Unnikrishnan in Singapore 100709 (Belated review)

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 14 Aug 2009, 06:29

Violin : RK Sriramkumar
Mridangam: K V Prasad
Ghatam: AS Shankar

This concert was to celebrate Alapana Arts' 10th Anniversary. Warning: If Unnikrishnan is your favourite artiste, you might want to not read my review.

Songlist:
Vadera Daivamu - Panthuvarali (Alapana sketch, Neraval, swaras)
Sadaananda Thandavam - Bahudari (Alapana, Swaras)
Piravavaram - Lathangi (Alapana, swaras)
Intha Soukyamani ne - Kaapi (Alapana, Swaras)
Thaniavarthanam
Sabesan sevadi - Saveri (Swaras)
Venkatachalanilayam - Sindhubhairavi
Manasa sanchara re - Saama
Sri chakraraja simhasaneswari - Ragamalika (Senjurutti, Nadanamakriya, Sindhubhairavi)
Nadanai nambumbodare - Ragamalika (each line a different raga)
Kaavadichindu (villinai otta puruvamazhai tannai)
Thillana - Chandrajyothi
Thandanana - Bowli

Unnikrishnan has always been a hit and miss musician in my view. I remember a spectacular concert in Chennai (my first music season concert) at Mylapore with an inspired rendition of Purvikalyani (Satre Vilagi) and Sankarabharanam (Dikshithar's magnificent Akshaya Linga), but his subsequent concert in Singapore two years ago was somewhat disappointing but still somehwat decent(read my review here: http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... epost.html ). This concert was the worst of the three.

This concert was the perfect proof that planning is critical to the success of the concert. None of the pieces were badly sung per se, but the very choices all but ensured that this concert will be a mediocre one. There was no talam variety as all the pieces that mattered were in Adi talam. Taking up Panthuvarali and Lathangi in such quick succession was also a bad move. To top it all off, taking up Kaapi as the main item for a full 70 minutes all but ensured that this concert was just too long for the kind of pieces that were sung. Had the same pieces been sung in a one hour free affair it might have worked but to actually sing it as a full 2 1/2 hour concert was a bad move. It seemed simply like another case of "ivaalukku ivlavu porum". If you wanted to hear a banal, ho hum concert with no real substance in it, you would have loved this concert.

The concert started with a short alapana in Panthuvarali, which was rather lacklustre and it seemed more like an attempt to get his voice in form than attempt a real alapana. After about 2 minutes he took up Vadera Daivamu of Thyagaraja. The krithi was rendered well, and the neraval was above average. The neraval was in Dhatru vinudaina, followed by swaraprastara. This was easily the highlight of the piece and maybe even the concert as the swaras were brisk, and ended fluidly with the line "Dhatru.." (GRGMP,). 6/10

Following the Panthuvarali was the second alapana for the evening, in Bahudari. By this time his voice was in perfect timbre and he gave a good account of himself in this alapana. The violin rendition was okay as well. He took up Acchutadasar's Sadananda Tandavam. The rendition was not bad, and the swaras were quite impressive too. His laya control seems to have improved somewhat. 7/10

Oddly enough he then took up an elaborate alapana of Lathangi, which was surprising as it is not common practice to sing both Panthuvarali and Lathangi in the same concert so close to each other. Had he sung a couple of major ragas before taking up Lathangi it would have made sense but singing two very similar ragas so close to each other was not the best decision on his part. Furthermore, both these ragas were separated by a light raga like Bahudari. Not a good choice of raga. Anyway, the alapana started off again rather poorly, with too many stops and starts, and here I want to reiterate a major problem with Unnikrishnan's alapana singing. He utters too many syllables which makes his alapana rendering rather irritating to hear. (Kind of like a bad mixing of MMI and S Ramanathan; let the flame wars begin!). Within a 10 second line of alapana there are at least five to six "na na na"'s. This made the first half of his Lathangi rendition quite bad, but the second half was much better, with long kaarvais and brisk brighas. The violin rendition was good as well. The krithi was Pirava varam, well sung but nothing great. Standard swara patterns followed. (5.5/10)

