Jayaraj & Jayasri veenai concert - 10 Oct 09 - Bangalore

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 10 Oct 2009, 22:13

Vidwan J.T.Jayaraj Krishnan & Vidushi Jayasri Jayaraj krishnan - veenai duet
Vidwan Trichur Narendran - Mridangam
Vidwan Karthik Mani - Ghatam

Venue - Purandara Bhavana, Indira Nagar Sangeetha Sabha
10 Oct 2009, 6.30pm

1. sarasuda (varnam) - saveri - adi - kottavasal venkatarama iyer (O)
2. vatapi ganapathim - hamsadhwari - adi - muthuswami dikshitar (R, S @ vatapi ganapathim)
3. diwakara tanujam - yadukulakambodhi - chatusra ekam - muthuswami dikshitar (R)
4. meLLa meLLanE bandanE, gOpammA kELE - mohanam - adi? - purandara dasa (R, S @ pallavi line)
5. sarasa samadana - kapi narayani - adi - thyagaraja
6. ninne nammidinayya - simhendra madhyamam - misra chapu - mysore vasudevacharya(R,T,N&S at pannagendra sayana & Tani avarthanam)
ragamalika taanam - sahana, dhanyasi, behag, brindavana saranga
7. jagadodharana - kapi - purandaradasi
8. thillana - hamsanandi - harikesanallur muthaiah bhagavathar
9. pavamana - sowrastram - thyagaraja
10. madhyamavathi - sketch

Awsome concert for about 2-1/2 hours. Details follows.

-hari

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 10 Oct 2009, 22:39

The concert started about 20,25 minutes late from scheduled 6pm start. The crowed was very thin, might be 30 to 40 during peak. Certainly for this concert deserved a better attendance. I am attending a veenai concert after a long long time, after having missed kalpagam mami's performance in bangalore few months ago. The start was very good, with Jayaraj doing a sketch of saveri, playing varnam in two speeds for pallavi and anupallavi in unhurried way. Jayasri played a nice alapana of hamsadhwani, a very detailed one. The expectation for rest of the concert was set during this time - alapana had lot of vishranti, and keerthana in a unhurried kalapramanam. The swaras were also built up in a neat way with few 1/2 avarthana, one avarthana swaras, and then building up further, with duo sharing the exercise. Both of them played a swara korvai to end swara kalpana. Being a saturday, vara kruti of muthuswami dikshitar was taken up. Jayasri did yadukulakambhodi alapana, was thorough, but captured important sangathis very well. While playing keerthana, Jayasri sang the lines first, and then played in veenai, giving right importance to sahitya. Mohanam alapana was done for about 10 minutes by Jayaraj and was very detailed one, building the raga step by step, and with pauses in panchamam, gandharam, shadjam etc. They chose a rare purandara dasa keerthana, which i haven't heard before. Before main, kapi narayani keerthana of thyagaraja was a filler, but wasn't treated exactly like a filler which many of us are used to in instrumental concerts - in a comfortable kalapramanam. Simhendra madhyamam was main, and raga was for 10 minutes - done by jayasri, and thanam was for equal duration, shared by the duo. Jayaraj launched into ragamalika thanam, starting sahana, jayasri following up with danyasi, and then behag and brindavana saranga. Of these four ragamalika thanam, i liked behag thanam a lot, and it was well appreciated by the audience also. Neraval was very brief, for few rounds, and both duo shared swaras in two speeds with jayasri ending with a korvai. Tani avarthanam was also enjoyable with some nice patterns played in narendran sir, and karthik mani, and for about 15 to 20 minutes. The concert concluded with jagadodharana, thillana in hamsanandi and mangalam.

In summary it was an excellent concert. Among the meager audience were forumites keerthi, cienu and his daughter.

Some pictures..

-hari

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 10 Oct 2009, 23:41

Great review of what appears to have been a great concert - thanks, Hari!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 11 Oct 2009, 02:43

Thanks, Hari. Wish more sabha members had attended to hear J&J whose music is very special. You speak of viSrAnti and I think it is their hallmark.
Glad to hear that Cienu, Aishwarya and Keerthi were there. Your son Easwar would have accompanied you.
Sappri might have been there too with her daughter. If so, please add your comments Sappri!
I hope there was at least one organizer from some other part of the city. This might mean J&J will be heard by other rasikAs too who might have found Indra Nagar difficult to get to.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 11 Oct 2009, 03:44

I think the mOhanam composition should be meLLa meLLanE bandanE, gOpammA kELE...

