premA rangarAjan@Annanagar on Oct 25th,2009
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This concert was organized by Annanagar Music circle, a nice sabha in chinmaya vidyalaya school in annanagar. For Smt PremA whom I am observing for close to 5 years , singing rare krithis in a rare theme is just too easy as she has the penchant for the same. Today the diety is fairly sitter for a thematic concert, but Smt Prema digged well to present a concert exclusively on Goddess 'kAmAkshi'.
Prema was accompanied by Amritha murali- violin , melacauvery bAlAji - mridangam and anirudh athreya - kanjirA.
1. neevE gaTi yaNi nEra nammi(varnam) - kalyAni - SS
2. pAhi mAm Shree rAja rAjeshwari (S) - nAttai - SS
swaras for 3 mins
3. kAmAkshi kAmakOTi peeTa vAsini (N,S) - simmhendra madhyamam -MD
3 mins neraval in "nAtha biNdu kalA swaroopiNi kAtyAyaNi??"
swaras for 4 mins
4. KamAkshi nato vada?? - bEgaDa - SS
5. pAlayashumAm paradEvaTe (R N S) - Arabhi -SS
4 mins alApanai, 4 mins violin return
3 mins neraval in "kAmakOTi peeTa suvAsiNi shyamakrishna paripAlita jaNani"
3 mins swaras
6. sringAra rasamanjarim' -rasamanjari - MD
7. nannu brochutakU(R N S) - tOdi - SubbarAya SAstri
10 mins alApanai, 6 mins violin return
5 mins neraval in "tAmasa mEla nannu brOchutakU"
9 mins swaram
8. parama pAvani mAmava - aTAnA - annaswami sAstri
9A. RTP with rAgamAliga swaras in 3 rAgAs for 38 minutes
9B. tani for 15 minutes.
10A. slOkham "kAmAri kamalAsthanAstha" -hamsAnandi + mOhanam + madhyamAvati
10B. Kamakshi lokasakshini - Madhyamavati - SS
The concert was for 2 hours and 45 minutes inclusive of a brief speech break at the end of RTP and tani for 5 minutes. Smt premA started with a disadvantage where the mike was not so adjusted well for most of the time , the kalyAni varnam was a slight dampener even after the mike got adjusted well. nAttai brought an early excellence (This rAgA never lets you down), with a nice round of diction and swaras with percussion getting into form.
The simmhendra madhyamam was kind of a mixed bag, she sang the krithi well but she appeared quite tentative in neraval , she could have gone more , swaras of simm madhyamam was just good. THe next begaDa was the low key rendition , the curves and azhuttam of bEgaDa were not coming out too well.
Arabi got her form back the krithi and rAga alApanai was very good ,the neraval again was quite good nothing exceptional , the swaras in Arabi had a bit of voice depletion as she could not go cruise too well. The filler was rAsamanjari (rasikapriyA) and was good.
TOdi was a main was a nice choice , her voice opened out the best here and her alApanai was very well done with a nice krithi and swaras were quite high on manOdharmam. The neraval was just good in tOdi with more returns given by amritha.
ANother rare AtanA was dwelt not as forcefully as a typical atAnA but it was still atanA, the last slokham in 3 rAgas with a finish in madhyamAvati was superb and her rendition was excellent.
Amritha murali played appropriately, barring little overrun in Arabi return she had a lot of polish. bAlAji of melacauvery was really superb, this concert was quite a good showcase of how mridangist should anticipate and play without drowning the vocalist and violinist , there was some excellent sarvalaghu. Anirudh could have opted to play little low key ,there was quite a bit of sound and at times drowned the vocalist ,their tani was very good and well done
premA rangarAjan@Annanagar on Oct 25th,2009
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rajeshnat
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RTP with rAgamAliga swaras in 3 rAgAs for 38 minutes
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I went to this concert primarily as it was advertised to start at 6 pm, and bingo there was a hidden anticipation too as RTP was indeed there. To that extent Smt premA did not disappoint me . Having said when I hear this rAgA in this RTP , I am perplexed to a maximum, it just reminds of objective answer question you find in competitive exams
Question : Name the rAga of the RTP ?
