Smt. Raji Gopalakrishnan - Toronto - August 29th, 2010

[Abhishek]

Vocal: Smt. Raji Gopalakrishnan
Violin: Sri VVS Murari
Mridangam: Sri Toronto Gowrishankar
KanjirA: Sri Toronto Karthik Venkataraman
Morsing: Sri Surenthar
Tanpura: Smt. Lavanya Karthik and Kum. Vaaraki Wijayaraj.

1) varnam (hindOLam - Adi - T.M.thyAgarAjan) [Sketch]
2) eesanE inda (chakravAkam - rUpakam - pApanAsam sivan) [Sketch, S]
3) unnaDiyE (bahudAri - Adi - G.N.B)
4) arul seiyya vEndum (rasikapriyA - Adi - koteeswara iyer) [R S]
5) sevikka vEndum (andOlikA - Adi - muttu tAndavar)
6) innamum sandega (keeravANi - misra chApu - gOpAlakrishna bhArati) [R]
7) aDinayE kannA (mOhanakalyANi - Adi - ambujam krishna)
8 ) rAgam tAnam pallavi (naLinakAnti & kApi) [R N S T]
dwirAga pallavi: pAdamE tuNai guhA saravanabhava, umayAL maganE sadAnin
tALam: khanda triputa
rAgamAlikA swarams: tiLang, vAsanti, ranjani, then reverse.
9) dikku teriyAda (rAgamAlikA - Adi - subramanya bhArati)
10) sri rAma jaya mangaLam (surutti - Adi - pApanAsam sivan)

Wow, what a concert. Toronto has been truly blessed this year with not one but two concerts of Smt. RAji GOpAlakrishnan.
This being a concert for the Tamil Isai KalA Manram organization, all the kritis were in Tamil, starting off with a brilliant tamil varnam in hindOlam composed by RAji aunty's guru, Sri TM ThyAgarAjan. Next, eesanE inda paved the way for lovely swarams at the pallavi.

Being the vivAdi rAga expert she is, the rAgam taken up for elaboration was the very challenging rasikapriyA. Rasikapriya, the 72nd melakartA, is one of the most difficult rAgams to sing alApanai in, and who could have handled it better than Raji aunty? The swarams that followed at the pallavi of aruL seiyya vEndum ayya were beautiful, filled with creative and unique patterns. Aunty sings vivAdi rAgams with such ease. I've heard that she sings a pallavi in this rAgam too.

KeeravANi alApanai was remarkably well done. Violinist VVS MurAri also did a fabulous job. Following GKB's soulful innamum sandEha, I was expecting neraval and swaram, but I guess it was cut down due to the shortage of time.

Next, aDinayE kannA set a good pace for the rAgam tAnam pallavi in two rAgams, naLinakAnti and kApi. The rAgam was done very well, switching between the two rAgams effortlessly. tAnam was done with the mridangam, which sounded very good to me. Both RAji aunty and VVS MurAri did a fabulous job with the tAnam. The mridangist, Toronto Gowrishankar also played exceedingly well. The dwirAga pallavi, set in khanda triputa, brought out the essence of both naLinakAnti and kApi. The laghu was in naLinakAnti and the two dhrutams were in kApi. The neraval and swarams were fantastic. It was amazing to watch aunty switch between kApi and naLinakAnti within a fraction of a second. RAgamAlika swarams in tiLang, vAsanti and ranjani just made it even better. On the whole, the pallavi was just phenomenal. Following this, Sri Toronto Gowrishankar, Sri KArthik VenkatarAman and Sri Surenthar played an enjoyable tani. The post pallavi pieces included dikku teriyAda kAttil and a mangaLam in rAgam surutti.

Overall, this was another highly remarkable kutcheri by aunty. As I mentioned above, Toronto has been blessed to have hosted two concerts of Raji aunty this year.
Once again, I say with immense honour that I am proud and privileged to be the disciple of Smt. Raji Gopalakrishnan.

