Sowmya @ Queens Temple, NY - 5/1/09

newyorker · Post by **newyorker** » 02 May 2009, 09:29

Vocal: Sowmya
Violin: R.K. Sriramkumar
Mridangam: Neyveli Narayanan
Upapakkavadyam: Random noises from upstairs and the next room, along with children playing and crying

1. Jalajaksha (Varnam) - Hamsadhwani - Manambuchavadi Venkatasubbaier - Adi (S)
2. Gajananayutham - Vegavahini - Dikshithar - Chatushra Eka (S)
3. Raga Ratna Maalikache - Reethigowla - Rupakam - Tyagaraja (ANS)
4. Vande Sada Padmanabham - Navarasa Kannada - Adi - Swathi Tirunal
5. Ekkalattilum Unnai Maravamal - Purvi Kalyani - Adi (2-kalai) - Ramaswamy Pillai
6. Karpagaambike - Bilahari - Rupakam - Papanasam Sivan (A)
7. Brovamma Tamasamele - Maanji - Misra Chapu - Shyama Shastry
8. Vinave O Manasa - Vivardhini - Adi - Tyagaraja
9. RTP - Keeravani - "then pazhani vadivElanE, deivayanE manAlane" - Adi (2-kalai) 1/2 eduppu
Thanam in Nattai, Gowla, Arabhi, Varali and Shree Ragam
10. Kaliyuga Varadan - Brindavana Saranga - Adi - Periyasaami Tooran
11. Venkatachalanilaye - Sindhu Bhairavi - Adi - Purandara Dasar
12. Shee Chakra Raja - Raagamalika (Chenchurutti, Punnagavarali, Nadanamakriya, Sindhu Bhairavi) - Adi - ?
13. Varugalamo - Maanji - Gopalakrishna Bharati

Overall an extremely enjoyable concert, here are some annotations:

1. Sowmya sang a nice round of swarams for the Vegavahini krithi emphasizing SMGM on the ascending scale as opposed to SRGM in order to differentiate it from an otherwise identical Chakravaham.

2. Her voice warmed up considerably in the Reethigowla alapana and she proceeded to do an unhurried, expansive neraval at the usual "Bhagavatho ... " evoking memories of a similar exposition by GNB in a commercial recording. Her neraval for this krithi was easily one of the highlights of the concert.

3. Her Bilahari alapana was fantastic - elaborate and replete with the classic scalar pidis that characterize this upbeat ragam. In fact, I was looking forward to a rare Bilahari main piece for the concert but Sowmya instead sang the Sivan krithi without neraval or swarams. However, I am hearing this beautiful krithi for the first time and Sowmya threw in some breathtaking brigha sangathis in the pallavi.

4. Keeravani turned out to be the main ragam prefaced by an elaborate and creative alapana clearly suggestive of an RTP rather than the usual "Kaligiyunte". Besides Keeravani, she sang thanam in the five ghana ragas to the rare accompaniment of the mridangam. The pallavi was straightforward and she proceeded to do anulomam at 1/2, 11/2 and twice the original speed.

5. Why two Maanjis in the concert? Both compositions were requests from the audience and Sowmya asked the audience which one they wanted. When the ensuing audience poll turned out to be predictably equivocal, Sowmya decided she would sing both albeit at different stages of the concert.

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 02 May 2009, 09:48

Thanks for the review... #7 should be "Brovavamma Tamasamele"

newyorker · Post by **newyorker** » 02 May 2009, 09:50

Right you are! I've made the correction.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 02 May 2009, 10:46

newyorker wrote: 4. Vande Sada Padmanabham - Navarasa Kannada - Adi - Swathi Tirunal
5. ?? - Purvi Kalyani - Adi (2-kalai) - ??
6. Karpagaambike - Bilahari - Rupakam - Papanasam Sivan (A)

I am taking a speculative guess here (usually every musician tries to sing more vagayeekara , hence BR could be the first choice)