The choice of rAgas are
A. vAchaspathi
B. dharmavathi
c. Simm madhyamam,
D. Any or All of the above
The answer is D not because this musician sang it that way, this is a better way to express the answer being hemavati. The RTP in hemavati was done quite good , it came most close to dharmavathi, but hey hold on this prathi madhyama rAgam is at the cross roads of atleast 3 or more prathis, there is perhaps no stickiness yet established by even artists for many many years , so at times it is just bonkers to me as a rasika.
BTW I would not characterize Smt premA did morph into many rAgas , because even hearing recordings of past masters I have this drift of hemavati going everywhere .(As a sidenote once when balamurali sang this rAgA, I asked embar kannan and BMK in one of the concerts one of them said it is hemavati and the other vachaspathi ).In short 'hemavati is century old ambiguity unresolved at the best', this will take possibly another 100 years to make it clean hema(no vachas,dharma)vati. BTW my unambuguity assert in hemavati is not for the krithi , but more for aRTP.
The alApanai in RTP was for 8 minutes in two phases with an intermediate 4 minute violin return.Tanam was not too energetic but it was still good.
The pallavi line is "neerajAkshi kAnchi kAMAkshi lOka jaNani katAkshi" for 9 minutes with swaras for 12 minutes in hemavati + ?? + subhapantuvarAli + valaci??
In short I appreciate her attempt to bring RTP in hemavati as a bold one . In recordings I have heard SKR(that was fantastic),Madurai somu(had quite a lot of shades with shanmughapriya and simm madhyamam) and TRS(recording is not that great ) , to the best of my knowledge this hemavati as a RTP is my first live concert experience
Few shortcomings:
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1. When voice has not reached a zone of comfort and if it is not opening out , I prefer any artist to take up alApana at the earliest , smt prema alApana drop at #5 was very late and it did have an effect on the quality.
2. Instead of threee neravals and RTP neraval with her voice stamina not being that great , I would have preferred her to preferably drop one of the neravals out of three krithis, so that she could have packed more raga bhavam for the remaining 2 neravals
3. Swaras in general can be more and little more aesthetics there would lift her concert experience much much more .
Nevertheless the research was exceptionally well done by Smt premA with little less backing in delivery , overall the concert was a very good one.
--------------------------------------------------------
I went to this concert primarily as it was advertised to start at 6 pm, and bingo there was a hidden anticipation too as RTP was indeed there. To that extent Smt premA did not disappoint me . Having said when I hear this rAgA in this RTP , I am perplexed to a maximum, it just reminds of objective answer question you find in competitive exams
Question : Name the rAga of the RTP ?
The choice of rAgas are
A. vAchaspathi
B. dharmavathi
c. Simm madhyamam,
D. Any or All of the above
The answer is D not because this musician sang it that way, this is a better way to express the answer being hemavati. The RTP in hemavati was done quite good , it came most close to dharmavathi, but hey hold on this prathi madhyama rAgam is at the cross roads of atleast 3 or more prathis, there is perhaps no stickiness yet established by even artists for many many years , so at times it is just bonkers to me as a rasika.
BTW I would not characterize Smt premA did morph into many rAgas , because even hearing recordings of past masters I have this drift of hemavati going everywhere .(As a sidenote once when balamurali sang this rAgA, I asked embar kannan and BMK in one of the concerts one of them said it is hemavati and the other vachaspathi ).In short 'hemavati is century old ambiguity unresolved at the best', this will take possibly another 100 years to make it clean hema(no vachas,dharma)vati. BTW my unambuguity assert in hemavati is not for the krithi , but more for aRTP.
