raji gopAlakrishnan@MFAC on Dec 15th,2009

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 16 Dec 2009, 15:30

raji gopAlakrishnan@MFAC on Dec 15th,2009
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Vocal : raji gopAlakrishnan
Violin : usha narayanan
Mrudangam : B.ganapathiraman
Ghatam : madipakkam murali
Concert Duration : 2 hours and 45 minutes

1. ninnu kOri "varnam" - mohanam - poochi iyengar
2A.vakrathunda mahAkAya "slokham" - nAttai
2B.jaya jaya jaya jAnaki (S)- nAttai - PD
5 mins swaras
3. siva siva yenarAdhA (S) - pantuvarAli - T
3 mins swaras

4.arunAchala nAdham - sArangA - MD
5.bhavasAgaram karai eralAm (R N S)- shanmughapriyA - GKB
11 mins alApanai of shanmughapriyA , 6 mins violin return
neraval for 7 mins in "bhakthi pannI pADi bAlakrishnan pOTri ponnambabal vAnai sindhanai seidhAl"
swaras for 7 mins

6. cittam iRangAdeyyA - sahAnA - psivan
7. aravinda lOchananE karunai - neethimathi - Ambujam krishna
8. venkatesa ninnu (R)- madhyamavati - T
10 mins alApanai and 7 mins violin return
8. kamalA charanE - amrithabehAg - GNB

9A. RTP in kalyAnavasantham
raga alapanai for 9 mins , violin return for 6 mins
tAnam for 6 mins , pallavi and swararAgamAliga for 18 minutes.
pallavi line is "kalAvathi dAyanidhi neeyE gathi kalyAna vasantha priyA"
swara ragamaliga in kalyAnavasantham + mohanakalyAni + gowrimanohari + hamsanAdam+
hemavati???(some raga in that zone) + nalinAkanthi
9B. tani for 12 minutes

10. manasa saNchararE - shyamA - SB
11A. rAmAya rAmA "slokham" - yamunakalyANi - ??
11B. nAtha hari deva jaNardhana - yamunakalyANi - ???
12. pavamAna

It is quite rare to hear one of my famous female artists,certainly her style of singing always reminds me of Smt MLV. The turnout was poor about just 40 or so , incidentally yesterday it was raining heavily , nevertheless the crowd turnout was not a dampener for smt raji.

RAji had a little slow and sedate start , perhaps she needed a vicks vaporub to start with as her mOhanam did not open out too well, the chiselled mohanam was bit gloomy as the weather outside. The voice opened out well with nAttai and she sang with lot of punch the nAttai though at few places the krithi rendition was not that perfect and the swaras were not gelling with percussion.

The mlv within raji came out with siva siva enarAdhA , swaras was bit too short nevertheless it was quite well done , I certainly missed an alApanai till then. She moved to her fourth number in sArangA , the MD krithi was appreciable only for her lyrics and not for her way of singing it was bit lacklustre.

The days best krithi was her shanmughapriyA , the alApana was haunting one with a nice alankaram more centered on akaram and was aesthetics at its best .A rare gopalakrishna bharathi krithi popped out , her name and the vageyakkara being the same was superb. Liked her diction and the assertion of her shanmughapriyA.The voice was in full throttle here in shanmughapriyA submain (Lesson to be learnt take an alapana as early as possible and donot postpone it to #5).

The sahAna was sung quite well , she could have slowed little more and given more sahAna curves but instead she sang it little fast not to my liking. Ambujam krishna's emotive number in a rare and difficult neetimathi , a rAga that is always there in the periphery of my head and one that has not yet registered in my head. The next madhyamavati was a bit average , she did not sing it with much bhavam and her voice did not open out that much.Her previous GNB's kamalacharanE was quite good

The excellence that got lost in the madhyamavati came back in full glory ,perhaps the kalyAna vasantham is one of a kind of rAga that instantly appeals to me , she had an emotive dose , her tAnam was bit drowsy with the play of mridangam being very gentle and was well done.The pallavi is perhaps her own and she did a trikAlam well , there was 5 ragamALiga swaras all quick and well done , I particularly loved the nalinakanthi and hamsanADam the most.The tukkadas were bit varied in quality ,the usually great shyamA was bit lowkey , there was a rare yamuna kalyAni krithi which she sang beautifully. I would have loved if she had sung a long slokham and thillana and made it as a 3 hr concert , but she went to pavamana and was courteous to all the rasikas who came to the sabha despite heavy rains and wrapped up before 9 pm.

The accompanist usha nArayanan was just good , azhuttam and tonal quality were not that high and was not too pleasant. The mridangist ganapathiraman played well most of the time with good interchange with the ghatam artist .Their tani was quite energetic and well done.

Overall a very good concert by this vidushi, the classicism was high but the quality was not very uniform , nevertheless the closest that we can get to Smt MLV.

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 16 Dec 2009, 15:43

rajeshnat, you should definitely try listening to Sangeetha Sivakumar.

108talas · Post by **108talas** » 16 Dec 2009, 15:52

rajeshnat, also you should listen to Sangeetha Swaminathan

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 16 Dec 2009, 16:45

I have listened and review sangeetha sivakumar . I have not yet heard sangeetha swaminathan in a live concert , last year I went to one in swamy's hall and that got cancelled , planning to hear sangeetha swaminathan in this kutcheri if the timing suits .

108talas · Post by **108talas** » 16 Dec 2009, 16:51

Normally Mrs.Sangeetha Swaminathan teams up with Akkarai Subbulakshmi(V) & Nellal Balaji(M) and Mrs. Swaminathan is the daughter of Karur Shri Krishnamurthy, residing in Madipakkam area.

The above team is a instant hit almost everytime, as they do have good understanding between them musically.

The vocalist has learnt fMusic from his father and now learning from Mrs. Sudha Raghunathan and she handles rare ragas well.

CRama · Post by **CRama** » 16 Dec 2009, 16:57

rajeshnat, when you hear Raji Gopalakrishnan, do not think of MLV. Her style is not simiar to MLV nor her voice or strength of brighas which was MLV's strength.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 16 Dec 2009, 17:11

CRama wrote:rajeshnat, when you hear Raji Gopalakrishnan, do not think of MLV. Her style is not simiar to MLV nor her voice or strength of brighas which was MLV's strength.

crama
Smt raji's voice is bit husky when compared to MLV, but her style has a conviction as much as an MLV. I agree with you that her brighas are not that much as MLV. Pantula rama, sudha raghunathan,ms sheela and raji gopalakrishnan and many more female musicians, all have varied degree of overlap with Smt MLV.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 22 Dec 2009, 12:55

The same concert is reviewed in the hindu
http://www.hinduonnet.com/ms/2009/12/18 ... 130600.htm