Sowmya@BVB on Nov 23rd,2010

[rajeshnat]

Sowmya@BVB on Nov 23rd,2010
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Vocal : S Sowmya
Violin : Dr narmada
Mrudangam : Neyveli narayanan
KanjirA : KV gOpAlakrishnan

Concert duration : ~ 2 hours

1. varnam "erA nApai" - tOdi - patnam
2. sudhA madhOOrya (S) - sindhurAmakriyA - T
5 mins swaras
3. brOva samayammidhE rAmayyA (R N S) - gowrimanOhari - garbhapurivAsa
11 mins alApana , 5 mins violin
neraval in "karuNAkaruDu nIvu gAda vara" for 6 mins
swaras for 2 mins

4.nAdaniLai kaNduruga (S)- gayakapriyA - KI
5 mins swaras
5A. durusugA kRipajUci (R N S T)- sAveri - SS
11 mins alApanai , 6 mins violin return
neraval in "parama pAvani kRipAvani vinuta" for 5 mins
swaras for 7 mins
5B.tani for 11 mins

6. shanthi dhArini sayee??(Raga sketch) - chArukEsi - ???
7. enakkum uNakkum - shenjurutti -vallaLAr
8. thilllAnA tom toM udana - kamAs (not poornachandrikA) - patnam
9. pavamAna

It has been quite few years since I heard Smt Sowmya . The concert had quite a lot of touch points to my liking and also few touch points that were not to my liking

Few Positives:
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1. I liked the gayakapriyA krithi a lot , possibly I heard it for the first time .For a period of time I was mistaken to its close cousin vakulAbharanam , but I just love the melodious scale of this gayakapriyA or vakulabharanam that too with a touch of real lovely swaras has a bit of very distinct and lovely aura.

2. The submain gowrimanOhari was really well done, the rAga in its first phrase itself was gowrimanOhari and sowmya sang a nice alApana and the krithi was well rendered with a good neraval.

3. Liked the rare sudhA madhoorya and particularly the response of Dr narmada in the swaras was well done.

4. Saveri was well done with a nice alAp and diction of a particularly difficult ss krithi.

5. Nice support in percussion , narayanan played with lot of anticipation and his play did pep the concert with a good support by KVG.

6. In the tukkadas I liked the charukEsi sai bhajan/krithi , she bought a good shade of balance with emote .I think she took that number because that day being a birthday celebrations of sathya sai babA.

Few things that I did not like:
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1. The first varnam was bit gappy , her voice was not that well rounded there.

2. The excellence that she generally bought in the krithi and alApana with her well rounded rendition were not matched with the neraval and swaras in both submain and main. I felt atleast in this concert there was bit less stamina to have a both fulfilling neraval and swaras put together(AND is the key).

3. Dr narmada's play was more elegant during returns.But however for most of the alApanas ,the nAdham was not soaked in melody, the play was bit rough.

4. The concert was a typical mylapore bash of singing just close to 2 hours , it was more of ithu Porum for BVB type.She not singing a slokham/viruththam/padam or may be a pallavi and wrapping close to 5 minutes short of 2 hours was a disappointment.

THe choice of krithis of Smt Sowmya is always quite unique which is always a standard in her concerts .Overall a very good concert.

[ubari]

First learn how to sit in the concert. Then begin to write reviews. "RESPECT THE ART ,THEN COMMENT"

[satyabalu]

*Gayagapriya of Koti well treated with poise(listeners would not have felt the rare vivadi (13) effect of the Raga) with a good round of swaras & equally spontaneous return by Narmada.
*charukesi no. was soulful-nice lyrics -shanti dhayini,saye narayani,charanagatha ?paripalini----charukesi......kanthimathi,Kalyani, kapalini,kameshwari,siva...shantha sundara,satvaswaroopini,s?adachara sanmarga pradhayini,chandraha? sulochani,jagadpradhayini? Alamohini A raga sketch. was given purported to be the Hindusthani version of Charukesi(If there is one) But raga mudra is Charukesi"Effect was virtual with the saibhabha's real lifelike photo in the sitting posture placed to the left of artist stage facing the audience ".Composer?
* I also felt Naramada's bow was very harsh sans melody.She signed off with Kamas thillana.
*Also nice on stage decoration with the presiding deity Krishna .(since changed to Balaji&today Yoga Narasimhar the best of the lot-kudos to the organisers more than compensating the feature of declared broken seats in between)
*Nice anticipation from Narayanan &KVG.

