Smt Sowmya @ Shanmukhananda, Mumbai on 12th Sep 2009

venkatr · Post by **venkatr** » 13 Sep 2009, 00:11

The concert started at 7 pm after the speeches and Prize distribution were over.

Smt Sowmya was accompanied by Embar Kannan on violin, Poongulam Subramaniam on mridangam and Dr Karthik on ghatam. I did not note down the renditions but am just listing it from my memory .

Kamalakshi Ninne - Yadukulakambodhi Varnam - Ata - Tiruvotriyur Thyaggaiyar
Nada Sudha Rasa - Aarabhi - Adi - T S
Evasudha - Sahana - Adi - T R,S
Slokam from Tiruarutpa by Ramalinga Adigal followed by Azhwar Pasuram (don't remember the lyrics)
Aadi Kondar - Mayamalavagowla - Rupakam - Muthutandavar
Gana Amudha Panam - Jyothiswarupini - Misra Chapu - Koteeswara Iyer R, S
Akhilandeshwari - Dwijavanti - Adi - MD
RTP - Karaharapriya - Adi (2 kalai) Pallavi : Tarunendu shekara hara priye lalithe pahi (RGM in Ranjani, Mohanam, Behag, Surutti)
Thani
Nanda Nandana - Desh Bhajan - Lalitha Dasar
Thillana - Purnachandrika?
Mangalam

It was a fantastic concert lasting almost 3 hours. Her alapana of Sahana, Jyotiswarupini and Karaharapriya were quite extensive traversing the 3 octaves. Karaharapriya was awesome. Thanam was sung in 3 speeds, anulomam & pratilomam were sung for the pallavi which lasted for over 1 hour - a truly traditional rendition. First time I have heard a Jyotiswarupini alapana in a live concert and it was sung as sub-main with good display of brighas. She did not sing neraval in any krithi

The accompanists gave her excellent support throughout the concert.

An excellent concert - raga alapana of karaharapriya is still ringing in my ears. Even the Krithi choice was excellent - perhaps a little weighty on tamil krithis.

Before the concert there was prize distribution for the music competition organised by the sabha for students - What stood out during the speech was the fact that there were not enough takers / entries for the competition - Some prizes were not given due to lack of entries. Smt Sowmya spoke about the importance of encouraging children to participate in competition, attend and listen as many concerts as possible so that they could learn She mentioned that competition offer an opportunity for students to correct / improve their renditions from experts (who are judges) without having to seek appointment for interaction. She also narrated that the lack of entries is even plaguing the music academy competitions . In recent years the organisers have been forced to mention "Atleast 2 krithis of a particular composer" (she emphasised the word atleast) as against the requirement of minimum 10 krithis of a composer earlier for composer based competitions. She mentioned that even in Music Academy many endownments are not given due to lack of adequate entries.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 13 Sep 2009, 07:12

Thanks for the report, venkatr. Looks to have been a treat, although a couple of neravals might have been appropriate, especially since Sowmya sings them very well. I have never heard of this jyOtiswarUpini composition before...

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 13 Sep 2009, 08:04

thanks, Venkatr. Sounds like a phenomenal concert.
Small correction:The Koteeswara Iyer song is Gana amudha pAnam (drink of musical nectar) not bAnam (arrow as in ramar vitta bAnam).

venkatr · Post by **venkatr** » 13 Sep 2009, 08:09

Thanks Mahavishnu - Corrected

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 13 Sep 2009, 08:11

Bilahari,
gAnAmuda pAnam in jOti svarUpiNi was the one rare mELakartA rAgam I have heard in concerts when I was little girl. Go back a very long time! I liked it very much and did not think it was way too exotic then

Was it MS who sang it? Can't recollect.
Sanjay sang it in his concerts several years ago. Then of course, he picks up new ones to sing, though I heard him sing it in one of his concerts, not long ago.

gmohan · Post by **gmohan** » 13 Sep 2009, 09:07

NIce concert sung at a relaxed pace. Indeed karaharapriya alapana was very good.

Here is a link to gAnAmuda pAnam by MMI. I also have a rendition by Dr S.Ramanathan but cant find it right now.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/2md2nztmtyy

Mohan

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 13 Sep 2009, 09:54

gmohan,
Thank you. It was MMI that many years ago, and I had forgotten! What inimai (sweetness) and pep!
Mmm...kharaharapriya main (sorry, RTP) it was! She really must have been impressive.
You happened to be in Bombay that day and so could hear her, I presume.

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 13 Sep 2009, 10:05

MMI'S GANAMUDHA Panam rendering in Tamil Isai Sangam which lasted less than 5 minutes was desribed as THE PERFECT RENDITION that had everything by S.Rajam who himself is the ultimate expert on Koteeeswara Iyer's compositions. MMI'S particular rendering is haunting to say the least& I listen to it once every two days at least.....VKV

venkatr · Post by **venkatr** » 13 Sep 2009, 10:13

VKV Sir,

Very aptly said . Yes indeed it is the best rendition.

tyagarajadasa · Post by **tyagarajadasa** » 13 Sep 2009, 12:59

venkatr,
I think Smt. Sowmya sang a brief neraval for the pallavi. Personally I think if she had not dragged the jyotiswaroopini alapana for so long, we could have got more neraval and perhaps a padam too! Some small observations:
1. Kharaharapriya Kalpana Swaras were awesome. Swarams for each raga blended very well with each other.

2. Kalapramanam of the thodi piece was divine

3. The pallavi line was so intelligent! If one were to incorporate the word "Kharaharapriya", one would simply set it on lord Rama or something that is "pleasing" to Lord Rama (who is the slayer of the demon named Kharan) but this line was on ambAL! How intelligently ambAL is described as " the one dear to shekhara who is also hara!" Kudos to Sowmya's intellect!