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 11 Oct 2009, 06:46

arasi - i don't think i saw sappri; hope keerthi and cienu will add their comments.
ravi - i will edit the posting, i got the lines wrong. Jaysri announced the composition name also.

I forgot to write about Narendran sir's playing. He played great, and there was no noise, or banging (which is quite common these days) what so ever. There was good nadam, and playing was very much enjoyable, ably supported by an youngster on mridangam.

Looking forward to hear more veenajj concerts in this season.

-hari

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 11 Oct 2009, 06:49

ranjanimalavi · Post by **ranjanimalavi** » 11 Oct 2009, 07:19

I was nice concert, I was reluctant to leave after the 5th item as my daughters became restless.
If they had started on time I could have listened for some more time.
There were hardly anybody in the beginning of the concert.
It was good to hear a veena concert after long time.

Raman

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 11 Oct 2009, 07:22

Raman - are you the one sitting in the 5th row, with two girls apparently below 10? As one elderly lady walked in, she indicated that kids below 10 aren't allowed inside, and then you moved behind?

-hari

ranjanimalavi · Post by **ranjanimalavi** » 11 Oct 2009, 07:27

It was me with my daughters ranjani and malavi.
Since my wife was out of town, I had no choice but to bring them me.
Otherwise I always come alone.

Raman

sappri · Post by **sappri** » 11 Oct 2009, 10:47

Unfortunately had to miss it bcoz of a domestic crisis

- (and I happen to be an ISS member too and Ms.Arasi had mentioned about this concert to me atleast a couple of weeks ago, apart from the sabha-notification that we receive

)
Hari - while ISS is a great venue, it's inability to attract crowds is known - many artistes have felt demotivated by this - the Tier I artistes would attract 50% or less of the crowd they normally attract elsewhere in Bangalore - unfortunate!

Radhika-Rajnarayan · Post by **Radhika-Rajnarayan** » 11 Oct 2009, 10:52

The meager attendance could have been PARTLY due to the KILLING traffic yesterday (Deepavali shopping on a weekend, maybe). I was a victim. I was SO looking forward to this concert, had an important meeting which went on till past 7. I thought I could still make it from Jayanagar to Indira Nagar, but when I came out of the office, the whole road was jammed with vehicles. I knew then thart it was a lost cause. It took me 40 mins to reach my home ( a 3 km distance).
Another reason could be that most schools are closed for the mid term vacations and many families have gone out of town.
If anyone has recorded it and could upload parts of it, please?

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 11 Oct 2009, 19:48

s_hari wrote:As one elderly lady walked in, she indicated that kids below 10 aren't allowed inside

How insufferably rude!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 11 Oct 2009, 21:27

Agreed.

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 11 Oct 2009, 21:47

No - actually, they have put a notice that children below 10 are not allowed inside the auditorium. This lady was only reiterating that. They are not very strict though, as i have taken my son couple of times before.

-hari

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 11 Oct 2009, 21:52

After suffering through the loud crying and whining of a child last evening, I'm inclined to agree with these organizers! But then there are also many children who behave themselves, so I'm being too harsh. And your son seems to like CM, Hari!

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 12 Oct 2009, 06:13

s_hari wrote:No - actually, they have put a notice that children below 10 are not allowed inside the auditorium. This lady was only reiterating that.

Isn't it illegal to discriminate on the basis of age?

It's one thing to say that anyone making a noise will be asked to leave (and that should apply to adults as well as children).

As bilahari points out, there are many children who behave themselves; and I would add that there are many adults who don't! (Talking, singing along

, making obnoxious noises vaguely related to the talam)...

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 12 Oct 2009, 13:37

This was an excellent concert by the JJ duo. A blemishless concert too if I may add. The alapanai of Mohanam by Jeyaraj and Simhendramadhyanam by Jayashri were of very high order. I particularly enjoyed the Kapinarayani piece and the Hamsanandhi tillana.

rajeevsid · Post by **rajeevsid** » 13 Oct 2009, 10:20

wow.. what a great concert list... Its been a really long time since I heard a Veena concert live.. Very nice review Hari..

keerthi · Post by **keerthi** » 13 Oct 2009, 21:27

It was an excellent concert.. There was something different in their paTantaram of VAtapi gaNapatim, i think in the caraNam.. It was different but good.

While everything was evenly good, for me, jayashri's short but incredible yadukulakambodhi AlApana.. it sounded like the distilled essence of the raga; with no redundant phrases or repetitions; it was to borrow cienu's phrase - blemishless.

They added polish to the hamsAnanandi tillana, and their rendition is probably one of the best I've heard.