Flute Shashank, Austin TX, Sunday Oct 4th

kedaram · Post by **kedaram** » 06 Oct 2009, 07:16

This concert had been one that my friend (disciple of Ramani Thiagarajan sir) and I had been looking forward to for a long long time. Concerts in these parts and that too pure carnatic flute concerts are indeed rare. The weekends driving up to the concert were spent listening to umpteen mali recordings followed by our rather amateurish practice sessions in an attempt to copy what he would play!

The performance was indeed brilliant with Shashank showcasing some of his signature technical prowess with high incredibly high speed play, dual octave blowing and use of multiple flutes to capture the entire gamut of sthayi.

HOWEVER, leaving the concert, I felt there was still something to be desired - something indescribable that was lacking. We went home and listened to yet another Mali recording to discover what it was. It turns out that the inconspicuous bamboo flute is in fact a magic paintbrush in disguise. It's highest form is not determined by one's skill at individual strokes of the brush, or the ability to get an exacting shade on the palette, but rather one's ability to weave a never before seen magic spell into a portrait of the goddess kalyani

For throughout the alapana of the raga, I began to wonder why he bothers to switch flutes to a different sthayi, only to play phrases of the same kind as he did with the prev flute???

In terms of musicality then, the only saving grace was that saranga which was brought out beautifully for a good TWENTY minutes.
Not ONE trace of hamir kalyani anywhere. Enough Said.

A note on the violinist, Nishant Chandran. I thought he was brilliant. Accompanying the flute is NOT easy, because of 3 reasons.
a) The speed at which they can play because there is very little physical movement required even for the most dazzling passages. The same can't be said of violin and definitely not veena.
b) Their ability to jump octave in an instant leaves you jumping across strings to catch up. Unless you are MSG, very tough to pull off at high speed without sounding like crap!
c) The 'thu thu thu' blowing technique for lack of a better name allows them to break up a sequence of notes into perfectly individual swaras, a similar treatment on the violin, cutting bow, is lets put it this way - HARD!
This coupled with a player like shashank who probably has the fastest hands in the business had me hanging on the edge of my seat each time he would turn to Nishant and expect him to play a similar immensely fast swara passage. But he played it back really well! Some of his replies in fact caught me by surprise - and it's been a while since that has happened. The last time I heard a REALLY amazing violin accompaniment in a live concert was from B.V. Raghavendra Rao TWO YEARS ago.. (But I have been away from the mylapore circles for a few years. Sigh..) My laya knowledge is just about 0 so I can't comment on the Mridangam player.

Anyhow here's the list.

Sri Shashank Subramaniam - Venu
Sri Nishant Chandran - Violin
Sri Anand Ananthakrishnan - Mridangam

Varnam - Hamsadhwani - Adi
Neevadane Gana - Saranga - Kanda Chapu
Nadaloludai - Kalyana Vasantham - Rupakam
Vara ragalaye - Cenchu Kamboji - Adi
RTP - Kalyani with Ragamalika swarams in abheri + one raga that I couldn't identify because he was playing pure flat notes. and worse coming back to kalyani at completely random times.
On request:
Chinanchiru kiliye - Ragamalika
Bhavayami - Yamuna Kalyani - Adi
Vaishnava Janatho - Khamaj???
Bhogindra Sayinam - Kuntalavarali - Adi
NO MANGALAM - Shashank believes that there are many other beautiful ragas to end the concert on...

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 06 Oct 2009, 09:03

Very interesting review, Kedaram!
You play the flute, you know the flute, I don't. In layam, you may know more but what you say about yourself is true of me.
What struck me was your feeling the same way as I did a few times that I listened to Shashank in recent years.

Rajesh, please take note: Among your other kuchEri level-measuring devices

you could take into account the way a rasikA feels on leaving the hall after a concert as a guage too. Very happy, happy, satisfied, deflated and so on!
I felt the same way as Kedaram did. While some of what Shashank played was so good, like the sAranga he mentioned, his changing the flutes (more than a nAgasvaram vidvAn would change his mouth piece (cIvuLi?) did not help the flow of the concert for me. Oh yes, I liked his concerts well enough to sit through them. However, something was missing (as kedaram says), after I walked out of the concert. I do not remember if he did this in his concerts when he was much younger. I don't think so because his music moved me.
Mali did not need a forum

or the press to bash him--about his non playing moments. He had plenty of critics in those days to frown upon his off-stage and a few on-stage non-musical behavior. Still, even those critics sat there mesmerized when he played. If music can spark divinity or even become indistinguishable from it, then you heard it in Mali's playing many times...

