Lakshmi RangarAjan@SKGS on Aug 07th,2009

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 08 Aug 2009, 19:53

Lakshmi RangarAjan@SKGS on Aug 07th,2009
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As part of gokulAshtami series of sree krishna ghana sabhA , this concert is one of the 3 month series of concerts. As I entered 15 minutes late , I did see a huge backdrop of stage announcing GNB centenary year with a large photo of Shri GNB.

Lakshmi was accompanied by Dr Hemalatha - violin, mannArkoil mridhangam - mrudhangam and rAjArAm??(I am not sure of his name, someone next to me told that he is shri vikkuvinayakaram's grandson (daughters son) ) - ghatam

1. I am told by another rasika that I missed kAnadA varnam
2. samayamidhe - kedAram - patnam

I went to the concert from the start of bahudari
3. uNNadiyE gAti(?) - bahudAri - GNB
4. rAmanAtham bhajEham (R N) - paNtuvarAli - MD
8 mins alApanai, 6 mins violin and 7 minutes of neraval in "kumAra guruguha mahitam"

5. bhOgeendra sAyinAm - kuntalavarAli - ST
6. eesaNe iNta ezhaikku iraNga(R S) - chakravAkam - Psivan
6 mins swaram
7. sAranga rAga priyE (S)- sArangA - GNG
3 minutes of swaram

8A. evari mAta (R N S T) - kAmbOdhi - T
13 mins alApanai, 9 mins violin , 5 mins each for swaram and neraval in "bhaktha parAdhi"
8B. tani for 10 mins

9A . viruththam
AdiyA pAdanai niNra - mAyamAlavagowlai + sahAnA + hamsAnandi (same starting lines for the 3 ragas)
+ koodiya karamum - sindhubhairavi -??
9B. idhuvO thiLLai chidambaram kshetram - sindhubhairavi - GKB
10. araviNda pada malar - kApi -AK
11. pavamAnA

This is my first concert of Smt Lakshmi, it was a mixed bag concert for me .

Pluses of the concert:
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Lakshmi does have a good feel of lyrics and shines quite well with few peaks of excellence in more sowkhyam type of songs . The first bahudAri was one of the best numbers of GNB as a vaggeyakkara, she sang it very good.

PaNtuvarAli alAapana is usually modelled in two ways ,one that has a lot of chiseled peaks that leads to the famous T and ST krithis, the other a more gentle slope modelled typically towards dikshitar's rAmanAtham bhajEham, the paNtuvarAli alApanai itself gave a clear clue that MD's krithi would come. She sang quite well the entire pantuvarAli

The viruththam was the best number it was an emotively sung , all 4 rAgas had a clear emotive home run and it was excellent.The ending with a rare GKB krithi was nice too, though at anupallavi she lost a little bit of pitch. aravinda padamalar and semmangudi are synonymous to me, she sang it tad slowly the kApi was not piping hot but still warm enough to be enjoyed

Minuses of the Concert:
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Tempo tempo tempo,the kuntalavarAli had the same tempo as the next chakravAkham , her swaras were not exciting and also it took me a long time to get the chakravAkham.SArangA was also not that great , one could see the audience reaction also to the same kind of dwindling in enthusiasm all perhaps because of tempo tempo tempo being almost same for 3 consecutive numbers.

GNB's evari mAta in kAmbodhi is his speciality, I expected her take more moving away from the sowkhyam - madhyamaKAla zone to easily touch upper octaves (this being KambOdhi and dedicated to GNB). The alApanai of KAmbOdhi was quite good(infact that has to go to plus of the concert), but she lost a lot of voice strength in the krithi, neraval was kind of building up and fizzled out, swaras of main never got build up as it always fizzled out.

About the accompanist:
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All 3 accompanist were exactly in between plus and minus, in the sense they neither lifted the concert nor dropped the quality. Possibly percussion department were constrained to bring more dynamism because of fairly even tempo of Lakshmi. The violinist proportion was slightly long possibly it was planned that way. Unfortunately i was not very attentive during tani so cannot pass judgement there.

Overall just a good concert.Being a fairly near prime slot (Friday evening), I did not have a great first impression of Smt Lakshmi, perhaps I may have better luck next time.

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 14 Aug 2009, 11:56

Please read the review of the above concert by SVK.

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/08/14/stor ... 460200.htm

I must admit that he has given excellent coverage for the Laya Aspect by giving side heading and also writing 1 1/2 para about the rhythmic departement which we all need to acknowledge.

J.Balaji

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 14 Aug 2009, 13:22

rajeshnat wrote:
Lakshmi was accompanied by Dr Hemalatha - violin, mannArkoil mridhangam - mrudhangam and rAjArAm??(I am not sure of his name, someone next to me told that he is shri vikkuvinayakaram's grandson (daughters son) ) - ghatam

balaji,
N. Rajaratnam is the ghatam artist . Is he the maternal grandson of vikku

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 14 Aug 2009, 14:07

Or 'is Vikku Vinayakram the maternal grandfather of N.Rajaratnam'?-

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 14 Aug 2009, 17:00

punarvasu
I just googled maternal grandson , I see lot of references . I am assuming you can call maternal grandson too.

dundubi1944 · Post by **dundubi1944** » 15 Aug 2009, 13:15

mridhangam wrote:Please read the review of the above concert by SVK.

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/08/14/stor ... 460200.htm

I must admit that he has given excellent coverage for the Laya Aspect by giving side heading and also writing 1 1/2 para about the rhythmic departement which we all need to acknowledge.

J.Balaji

there is no need for all of us to acknowledge svk review as gospel truth. most of his reviews do not even prove if he really listened to the concert. he only write nonsense and does not even notice obvious sruti lapse. maybe he leaves his earpieces at home. he is a failed singer i heard not even clearing radio beginner grade so in frustration he lasshes at talents like jaisree, nityasree, krishna and talks about second rung singers like they aer next incarnation of ms, mlv, dkp, srinivasier etc
just read his reviews over the years see who he trashes who he praises. pattern is very clear. singers he hates sing very well
my comment is about svk not about this concert which i did not attend.

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 15 Aug 2009, 13:30

Dundubi, was your comment really necessary?

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 15 Aug 2009, 13:49

I can understand Dundubi's frustration with the chronic attitude displayed by some of our leading critics, svk included. His review of the Ranjani Gayathri concert from last week omitted the entire post main portion of the concert which included an awesome Mohana-Ranjani RTP.

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 15 Aug 2009, 14:00

Sure, and lashing out at Balaji's post helps how? In this specific instance I mean. He should take his anger out on SVK himself if it upsets him so much. I never liked any of SVK's reviews, too superfluous, too much hyperbole, which is why I don't read them, but Balaji was pointing out a specific aspect of one review. So what is dundubi trying to say? That Balaji does not play as well? Or that if SVK praises a musician he/she is automatically awful?

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 15 Aug 2009, 14:13

rajeshnat,
I did not know that;thanks for the references.