Aishwarya Venkataraman @ Music Circle LA on Sept 5, 2009

[appu]

Aishwarya Venkataraman (Violin)
Vinod Venkataraman (Mridangam)
Srinivasan Govindarajan (Moorsing)

I arrived at about 6:00 PM for the 8:00 PM concert. My initial plan was to attend Sri Chandan Kumar's concert at 5:00 PM and then come to this concert. But work related delays and driving in from Santa Barbara prevented that.

The venue Herrick Chapel was breath taking and the acoustics was just phenomenal. The seating arrangement was in the form of a cross with the stage at the point where the cross intersects. The back drop had beautiful floor to ceiling cascading blue windows. The organizers even provided floor seating with pillows etc. for the audience. Here is a link for the auditorium
http://departments.oxy.edu/orsl/about_h ... cture.html

The audience mix was predominantly Caucasian, and Hispanic American. A few African American about 6 to 7 Indian families and me. The organizer a very elderly gentleman named Harihar looked very much caucasian and in his early 80's. Later on I was told by one of the volunteers that he was very much Indian and a Kannadika.

Now to the concert itself. The concert began at 8:00 PM sharp. Harihar introduced the artist and more than once called the moorsing vidwan Narsimhan Govindarajan, only to be corrected by Shri Vinod as they were climbing the dias. In his opening remarks Harihar mentioned that the first half would be one hour long followed by an intermission and the second half would be an hour and a half. I was a little disappointed that the concert was going to loose its flow after intermission. But quite the contrary.

Aishwarya, since I last saw her has grown quite a bit both musically and physically. Here is the song list

1. Gajanananayutham- Chakravakam Ragam (R,K,S)
2. Samanamevaru- Kharaharapriya (K,N,S)
3. Brocheva- Kamas (R,K,S)

Intermission
4. Shanmukhapriya RTP
Tanam in Shanmukhapriya, Kedaragowlai, Mohanam, Sahana, Kaapi and a couple more (cannot remember)
5. Karunil Chuta Kine Samaya Miya- Sindhu Mandhari Ragam
6. Raghupathy Raghava Raja Ram

Concluding remarks.

Total performance time was a little over 2 hours and 10 minutes. Opening piece Gajananayutham was played for about 18 minutes with an elaborate ragam alapanai for almost 8 minutes. The kalpana swarams were about 7 minutes with the kirtnam for about 3 minutes. I noticed that this kirtanam only had 2 paragraphs as opposed to the traditionala pallavi, anupallavi and charanam. Starting from a slow build up in the ragam, Aishu was able to bring the audience to their feet by the end of the kalpana swarams. The swarams were rendered in two speeds with every TNK phrase imaginable.

Samanamevaru in ragam Kharaharapriya was the next piece. I would very much have liked to hear an outline of the ragam. The kirtanam was rendered with neraval at Paluku Paluku. The main piece for the evening was in ragam Kamas. Ragam was rendered very well. The kirtanam however needed more finesse which I guess will come with growth and maturity. The swarams once again were dealt very well. Ragam, Kirtanam and swarams were about 35 minutes. I must mention though the control for sowkyam and speed Aishu is definitely reminiscent of the TNK style. Even the rendering of neraval at Paluku Paluku was crisp and to the point with all the necessary phrasing.

This was followed by a 20 min intermission. Organizers were kind enough to serve coffee, tea and cookies. Here I asked another volunteer for the intermission rationale. The response I got made me think. The human mind is able to stay focussed for about 55 minutes. Every so often when listening or doing work with such intensity the mind needs a break. Now take my case for instance, I drove about 2 hours to get to the venue. By 9:10 PM I was starting to get letargic. The break did me a world of good and rejuvenated me for a post intermission session.

Before I go further a word about the accompanist. Vinod on the mridangam, understood his daughter well and highlighted the concert with correct phrasing etc. The nadam of the mridangam was like a temple bell, in perfect unison. I am listening to the moorsing artist for the first time. He was miked very well and blended well with the artists. My only gripe here is in the brocheva kirtanam. Aishu was developing the kalpana swarams with a lot of silence in between phrasing. The silence was interupted multiple times with the sound of the moorsing. Probably a new artist with considerable scope for growth.

Post break, Aishu began with a RTP in Shanmukhapriya. The RTP with tani avartanam was about an hour and 3 minutes. The ragam alapanai was about 16 minutes, tanam was about 14 minutes. The pallavi with kalpana swarams was about 21 minutes. The build up of the kalpana swarams towards the concluding mathematical pattern had Aishu in trouble wherein the Sa string either broke or came completely out of tune. The mridangist had honed in on the Koruvai and continued playing along with the moorsing. Aishu tried momentarily to adjust her string. Realising that it was futile she jumped right back into the koruvai and finished of the rest of the koruvai and pallavi playing only on the bottom two strings in the mandira stayi. That was some presense of mind

This was followed by the tani avartanam. For the benefit of the audience at the end of the tani, Vinod explained the intricacies of the Math behind the music. He broke down the thisram (called it a 6 against a 4) and the Ghandam (5 against a 4) and did an awesome Konnakol presentation.

The concert concluded with the Sindhu Mandhari piece and the Raghupathy Raghava which was an audience request.

Personal Observations:

There were about 225 to 250 people in attendance The tickets were priced at $20.00 and I walked away feeling I got my money's worth. I must also say that the intermission was actually really helpful as I walked in rejuvenated post break and was able to enjoy the RTP. A hand ful of the audience did leave during intermission. Unlike other Indian concerts I have attended no one was allowed to enter or leave once the artists started performing. Late comers were ushered to the balcony to avoid disturbing the artists. I hope more sabhas would implement this policy. This makes the concert a more enjoyable experience.

[vasanthakokilam]

Excellent review appu. Enjoyed reading it. That concert hall is one of a kind, isn't it? Thanks for posting the link to it. That has to be an unique experience to hear some good CM there.

[appu]

Excellent review appu. Enjoyed reading it. That concert hall is one of a kind, isn't it? Thanks for posting the link to it. That has to be an unique experience to hear some good CM there.

VK, The acoustics and the ambiance was great. Every note on the violin was crystal clear. What I would give to hear a TNK or a MSG or a Lalgudi at this venue. But a lot had to be said of the organizers. They were extremely organized and maintained absolute decorum with very minimal speech.

[rajeshnat]

Aishu was developing the kalpana swarams with a lot of silence in between phrasing. The silence was interupted multiple times with the sound of the moorsing. Probably a new artist with considerable scope for growth.

Appu,
Usually is it not always customary for the morsing artist to play only during gaps . An expressive raga like shanmughapriya would go very well with morsing sound , kudos to aishu for that choice.

[appu]

Rajeshnat, Our music is manodharma sangeetham. I guess what I was trying to say was that the moorsing artist was not in sync with Aishu's manodharmam. Of course his technique was very nice and he complemented the artists all the way through except for a couple of times during the kalpana swarams.

The shanmukhapriya choice was excellent and Aishu did justice to the ragam development.