concert on the night of departure and then getting on the plane so as to make most money. So what if San Diego suffers? They have already bought the ticket for her and have to take whatever crap she dishes out.

The woman is running hard against an unseen foe. Sudha is scared of Aruna Sayeeram and though she wasn't present in San Diego, her spirit and her "Madu meikkum kanne" were hanging in the air. Enough to bring what Sudha considers her Brahma-asthram, "Vishamakkara Kannan".

I think Sudha should go back to selling saris for Pothy's. At least, their saris come out in new colors and patterns every season as opposed to Sudha's music.

bilahari wrote:
Sudha broke into yet another speech exclaiming how she had been so immersed in music that she didn't even know the time or how much time she had left,....

Does anyone buy this BS? She was trotting out her speech about GNB and MLV because next year is GNB centenary and there are plans to celebrate it on a grand scale in India (the lead being taken by Trichur Ramachandran and Sudha being nowhere in the picture). But if there is going to be a GNB centenary celebration in the US, she is trying to get invited and cash in on the trip. Somebody ought to take her to the pier in Mission Bay and tell her to take a long, long walk.

bilahari wrote:
.... and when told she had another hour and a half, launched straight into shankarAbharaNa alapanai (at this juncture I could see swara rAga looming nearby and abandoned all hope of a pallavi). The shankarAbharaNam was mediocre and she did try to bring in some Hindusthani phrases about the dhaivatham and nishadam but her efforts weren't successful. Her shruti tonight was rather good, and her voice was in pretty fine shape as well, but it felt perpetually strained in the tara sthayi. Still, the sowkhyam with which shankarAbharaNam is usually delivered was missing in this concert, and I really felt she was short on ideas here (I do seriously think she was jet lagged; whenever she spoke she was having trouble collecting her thoughts and she's usually a very fluent communicator). Swara rAga sudhA was rendered poorly and a thorough neraval in two speeds followed, which was also lacking in sowkhyam, but the elaborate final kOrvai in the swara prastharam was really engaging (as it was in Singapore last year as well).

Tell me she started it as "Sudha Rasayutha Bhakti, Raga Sudha Rasayutha Bhakti, Swara Raga Sudha Rasayutha Bhakti".... Yep, she thinks Thyagaraja wrote it with her in mind!

I am surprised she didn't sing "Sudha Madhurya Bhashini" in Sindhuramakriya at this concert.

Somebody ought to search all kritis (will Sri Lakshman Ragde oblige?) and send her all krithis where the word "Sudha" occurs so that she can sing an all-Sudha concert!

bilahari wrote:
VishamakkAra kaNNa was inevitable. So too was kurai onDrum illai. So too was the applause when she started kurai onDrum illai (this first-line-of-kurai-ondrum-illai-applause has occurred in each of the three concerts of hers I've attended).

Aaaaargh!!!!!

:/

bilahari wrote:
Due to shortage of time, the concert was concluded without venturing into kATrinilE and brahmamOkaTE.

God apparently did have mercy on you!

uday_shankar · Post by **uday_shankar** » 07 Apr 2009, 17:33

Quick. Save this before the moderator's axe swings! Maybe srkris is away on vacation - we can hope, can't we ? :p. Of course there's always vasanthakokilam, the reluctant executioner. His heroic effort in trying to mask an uncontrollable fit of laughter with a serious face needs due recognition.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 07 Apr 2009, 18:32

Great Point-Counterpoint
Keep them coming ...
I am starting to develop a taste for the "mau"ling...

Poor KC Dey !!!
He would have never bothered to make Man Ki Ankhen Khol Baba popular 60 years ago, If he had known it would come to this.

sridhar_ranga · Post by **sridhar_ranga** » 07 Apr 2009, 19:06

coolkarni wrote: I am starting to develop a taste for the "mau"ling...

Learnt on my recent trip south eastwards that the the Malay word for leopard is the same as our "mau"ler's handle

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 07 Apr 2009, 19:15

Hey !
I am not changing spots .If thats what you are getting at

Just developing some.

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 07 Apr 2009, 19:23

Why this personal attack (GNB celebration in USA) on artist?

rajeevsid · Post by **rajeevsid** » 07 Apr 2009, 19:32

"(I didn't attend the Saxophone performance; I can't stand the instrument in any form--Jazz, CM, whatever.)"

LOL... thats very unbiased

!!!!

Anyways on a serious note.. you are a very good reviewer.. please continue

!!

bhaktha · Post by **bhaktha** » 07 Apr 2009, 19:34

vs_manjunath wrote:04. rENukA dEvi rakshitOgam - malahari - jhampa

Is this not in "kannada bangala" Ragam ?

