Swaralaya Sydney Music festival 2009. highlights

rasikapriya72 · Post by **rasikapriya72** » 07 Jun 2009, 04:01

I caught up half-way through the pancaratnam, which was presented with reasonable quality and decent co-ordination. The lead artistes being Sri. Neyveli Santanagopalan, Sri. Trivandrum Venkatraman, Vid. Sowmya, Vid. M.S. Sheela, Sri.Sriram Parasuram, Anuradha, Carnatica brothers, Sri Nagai Muralidharan on violin, Vijaygopal on flute playing chetulara, Sri. Neyveli Narayanan, and Tanjavur Murugaboopathi on mridangam, Sri. Neyveli Venkatesh on Khanjira.
This was followed by local talents presenting a few select compositions. Raksha Bettare stood out.

This was followed by the concerts for the day starting with Carnatica brothers followed by Trivandrum Venkatraman, Sowmya, Sanjay Subramanyan.

Carnatica brothers accompanied by Nagai Muralidharan and Tanjavur Murugaboopathi performed a well-packaged short and energetic concert.

The Kambhoji ata tala varnam was a good start. A short viruttham in hindolam was followed by a lively song Om kara Ganapathiye in tisram and chaturasram nadai. This was presented with some very crisp swara kalpanas. The mukhari alapana by Ganesh and Sri Nagai Muralidharan sir was exceptional. Entaninne was a good choice and was peppered with a short niraval and swaras.
Sharavana bhava a bilahari composition was set to a highly intricate rhythmic structure in misra capu. Ganesh announced it as a composition of Chitravina Maestro Ravikiran and they dedicated it to Palghat Raghu.
The highlight of the short concert was a pallavi in brindavani with words isaivizha, kalaivizha, thiruvizha, sydneyil swaralayavin in khanda triputa talam. Shashikiran ' s alapana was very refreshing and his mandra phrasings dwelt till mandra sa was amazing. Nagai Muralidharan again was touch of class. The tanam started well but was ended rather abruptly probably due to pausity of time. The pallavi had the anulomam and pratilomam and other aspects of rhythmic complexities with swarams in different eduppus presented precisely.
Ganesh touched the ati tara sa effortlessly. It was nice that thy packed an RTP because we don't hear many in these parts. Missed on the tukkadas. Murugaboopathi was a lively partner and his tani was brief and crisp.
No wonder Carnatica brothers are Sydney music festival' s regular artist and have a huge fan following here.
This was followed by Trivandrum Venkatraman sir's concert accompanied by Neyveli Narayanan and Neyveli Venkatesh on Khanjira.
I feel bad about missing a major part of the concert. But he presented a great purvikalyani. The audio levels for this concert was way over the normal levels. The purvikalyani alapana had all solid phrasings and was full of azhutham. The tani was mind- blowing and was the audience were in ruptures. This was followed by Visvesvara in Sindubhairavi. Even sindubhairavi sounded pretty classical and solid. This concert too was for only about 1 hour and 40 mins.
Hope someone else can fill in the rest of the details.
Next was Vid. Sowmya with Sri. Jaishankar Balan on the violin and Neyveli Narayanan on the mridangam.
What was high quality music from this great artist.
Saveri varnam was rendered with some very classy touches and crisp swaras.Chinna nadena in Kalanidhi was well presented and though her voice was just warming up, the swaras were enjoyable. The violinist however, was uncomfortable.
Kamakshi in simendramadhyamam with a great alapana was a treat. Brief niraval for Kama kala pradarshini was interesting and made all devi worshippers sit up. EEdaiya Gati in Chalanata was beautifully sung with swaras in words chalanata.
A suruti composition of Arunachala Kavirayar- Kaana vendum laksham Kangal to me was the highlight. The alapana was soaked with suruti in every single note she touched.
Karthikeya in todi was a rather predictable choice but was rendered very well. Todi alapana had some beautiful nadaswara pidis mixed with some nice vainika phrasings. May be Sri Neyveli sir sitting in the first row was the inspiration.
Neyveli Narayanan was his usual self. However, Jaishankar Balan whom I am hearing for the first time, was far from being a right choice for artistes of Sowmya' s calibre. Though, I guess he was a last minute replacement for Raghavendra Rao. Missed Embar Kannan or Shriramkumar.
The grand finale for the day was Sanjay Subramanyan's concert. Oh boy ! He rocked.