The alApanai in RTP was for 8 minutes in two phases with an intermediate 4 minute violin return.Tanam was not too energetic but it was still good.
The pallavi line is "neerajAkshi kAnchi kAMAkshi lOka jaNani katAkshi" for 9 minutes with swaras for 12 minutes in hemavati + ?? + subhapantuvarAli + valaci??
In short I appreciate her attempt to bring RTP in hemavati as a bold one . In recordings I have heard SKR(that was fantastic),Madurai somu(had quite a lot of shades with shanmughapriya and simm madhyamam) and TRS(recording is not that great ) , to the best of my knowledge this hemavati as a RTP is my first live concert experience
Few shortcomings:
----------------
1. When voice has not reached a zone of comfort and if it is not opening out , I prefer any artist to take up alApana at the earliest , smt prema alApana drop at #5 was very late and it did have an effect on the quality.
2. Instead of threee neravals and RTP neraval with her voice stamina not being that great , I would have preferred her to preferably drop one of the neravals out of three krithis, so that she could have packed more raga bhavam for the remaining 2 neravals
3. Swaras in general can be more and little more aesthetics there would lift her concert experience much much more .
Nevertheless the research was exceptionally well done by Smt premA with little less backing in delivery , overall the concert was a very good one.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 26 Oct 2009, 13:31, edited 1 time in total.
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 10121
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Before Smt Prema's concert , I also listened to about 20 minutes of pristine veena playing by mudikondan ramesh, he played swarajathi -todi -shayama sastri and a fantastic enna kavi pAdinAlum - neelamani - anayamapatti adisesha iyer popularized by madurai somu. melacauvery balaji in mrudangam gave able support ,infact he had two front to back concerts and he played close to 4 hours.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 26 Oct 2009, 13:51, edited 1 time in total.
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srikant1987
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jagan
- Posts: 157
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To my mind , Begada was elaborated in a very sensitive manner, appropriate to the krithi.
The padanthara of Nannu Brochutaku was excellent . The enunciation of 'Chutaku" itself showed the refinement of the rendition
It was Hemavathi all through right from the opening phrase. The ragamalika swaras were in Hemavathi, Madhukauns, Bhavani and Valaji.
The padanthara of Nannu Brochutaku was excellent . The enunciation of 'Chutaku" itself showed the refinement of the rendition
It was Hemavathi all through right from the opening phrase. The ragamalika swaras were in Hemavathi, Madhukauns, Bhavani and Valaji.
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arasi
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Jagan,
Nice to hear from you, and with a review at that!
I have heard Prema Rangarajan once (all SS songs!) and thought she had finesse.
Rajesh,
I have the same problem with 'Hemavati who goes everywhere' as you phrase it--not to be confused with a fellow rasikA, another travelling kind who gets to hear four hour concerts! You hinted, but did not mention nItimati. Then of course, there are different versions from different singers which is both nice and confusing!
Nice to hear from you, and with a review at that!
I have heard Prema Rangarajan once (all SS songs!) and thought she had finesse.
Rajesh,
I have the same problem with 'Hemavati who goes everywhere' as you phrase it--not to be confused with a fellow rasikA, another travelling kind who gets to hear four hour concerts! You hinted, but did not mention nItimati. Then of course, there are different versions from different singers which is both nice and confusing!
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 10121
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
srikant1987,srikant1987 wrote:
rajeshnat, You could include the accompanists' names in a more significant place in the review, perhaps the first few lines?
In the first post it is in the fourth line (may be it is just falling outside your first few lines). Will take that suggestion, though not sure if I will follow that always.
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 10121
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Madhukauns sometimes I get it close to that zone , though not this time . I thought bhavani as subhapantuvarAli , though I was pretty sure that it was close to subhapantuvarali and just may be not subhapantuvaraali.Thanks jaganjagan wrote: The ragamalika swaras were in Hemavathi, Madhukauns, Bhavani and Valaji.
