BSU 2010 reviews

[tiruppugazh]

It would be nice if someone could post more details and reviews. A cousin of mine gave some info about the following concerts.

Abhishek Raghuram was awesome!
Sowmya's concert was Halloween themed!
Aruna Sairam had her birthday cake cut on stage!
Vidya Kalyanaraman/Bharath Sunder concert was fantastic!
Prabha Atre was dignity personified!
Anuradha Sriram and Sriram Parasuram was enlightening.
Sanjay was boring!
Sriranjani made an interesting presentation of her father's music.

Probably Shri Ramanathan can atleast post a gist of the highlights of the festival. Thanks.

[sureshvv]

It would be nice if someone could post more details and reviews. A cousin of mine gave some info about the following concerts.

Abhishek Raghuram was awesome!

I found this jugalbandhi featuring Abhishek Raghuram and Jayatheerth Mevundi absolutely fantastic. BSU has been adventurous and novel in the way their programs are designed and sometimes the actual program falls short of the hype, but this one really worked and the novelty was not just in the packaging.

Jayatheerth is a fairly young vidwan and it would be safe to say, not very well known in Chennai before this but he made a marked impression both with his voice and talent. Sasikiran was very cordial while introducing this young artiste at the outset and Abhishek was almost deferential as he welcomed him. They started out with Raga Multani and Abhishek announced that he would start with a Carnatic interpretation of this raga followed by the Hindustani elaboration. The raga appeared to be a janya of Subhapantuvarali. Both artistes constantly took turns rather than going on long uninterrupted solo binges.
Multani was followed by a Shudh Kalyan/Mohana Kalyani exposition and Abhishek announced that he would present the Lalgudi Tillana in tribute to the maestro's 80th birthday this year. This raga was a nice contrast to the previous one was also very well executed.
The whole program was very free flowing and there was absolutely no changing of gears anytime to go from carnatic to hindustani or vice-versa. Abhishek simply excelled while weaving interesting swara patterns and Jayatheerth showed his vocal prowess in the fast akarams.

One possible criticism was that the balance in the program was tilted more towards Hindustani. While there may be an element of truth in this, especially if one were listening with a stop-clock, it did not take away from the overall enjoyment and the concert did not dilute either of the styles.

The audio arrangements and amplification levels were very good. All the accompanists (Mysore Srikanth on the violin and Anand on the mridangam) were excellent.

This concert was on the 2nd day and was just part of the opening series of BSU 2010 but if it is a sign of things to come, this is going to be a very memorable festival this year.

[mankuthimma]

[update]this is going to be a very memorable festival this year.[/update]
Yes .There is a Blore Sankar - Mysore Nagraj combo on two successive days - 24th and 25th December - as well .
25th is at the Maris Festival . The one on 24th - a chamber music program - just giving the finishing touches.

[sureshvv]

It would be nice if someone could post more details and reviews. A cousin of mine gave some info about the following concerts.

Sanjay was boring!

Hmm... Tough to please rasika, it appears. Or may be he caught this concert right after watching "Endhiran" at Ganapathiram

Let me count the ways I found this particular concert both riveting and satisfying...

1. The theme taken was "thithikkum thamizh"

2. In a concert that extended for about 2.5 hours, longer than most concerts for this slot, not one single hackneyed kriti was featured. The most frequently sung Tamil composer Papanasam Sivan was given a well-deserved break!

3. Concert opened with a rarely heard tamil varnam by Tiger, Sariyo nee seyyum tamadam, in Begada

4. An elaborate alapana was done for Vasantha which was featured as sub-main and Ellam sivan seyal, a kriti of Sudhananda Bharathi was sung.

5. Hemavathi was the main raga of the evening and a kriti of M.M.Dandapani Desikar Navukkarasarai was presented.

6. Padam "Idhu(?) enna pechu" in Sahana was featured in the tukkadas.

7. MDR composition in Sindhu bhairavi, "Ramanai ninai manamey" was presented with a lot of MDR like flourishes and yet made wonderfully lilting in Sanjay style.

8. The concert would have been wonderful had it ended at this point and we would have returned home humming the MDR kriti all the way. Sanjay was handed a request chit at this point.