Nagai Muralidharan, Tanjavur Murugaboopathi and Neyveli Venkatesh were a part of this great concert.
Sanjay's concerts these days are like a roller- coaster ride. They are exciting and there some interesting twirls and twists.
His energy levels are so high. It is amazing. he sang a 3 hr plus concert here and he kept the audience hooked on their seats.
I missed a couple of openning pieces I guess. Caught up with Santana gopalakrishnam in Khamas. Probably seeing Santanagopalan and the manodharmam in nartana muralidharam was engaging. This was followed by Lokavana chatura. The begada had conventional and unconventional phrasings, but still he is able to pull it off. Wonder if others could do the same though. Next was Kanada - Kantimathi annaye.
The alapana again had a few Darbari kind of Ga. Didn't enjoy those much. But while you think of that, he sings a very classical phrase. It is almost like teasing the audience knowledge. However, the swaras with the swara poruttham and using the swaraksharam ga for kantimathi was note worthy.
But again it is his energy that draws him closer to his rasika.
Mohanam alapana again was great in parts, average in a few places. Naarayana was a refreshing piece rendered as main.
The tani was lively. Nagai Muralidharan sir was awesome in his solo efforts to match up to Sanjay' s energy levels.
Evvare Ramaiyya in Gangeya Bhooshani was beautifully rendered.
He then took up Madhvanthi for pallavi. May be I had a long day of music. It did not feel as good as some of his other pieces. But his swaras were very beautifully weaved into different eduppus and tempo variations.
What do I say about the viruttham. It again is his strength and he was awesome. This was followed by his favorite tukkadas.
It was a great concert all in all and a memorable day on he whole.
Sorry folks could'nt think of taking notes while the concerts were on. I didn't think I would post this one. It has been long since I have been active here due to a hectic work schedule. But couldn't resist posting this, after hearing some of these great concerts.
Kudos to the organisers for bringing these great artistes to Sydney.

Rasika911 · Post by **Rasika911** » 10 Jun 2009, 19:50

Nice write up.

suma · Post by **suma** » 10 Jun 2009, 21:14

Thanks for covering Australia for us. Are there a lot of Carnatic Music fans in that part of the world?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 10 Jun 2009, 21:29

Swaralaya presented a grand festival! A lot of effort and love for music made it happen.
For some rasikAs who take good music for granted, those in Chennai in particular, those who can walk to the end of their street and into a concert hall, please do not knock organizers abroad for trivialities. Whether in London, Europe, the US or in Australia, but for the deep love and dedication the main organizers and all those who volunteer have for music, it is unimaginable that one can hear CM in the remotest parts of the world...

Akshara · Post by **Akshara** » 14 Jun 2009, 08:19

Well said Arasi madam...Music does come so easy to us sitting in Chennai and comments and so does caustic pokes too. There is a group of such sincere minded young women in a remote part of UK who have been seeking out to the musicians in Chennai and I personally am doing my best to get some generous and good souls to come over and perform not expecting the frills and fancies of the hi flying international groupings...but just a genuine and heartfelt attempt..all for the cause of music for which they have been born...am sure they will oblige and reach carnatic music to the remotest of remote places...

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 14 Jun 2009, 20:56

Akshara - you efforts will pay off with your persistence and dedication. There is one popular artist in Kerala who wrote to me for opportunities in overseas and if you like I can give you his email address.

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 14 Jun 2009, 22:14

@ Arasi mami

Did you attend the series? Could you fill in the list for TRV's and Sanjay's concerts?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 14 Jun 2009, 22:49

Srikant, marumagan

I am countries away from Sydney! If you want a tiny bit of a taste of the festival, there is a snippet of NSG's 'teaching pinnal svarams to students' demonstration in Sanjay's blog in which one of the organizers has posted it.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 15 Jun 2009, 09:28

There is also a review in a local Indian newspaper at http://www.indianlink.com.au/templates/?a=832&z=44

Rasika911 · Post by **Rasika911** » 15 Jun 2009, 16:27

deleted

Akshara · Post by **Akshara** » 17 Jun 2009, 08:03

VK RAMAN wrote:Akshara - you efforts will pay off with your persistence and dedication. There is one popular artist in Kerala who wrote to me for opportunities in overseas and if you like I can give you his email address.

Raman, that would indeed help - [email protected]

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 17 Jun 2009, 09:31

Akshara: Please check your email.

sangeetham_srinivasan · Post by **sangeetham_srinivasan** » 17 Jun 2009, 10:31

Hello Rasikas,

Thanks for sharing the useful information about Grand Sydney Festival 2009 to the rest of the world. From the write up, I could understood that the best possible combination like Carnatica Brother's with Shri. Nagai Muralidharan and Sanjay with Shri.Nagai Muralidharan made the festival rocking. I Thank God that he gave ears to listen but did not give me feathers to fly along with these Musicians to hear their performance. AU rasikas are lucky to be part of this program.

Please do write us more in detail about the songs list by concert wise (if possible). Also, request rasikas (who attended the concert) to share materials like mp3 or photos etc (if any). Looking forward to see more info.

Thanks again to rasikas for posting this useful information.

suma · Post by **suma** » 17 Jun 2009, 21:27

Nagai Muralidharan and Sanjay Subramaniam combination is a very good one. I heard them last year in Chicago. They were too good. No idea when the next tour is for them.

ramanathan · Post by **ramanathan** » 03 Jul 2009, 12:57

Some pictures from the Sydney festival:
http://www.carnatica.net