[Nick H]

First learn how to sit in the concert. Then begin to write reviews. "RESPECT THE ART ,THEN COMMENT"

First learn who you are talking about, then comment.

Unless gratuitous bad manners is your hobby, of course.

rajeshnat is a friend and a reviewer well respected by many of us.

[ubari]

@ nick : yeah he is just respected by all of you.. Still not god. So can say the truth.. He knows if he has something called conscience.. And don barge in from nowhere, as if u really saw what happened.

[squims]

Why the hostility in this thread? I don't see anything in rajeshnat's review that suggests he doesn't respect the art...

[Enna_Solven]

@ nick : yeah he is just respected by all of you.. Still not god. So can say the truth.. He knows if he has something called conscience.. And don barge in from nowhere, as if u really saw what happened.

Rajeshnat is not God but his contribution to this forum has been valuable. If he did something during the concert that is objectionable, you should have taken it up with him then and there. Don't come into this forum and insult him. We don't care what he does anywhere else but just what he does here.

His review is very measured unlike your rant. You have demeaned yourself by your own action. Now leave us alone.

[bilahari]

People, DNFTT.

Rajesh, thank you as always for a nice review. I have heard this sindhurAmakriya and it is a beautiful composition!

[kamavardhani]

a reviewer well respected by many of us.

How sad!

[mankuthimma]

Now Rajesh must be feeling like one of those heroes in Hitchcock's classics . He does not know the other guy but the other guy knows you
Now if there is one guy who does not need a badge.

Rajesh : Get rid of that final judgement part , good , very good ,excellent and you will avoid such situations . I learnt it that way .

Bottomline :
Guys who cannot put their real names to their posts are not worth the ink used to pen their thoughts . They are just cowards .
Rajesh's reviews will always be understood when we realise that we are all work-in-progress.

[sureshvv]

Getting back to the discussion on the concert rather than discussing the reviewer...

it was more of ithu Porum for BVB type.

Au contraire, in comparison to her thematic concert at the BSU which I thought was a bit of a boondoggle, here she gave the keerai kattu BVB mamis their due.

[ubari]

@mankuthimma : That applies to u too i believe

[Pratyaksham Bala]

Rajesh: Get rid of that final judgement part, good, very good,excellent and you will avoid such situations. I learnt it that way.

It was a very good review by rajeshnat. This is what I understood of the final part:-
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1. The first varnam was a warming up piece.

2. It was felt that the neraval and swaras were short of the usual level excellence that she generally brings in the krithi and alApana with her well rounded rendition.

3. Dr. Narmada's play was more elegant during returns, than in most of the alApanas.

4. Slokham, viruththam or padam did not find a place due to the short duration of 2 hours; that was a disappointment.
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I don't find anything wrong with these comments.

[bilahari]

No, I do not think Rajesh should get rid of the "bottomline" rating of concerts because it is his opinion and he's well entitled to one. Especially given he supports his judgement with explanations and doesn't merely issue sweeping, unsubstantiated opinions on concerts.

However, what SHOULD happen is regular members of this forum learning to identify trolls and consistently ignore them. I have almost given up on this hope - the most senior members of the forum are often the most likely to lash out at trolls.

[mankuthimma]

@mankuthimma : That applies to u too i believe

not all . you are wrong there , too .
mankuthimma is the avathar of kulkarni , known to most guys here .
In Rajesh's defence , not that he needs one ,one must add that anyone who knows him personally will never attack him.