Interesting to note that this was sung in jampa, instead of k.cApu. I believe there is a school of thought which therorises that Sri Mudduswamy Dikshitar never composed kritis in k.cApu and that all of his kritis being sung in k.cApu were originally set to jampa talam. This is debatable since Dikshitar experts like Sri DKJ/ Smt DKP have rendered some of his kritis in k.cApu.

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 07 Apr 2009, 19:42

rajaglan wrote:
Why this personal attack (GNB celebration in USA) on artist?

The first concert inaugurating the GNB centenary year was at the Indian Fine Arts in Feb (?) 2009. Trichur Ramachandran arranged it. There were speeches etc., on GNB. A monthly concert series is arranged and is being held at different venues through the year.

Raga Tarangini Trust run by Alappuzha Pappa (as she is called, I don't know her real name) had a concert which featured Suryaprakash. B M Sundaram was the invited speaker.

SAFE Ramabhadran arranged a meeting of all sabha secretaries/interested persons to talk about the best way to celebrate GNB centenary. A request was made to arrange for celebration of the event in Australia/New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Europe and North America and not just in Madras.

In none of these functions was Sudha to be seen.

All of a sudden Sudha seems to remember her guru MLV is a disciple of GNB and thus she is a grand-disciple of GNB. And that strikes her only in the United States!

Putting two and two together and coming up with four is NOT a personal attack.

Sathyameva Jayathe!

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 07 Apr 2009, 19:42

coolkarni wrote: I am starting to develop a taste for the "mau"ling...

Maybe VK will 'hari' to delete the 'mau'ling

[sorry, couldn't resist!].

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 07 Apr 2009, 19:44

This Erode-Mannarkoil Pun virus is spreading to Mumbai too.

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 07 Apr 2009, 19:51

By the way, does anyone think that "Monkey Aankhey Kholo, Sairam" is actually a desperate plea to Aruna Sayeeram rather than Sai Baba to have mercy on her?

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 07 Apr 2009, 19:56

harimau is SubbuDu reincar

He commments on concerts without even listening (on hearsay!) like the veteran

I guess he has drunk too much of the visham from the playful kannan (or was one of the gopis relentlessly teased or a cow taken to task by Krishhna in a previous janma)

Thanks Bilahari for the wonderful week. You almost took us to the concerts!

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 07 Apr 2009, 20:37

I am sorry, but I hardly find Harimau's diatribe against artists humorous.
Infact he has a long history of pouring vitriol on the rasikas forum and getting away with it. Obviously the Moderators have given him a long rope in the name of freedom of expression.
Please find below a sample of his previous threads : (Vicious personal attacks on performing artists camouflaged with biting humour )

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... sabha.html (TNS - Mods had to close the thread)
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... ar-09.html (Charumathi)
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... thani.html (Trichy Sankaran,Guruvayur Dorai, Srimushnam Raja Rao)
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... 91208.html (Sanjay)
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... dec08.html (Ranjani Gayathri)
http://rasikas.org/forums/search-posts-user2138-p2.html (Sudha and Aruna)
http://rasikas.org/forums/search-posts-user2138-p3.html (Shashikiran and Cleveland Sundaram)
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... endra.html (Casteist remarks)
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... epost.html (racist slurs)

That he has survived for so long and has a huge fan base even among the so called elite Rasikas is something I have never been able to fathom.

I want to make it clear that if you donÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t like the artists donÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t go to their concerts. Criticism of the concerts is always welcome. But Sarcasm - as a habit.. Come on , Give me a break !

revanthv552 · Post by **revanthv552** » 07 Apr 2009, 20:44

harimau Why did Mann ke ankhe kholo become monkey ankhe kholo??

Well, I felt harimau's comments were very lame
Sudha is in deed a good singer. I always find that certain people of our forum have some thing against her
do u have something seriously against Sudha ji?
You made really offensive comments about her
Why would Sudha be scared of Aruna Sairam? Both of them have the their own style. And it was extremely stupid to have said those thoughtless words.
Sudha ji is one of the singers who always thinks that the credit of her success completely goes to her guru. I have always seen her talking about her guru and grand guru. She has immense respect for them and she need not say those words just for some stupid gains as you said
And it was extremely stupid to have said that she sings only songs having "Sudha" in them
No one would draw conclusions about decline of carnatic music when she talks about her guru MLV
And i think you must keep your mouth shut about her being the brand ambassador of pothy's. Its her personal thing and we need not comment about it. Its extremely lame to have said that stupid thing

Sudha is an extremely wonderful human being. I saw her in one of her recent concerts in hyderabad. People kept requesting her songs one after another and she kept singing them. Its people who love her "Vishamakara kannan","Kurai ondrum illai","Bhrammamokate","Man ke ankhe kholo" People ask for those songs again and again. Its wonderful of her to oblige to all the requests. She is not one of those head strong musicians. People ask er to sing and so she does.
If you have heard those songs enough number of times, you need not listen to the concerts of hers[ I know you would say you would never want to attend her concerts and when u dont wont to attend them you need not comment upon them] You must have heard her sing those thukkadas enough number of times but there will be majority of people who want them again and again, Once again i tell you people want it so she does. Its not that she doesnt know any other songs. Her repertoire is vast.