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 06 Oct 2009, 09:20

can't say anything about anand? he's one of my heroes...

can't wait to hear him play for shashank here in LA this sunday!!

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 06 Oct 2009, 09:38

Anand is indeed very good (but then I like Shashank, too, so my opinion doesn't count for much

). I'm particularly excited by this concert recording of Abhishek Raghuram with Akkarai Subhalakshmi and Anand that to me is a great example of how stunning* this generation of young artists is.

*despite what some on this forum say...

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 06 Oct 2009, 10:10

gn.sn,
Your opinions do count

but tastes differ too!
Now, I have heard Abhishek sing to the accompaniment of his cousin Anand (I like his playing a lot). Is he the same as Anand Ananthakrishnan?

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 06 Oct 2009, 10:41

arasi, yes, my understanding is that Anand Ananthakrishnan is the same person as Anantha R Krishnan, and both

are cousins of Abhishek. Tastes do differ, and that's a wonderful thing, but I often find a bash-the-youngsters feel to this forum* ("do not stray from the arbitrary tradition that was established in 1954") and I try to put in an irreverent word now and then.

*Not in this thread, of course. The OP was all praise for Nishant, and he's very young too. And you've generously praised many youngsters elsewhere. And sankirnam is one of this exciting generation.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 06 Oct 2009, 14:11

kedaram wrote: It's highest form is not determined by one's skill at individual strokes of the brush, or the ability to get an exacting shade on the palette, but rather one's ability to weave a never before seen magic spell into a portrait of the goddess kalyani
...
Neevadane Gana - Saranga - Kanda Chapu
....
RTP - Kalyani with Ragamalika swarams in abheri + one raga that I couldn't identify because he was playing pure flat notes. and worse coming back to kalyani at completely random times.

....
Bhavayami - Yamuna Kalyani - Adi

kedaram ,
Was the portrait painted by sArangA(father),kalyAni(mother) and yamuna(daughther)

, I just felt there was kalyAni over dose, possibly you may have felt the same and may be there was too much of overlap .

thathwamasi · Post by **thathwamasi** » 06 Oct 2009, 22:23

@Kedaram - Being a flautist myself, I have felt the same way you felt about Shashank's playing in recent years. I feel he switches flutes of different octaves too many times with reasons beyond my comprehension. This man has had the "nidhanam" of a very matured vidwan right from when he was 10 or 12. And his aesthetic sense while playing the key phrases of raagams have always been brilliant. I still remember a darbar he had played some 11 years ago in Chennai which I can still never forget for the ease at which he unfurled the beauty of the Raga, phrase after phrase. But recently I see that a lot of these things are missing.

May be I am an old timer, but I feel that the hamsanadams, atanas, kalyanis etc played by Mali with his small 5 and a half kattai flute is still unparalleled. Sometimes Mali and Palghat Mani Iyer make me feel that they saw music in front of their eyes when the mortals could only listen.

Regards
T

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 06 Oct 2009, 23:54

Dear thatwamasi,
When you make comparisons with MALI I feel compelled to say Mali's position with respect to flute is not too different from the Big BANG which created time& space as we know it in physics: due to Enstein's brain wave& creativity. Mali created the flute playing as it is known& played today; His reasons for sticking to 5.5 kattai flute involve BOTH technical, asthetic, & practical issues. This forum is not a suitable place to discuss them in my opinion. When you add PMI to this mix it is like a summit of Brahma & Vishnu getting together though he is Kaliyuga Nandi... As you have pointed we are MORTALS who have been FORTUNATE to have lived, listened in persons& even known them a little.......VKV

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 07 Oct 2009, 00:18

Arasi

Rajesh, please take note: Among your other kuchEri level-measuring devices

you could take into account the way a rasikA feels on leaving the hall after a concert as a guage too. Very happy, happy, satisfied, deflated and so on!
quote]
I have found that the ACID TEST is: If you cannot REMEMBER the ragas, kritis that were featured by the artist then to me the concert was pretty much useless. This barometer was used by close to a hundred who WALKED all the way from Perambur to Triplicane etc after a MMI, GNB, MALI concert discussing the concert. I wondered if its Alzheimers on set in my case but till now I am testing NEGATIVE on the usual tests!....VKV

mahesh3 · Post by **mahesh3** » 07 Oct 2009, 00:50

To me, Shashank is best-of-the best! I've heard enough of Mali to know that there are some pretty drab performances that have come from that master. Audiences dint seem to mind with Mali, coz there was always the hope of witnessing him at his unparalleled "A" game...