I cannot say that even for myself .My problems with civilisation are on a different plane .
The ones who wont like him are the artist community - budding , professional , chela-disciples - all who operate under a cloak of anonyimity . Guys who come here for nothing more than advertising , but in discussions will moan - Oh rasikas ? What a place it has become . I dont have time to visit there. :devil:

[mankuthimma]

rajesh yesterday http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVuMWsh_qX8

rajesh today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDPb2ShfjHo

8)

[tyagarajadasa]

I enjoy rajesh's reviews too. In fact when I saw this post of his, I was sure he had been listening more to Sowmya than looking at his watch!
(@rajesh, don't you usually include time taken to present an item to the micro and nano seconds???? )

Cool one kulkarni sir!

[Nick H]

@ nick : yeah he is just respected by all of you.. Still not god. So can say the truth.. He knows if he has something called conscience.. And don barge in from nowhere, as if u really saw what happened.

I've sat by him in quite a few concerts. We've spoken many times. He writes reviews that even I, as an "amateur rasika" can appreciate. I didn't barge in from nowhere (where did you barge in from? You certainly barged in, with an aggressive post) I spoke up for a friend.

Comments about "god" are ridiculous. I am not God, Rajesh is not god, mankuthimma, who might have listened to more music than many of us put together, is not god. We write reviews of concerts as we see them, whether as beginners or advanced rasikas; as dedicated, learned archivists, or even as professional musicians. They are meant to be taken in good faith, as they are. They are part of the spirit of this forum. Take it or leave it, but why abuse it?

[rshankar]

There is no accounting for taste, and what really bothers me no end is that it is people who take the time to write reviews regularly are the ones hat are most open to being beaten up. Most of us write these impressions out of a need to share something nice and wonderful that befell us. Kji, Rajesh and Bharath have increased my 'exposure' to musicians that I would never have even thought about listening...musicians that I have urged the local CM associations to invite based on the reviews/clips. The reviews in Hindu are a joke, with so many factual errors (in the most recent edition of the Friday review section, a respected reviewer is blazing new trails by called 'solkaTTu' as svaras) and flights of fantasy that they are not worth the paper they're printed on - it is reviews and impressions of people like Rajesh, Suresh, Bharath, Bilahari etc that one can use to go on....
Rajesh - thank you for your reveiws, and follow Ellery Queen's dictum - grow a skin that is 1-part rhino hide and 3-parts armored plate, and carry on.....

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Rajesh,
Please do not be discouraged by ubari's comments.
There is a lot of us here who appreciate and value your contribution.

[Nick H]

well said rshankar and S R. I have no doubt that rajesh will continue. I hope so.

It's very simple: he (and others) write, we enjoy.

We all write, if we choose...

[narayan]

Rajesh will certainly not stop reviews because of one or two ill timed comments. I particularly like the use of language, e.g. the word "gappy" probably does not exist, but it does convey something quite specific and striking. A gappy varnam? I think I'm going to use this phrase!

[mankuthimma]

did = violin return = exist before rajesh ?

[VK RAMAN]

ubari's 15th post only growing pain!

[mankuthimma]

well said rshankar and S R. I have no doubt that rajesh will continue. I hope so.It's very simple: he (and others) write, we enjoy. We all write, if we choose...

Frankly speaking , Rasikas is not a place to dabble around if one is not interested in the other rasika.This site is not about music. It is about the rasika .Characters loom out large , from the writings .
To a large extent , it is true about life . If one is not interested in " Life " in its most basic avathar , the life spent is not worth living .
If one is interested in Life , in all its shades , from grey to blue , then there is hope of some understanding .And Judgement takes a back seat.
Let us remember . Being judgemental is one of the banes of Carnatic Music. It is always as though the Musician is sitting and singing in front of a tribunal :devil:

[Radhika-Rajnarayan]

and follow Ellery Queen's dictum - grow a skin that is 1-part rhino hide and 3-parts armored plate, and carry on.....

Ellery Queen! That is someone I have always admired and read voraciously!!

Nice review, by the way.

[rshankar]

Ellery Queen! That is someone I have always admired and read voraciously!!

Me too!