Unnikrishnan- May 16, Shankar Nethralaya concert at San Jose

[barrakooka]

This was a fundraiser concert for Shankara Nethralaya.

Unnikrishnan (UK) - Vocal
Embar Kannan (EK) - Violin
Arjun Kumar - Mrdangam

1. Evari Bodha - Abhogi - Adi
2. Maya Theertha Swaroopini - Mayamalagowlai - Rupakam - Ponniah Pillai (Neraval,Swaram at mayamalagowla desamuna - after completing the full piece he came back to this line to do neraval & swaram)
3. Jaya jaya padmanabha - Sarasangi - Adi - Swathi Thirunal (Swarams at Parama Bhaktha, finished the stanza before starting swarams)
4. Balakrishnan Padamalar - Dhanyasi - Rupakam - Papanasam Sivan (Alapanai for roughly 6 min from UK, 5 mins from EK, no neraval/swarams)
5. Andari Sundari Kamakshi - Karaharapriya - Adi - Nilakanta Sivan (Nice detailed Alapanai from UK and EK, Neraval and Swarams at Mayaladwaja Pandya Maharajan Petra Seiye. This time he did not complete the stanza before taking up neraval/swaram)
6. RTP and Thani - Lathangi - Adi talam with a different nadai (I'm layam challenged) (Detailed 3 rounds of thanam, 3rd round was accompanied by Mrdangam).
Pallavi: Charulathangi shamalangi mathangi maragadhaangi (pallavi was not sung in different speeds and no long set of swarams as well)
Ragamalika Swarams: Ranjani, Bahudari, Vaasanthi) - I think he repeats Ranjani and Bahudari quite often in his ragamalika swarams at pallavi (though he sings them well).
7. Maname Kanamum - Bhimplas - Adi - Papanasam Sivan (very slow pace, quite good though)
8. Sounded like some hindi song - Cant decipher the ragam and lyrics as well (sounded something like sataro or something)
9. Venkatachala Nilayam - Sindhu Bhairavi - Adi - Punrandaradasar (sung in his own style, though i dont like it very much)
10. Amme Narayana Devi Narayana - ?? - ?? - ??
11. Inba Kana Onru Kanden - Ragamalika - Adi - KD Krishmurthi (as I infer from googling)
12. Villianai - Kavadi Sindhu
13. Thillana - Hamsanandi
14. Mangalam (Bhavamana)

Some points I noted:
1. His voice was in perfect shape, he could reach high and lower pitches easily (thats how it seemed to me ). The whole team was very comfortable with each other and that lighted up the concert even further. All 3 were brilliant.
2. His alapanais and swarams (incl sarava laghu patterns) were very good. His choice of pieces were very very good and there was no moment where the concert was boring.
3. For the pieces where neraval and swarams were sung, he completed the song before taking up neraval/swarams, thats welcome as we get to hear the full song at one go (except Andari Sundari Kamakshi).
4. He was thinking on the next piece for a while after the Dhanyasi piece, and came up with Karaharapriya which was very very good (including alapani, song, neraval, swaram etc.)
5. The past few concerts I heard of UK (though only 4 i think), I felt that the violin got to play very less (or am I imagining something?) and he was singing for most of the time, but this time it was more distributed.
6. He got several requests and he sang some of them, and someone gave him a long paper (not sure what was written but I heard UK saying that it cant be sung in this sruthi, it needs a higher sruthi, have no idea what was it).

I felt that the concert was good but I think Unni has scope for improving in several fronts. Infact, I feel that he has to improve in those fronts:
His lack of sahitya clarity as discussed in the other thread. Enough said.
Sometimes I hear brisk voice of UK but cant make out what he's singing (like swallowing the words, I cannot hear the beginning of the word but then rest of the word is clear). Also, looks like he elongates some words for some reasons. This creates some strain in listening to the song and makes his concert less enjoyable, and hence pulls back the entire experience.
He also makes some special faces while singing complicated phrases and that does not look good at all.
He glanced the book occasionally during the thukkadas (nothing very bad, but doesnt look good on stage).

Embar kannan was excellent throughout the concert, very good accompaniment. As for Arjun Kumar, he seemed to pay well but since I know nothing like appreciating layam, I cannot comment. Let me know if I have misinterpreted or missed something, as I'm a relatively new concert goer and may not have got things straight.