9. Sanjay continued to sing a Virutham in 3 ragas followed by Paayum Oli in Khamas.

It truly was a labor of love and I ended up discussing the concert into the night well after it ended!

[rshankar]

Suresh - a lovely list indeed! Any idea if these are being recorded?

[smala]

All descriptions so far sound magical - except the one-liner on Sanjay - looks like Sanjay broke new ground and needed discerning ears to appreciate this.

Love Prabha Atre, has long been one of my favorite singers - her Tana Mana Dhana Tope Varu is out of this world.

[arasi]

Suresh,
Thank you for describing the 'boring' concert. An all tamizh concert is a treat which I try not to miss--even if it means no RTP. SuddhAnanda bhArati and DanDapANI dESikar are among my favorites. What variety in this concert! Haven't heard the bEgaDa varNam of Tiger before. Sanjay started with the guru's and ended with the disciple's song (manamE, rAmanaip pADa maRavAdE by MDR). ellAm Sivan Seyal is a sparkling composition.
Then again, tittikkum tamizh needs to be blended with tETa telugu, sanskrit and kannaDa songs for some folks in a given concert. Otherwise, they find it boring, I guess. In tamizh nADu, if tamizh composers alone are sung once in a while--the same can appy to other regions and their languages--I think it's a good thing.
I have been happy that Malladi Bros have been including one or two tamizh songs in each of their concerts in the US (mostly Papanasam Sivan's). So, instead of singing token songs in the language of the region (or to an audience of many who speak that language), it's a good thing for them to take up songs boldly in languages other than their own mother tongue. Performers sing in telugu and sanskrit without even thinking about it because they are by the Trinity, which is fine.
We modern day composers have no reason to complain when the performers have barely tapped the wealth we find in compositions of those who lived in the first half of the 20th century and even before. If only all the performers (tamizh speaking ones, at least) make up their minds to sing one Subramaya Bharati song or a few by tamizh composers in every concert!

[tiruppugazh]

Thanks so much! Please keep them coming.

[bharathi]

The last few days that I spent at Narada Gana Sabha was an enriching experience, for it provided a panoramic view of vast canvas of Indian Music.
Here is gist of some concerts, that I attended

31st October: 2.45 pm
Featured artists
vocal-Kunnakudi Balmurali Krishna
violin-Raghavendra Rao
Mrudangam-Guruvayoor Durai
N. Subramaniam

Theme: Beyond boundaries

(1) varnam: tana varna: Nava ghana Raga malika
(2) Erum maliyum Me : Ragam Sucharitra: Koteeswara Iyer
(3)Cheta Sri-Dwijavanthi: Dikshithar
(4)Muddu Momu Ela: Suryakantam
(5)Sankarabharam: RTP; with grahabedam
(6) Surutti-Tillana

The shankarabharanam was good..
Overall : loud tala rendering, very distracted stage presence, lack of sowkyam in the music
---------------------
4:45 pm
Vocal:Sowmya
violin: Embar Kannan
Mrudangam:K Subramaniam
Kanjira: K. V. Gopalakrishanan
Theme: Pambharyathai nokki (halloween in the Carnatic music context?)

Stage opening was refreshingly new..lights off.. with only halloween lamps all around; lights on and the vocalist is in black..

(1) Vatapi-hamsadwani
(2) Cinthisthunnade-Mukhar-tyagaraja
(3)Kapali-Mohanam
(4) KadaiKannvaithennai-Begada
(5)KaanaVendamo-SreeRanjani
(6)Raksha Bettare-Bhairavi
(7)Ethai andu ichai kondayo-
(8)Surutti
(9)Sindubhairavi-alaiyade pey maname

