KSHETRA SANGEETHAM - EPISODE 7

[HR]

Dear Rasikas ,

Do make it convenient to attend episode 7 of the Kshetra Sangeetham series : Kshetra - Sringeri ...

[HR]

It was a true blessing, for, 9th April 2011 – the date chosen for Kshetra Sangeetham – Sringeri, coincided with the 61st Vardhanti of Jagadguru Sankaracharya Sri Bharati Teertha Mahaswamigal. A brief and informative presentation by Dr. Chithra Madhavan was followed by the concert.

The song list for the evening was -

• Sangeetha Samrajya – Mohanakalyani – Adi – Ramamoorthy Rao
  Sri Sharadambike – Karaharapriya – Khanda Chapu – Lalithadasar – R,S
  Bhajare Loka Gurum – Bhimplas – Rupakam – Sri Bharati Teertha Mahaswamigal - R
  Sharade – Devagandhari – Papanasam Sivan – Adi
  Abhaya Varade Sharade – Hindolam- Misra Chapu – Indra Natesan – R , N
  Vandeham Sada – Hamsanatani – Adi – Jayachamraja Wodeyar - S
  Srimad Abhinava Vidyateertha – Kalyani – Adi – N.S. Ramachandran – R , S, T
  Manakka Paata – Hamsanadam – Chanda – Arunagirinathar
  Sharada Bhujangam – Ragamalika - (Adi Sankara) followed by Sharanu Sharanu – Senjuruti – Rupakam – Anai Ayya

In addition to compositions on Sringeri by Vaggeyakaras, there are a also a host of compositions and hymns by the Sringeri Acharyas, in praise of the Goddess and as tributes to their Gurus .The cheerful Sangeetha Samrajya in Mohanakalyani set the stage for a fantastic concert - a unique blend of rare and familiar ragams & kritis, and covering a wide range of composers. The main piece of the concert beginning with the words ‘Srimad Abhinava Vidyateertha’ is a tribute to H.H Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamigal. It is interesting to note that Arunagirinathar has composed a tiruppugazh here. Dr. Chithra Madhavan’s words after the concert summed it up aptly – ‘the recital was as serene and beautiful as Sringeri itself’

[Sundarnrao]

Terrific write-up on the ambrosial concert. It strongly reflects the trascendental illuminations that you also experienced that day. As you brilliantly pointed out, it was more than a blessing to have witnessed this wondrous concert on acharya's 61st vardhanthi also. The intro gave a great contour and divine significance to the chosen theme for the day. Mohana-kalyani was a luxurious start. It set the impetus for the concert with phenomenal embellishments. Shri saradhe further carried the state of bliss and indicated a strong readiness for Karaharapriya (main) rendition. KHP had a very detailed course ornamentation filled with innovations. It deeply revealed Smt. Vijayalakshmy Subramaniam's mastery, virtuosity and musical-diversity (of 'kafi' explorations in other sub-genres of Asian-classical-music (north-indian, pakistani-classical music etc). There is a saying in golf, "Even god has to practice his putting" --Smt. VS's tayyari was so godly that it produced spontaneous elegance across every bit of raga exploration reflecting one more golf-saying "play it as it lies". Sharadhe in devagandhari was a great dessert that could be relished after the main-presentation of the day. It sported an orthodox exposition. Bhajare set to bhimpalasi was also out-of-the-world. Strong depiction of key-phrases(chalans), Signatory phrases(pakads) etc on bhimplasi was astounding. p-g slicing in there was invoking goosebumps. After many many years, i heard a purified bhimplasi like that of Pandit CR Vyas(identified through his signature name 'gunijaan' or 'jaanaguni') or Pandit jaganth bua purohit (identified through his signature 'gunidas')

Vandhegam was terrific too. Heard hamsanatani for the first time. omission of 'n' and 'd' gave superb color and effect. while this scale automatically pushes for acrobatics type of demonstrations, i was spellbound with the aesthetics quotionents that smt.VS fragranced all through.

Abhya (hindolam) was awesome. I have heard from connoisseurs that, Ustad Nissar hussain khan Sahab (grand-father of Ustad Rashid Khan of Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana) always said "Hindolam/malkauns is as easy as it is for a beginner and gets as tough as it is for a performer due to its andolith (oscillatory due to frequency of notes) nature". Smt. VS's tayyari and command was so strong & so affirmative that, the nectar of hindolam/malkauns was oozing right from the first second. It was a transcending experience. colorful alankars she deployed along with variety of taans (saptak-taan, gamak-taans, choot-ki-taan, pirat-taans, palta-taans, sargam-ki-taans etc) reminded kasur-patiala-gharana (represented by doyens like Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali khan, pt. Ajoy chakraborthy, Kaushiki-chakraborthy-desikan (Ajoy-ji's daughter), ustad-raza-ali-khan) based explorations

Sri madh Abhinava on kalyani was indeed the power-stroke of the day. kalyani sketches were so effortless, elegant, exciting and included EVERY BEST phrases.. be the sophisticated p-p-p range demonstrations or srgmpmrs or grs-ndp-grsnpdmgrs (choot-ki-taan) were all cool and breezy. even the mano-dharma pieces were very interesting and exciting. Manakka in hamsanadham was a delight too. It was crispy desert right after a very huge yaman platter. it kept up the tight flow very refreshingly.

