Had the good luck of listening to a carnatic music concert in Doha. Sri Sankaran Namboodiri gave a very good recital on 15th-Jan-2010.
Song list as below
1. Mooladhara Moorthi - Hamsadhwani - S at Pallavi- Papanasam Sivan
2. Sadhinchane - Arabhi - Thiagaraja
3. Marakoti Sundari -Bahudari- O,S at Pallavi- GNB
4. Govardhana Gireesham - Hindolam - R,S - MD -SUBMAIN
5. Mokshamugaladaa - Saramathi - T- Started from Saakshaathkaara ni
6. Himadrisuthe - Kalyani -S at Syama Kirshna Sodhari- SS
7. Raghuvamsa sudha - Kathanakuthoohalam - PSI
8. Paluke Bangaara - Ananda Bhairavi - Bhadrachala Ramadasar
9. Mohana Rama - RNST - Mohanam - T - MAIN
10. Gopalaka Pahimam -Revagupthi - ST
11. Kshira Sagara - Devagandhari - T
12. Thaye Yashoda - Todi - OVK
13. Alasara Parithapam - Surati - ST - started from Jalajabandhu
14. Vande Mataram - Ragamalika - Bharatiyar - Tamil song
15. Swami Sangeetha - Aiyyapa Bhajan - Bhimplas
16. Narayanate Namo Namo - Desh - Annamacharya
17. Thillana - Khamas - PSI
18. Pavamana - Saurashtram -T
Concert overall was very good - started at 6:15 and ended around 9:00 pm. The music system was very loud and mridangam and ghatam so loud that in many songs Sri Namboodari was constantly showing his hand to mridangist saying to play low when he wanted to present the emotive content of words in the song etc. But till the very end the mridangist did not pay heed and banged and beat the instrument. But there was no doubt that the mridangam and ghatam artiste were very knowledgable only that they wanted to show it too much
Hindolam swaras were very enchanting and pick of the day.
Since the concert was loud on the whole the bhava ascpect got diluted however Sri Namboodiri sang very well and is immensely talented.
Sankaran Namboodiri - DPS School - Doha - Qatar
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thenpaanan
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Thanks for posting. I am intrigued by the selection. Typically CM vocalists try to sing very different ragas next to each other and definitely avoid singing very similar ragas consecutively. Sankaran Namboodiri has two such choices in his concert, especially the second one -- Revagupti following Mohanam I have never seen. Is this really rare or just reflection of my narrow listening?HarishankarK wrote:Had the good luck of listening to a carnatic music concert in Doha. Sri Sankaran Namboodiri gave a very good recital on 15th-Jan-2010.
Song list as below
4. Govardhana Gireesham - Hindolam - R,S - MD -SUBMAIN
5. Mokshamugaladaa - Saramathi - T- Started from Saakshaathkaara ni
....
9. Mohana Rama - RNST - Mohanam - T - MAIN
10. Gopalaka Pahimam -Revagupthi - ST
...
Interestingly, singing related ragas one after another is quite the norm in HM.
Sankaran Namboodiri is fast becoming one of my favorite singers of that age group.
-Then Paanan
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ragam-talam
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arasi
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Who were the accompanists? I am sure they played well, but a good concert can be marred by loudness. In your part of the world where you do not get to hear that many concerts, those in the audience have to expresss with gestures their being bombarded with noise instead of music. Believe me. It works sometimes if more than one rasikA points it out to those on stage.
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HarishankarK
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Thanks for posting. I am intrigued by the selection. Typically CM vocalists try to sing very different ragas next to each other and definitely avoid singing very similar ragas consecutively. Sankaran Namboodiri has two such choices in his concert, especially the second one -- Revagupti following Mohanam I have never seen. Is this really rare or just reflection of my narrow listening?
Interestingly, singing related ragas one after another is quite the norm in HM.
Sankaran Namboodiri is fast becoming one of my favorite singers of that age group.
-Then Paanan
Saramathi song was sung well and even though immediately after Hindolam did not sound similar or boring etc. But agreed that Saramathi and Hindolam are sort of similar.
Have no clue about swaras of similar ragas etc but personally i feel Mohanam and Revagupthi are very dissimilar ragas so the second choice is fine.
Interestingly, singing related ragas one after another is quite the norm in HM.
Sankaran Namboodiri is fast becoming one of my favorite singers of that age group.
-Then Paanan
Saramathi song was sung well and even though immediately after Hindolam did not sound similar or boring etc. But agreed that Saramathi and Hindolam are sort of similar.
Have no clue about swaras of similar ragas etc but personally i feel Mohanam and Revagupthi are very dissimilar ragas so the second choice is fine.
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HarishankarK
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But then "Who will bell the cat(s)arasi wrote:Who were the accompanists? I am sure they played well, but a good concert can be marred by loudness. In your part of the world where you do not get to hear that many concerts, those in the audience have to expresss with gestures their being bombarded with noise instead of music. Believe me. It works sometimes if more than one rasikA points it out to those on stage.
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arasi
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I have tried several times (by gestures) and have succeeded once--thanks to the mrudangist's catching on to it--but more than one rasikA, and from each corner of the hall making a plea might bring in results.Then again, turning a deaf ear to our pleas is the way of many mrudangists. Their deaf ears result in the deafening of our ears
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ganeshkant
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mridhangam
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It is difficult .. sometimes the volume for the mridangist is absolutely minimal on stage whereas for the auditorium it is very high making us sweat and play the instrument with much more weight and azutham and in the process sometimes the sound levels are high which we are totally unaware of as the feedback for us is not proper. When the feedback is proper for the mridangist we tend to play softer but on the audience side the volume is not enough to lift the concert to a proper level. Even this i have found the artistes themselves complaining to us that "Innum Konjam Adichu Vasichirukkalam" after the concert ...