Sudha ji is one of the very few members who never forgets the reasons for her success. She gives the credit completely to MLV amma and she has all rights talk about her.

I seriously feel people need to have a broad approach towards things and stop commenting about Sudha's sarees [Pothy's thing]

revanthv552 · Post by **revanthv552** » 07 Apr 2009, 20:59

Yeah she remembers that GNB is her grand guru only here is what you say
You must not have watched Star singers in which she came as a guest for one episode she spoke about the influence her guru had on her and she completely says MLV amma is the only reason for her name and fame
And yeah, if u bother to have seen MMU 2007 she made a statement again about MLV amma holding the credit in shaping Sudha's life
Yeah, Aruna Sairam creeps into everything. It was disgustingly thoughtless to say that stupid words. She sings for Aruna sairam to have mercy upon her. You think Sudha has no mettle of hers at all?
Now i wanted to tell something about Aruna Sairam sings, I do respect her but i am never pleased with the way she sings, I never comment anything comparing the artiste. You think Sudha was what she is just because of luck? She has no knowledge in music? Did she get Padma award just because she sings "Monkey" songs? What the hell! I really dont understand why things happen this way
Subbudu, the great critic himself spoke about Sudha in a positive manner
I really dont understand. I feel the comments made were like height of thoughtlessness and stupidity. Should a person with the name Sudha never sing "Swara raga sudha"?
Well our forum is losing its standards i really dont know why ppl are tending to make personal attacks about particular ppl. I dislike many musicians but i have something called manners and dignity so i dont make such lame statements I wish people realise this too. Its high time i say.
If you dislike her dont come to her concerts, Who will bother. There are lakhs of ppl who like her music and her in person so we will listen and enjoy. You have no bloody right to talk about her personal issues. I saw with my own eyes the number of requests she got. She was asked to sing "Ka va va"."Alaipayuthey","om namo narayana","kurai ondrum illai","kandha naal mudhalai", "Bhrammamokate" as requests on Feb 8th concert in Hyderabad. Its extremely nice on her part to sing everything rasikas request her to. It shows that she remembers that she is what she is just because rasikas and she sings for them. IF you are bored dont take the pains of listening to her. I wish people respect all the musicians instead of comparing them. I just hated it when that person above compared Sudha ji with Aruna sairam. It was disgusting

After all this people may start commenting about my opinions too. They may call me a devotee of Sudha. I dont mind even that. She is one of the top class musicians and deserves respect as much as the others do.
Please stop making lame comments.
Its a very sincere request

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 07 Apr 2009, 21:00

bilahari wrote:It was just a brilliant performance and my friends who complained to me that all the mOhiniATTam performances they'd seen had the same cliched pieces were also awestruck by this performance, so, Ravi, an extremely big THANK YOU!

Bilahari - you are welcome. I only wish you had reviewed that in a separate thread, and not buried it in the middle of the Sudha thread - which was bound to have generated controversy regradless of how the concert went!!

But I am really glad you enjoyed it - yAm peTra inbam ivvayagam peruga (let the world appreciate the joy I have experienced)!!! Were you able to figure the sOpAnam aspect of the music? I wanted to get your input on that.

revanthv552 · Post by **revanthv552** » 07 Apr 2009, 21:00

I request all the members of the forum to please think before you write. Its a pain the artistes dont get the due respect .

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 07 Apr 2009, 21:03

Thank you revanth and manjunath for your corrections. I think the kannada bangla krithi WAS sung in khanda cApu, and I've corrected my error. Harimau, you have gone berserk! I was shocked to wake up in the morning and see 19 posts in the thread in a few hours--mine wasn't a contentious review!

revanthv552 · Post by **revanthv552** » 07 Apr 2009, 21:05

you are welcome bilahari and thanks for the decent review

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 07 Apr 2009, 21:18

Can the moderators please move posts 22, 26, and 27 of this thread to the thread I have started about the mOhiniATTam performance? Thank you very much.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 07 Apr 2009, 21:36

It is better that in the concert Reviews comments are restricted to the content of the concerts and not on personalities. Again comments hurting the sentiments of fellow Rasikas are unwelcome.
Freedom of Expression does entail responsibility!

Personal feuds will not be tolerated among the Rasika membership!