A good concert, a very well done begada and mukhari, the bhairavi was better dealt with by the violinist.
Quite a surprise that an impressive list could be put up in such a unusual theme.. congrats to Soumya
----------------------------
I Nov : "yuva Pratiba"
1,2,12
A very well conceived theme by vocalists Bharath Sundar and Vidya Kalyanraman
(1)Varnam: Sree
(2)Ranjani-dattahreya trimurthi rupa
(3)Sree Ranjani:Bhuvini Dasudane
(4)Bhairavi:Mayamma
(5)Bhairavi :RTP
Ragamalika swarams BS: Kapi,Narayani and KapiNarayanai
VK:Kedaram, Gowlai, Kedaragowlai
Ananthakrishana:Nattai,Kurinji, NattaiKurinji
(6) Ahir Bhairav:Pibare Ramarasam
I am sure the theme is evident from the rags listed
This was an excellent concert.. Wonderful rendering by both the vocalists and violinist too..
Future of CM in great hands..
---------------------------
4:45
Jugalbandhi
Jayteerth Meyundi and Abhishek Raghuram
Raag: Multani
rendered by both
Raag: Sudh Kalyaan/Mohanakalyani
The lovely Lalgudi tillana rendered by Abhishek
Abhishek's voice sounded wonderful.. he interspersed the Hindustani vocalists with good repartees.. wish he could sung longer.. seems he was mesmerized by the Hindustani musician
------------------------
“Isai nattakam”
Sikkil Guruchran..
Extremely stressed singing :
I couldnt sit thro’ beyond the first 20 minutes
---------------------
Trichur Brothers
(1) Jagadananda-nattai
(2) Ranganayakam –nayaki
(3) Aananda natam-poorvikalyanai
(4) Bhogeendra sayinam
(5) Daukorvalena-Todi
(6) Errakkam varamal ponathennakaranam? Behag
The krithis were rendered extremely well… the brothers have a great voice..
Ragam nervaral swaram were not upto the mark.. more aakara based than bhava based
------------------
Nitya sree mahadevan
Jai hanuman
(1)Nattai.. Rukmini ramani
(2) Darbar.. jaya maruthi—gowrisankar
(3)Dharmavathi-Mangaam bhuthi –annamayya
(4)Surutti—Ketharathamu
(5) Mohanam-Ramsami thoodan naanada-arunachala kavi
(6)Kaanada-dheera hanumane namo nama-dikshithar
(7)Kambhoji-bhavatanaya-papanasam
(8)Viruttam:kavikannan
(9)manirangu:rama dootham: ramesh vinayakan
(10)Sri hanuman jaya hanuman: bhajan

Overall a boring concert; not very pleasing to the ear either
--------------------------

Visaka Hari: Prahalada Bakthi Vijayam

An excellent program done by the artist: an exemplary story teller..
A lovely voice and beautiful rendering of Bilahari, Kedaragowla, yamunakalyani and many more I lost track of.. as I got immersed in the story..
A beautiful program worth the wait of the day..

-----------------------------
Students of Neyveli Santanagopalan
Gokul and Sreeranjani
As I entered Gokul was singing beautiful sarva lagu swarams in poornachandrika at palukavemi,
and I thought it was Neyveli himself singing as entered the hall.. excellent rendering by the lad.

He then presented poorvikalyani: neraval at mathura puri.. again excellently done
Then came a viruttam
“kaadalagi kachindu “ darbaari kaanada
Chandra sekhara parvati-purandara vittala
Sreeranjani's presentation
Swaram at darbar varnam charanam
Kannada: ragam tanam
Keervani: vananai
Bits of Behaag, ragesri
Tirupugazh
Bhani presented was excellent.. no piece was rendered in full..
The presentation was more a lec dem on do and donts in music learning.. although useful, the lack of rendering even a single piece in full was a bit odd
------------------------
Ellame sangeetham thaan
Very good presentation by Dr. Sriram Parasuram in both Karanatic and Hindustani genres of Mayamalavagowla
A few examples using this scale in film were well presented by Anuradha
The other ragas were Reetigowla, charukesi, hamsanandi etc..
The high pitched rendering by Anuradha, was not exactly music to the ear
-----------------------------
Sanjay Subrahmanyam
Already written about was on Thitikkum Tamizh isai..
This was a disappointing concert..
No rakthi ragas.. the potpouri viruttams had no poruttam
A more specific theme could have been chosen.. for isn’t Tamizh Isai a much presented subject recently?
---------------------
7th Nov
Gayathri Venkatraghavan and Nisha Rajagopal