The main item of the evening was Kaapi with Intha Soukyamani ne (is there any other major krithi in this ragam apart from this one?) Unnikrishnan's alapana went for a full 16 minutes, way beyond what this raga has to offer to a Carnatic singer. I have said this before and I say this again, ragas like Kaapi, Abheri, Behaug etc are the main item refuge of the lazy artiste. Unnikrishnan's rendition upto this point was hardly anything to write home about and he should have chosen a major raga for elaboration (like a Kambhoji or Bhairavi or even Begada). After about eight minutes of listless wandering around the middle octaves with the same old kapi phrases and the oft repeated 'na-na-na"'s, he kicked it up a notch and actually sang quite a decent raga alapana, but by this point, the concert had already taken on the feel of a Thengai moodi concert and it was too little too late. The violinist's kapi was actually pretty good because a> it was short and succinct (4 minutes) and b> He used long kaarvais in the first half and rather sweet prayogas for the brighas later. Intha soukyamani ne - Heard it gazillion times, let's move on. Good swara exercise but again, have heard better. Thaniavarthanam was a good 15 minutes as well. Both the artistes did well but by this time I had stopped really paying attention to the thaniavarthanam which again, my brother found more interesting than I did. (3.5/10).

The next piece was a short saveri piece Sabhesan Sevadi of S Ramanathan. This was actually sung really well and a short swara prastara was sung for this, making me think there was going to be an RTP, but fortunately there wasn't. It was already late and I rather not hear an RTP than hear a 20 minute hatchet job of one. Note to singers: The RTP is a highlight of a concert, not an afterthought, but I digress. (7/10)

It was followed by a few tukkadas (again pretty standard fare), and a surprisingly good rendition of the kaavadichindu. The concluding pieces were a Thillana in Chandrajothi and the always annoying bhajanagoshti piece of Annamacharya, just to reinforce the feeling that this was just a really long thengai moodi concert. Thankfully it ended at this point.

Overall: about 5.5/10, but since the ticket was $25, I shall give it only 4. This concert was good at points, and there was nothing really bad about the rendition but it lacked anything of real substance. The pieces chosen were quite simple, and the rendition was about average. Almost all the renditions were in Adi Talam, with no tala variety at all. Also, the choice of Panthuvarali and Lathangi for elaboration was rather puzzling. Some less commonly heard pieces were sung (the Saveri piece and the Kaavadi chindu), but overall, a mediocre to poor concert. If the only highlights are a swara prastara on the first krithi and two thukkadas, you are not going to get a decent concert.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 14 Aug 2009, 09:09

bala,
I am assuming he sang a neraval in kApi in the line "swara rAga laya" . Or is it just one neraval at the beginning of pantuvarAli. Apart from pantuvarALi -lathangi sequence, the tail of post tani is appearing too long which is typical unnikrishnans style.

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 14 Aug 2009, 09:10

Nope. No neraval whatsoever. The only neraval was in Panthuvarali in "Dhatru vindaina" of Vadera Daivamu.

Incidentally, is there anyone who has sung a neraval for Intha Soukyamani? I have always heard this krithi rendered with swaras in the pallavi, no neraval.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 14 Aug 2009, 10:08

Bala!! Have you not heard KVN's brilliant neravals in swara rAga laya in the same krithi? I will upload one shortly.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 14 Aug 2009, 10:18

http://www.sendspace.com/file/t1rkza
This might change your mind about kApi being a light ragam.
KVN - Kovai Bala - Guruvayur Dorai

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 14 Aug 2009, 10:26

I was thinking of KVN too.
Thanks for the review Bala.

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 14 Aug 2009, 10:28

I have heard wonderful kapi and intasowkya with neraval & swaras by "vidhyarthi" NSG sir long ago.

-hari

perarulalan · Post by **perarulalan** » 14 Aug 2009, 10:39

Atleast the past 4 or 5 concerts, Unnikrishnan had been singing vAdera as the first kriti.. In fact he had followed it up with mAyamalavagowLa kriti in the previous occasions.. either with Tulasi daLa or mayathIrtha.. !!!

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 14 Aug 2009, 10:51

Bilahari thanks! I'll listen to it later but just a note: Artistes like KVN or MDR can make any ragam appear weighty, so I don't know if their renditions can be used as examples. Unnikrishnan may be a good singer but he is no KVN. I have heard MDR deliver a spellbinding Kaapi followed by the probably the best rendition of Anyayamu seyakura I have heard. Ditto, KVN and Chintamani (Devi Brova). When today's artistes sing like that on a regular basis I might accept the idea that kaapi is not a light raga, but till then I will stick to my view.