[1920veeyens]

Ref. to the the observation that Sri U.K was referring to notes often, I consider that it is not a minus point. Inolden days, due to the absence of present day communication facilities, what the Vidwan sang in one place was not known to the people of the next village about few miles away. So the artists managed their carrer with a very small repertoire. Infact, a very senior vidwan of yesteryear , , when asked by a very close relative, as to why he is not rendering any new songs, was supposed to have replied that even wuth few "uruppudies" he knew, he was able to buy a palatial house in a then posh locality in --------- and consequently there is no need to take the trouble of learning new pieces. Under present day conditions, when rsikas can hear [update][/update]the whole concert half way round the world, instantly or within few hours, the artist has no option but to learn more and more new songs before he has the chance to memorise all of them and so he has to resort to refer to notes

[cmlover]

Nice story veeyens!
With the increasing popularity of CM and the enthusiasm among up and coming youngsters let us hope there are enough new generations of vaggeyakaras to feed our appetite!
Our hightech friends will invent an implantable microchip which will instantly recall the lyrics while performing!
But the question is as far as UK is concerned is there a need for the lyrics

[barrakooka]

Well, one new way to look at things would be like this: without lyrics, his manodharmam is strongly questioned. Because, if we listen to his thukkada section and just get the tune without any lyrics, then looks like he's singing the same tune over and over again every concert. We cannot call it a song because we dont have the lyrics as such, and the only non-lyrical talam/mrdangam-accompanied tune singing I know of is thanam (and swarams sometimes, though not always). If a singer happens to sing a thanam/swaram in exactly the same order as it comes in a krithi, then maybe he's run out of imagination (because usually manodharmam means intelligent picking phrases from different songs and not singing a tune of certain song ). Then what do we call it? Maybe a safe way out would be claim it as a song but then once we claim a song is sung, then ppl may ask for the lyrics (sahitya)

I was just kidding but on a serious note, he does need to improve his krithi rendering because I believe the purpose to render a song is to enjoy it (both by the artist and audience) and not make it as a song/lyric identifying exercise. But if we have 2 groups where one believes that the lyrics of a krithi are not important (and ultimately thats UK's style of rendering songs), and the other doesnt, well, the only way out would be for one group to accept the ideals of the other.

Given that UK is no longer in the younger generation nor in the initial stages of learning nor an amateur performer, its high time he stresses on the lyrics. How did he learn those songs, and how does he teach those to his students? I dont mean to be a critic as my knowledge and experience in music is not even 1/100th of what others know, but then I have formed opinions on certain things and think thats the right way to go. Infact, a few years ago, an old person gave a speech after a cocnert in a temple and said that there are 2 angels going around, one for music and one for sahityam. He was hoping that singers get right atleast sruthi or swaram if they want to be blessed by atleast one of those angels (and he went on to say that the singer of the day has got blessings from both). I dont know if there are such angels going around but the overall concert experience would surely be better if singers give importance to both.

As for him referring to the books, he just took a glance here and there probably to see whats the starting of the next stanza because he did not refer to it till after the RTP, and that too only in the beginnning of some charanams, not in the middle of the song (I wonder what would be written in the book if lyrics are not important to him, and he did pull out atleast 2 books from his bag). I think this is still okay but once I saw Hyderabad Brothers (the younger of the brothers) put on his glasses, pull out sheets and hold it in his hands and read it as they were singing (Madhava mava deva in neelambari), hope he does not do something like that.

[1920veeyens]

what is the reaction of CM lovers to the practice in western Music espeecially in orchestras, where they keep large printed scores in front of them in special standc ?,

[cmlover]

That is part of the game in WM where harmony and synchrony play a vital role!
They are not creating music right in front of the Rasikas!

[mahakavi]

Regarding referring to a notebook: I can condone such a practice only in the case where the musician is catering to a request from the audience (for example a Bharathiyar's song) where he does not remember the proper sequence of the lines or all the starting words in different lines. That is OK. But if he sings a song from his own list, he ought to have memorized the entire song; otherwise don't sing that particular item. Besides, he is not reciting a long epic poetry! It looks awkward (for the audience) to see the musician looking at his notebook while singing.

[arasi]

We have discussed this before several times. Yes, having to look at the lyrics generally means one has not paid enough attention to the lyrics to begin with. They concentrate mainly on the notations while learning the song, is my guess. If the lyric and the notations are given equal importance at the time of learning it, I don't see why one would need the song in front of them. I am assuming that they practise enough times before singing any song on the stage.
There are exceptions, of course: it is a brand new song and it is the first time you sing it, so keeping the song in front of you, just in case, to 'glance at it', rather than sing from it is fine!
As performers get older, their memory fails when it comes to words, and however many times they have sung a song, they tend to draw a blank with a line or a word at times. I remember a senior vidUShi moaning that she could not tolerate it when performers brought notes to the stage and now, since her memory isn't that sharp, she needs the words in front of her.
It bothered me when a young vidvAn looked at different texts during a concert. Does it mean he was singing several new songs (for him) in one concert? It wasn't a thematic concert of a lesser known composer either. I do believe that sAhityam, rAgam and tALam go together in a song. Why is it that words get the least priority in their 'books' (pun intended)?