Sthothram was very colorful. Every raga presented was marvellous. Bihag and Bhairavi colors were very soulful. Senjurutti sharanu sharanu was also amazing and interesting. While it is duly different from jhinjothi, i was still able to observe & absorb certain superb phrases that can be configured to jhinjhoti.

V.Sanjeev(violin) and Mridangist accompaniment was also complementing the show very well. Indeed a great concert that will be in memoirs for a very long-time.

[rshankar]

Sundarnrao - thank you for that review...it was first for me...'seeing' CM through the lens of HM....I am glad to see that Dr. VS' music transcends genres. She is a member of our forum as well. I do have a question...when you use the word tayyAri, does it translate into 'sAdhakam' in terms of CM usage? I assume tAns are phrases?

[satyabalu]

"seeing' CM through the lens of HM....I am glad to see that Dr. VS' music transcends genres." -sankar!This is the best way to describe her music more appropriate for the Hindolam dealt with by her-reminding me of GNB bani - perhaps imbibed in the process of her popularing GNB compositions as well.
*Sunder N.Rao!Your review clearly portrays "One has to keep upgrading the level in listening in order to enjoy the latent nuances of her innovative style."Where were you all these days?
*I found her more emotive in this Kshetra-wonder if Sharada could be her Ishta Devathai!
*I must submit I could not help recollecting DKJ during "Sharade".Also thought of santanam's"vadeham Sharada..".

[Sundarnrao]

Dear R.Shankar sir -- 'Tayyari' in hindustani music refers to complete state of 'readiness and preparedness' through multi-years of rigorous riyaz ( sadhakam; practice). Taans are not phrases. Taans are similar to to 'brihas' and 'sangathis' demonstrated in CM. There are many variety of taans including saptak taans (where arohanam and avarohanam are demonstrated), palta-taans (roughly mapped to janta varisais; paltas totally depends on artist's spontaneity here), pirat-taans (dhaatu varisai), bol-taan (where the key-word (a) mukhda is weaved with taans), gamak-ki-taans (with a strong stress on micro-toning; giving dhrupad ang; Agra gharanaites have strong focus here), choot-ki-taan ( example i can think of is, one of Smt. VS's hindolam phrase mgs- dnd- m'g's'ndmgs or in kalyani smt. VS demonstrated grs-ndp-g'r's'ndpmgrs etc )Taans can also be elaborated with even swaram-passages (sargam-ki-taan) that CM-artists present during neravals also. "Phrases" in khyal system of best defined through 'chalans' (movements of raga-scale), 'pakad' (signatory demonstration to constantly re-focus on the kernel of raga), behlawa (artistic imagination of combination of notes giving a better context), badhat (expansion of raga note-by-note), KAns(dd-p; d-pp types are examples) sparsh (reverse of kans; gmm, dnn etc), meend-maand (upward and downward glides)meerukhand etc.. Hope this helps.

Dear Satyabalu sir - Truly concur with you on the listening-maturity-levels. Exposure to asian-classical-music (CM, HM, punjabi-classical, pakistani-classical, Afghani-classical etc) give a better zone of contexts to determine innovations, sophistications, aethestics, artistic-imagination, tonal-richness, range-management, expressive-quotients, emotional-balance, divinity and devotion to every 'sur' and 'sruthi' is obtained. Smt. VS had a terrific balance in every bit of above aspects to notch up a godly performance. While there is a popular-mis-conception that lyrics and dynamics alone can bring up 'emotions', it is advised by many doyens in other formats that, 'surel' awaaz (tuned-voice; pitch-perfect 100%) gives 99% emotions automatically and the dynamics & lyrical blends consummates to 100%.

I was also able to draw the same purity of DKJ and M.Santhanam's simplified demonstration in Smt. VS's rendition all through. Perhaps, this also notched up emotional-brilliance in-addition to her sureli-awaaz, dynamics, lyrical-grip, tonal-productions and profound renditions.