Another disappointing concert.. Gayathri’s voice was drowned in the joint venture..
Kamvardini was dealt with for too long.. the effect was repetition of sancharas over, over and over again..
Tyagaraja yoga in Anandabhairavi was slightly better
Raga Sashi dana in Dhakka was fast paced
Then came kaana kan kodi Vendum in Kambhoji.. this too suffered from too much repetition

Viruttam was rendered in hamsanandi, dhanyasi and bagesri followed by MDR’s Sagara sayana Vibho, but again lacked the sowkyam that we have come to expect after listening to this being rendered by MDR and KVN..
-------------------
Anoop Jalota presented a rather enlivening concerts, including the audience in a great measure
-------------------
TM Krishna: on Pre-trinity music; a little talking but very good singing.
Very well researched, well conceived and beautifully presented event
1. Thevaram: Thoduyya seviyin- gambeera nattai—excellently rendered with swara kalpana
2. Astapathi-latitalavanga-vasantha
3. Swarajathi-Huseni-melattur venkatrama sastry; a very good raga alapana
4. Prabandam-Mechabowli-Venkatamakhin-triputa talam
5. jathiswaram-kalyani-Rupakam
6. varnam-kankangi-todi-ata thalam: excellent neraval
7. padam-Osasi-bhairavi
8. Shabdam-kamboji,dhanyasi,surutti
9. tirupugazh-kadi-modi-vaada-shankarabharam
10. Keertanam-pavamana

A excellent concert sung in inimitable Krishna style.. The prabandam had sancharas all the way upto the tara sthayi shadja, which Krishna could handle with ease.. Congrats to Krishna on singing a concert devoted to rakthi ragas

BSU was well organized and many thanks to Sashi kiran and his team for their hard work

[sureshvv]

Sanjay started with the guru's and ended with the disciple's song (manamE, rAmanaip pADa maRavAdE by MDR).

Thanks for clarifying. Have been listening to CM for only about two decades now and hadn't heard this particular song until this concert! Terrific lyrical structure (now would that be dhathu or mathu? ) with the repeating refrain which Sanjay sang with great relish. Hoping to hear it once again during the season somewhere.

[bharathi]

"(4)Ahiri:Mayamma"
correction instead of Bhairavi:Mayamma
in the list of Bharat Sundar/Vidya Kalyanraman

[rshankar]

Thanks for the reviews!
Can someone please throw some light on the iSai nATakam?
What was the Sabdam that Sri T. M. Krishna rendered?

[srutilaya]

Sanjay also sang Kundalavarali -- Tirukural

[sureshvv]

Sanjay also sang Kundalavarali -- Tirukural

Yep. Mayuram Viswanatha Sastry. Forgot that in my hurry to post.

[arasi]

Suresh,
MDR's song was new to me until Sanjay sang it last season.To me, it had all the emotive qualities of an ArunAcalak kavi's song and had the drama of a terukkUttu when I first heard it. Add to it the MDR-ish rendering and his meaningful pauses. I don't pay much attention to thematic titles. Some of them may not even mean much with what follows as a performance!
I have also heard 'ellAm sivan Seyal'sung by Sanjay elaborately and it was a worthy treatment of vasanthA and of the lyrical content of the song. Goes to prove that tamizh songs needn't belong to the tukkaDA section alone. Did he do neraval in 'anjEl anjEl enRE accattaip pOkki'?

[rshankar]

In a concert that extended for about 2.5 hours, longer than most concerts for this slot, not one single hackneyed kriti was featured. The most frequently sung Tamil composer Papanasam Sivan was given a well-deserved break!

Another one where Sri PS was given a break, perhaps? http://www.hindu.com/fr/2010/11/12/stor ... 110200.htm

[arasi]

Very nice to see this, Ravi. Songs I haven't heard sung before. Has the reviewer left out some songs? Surely, the grandson sang at least one of his grandfather's great compositions, I would think.

[rshankar]

Arasi - my feelings exactly. And you are correct about the songs actually listed - not very frequently heard or unheard!

[arasi]

Ravi,
Another thing I noticed was that the reviewer, like president Kalam (a fellow muslim) is into CM.

[hamirkalyani123]

Thank you bharathi for the list. Would appreciate if you can post the list for "tri shakthi" program that was held on 9th Nov. I think with a review of how it went. (Dr. MBK, Sudha Raghunathan and Ravikiran).