Sri rAmA Nee Namam - Poorvikalyani - BR
Niinuvina ga mari- poorvikalyAni - SS

newyorker · Post by **newyorker** » 02 May 2009, 11:01

Rajeshnat, it was definitely not either of those two krithis. I wasn't taking notes at the cutcheri, and wrote the list off memory, so I really don't remember the krithi (it was one which I haven't heard before and sadly I don't even remember a portion of the pallavi)

rain_of_nectar · Post by **rain_of_nectar** » 02 May 2009, 11:06

It could well be Tiruvarur Ramaswamy Pillai's "Ekkalattilum unnai maravamal...", a song Sowmya sings quite often.

newyorker · Post by **newyorker** » 02 May 2009, 11:25

Rain_of_nectar, it was precisely that krithi! Thanks for your inspired guess. I've edited my original post.

newyorker · Post by **newyorker** » 02 May 2009, 11:47

One thing which I greatly appreciated and deserves special mention is how Sowmya goes about business without the cheesy 'thanks for having me' speech, announcing the ragas or indulging in other such unsolicited talk during the cutcheri, which other artists feel obliged to when they present concerts here in the US. It's alright to announce the odd mangalakaishiki or kokiladhwani, but please don't insult our intelligence by prefacing 'O Rangasayee' with statements like, 'Now I am going to present Kambhoji as the main ragam.' In fact, I would contend that the audience in most places in the US is as knowledgeable as the average Mylapore sabha! So if you don't announce ragas in Mylapore don't do so in Jersey or the Bay Area. (unless you're singing at Carnegie Hall or in front of an obviously white audience)

We are also not interested in how good the sambhar is at Mrs. Seethalakshmi's house where you are put up for the weekend. Neither do we care to hear about that extremely fortuitous occasion when your grand uncle first met the organizer of the concert by the kovil kolam in Kumbakonam in 1952. (Although, to be fair, these sorts of comments only usually surface during the speeches made by the organizers)

Also, please please do not ask the audience what they want. They really don't know what they want, especially when they answer in a mangled chorus when you throw out that question to the aisles. Use your best judgement and sing the composition that you learnt well from your Guru, hopefully with variety and creativity thrown in. In spite of your best intentions, opening it up to the public just unleashes chaos and encourages people to come back harder and stronger in that never-ending, incredibly annoying 'chit' parade. Besides, audience requests are a bit like the menu at your local China 'Super' Buffet: it's eat-all-you-want and there's tons of dishes, but you'd rather not eat any of the crap that's on display.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 02 May 2009, 21:56

newyorker, don't hold back now

All great points. I am with you on all those except the raga, thala, composer announcement. There are other threads where we discussed this ranging from LCD displays to twitter messages etc. I think what will work is what Nithyasree does to some extent in her U.S concerts. ( others probably do this as well ). For small songs, announce the details at the end of the song. For songs with alapana, annouce the raga at the end of the alapana and the composer and tala at the end of the song. Same with RTP. I realize even this can annoy the knowledgeable people ( elitists, if I may

) but this accomodates the occasional listeners and the marginally knowledgeable. It also helps me personally since on occasion I get into this mental block that even a familiar melody could not be associated with a raga name. Even in other cases, it is good to get a positive confirmation on what you think the raga is. And it helps immensely with allied ragas like Purvikalyani/Pantuvarali, ritigowla/nari-ritigowla & maanji/bhairavi.

appam · Post by **appam** » 02 May 2009, 22:12

new yorker
i couldnt agree with you more.

you hit the nail on the head.I hope the organizers and the artists take note of everything you have mentioned.
Mentioning the rare raga"S name too can be done after the rendering is complete,so that the audience can exercise their grey cells and make a right or wrong guess.

rain_of_nectar · Post by **rain_of_nectar** » 02 May 2009, 22:25

@NY'er: Good to know that my guess was right!

One other point... as you probably observed, Sowmya would have sung #11 as 'venkaTAcala nilaya vaikuNTha puravAsa' - in the correct prathama vibhakti - rather than the usual 'venkaTAcala nilayam...'