Akshara · Post by **Akshara** » 08 Apr 2009, 00:05

Folks like us are new entrants into this forum because we believe that apart from exchanging reviews of performances we also get to learn so much about the ocean of carnatic music from equally learned members. I think it is in really bad taste to pick on artistes on subjects irrelevant to this forum and get into personal aspects. Every profession and every professional has their own share of bouquets and brickbats and these are hazards of any profession. What we need to restrict ourselves here is to what one brings to the table and how does it impact the majority.

Sudha Raghunathan is a seasoned artiste, who I have heard has been in the profession for over 30 yrs and is known world wide, has a great fan following and has given some memorable and treasurable music.We have had some great concerts from her in Chennai and Dasara kritis are her forte apart from the finesse she exhibits in the renderings. I think we should give our views on the quality of the performance with respect to the output and stick to that. Lets us not assume and presume reasons and make a personal onslaught..What one chooses to do outside of profession is his or her own business and it speaks petty to bring all those in..irrelevant I must say.

Mediator - please do not permit dilution, caustic, sarcastic and personal remarks. Participation with such calibre only brings down the quality and reputation of the forum making it seem like a platform for publicity. If you dont enjoy a particular artistes music, dont listen to it. If you have formed an opinion, then try to help out by exposing us to "better" music for greater knowledge gain ,rather than hammering on personal behaviours and thus not adding any value.

In submission - mediatorji, trust you will take care. Thanks

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 08 Apr 2009, 03:15

the reluctant executioner. His heroic effort in trying to mask an uncontrollable fit of laughter with a serious face needs due recognition.

reluctant executioner... I like it. Pegs it quite right

Yes, sometimes one has to grin and bear the uncontrollable fit of laughter!!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 08 Apr 2009, 05:23

VK,
While Arun's noble 'to' or 'not to' soliloquies make me empathize with him (thou art noble, Arun!), I liked Uday's turn of phrase 'the reluctant executioner' too.
As for personal attacks on artistes? They are very unsavory, and they put me off. Defenders needn't go overboard either: throw your TV set into the ocean, etc.
A positive outlook is healthy in life and in rasikatvam--yes, even of the cloying kind is any day better than vitriol. rasikAs, pOshakAs (patrons of CM and of musicians) are not forced to go to concerts of musicians they do not care for--isn't that so?
As for the seasoned performers who have developed a thick skin, let's not forget they are having a great time looking at our shenanigans on the forum. They get their chance to have a laugh or two

VK, sing in spring to your heart's content instead of brooding over the tedium of your job

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 08 Apr 2009, 05:41

harimau wrote: The first concert inaugurating the GNB centenary year was at the Indian Fine Arts in Feb (?) 2009. Trichur Ramachandran arranged it. There were speeches etc., on GNB. A monthly concert series is arranged and is being held at different venues through the year.

Sudha inaugurated the first GNB centenerary year function at IFAS on 6 January 2009 by lighting the lamp. See photos at http://www.gnbalasubramaniam.com/CentInaug.html

harimau wrote:Raga Tarangini Trust run by Alappuzha Pappa (as she is called, I don't know her real name)

Smt Parimala Srinivasan is the secretary of Raga Tarangini. She is the the daughter of Alleppey Papa.

narayan · Post by **narayan** » 08 Apr 2009, 14:51

bilahari wrote: Sudha once again thanked the rapt audience and talked again about how she had been inspired by the audience and had been completely submerged in the music (after a few times this constant reference to being one with music started getting suspicious; people who're submerged in music rarely break into speeches every other item).

As an aside, I found Sudha Raghunathan's use of the word 'submerged' in the music and bilahari's acceptance of the word quite interesting. I suppose what SR meant was 'immersed'?! Submerged gives me the idea of drowning and gasping for breath or so.

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 08 Apr 2009, 21:49

Can we discuss kannaDagaula? I learnt the kriti rEnukAdEvi -DKJ's version and it is close to malahari and also has the raga mudra. However Tyagaraja's kannaDagaula is different. Maybe this was discussed earlier. any pointers?

revanthv552 · Post by **revanthv552** » 08 Apr 2009, 22:15

I think renuka devi is in kannada bangala. Kannada gowla is different raga . There is a composition of DIkshitar on nilothpalamba in kannadagowla. I wish some one who knows about the technical aspects can help us to know about kannadabangala
15 mAyamALava gowLa janya
Aa: S R1 M1 G3 M1 D1 P D1 S
Av: S D1 P M1 G3 R1 S

kannadagowla is a janyam of kharaharapriya
Aa: S R2 G2 M1 P N2 S
Av: S N2 D2 P M1 G2 S

Well, i got the info from karnatik.com We can have a discussion about this ragam in the ragam section of the forum i guess.

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 08 Apr 2009, 23:36

thanks, I was confusing myself with K bangAla and MMGowla with kannaDa gowla