My point was that ragas like Kapi, Behag and Abheri almost always end up sounding the same regardless of who's singing it and they all pretty much have a limited number of sangathis that carnatic singers always sing. A light raga is one whose essence can be captured almost immediately, and Kaapi (sung by Carnatic musicians) is such a raga. And besides would it really have hurt him to use that time to sing a Kambhoji or Bhairavi? He obviously picked this set because it was easy to sing and the conventional wisdom appears to be that Singaporean audiences do not know much music so light pieces like Lathangi and Kaapi are sufficient for our tiny brains.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 14 Aug 2009, 11:12

Not sure about ragas like Kapi being easy to sing. Professional artistes sing so often that ragas like Bhairavi, Thodi don't become overly difficult for them. In fact, since there is so much scope in these ragas and so many compositions in them (there is a lot of precedent) it may be easier to conceive phrases to sing. Incidently, a few years ago in Sydney on Mothers' day Unnikrishnan sang a detailed Bhairavi followed by Janani mamava.

In ragas like Kapi, there is not much precedent of other artistes singing detailed alapanas (and, if what you say there is less scope of elaboration) it would be harder to sing such ragas

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 14 Aug 2009, 11:17

On a side note, I think artistes get quite influenced by the organisers and the few rasikas they meet before a concert. The artiste may meet a few rasikas/organsiers who request some common thukadas or 'lighter ragas' - then the artiste gets the perception that this is the type of music that this city enjoys. Not sure if this is the case in Singapore but I notice in Australia, the content of concerts varies depending on the host organisation.

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 14 Aug 2009, 12:15

Hi,

Kaapi is sung by Sanjay as main in bangalore two weeks back. But I guess he had a purvikalyani and sankarabaranm alapana before that.
Sanjay planned a RTP.

Unni might have skipped neraval in Kaapi as he had a long alapana in that. But I assume artist donot take audience lightly nowadays.
Actually I would have liked Unni sing Kaapi rather than any major raga as main. I find his MMG, Chandrajyothi, vasanthabairavi, bilahari
more interesting .

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 16 Aug 2009, 03:22

Almost all the renditions were in Adi Talam, with no tala variety at all.

This made me think a bit. In CM, thala is not the predominant provider of laya variations. It is actually Nadai that carries that variation. Here I mean Nadai in a general sense which also includes speed variations ( and not tempo ). In that generic sense, I would include kanda chapu and misra chapu as providing for laya variations as well. Adi and Rupaka in chatusra nadai are different indeed but does not add too much to the perceivable laya texture as much as variations in nadai.

Also, some songs employ diverse laya patterns even with in Adi thala, chatusra nadai framework.

Stated another way,

Just because there were several non-chapu thalas that does not mean there is laya variety, they may all be simply be the same or similar patterns overlaid on top of different beat counts.
Just because there were only adi thala songs, it does not necessarily mean lack of laya variety. Those 8*4 can be combined in various different ways to form various laya patterns thus providing for variety. If you analyze trinity's songs from a laya point of view, the various Adi thala songs can be categorized in to several groups by the various common laya patterns that are employed and the overall laya plan.

If you buy into all this, how does his choice of songs fare?

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 16 Aug 2009, 21:33

bala747 wrote:Nope. No neraval whatsoever. The only neraval was in Panthuvarali in "Dhatru vindaina" of Vadera Daivamu.

Incidentally, is there anyone who has sung a neraval for Intha Soukyamani? I have always heard this krithi rendered with swaras in the pallavi, no neraval.

Bala apart from KVN , I think TNS has also sung . There is one sung by suryaprakash with the neraval in the swara raga laya, look at this post
http://rasikas.org/forums/post119131.html#p119131 with a link to the concert . neraval is excellent , perhaps little less layam of Tvr Bhakthavatsalam would have been better.

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 17 Aug 2009, 09:22

An Old Foggie's memories: Vadera Deivamu was always brilliantly rendered by T.K.Rangachary & when I praised him he asked me to listen to the rendering of Srirangam Iyengar ( with LGJ& PMI). Ever since I have a difficult time listening to anyone other than these two & Ramanuja Iyengar.....Similarly MMI has sung Intha Sowkya (kapi) as main piece in many concerts. Both Prof. S.Ramanathan & KVN whose renderings I PLACE AT A VERY HIGH LEVEL explained to me the inspiration they derived from MMI'S rendering! MMI told me his inspiration was Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar! Of course MDR had his own UNIQUE take too.....I guess once the brain cells are occupied & imprinted its hard to replace the experiences.....VKV

kadambam · Post by **kadambam** » 19 Aug 2009, 01:32

VKV Sir,

It's like, once you travel in Business Class, you tend to look down on Economy!!!

kmrasika · Post by **kmrasika** » 22 Aug 2009, 07:42

Whose composition is the tillAnA in candrajyOti?

saianamika · Post by **saianamika** » 22 Aug 2009, 08:06

The thillana Unnikrishnan is a composition of his guru Calcutta Sri K S Krishnamurthi