4. When Sowmya sang "AsacE ara nimiSamu"- the first line of the caraNam of I vasudhA, she purposely stressed on the word "ara" ("half") and smiled as she sang it half past the beat! I realised that she was singing the word "half" at half past the beat (i.e. 2 talli) only when she sang it again with more emphasis!

All in all, a fantastic concert. I attended the kutcheri inspite of having an examination in the morning today, but it was worth it!

P.S.: I was humming sahana throughout the exam!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 13 Sep 2009, 17:17

Great!
One of the youths who is the opposite of those who shun CM! And a sensitive one too. Hope Sowmya's sahAna effect carried you through the exam without having to think even ara nimishamu on your subject.
Yes, good music inspires.

music_is_life · Post by **music_is_life** » 13 Sep 2009, 20:57

Thanks, Mohan for the link to MMI. As arasi says, there is sweetness in voice and pep. Another version of this I particularly enjoyed listening was Sanjay Subramaniam's in a Commercial CD. He sings in a slow tempo.

arunsri · Post by **arunsri** » 14 Sep 2009, 15:16

A few minor corrections:

nAdasudhArasam is in rUpaka tALam.

ADikonDAr IIRC is in Adi tALam

the tiruarutpA went as 'kArAya vaNNa maNi vaNNa kaNNA ...' and the pAsuram of periAzhwAr was 'yennai varugavenna' - set in tODi and Adi - 2 kaLai - a majestic rendition by Smt. Sowmya.

Prior to Thillana in pUrnachandrikA, she sang a kAvaDi chindu.

The pallavi structure was:

hara priyE - 7
lalithE - 4
pA - 3
hi - 7 (arudi)
taruNEndu - 6
shE - 3
khara - 2

the word khara occuring in the samam of a 2 kaLai Adi talam cyclewith 32 aksharams. I do not think pratilOmam was done.

One minor let down - no kriti had vilamba kala swaras, even the pallavi had only 2 rounds of slow speed swaras. But again - all this depends on the manodharma of the artiste on a given day.

All in all a very nice concert by her. Thanks for the Ata Tala varnam.

anandabhairavi · Post by **anandabhairavi** » 14 Sep 2009, 21:44

Well I have heard Gurucharan and Prasanna venkatraman singing Gana amuda paanam in concerts.So it is not a forgotton song.Youngsters do sing!!

Ahiri · Post by **Ahiri** » 22 Sep 2009, 18:13

@ P.S.: I was humming sahana throughout the exam! ...

That is really sweet.

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 24 Sep 2009, 10:26

vkv43034 wrote:MMI'S GANAMUDHA Panam rendering in Tamil Isai Sangam which lasted less than 5 minutes was desribed as THE PERFECT RENDITION that had everything by S.Rajam who himself is the ultimate expert on Koteeeswara Iyer's compositions. MMI'S particular rendering is haunting to say the least& I listen to it once every two days at least.....VKV

Apaprt from so many songs of what is available from MMI, the best in terms of "voice and youthfullness" is the
Parimala Rangapathe - Kambhoji running for 6.2 minutes. This seems a very early recording of him. It is available on
http://sangeethamshare.org/ksj/Madurai- ... mbhoji.wma.
I went to this directory and picked the other songs thinking that they were all rendered on the same concert
and it doesnot look like. Anyone has early recording of MMI's concerts (not the 3-4 minutes songs on LP).

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 24 Sep 2009, 10:59

The earliest recording of MMI I have seems to be from 1957... but I think you're referring to his concerts in the 40s and 30s, rajaglan? Isn't the Nangavaram concert where he sings that gorgeous manavyAla supposedly from that period?

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 24 Sep 2009, 16:28

bilahari wrote:The earliest recording of MMI I have seems to be from 1957... but I think you're referring to his concerts in the 40s and 30s, rajaglan? Isn't the Nangavaram concert where he sings that gorgeous manavyAla supposedly from that period?

I donot know the timeframe. But it is definitely pre-1955.
There is one concert where he sings angaragam, manasunilpa.. with a lady announcing the song. Even in that his voice is youthful. I am not sure this is which year .

The parimale rangapathe must be 10 years before where probably mics were
not there, because he seems to have high volume quality sounding atimes like a girls voice. And small ragaalapana indicate, it is taken from a LP record. But again I am not sure.

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 24 Sep 2009, 21:22

rajaglan wrote:
vkv43034 wrote:MMI'S GANAMUDHA Panam rendering in Tamil Isai Sangam which lasted less than 5 minutes was desribed as THE PERFECT RENDITION that had everything by S.Rajam who himself is the ultimate expert on Koteeeswara Iyer's compositions. MMI'S particular rendering is haunting to say the least& I listen to it once every two days at least.....VKV

Apaprt from so many songs of what is available from MMI, the best in terms of "voice and youthfullness" is the
Parimala Rangapathe - Kambhoji running for 6.2 minutes. This seems a very early recording of him. It is available on
http://sangeethamshare.org/ksj/Madurai- ... mbhoji.wma.
I went to this directory and picked the other songs thinking that they were all rendered on the same concert
and it doesnot look like. Anyone has early recording of MMI's concerts (not the 3-4 minutes songs on LP).

Dear rajaglan,
I am collecting in my hard disc ALL the MMI Concerts I have been collecting for ever with the idea of sharing them on a NON-COMMERCIAL basis with any one interested. I will be in Chennai dec 5-mar 1. Where do you live? You can write me at [email protected] VKV