V.Shankaranarayanan@NGS(Mini) on March 24th,2010

[rajeshnat]

V.Shankaranarayanan@NGS(Mini) on March 24th,2010
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Vocal : V.Shankaranarayanan
Violin : V V Ravi
Mrudangam : B.SivarAman
Ghatam : SivarAmakrishnan
Concert duration : 2 hours and 30 minutes
sabha : saraswati vaggeyakkAra Trust
Theme : mummorthigal (trinity) isaivizha

I went late reached around 6:55(25 minutes late) and I think I lost three songs, a person sitting next to me said he sang a bEgaDa varnam, rest i dont know
...
4. eNNagAnu rAma bhajana (R N S) - paNtuvarAli - BR
Listened to second half of alApanai, 4 mins violin
neraval in "prEmamIra bhadrAdi dAmuDaina rAma" for 6 mins
swaras for 9 mins

5A. viruththam "pachai mA malai pOL mEni"-kAMbODhi - divya prabhandham (Thondaradipodi Aazhwar)
5B. ivan yArO aRiyEN - kAmBodhi - kavikunjara bhArathi

6. padavini - sAlagabhairavi - T
7A.upachAramUlanu (R N S T) - bhairavi - T
rAga alApanai for 14 mins , 6 mins violin return
neraval in apari mita nava ratnamulu podigina for 8 mins
11 mins swaras
7B. tani 6 mins

8A. viruththam "vaNDE pOL manam suLanda indha vaNNam" - kApi +
"aNgadhan muNN cheLLa sEnai piNN sella" - vasanthA -?? whose viruththam is that, perhaps shankar(dikshitar is his id here) can clarify ??
8B. kaNdeN KaNDeN kaNDeN seethayai - vasantha - AK
9. pavamAna

A week before when TNS krishnA sang with vv ravi and B.SivarAman , TNS krishna's concert had a lot of touch of TN SeshagOpalan and it was obviously passed by gene and this vidwan v.shankaranArAyanan's concert can be said as passed by inspiration from vidwan TN seshagOpAlan with the same violin and mridangam accompanist with only the uppapakkavadhyam ghatam artist sivarAmakrishnan being different.

I have had one experience before to hear V.shankaranArayanan during navarathri where devi compositions were rendered, this day it was a rAma navami centric , I guess singing songs on rAmA is definitely easier for any musicians as very likely 7 out of 10 songs that each of them learn and master would be all rAma based.

V.ShankaranArayanan has a lot of overlap with TNS , his voice is quite powerful able to reach comfortable pitch and incidentally for many numbers the finish was very aesthetic , but for without the main number which had its shade of medicrity. When I entered he started paNtuvarAli and the spread was very much TNS'ish especially when he sang the krithi. PantuvarALi swaras have bit of symmetry and one can go in an overdrive mode , and Shankar did that in style I liked this number a lot certainly the pick of the day.

As he started the pachai mA malai pOL meni in kAMbODHi in a slightly sedate way to bring the viruththam , it was a very nice kAmBodhi certainly he brought the charm and as I kept wondering that may be krithi in KAmbODhi will be something very expressive and possibly the immediate sequence of pantuvarAli and kAmbOdhi is not that right, but he took a very vilamba kAla elasticity filled kavikunjara bharathi padam, a slow number with very difficult words and kAmbODhi appeared anytime to tresspass to yadukulacalmbOdhi but he leashed it enough and stayed very much as kAmBOdhi , in short a well done rendition and the overlap of these two hyper expressive rAgas had the right contrast where this kAMbODhi krithi brought in the right contrast.

The filler padavini was fast and gone , the main was in bhairavi , the alApana was well done , the krithi did not get that bhairavi excellence , quite a few slips at times a little loss of shruthi, however in the neraval he got it back(neraval was in a different line other than the usual kapata nAtaka suTra) and was well done, the swaras had a lot of nAdaswara piDI touch.

If pantuvarAli was the pick of the day, to an extent I would say his viruththam in kApi and vasanthA was aesthetically excellent , though vasantha had quite a touch of hamsAnandi at many places. Viruththams have a bit of drama it is just not music alone , one can feel the lyrics more , in the divyaprabhandham when there was a line indira lOka , his thrust in mEl kalam during indira and in keezh kAlam in lOka was very apt.

Also in the start of second half of viruththam in vasantha he thrusting with little extra power in aNgadhan muNN chellA and letting a bit of steam in sEnai piNN sella was aesthetically very apt and fitted excellently with the charm of words. THe finish of AK in kAnden kanden was well done.

Few shortcomings:
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If there is a shortcoming possibly he does have a slight loss of shruthi and his voice at times a little too nasal . Also a little excess artistic exuberance landed his vasantha towards a bit hamsAnandi and even there was a very slight drizzle of amrithavarshini there, in short hovering in the same rAgA without bringing overlapping rAga shades will make it far better.

The violinist response was just good and the mridangist today had a slightly better kAlapramAnam to the singer unlike my previous concert of the same team where TNS krishna sang. Overall a little more heavy sound can come from sivarAman's finger , azhuttam is not adequate. I liked the ghatam artist sivarAmakrishnan a lot his play had the right touch ,tani was just good

Oveall a very good concert for 2 and half hours , I wish I had listened to the first 3 numbers, certainly shankar's rama navami concert was better than my first concert of his last year. Also it was nice to get two sweets distributed by the trust to all the rasikas who attended.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
I could have been in that hall and we would have agreed on quite a few points you raise about Shankaranarayanan's music (though we don't always agree on musical matters!). He certainly is one among a handful of promising vidvAns--with voice power and nidAnam too. He could pay a bit more attention to keeping the momentum going throughout a concert and also cuts out that nasal bit. Nothing major there.
Yes, he does give us the lyrics in a wholesome way. I see a bright future for him, as you do, I guess.
And I missed out on the sweets

[rajeshnat]

8A. viruththam "vaNDE pOL manam suLanda indha vaNNam" - kApi +
"aNgadhan muNN cheLLa sEnai piNN sella" - vasanthA
is by ArunAchala kavirAyar.

The hindu review of the concert is in http://www.hindu.com/fr/2010/04/02/stor ... 440400.htm