That said, can Shasank do better, well, the thing abt him is one never knows how awesome he's going to be. I remember watching a performance from him a couple years ago when he came to my university, and he put in a middling performance. The next day, I watched him again in Chicago, and he performed like a dream.

As Professional as music has become, it still remains intensely creative, personal and situational....so, when a spontaneous vituoso like Shashank has a bad day, I am able to move past it. It is when the "rote" artists have a bad day...that I tend to swear!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 Oct 2009, 02:37

gn,sn,
Yes, I like to encourage young talents, and yes, have missed out on a few and you will understand that to keep up with all the threads is not that easy. I do know that sankirnam is a fellow forumite, and I don't think I have heard him play. When it comes to percussion, I understand only the way it sounds to me in a concert. The kaNakku vazhakku are beyond my understanding. If I had heard sankirnam in person, knowing that he is a forumite, I would have paid even more attention. Is his name Arvind? Or, am I mistaken?
As for Shashank, I would still go listen to him if I were free that evening. Just that I am remembering those few amazing concerts of his that I've heard earlier, that's all. No, not comparing him with MAli or others at all.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 07 Oct 2009, 03:15

Arasi, Arvind is semmu86.

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 07 Oct 2009, 04:06

arasi wrote:gn,sn,
Yes, I like to encourage young talents, and yes, have missed out on a few and you will understand that to keep up with all the threads is not that easy.

arasi, I must have expressed myself poorly. I did not mean to imply at all that you've "missed out" on anyone.

All I said (I thought) is that you are generous with praise for young artists. The rest of my post was about how kedaram and sankirnam are also supportive of youngsters. A totally benign post (post 6), no?

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 07 Oct 2009, 07:21

Dear Sri. Kedaram,
YOUR post#1 is brilliant! I wish HINDU& ALL THE OTHER self proclaimed newspapers have critics that reach your level of sophistication & understanding.....It reminded me of review of a Thelonius Monkconcert- the jazz equivalent of Mali- by Arnold Schoenfeld in N.Y.Times in which he said its impossible to describe in words the great level Monk reached; He actually wrote about Toscannini rehearsing the N.Y.Philharmonic in Debussy's "La Mer" in which the composer is describing the waves from the ocean crashing into the shore. T was not satisfied with how the orchestra was playing that part. The first violinist said: You SHOW it & T just took his Silk Handkerchief, threw it to the ceiling & it floated diwn gently. Play it like that he said & the orchesta leader said : NOW I understand what you want us to do & T was satisfied at their next attempt!......As a student& researecher in Information theory& languages etc Lossy systems are hard to beat!...VKV

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 Oct 2009, 07:57

VKV,
Can visualize that scene when the handkerchief floated down from the ceiling gently!

You are right about the reviews on Rasikas. Another rAgam Bilahari, Rajesh, Vijay (hope he will write some--at least from the Season onwards. We miss him and his writing. Hope in the new year we will hear more from him--no newly-wedded state from then on!)--and all the rest of the reviewers who make a mighty group...

gn.sn,
'Message understoo...d'. I am crooning the song while I type

Bilahari,
Ah!

mssnlayam · Post by **mssnlayam** » 07 Oct 2009, 11:25

kedaram wrote:My laya knowledge is just about 0 so I can't comment on the Mridangam player.

Those who have listened to Anand play know he is not just good but great. He played Thrishra Nadai (6 letters per count) in his Thani and it was inspired by this performance by this Thavil performance by Valayapatti Shri. A.R.Subramaniam. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql_8OMH43q8#t=4m40s

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 08 Oct 2009, 07:04

I referred earlier to a concert recording of Abhishek Raghuram with Akkarai Subhalakshmi and Anand.

A video recording of one of the songs from that concert is here:

Ragaratnamalikache by Abhishek, Akkarai and Anand.

The uploader (with the cringe-worthy name of misterdangam) may be Anand himself. Some of the other videos show his mridangam playing, such as the series beginning with this one.

musicmighty · Post by **musicmighty** » 14 Oct 2009, 03:35

Unfortunately the auditorium was not meant for a concert and one might have found the whole environment slightly dull. As such the concert was great and had great moments. I agree it is unusual to play Saranga and Kalyani. However, Kalyani as it seemed, was based on a request and not a choice made by the artist.

Also, I cant totally agree that Nishanth did an excellent job - he had a lot of tough moments and just managed to keep up. He sure has to get the dimensions of music that Shashank depicted. Anand was of course wonderful as usual - we heard him with Ravikiran - remember?