Abhishek Iyer.

[Arjun]

Hey Abhishek,

Great to see that you posted up Raji Aunty's concert. It is a great way for many people to get a detailed view of what tamil songs she sang in some ragas that may be really popular or opposite.
Arjun

[rajeshnat]

Starting off with a tamil varnam in hindOlam composed by RAji aunty's guru, Sri TM ThyAgarAjan.
....
Following GKB's soulful innamum sandEha, I was expecting neraval and swaram, but I guess it was cut down due to the shortage of time.
...

Once again, I say with immense honour that I am proud and privileged to be the disciple of Smt. Raji Gopalakrishnan.

Hi Happy Shake Higher ^^^ ,

Great to hear from you again. I am yet to hear this MAl Marugan hindOlam varnam from smt RAji , only heard from maharAjapuram ramAchandran , it is a brillliant composition of her guru TMT.

THere is Smt Raji's keeravani of the same GKB composition where she has sung it as a main available in sangeethapriyA , you can quench your thirst there.

Can you squeeze your memory to let me know the rAgas that she handled in dhikkutheriyAtha kAttil.?
I would love to hear this two rAga pallavi of hers along with rasikapriyA which your guru's guru shri TRS has taken to himalayan heights.

I am repeating here,we are indeed proud and privileged to have you here in this forum,Keep writing reviews.

[mahakavi]

Thamizh isaik kalA manRam-- in Toronto? Nice. Rivalling that in Chennai, I guess.
That is a great repertoire, by the way, that she sang.
I wish she sang one from Ramaraj's collection. She used to do so before.

[cmlover]

Welcome back Abhishek with a splendid review.
Raji never disappoints in any concert. And this is a superb 'all Tamil' concert; where else but in Toronto which has a rich Tamil audience. The song and raga selections are superb. I also wish one of Ramaraj woud have appealed to some of us! We would all welcome Raji's efforts to popularize vivadi ragas and she could be the leader in that front. Would love to hear that dviraga RTP which is a tight rope walking with the laghu in nalinakanti and the dhrutams in Kapi.

Trust you have finished school and must be entering the college this Fall. Wish you all the best and keep feeding us from Toronto or wherever you be!

[arasi]

Thanks, Abhishek!
Happy to hear about an 'all tamizh compositions concert' for the tamizh manRam by Raji Goplakrishnan. Her choice of the rAgams and the songs is very appealing. Needless to say, I like her singing very much.
I was under the impression that the hindOLam varNam was by TanjAvUr Sankaraiyer.

[srikant1987]

Manodharma has been offerred only in three mELakarta rAgas (cakravAham, rasikapriya, kIravANi) and naLinakAnti and kApi.

Why did a vidushi like Smt Raji Gopalakrishnan not elaborate a sahAnA, bilahari, suruTTi, sAvEri, nATTaikurinji, kEdAram or something along those lines?

I have got to listen to a concert of the very same vidushi's with an AnandanaTanaprakAsham submain and a nATTaikurinji RTP.

[Abhishek]

Thanks everyone for the lovely compliments.

Rajesh sir, always great to see your responses. Indeed, the hindOLam varnam was excellent.
Yes, I have heard that recording in sangeethapriyA. Haha, just wanted to hear aunty sing it again in Toronto.
There were about 6-8 rAgas in dikkuteriyAtha kAttil. The ones I can remember now are behAg, bowLi, kApi, sahAna and parAs. I am probably forgetting some of them.
Thanks again for your appreciation and encouragement!

Cmlover, yeah the pallavi was awesome. Actually I still haven't finished school. I will be going to grade 12 this fall. Just finished my 11th.

[rajeshnat]

I was under the impression that the hindOLam varNam was by TanjAvUr Sankaraiyer.

arasi ,
U are back after an unusually long hibernation. There are two varnams in HindOlam , both starting with the same lines mAl murugan , one by TSI and the other TMT
Refer this thread for more details http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... AL+marugan