[cmlover]

..If the lyrics are in a language familiar to the artiste I have seen some senior artistes substituting appropriate words at times to fill any gap. There are times they become innovative and humourous too!

[mahakavi]

Just an example:
KVN in one of his concerts while singing tAyE yasOdE substituted the words "anda vAsudEvarai nAnum" in place of the actual "anda vAsudEvan ivan tAn", The meaning did not change much but I thought it may have been a slip which he glossed over in a facile manner (or the version he learnt was different from the one that was widely known).

[kssr]

Probably UK has not learnt the well known technique among musicians to keep the notebook behind the electronic sruti box, such that he can slyly glance down at the text unknown (?) to the audience.

In this connection, I remember an anectode. TNS never carries any note book. But once, he had to give a concert only on Kambaramayanam songs. He himself had of course tuned all of them years back. Obviously he cannot be expected to remember all the lyrics, except for popular ones like "Annalum Nokkinar Avalum Nokkinal". A person who hardly cares about anyone, he perched his glasses at the tip of his nose , held up the notebook with the lyrics and started singing- the raaga swaroopa itself was not a problem for him!! That is the audacity of this genius!!

[1920veeyens]

Re. Arasis posting about artists sometime forgetting what they were singing, I am reminded of an incident back in1991o r92 in the Siva Vishny temple between Washington and Baltimore. A senior vidwan, who later on became a "Sangita Kalanidhi" and who, I believe was doing a stint in Weslyan as Visiting faculty, was giving a concert accompanied by local artists, an Iitan on violin and another gentleman on Mridangam. Te concert proceeded. on the usual predictable lines when at the end of thani after a clasical Alapand, the mainsong , neraval, swaraprastaram by both the vocalist and the violonist, the vocalist resumed ,to everybody;s horror, with a similar sounding charanam from another song but in the same raga and tala. But to the credit of the vidwan it must be said that he immediately realised the faux pas and after magnanimously apologising to the audience, joined in the general laughter

[arasi]

CML,
Yes, when the vidvAn supplements some words in the sAhityam which blend in, you are amused but are not irritated. yAnaikkum aDi Sarukkum (even the mighty elephant can slip).

veeyens,
I think this can happen, getting mixed up about charaNams, and we all are prone to it. Thank goodness, we are not performers. After a long interval until the tani is finished in the main song, it can be tricky. That's why in most instances the whole song is sung before tani starts and all the vocalist has to do is sing the pallavi of the song to conclude the piece. The start of a song is easier to remember, I think.

[cmlover]

Another trick the old ones used was to ask the shishyas to fully memorize the lyrics. When in doubt they let the shishyas lead and they then take over. Usually it was done very smoothly..

[cmlover]

Though this is unrelated I hope I may be pardoned for mentioning it here. Priests (olden days) were expected to know by heart the vedic mantras for all important ceremonies. They start learning them as children usually by adhyayanam (no notes!). One of our priests who was highly reputed during his old age used to recite funeral mantras during wedding (by some stark similarity) which went unnoticed since the performers never knew the meanings. That was accidentally discovered when another learned sastri was attending a wedding and he immediately chided him. The older priest realized his mistake and apologized and thereafter made sure that he was accompaned by a junior priest on all occasions to correct him if he went wrong. By the by he also was reciting marriage mantras during funeral too

[arasi]

CML,
Our ignorance led to the blissful mantrA to be marred and the solemn one to be trivialized.
An old ad comes to mind: an educated consumer is our best customer. Something for us to think about as rasikAs. If we don't care, the practitioners of CM may not care much either. I have heard a few choice consumers among CM rasikAs who say that they are not that much into sAhityam and that they don't pay much attention to it. So, our bringing up the importance of sAhityam in a concert.is a consciousness-raising act, I suppose. So, we may be excused for that

[cmlover]

It is not just the purity of enunciation of the sahityam but the meaning too for a real enjoyment which is why learning the language is equally important! It is not enough for the music to stimulate the emotional part of the brain but it must touch the rational part as well equally...

[1920veeyens]

Re. the posting # 15, may be the purohit had advanced well in his quest for self realisation that he understood the whole world is Maya, consequently tthere is neithrt death nor birth and interchange of manthras is of no consequencs!

[kssr]

Re. the posting # 15, may be the purohit had advanced well in his quest for self realisation that he understood the whole world is Maya, consequently tthere is neithrt death nor birth and interchange of manthras is of no consequencs!

But not advanced enough to realise that the whole process of reciting unintelligible mantras can be scrapped!! Of course, in that case, he and the whole creed of "vadhyaars" will have to look for an alternative profession for survival, which may not be quite desirable for them.