Also to your other question, I was neck-deeply initiated into HM for the last 13+ yrs (diving deeper into khyal format) in-addition to being out of country for many years, and hence, I was out of action from CM. One of my closest friend brought me back to the track with fullest motivation and strongest inpiration to draw balance on all formats of asian-classical-music.

[rshankar]

Thank you for the succinct explanation!

Dear R.Shankar sir

Please call me Ravi or Shankar!

[Sundarnrao]

Sure, Ravi. Not sure whether you had an opportunity to witness Smt. VS's AIR campus concert on April-16. It was a seraphical concert themed on shyama shastry. Right from the sound-check that fragranced the
squinches & flinches of guileful hamsadhwani calisthenics itself emanated a strong sensation in me to be prepared for an imminent concert that was to be presented.

Being in sanctimonious precint already with the concert memoirs we've been discussing above, I was able to further quell through her jaunty Kalyani spell on himadhrisuthe. It was a very spiffy treatment with a rakish elaboration completely different from the kalyani we heard on April-9. Smt.VS's raga colors had a phenomenal blend of orthodox and yet a sophsitcated exuberence all through. It was a very detailed and highly ornamented presentation filled with pious manodharma spreaded on the signature mark of 'shyama krishna'. Have heard many stalwarts referring "Impact of any artist is best felt when the manodharma lingers in rasikas for a long time" -- It is very true as a lot of it are still running fresh in my mind.

With such a captivating kalyani already dozing in the mind came-up the second grand presentation, "raave himagirikumari" -- todi swarajathi. Having been mind-blowned prowess and profess on smt. VS's "todi-series" album, this presentation etched yet another magical dimension of listening experience with a refreshingly novel dealing of todi. Smt.VS elaborated innovative and sublime sketches reinforcing her divine-mastery of the majestic todi. Such a brawny proficiency(especially on tough ragas like todi)are always bestowed to artists with saraswathi-kadaaksham and I could realize that all through the presentation. It was so celestial that every accompanists were able to draw creative juices in their respective departments to notch supremacy. Smt. VS must have received more than 100 daads (daad is a term in HM used for instant appreciations; example: wah, sabash, kya-baat-hai etc..) from every rasika.

Gaulipantu-Puraharajaye was also monarchical phoenix that maintained the immortal flow of the concert. Parakela nannu on kedaragowla was also a reverent presented that notched up the sanctity higher. It seeded a great lot of ideas for probationers like me to absorb, adopt and adapt them into khammaj-thaat based ragas in HM-- especially on manj-khammaj, tilak-kamod, sorath etc..

paalinchu on madhyamavathi further dredged the fidelity in the overall concert. very interesting colors and profound gayaki on megh(HM scale of madhyamavathi). Thoroughly enjoyed every bit of badhat, sparsh, Kans, meend-maand, mishrits, kurulas, paltas etc.. I was able to relish more than 13 frames of alkankars mandated in khyal-format (Officially, people say 24 to 27 alankars to be presented as part of any khyal rendition).

Final climax of kanakashaila on punnagavarali was yet another supreme rendition. It was indeed a divine continuity to her sleek launch sprinkler for NDTV "off the record" program (not sure you watched it; if not, you may please check out the clippings in youtube). Smt.VS's renditions brought out a fervored emotions and due idolatory expressions in this song.

All-in-all, It was also a grand hallmark concert marking the augmented aplomb of Smt.VS.

I was given to understand that AIR will feature this concert on July 2nd 2011 night. Please feel free to tune in incase if you missed it LIVE. Happy listening!

[satyabalu]

* Puraharajaye was a rare one.*Parakelanannu was a good filler to keep up a fast tempo before settling down for Main Madhyamavathy.
*The selection of swaram @jagamu was unique- characteristic of VS.
*Violin- Dr.Hemalatha was pleasing.
*Tanjore Ramdas Ghatam Karthick duo did their best with a lot of anticipation &appreciation from VS&Hemalatha.looked like they had to limit their tani.
*If all of us are commentators (HR giving ball by ball description) you are Lala Amarnath -except perhaps you are highly technical for uniniated like me(in HM) although you call yourself a "probationer!"
*That day was Meenakshi kalyanam@Madurai the place I hail from -I would have prompted her to sing atleast one no. on Meenakshi had I known about the prog earlier.
*she did her best in presenting the most preferred of the Trinities(View Hindu chat corner in her Blog?)

[Sundarnrao]

Fully concur with you, Satyabalu sir. Puraharajaye was very rare and was extremely majestic. Swaram was also beyond words sir -- Smt. VS layered very strong progressions with phenomenal imaginations without disturbing the meditative mood and the melodic structure that was bundled in jagamu sir. Some phrases were very distinct and unique also. Looks like, Thani-avarthanam was thinned down due to time crunch sir.