BTW, I am told that guests who stayed at the Comfort Inn for the recent Cleveland Aradhana were treated to a two-hour late night session, exclusively of Padams & Javalis by Sowmya, accompanied by RKS & Narayanan, right after her regular concert. If any of our fellow members was lucky to attend, I'd love to hear more about that...

lifeisasong · Post by **lifeisasong** » 03 May 2009, 04:10

New Yorker I agree with you about the cheesy speeches and the unnecessary references to the quality of sambhar available, but not all of us have the same level of knowledge as Mylapore Mamas and Mamis and belong to some quite different cultural contexts and are trying to grapple with Carnatic music. We are therefore quite overcome with gratitude when singers announce the raga

. Language is also sometimes a problem and if one doesn't catch the words or the name of the krithi, it becomes a problem going and looking it up later.

sama · Post by **sama** » 03 May 2009, 04:50

Is'nt Sri Chakra by Agastiyar ?

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 03 May 2009, 05:53

rain_of_nectar wrote:
One other point... as you probably observed, Sowmya would have sung #11 as 'venkaTAcala nilaya vaikuNTha puravAsa' - in the correct prathama vibhakti - rather than the usual 'venkaTAcala nilayam...

I feel exactly the same; in fact I had written about this in one of my earlier posts in rasikas.org.

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 03 May 2009, 13:01

vasanthakokilam wrote:newyorker, don't hold back now

All great points. I am with you on all those except the raga, thala, composer announcement. There are other threads where we discussed this ranging from LCD displays to twitter messages etc. I think what will work is what Nithyasree does to some extent in her U.S concerts. ( others probably do this as well ). For small songs, announce the details at the end of the song. For songs with alapana, annouce the raga at the end of the alapana and the composer and tala at the end of the song. Same with RTP. I realize even this can annoy the knowledgeable people ( elitists, if I may ) but this accomodates the occasional listeners and the marginally knowledgeable. It also helps me personally since on occasion I get into this mental block that even a familiar melody could not be associated with a raga name. Even in other cases, it is good to get a positive confirmation on what you think the raga is. And it helps immensely with allied ragas like Purvikalyani/Pantuvarali, ritigowla/nari-ritigowla & maanji/bhairavi.

Yes, I agree with you. mentioning the raga at the end of the alapana is important. And the composer at the end of the krithi.

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 04 May 2009, 07:48

ramanathan · Post by **ramanathan** » 04 May 2009, 08:55

Srinivas, it's been over two weeks since that Padam-Javali session and I don't recall the entire list or the exact order, but here is a rough outline (arunk, pls help!):

Entati Kuluke - Kalyani
Neyyamuna - Ghanta
Valapudasa - Varali [drawing chuckles from the audience, with a reference to the current POTUS in the anupallavi: 'O bAmane...'

]
Rama Rama Pranasakhi - Bhairavi
Nee Matale - Purvikalyani
Upamugana - Yadukulakambhoji
Yarukkahilum Bhayama - Begada
Tiruvottryiur Tyagarajan - Athana
Adi Neepai - Yamunakalyani
Behag (Samayamide or Saramaina? not sure...)

Accompanists were Shriramkumar & Neyveli Narayanan. They did an outstanding job - Shriram following the lyrics & mood like a shadow and Narayanan's percussive support was awesomely subtle at the difficult kAlapramANam. Dance guru Smt. Rhadha did some impromptu abhinayam for the Begada (and IIRC, Athana) padams. The only regular kriti presented in this session was a quickfire "Sarasijapani" (Nagaswaravali), a Muktamma special. Also, in the regular concert prior to this, she sang Ososi (Mukhari).

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 04 May 2009, 09:03

And I missed it! Sigh.

Arun,
Happy that you were there...

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 04 May 2009, 09:04

Must have been the most wonderful time of your life!! I am really jealous!!

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 04 May 2009, 17:28

I cannot remember the song names, only the ragas and the above seems right. It was indeed a phenomenal experience. I have stated elsewhere that stretchy padams werent my cup of tea (even musically as sometimes find them "over-stretched"). But that notion was obliterated to oblivion that night. Musically it was quite a surreal experience. Because it was mikeless one had to sometimes pay extra attention/focus to hear it - but that helped one focus on the melodic value of the music. I was mesmerized by the ghaNTA in particular but all songs were superbly delivered by Sowmya. Like Ramanathan indicated, Neyveli Narayanan's playing was simply out of the world. I was also so impressed by RKSK's playing and knowledge as he knew all of them.

Arun