It is easy to say that the Mridangist played loudly but one has to actually sit on stage to know how difficult is it to balance .. more over if any audience finds the mridangam louder it can be handled by telling the organiser or the mike man in a polite and simple way to reduce the volume for the auditorium as you have got every right to say so .. instead of blaming it on the mridangists and as such mridangists dont meddle with the mikes .. as far as they are concerned if enough feedback is given to them they can play variations between subtelety and force .. if not they will be forced to play with force.
Mannarkoil J Balaji
It is easy to say that the Mridangist played loudly but one has to actually sit on stage to know how difficult is it to balance .. more over if any audience finds the mridangam louder it can be handled by telling the organiser or the mike man in a polite and simple way to reduce the volume for the auditorium as you have got every right to say so .. instead of blaming it on the mridangists and as such mridangists dont meddle with the mikes .. as far as they are concerned if enough feedback is given to them they can play variations between subtelety and force .. if not they will be forced to play with force.
Mannarkoil J Balaji
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ganeshkant
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arasi
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Balaji,
I have not had this problem the few times I heard you play. There was a lot of sukam in your playing! It all has to come together, I suppose.
If it is managed by the following folks in that order, I think there is a solution: sound men who know how to adjust sounds, sabha organizers who are around to manage this, mrudangists who are sensitive about this and an audience which does not suffer a whole concert of noise assault silently. The alternative is to walk out of the concert in despair--I actually did, before a nagging headache would grow into a mega one. And the mrudangist in this case, though a very good one, is very noisy to listen to. Of course, he is not aware of it. Was it Rajesh who suggested that players should sit in the audience before the concert and listen to the sound level--perhaps while a student tests the mike by playing a few strokes. Another adavantage of the test is that we don't have to listen to the first half hour of the concert with the performers taking turns gesturing 'more sound' to the sound men, distracting themselves and the audience.
I have not had this problem the few times I heard you play. There was a lot of sukam in your playing! It all has to come together, I suppose.
If it is managed by the following folks in that order, I think there is a solution: sound men who know how to adjust sounds, sabha organizers who are around to manage this, mrudangists who are sensitive about this and an audience which does not suffer a whole concert of noise assault silently. The alternative is to walk out of the concert in despair--I actually did, before a nagging headache would grow into a mega one. And the mrudangist in this case, though a very good one, is very noisy to listen to. Of course, he is not aware of it. Was it Rajesh who suggested that players should sit in the audience before the concert and listen to the sound level--perhaps while a student tests the mike by playing a few strokes. Another adavantage of the test is that we don't have to listen to the first half hour of the concert with the performers taking turns gesturing 'more sound' to the sound men, distracting themselves and the audience.
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mridhangam
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Arasi ji .. that is y i said it is difficult balancing act and i hv sort of known the technique of sound adjustments both on stage and for the audience. (of course i thank you for your compliments too )
But i cannot accept the suggestion of a disciple testing the instrument as his playing technique and azutham may be different from that of a master (and most of the times the disciples - barring a few faithful followers of legendary mridangists- dont turn up for the concert) and hence it will be difficult to check the sound level by making the student play and sit in the audience for the actual sound balance. there are lots of techniques in playing mridangam and the Nam or Dhin does not produce the same sound produced by two different artistes though the strokes are same. Moreover in the recent times i have just left the job with the mike men as it is not my duty to meddle with them for more volume or lowering the volume. As we are professionals we presume that they are also professionals and listeners are also professional listeners and hence as we have come to do our part there it is their job to set things right. If they dont do the professional listeners suffer in turn ..
J.Balaji
But i cannot accept the suggestion of a disciple testing the instrument as his playing technique and azutham may be different from that of a master (and most of the times the disciples - barring a few faithful followers of legendary mridangists- dont turn up for the concert) and hence it will be difficult to check the sound level by making the student play and sit in the audience for the actual sound balance. there are lots of techniques in playing mridangam and the Nam or Dhin does not produce the same sound produced by two different artistes though the strokes are same. Moreover in the recent times i have just left the job with the mike men as it is not my duty to meddle with them for more volume or lowering the volume. As we are professionals we presume that they are also professionals and listeners are also professional listeners and hence as we have come to do our part there it is their job to set things right. If they dont do the professional listeners suffer in turn ..
J.Balaji
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HarishankarK
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I am not blaming the accompanists but in this case their indifference was very conspicous because the vocalist in almost every song was showing his hand to the mridangist to mellow down a bit. The vocalist was not able to turn back so am not sure whether the indication was also for ghatam.
Again my issue is not with loud volume but with loud playing - there's a difference between the two.
In this case the mike volume was the same for all (maybe) but the way in which these 2 accompanists went about thundering their instruments - that was my discomfort and hopefully Mr. Namboodiri's too.
Please do note that despite all this have made a strong point that both the mridangam and ghatam artiste were incredibly talented and their vidwat came across strongly.
Next time i hear a concert and come across a similar situation will politely let the systems guy know of it and remedy early. God knows when next time will come in Doha though
Again my issue is not with loud volume but with loud playing - there's a difference between the two.
In this case the mike volume was the same for all (maybe) but the way in which these 2 accompanists went about thundering their instruments - that was my discomfort and hopefully Mr. Namboodiri's too.
Please do note that despite all this have made a strong point that both the mridangam and ghatam artiste were incredibly talented and their vidwat came across strongly.
Next time i hear a concert and come across a similar situation will politely let the systems guy know of it and remedy early. God knows when next time will come in Doha though
Last edited by HarishankarK on 19 Jan 2010, 10:59, edited 1 time in total.
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HarishankarK
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