Nithyashree,B.U. GaneshPrasad,I.Sivakumar,Atlanta May 1 2011

[sramaswamy]

Vocal : Nithyashree Mahadevan
Violin : B.U.Ganesh Prasad
Mrudangam : I.Sivakumar

Date : Sun May 1, 2011
Time : 4:15 - 7:45 pm
Venue : Hindua Temple of Atlanta, Riverdale, GA
Organized by : CAMAGA, Atlanta

1 Chalamela (Varnam) - Darbar
2 Mariyadaka - Bhairavam - Thayagaraja
3 Orajupu - Kannadagowla - Thyagaraja
4 Seshachala Nayakam - Varali - Muthuswami Dikshithar
5 Ni va saravana - Bilahari - Kotiswara iyer
6 Hey kamakshi - Yadukulakambodhi - Andavan Pichai
7 Koluvaiunnade - Bhairavi - Thyagaraja
8 Thani Avartanam
9 Sivaganga - Punnagavarali - Papanasam Sivan
10 RTP-Sivaranjani-Chatusra jathi triputa thalam
(well that is how she announced but otherwise uncommonly known as Adi thalam)
Kannanai pani maname anu diname mani vannanai thamarai
Hamsadhwani, Begada, Ranjani, ?
11 Baro krishnayya - Ragamalika - vyasa vittala dasa
12 Sivasakthi - Sivasakthi - Bharathiyar
13 Satya rupa satya sai baba
14 Ezhu Malai - Sumanesa Ranjani - Sathur kkarpagam
15 Thiillana-dvijavabti-Kadalur Subramaian
16 Mangalam
17 Surutti

A outstanding RTP in Sivaranjani, some lively tukkadas and wonderful accompaniment from Ganesh Prasad lifted the concert to an out of the ordinary one. A record crowd by Atlanta standards, in spite of Mahanadhi Shobana and some Tamil light music program clashing at the same time made the organizer scramble for extra chairs in the auditorium. I wish this many people land up for other artistes as well

First few items were pretty standard fare almost lacklustre, I would say. But the brisk Bilahari and reposeful Yadukula Kambodhi livened it up. The Bhairavi that followed was the first elaborate item. Excellent alapanai by both Nityasri and Ganesh Prasad.

The thani by Sivakumar got pretty heavy applause from the crowd. He seemed to be in sync with Nityasri all the time. My only gripe was that I would have liked a little more power and punch in his play especially in items like Sivasakthi. He was also a doting daddy on stage pouring out drink for his daughter after her long alapanais.

The Punnagavarali was very emotive and provided the filler between main and RTP. Nityasri poured all her energy and creativity to the RTP in Sivaranjani. You could see her literallly lost in music during her forays. She has enormous vocal power. While some of those shrill pitches she reaches are not something that I am fond of, there was none of that during RTP. It was built methodically and included variation in speed.

She followed up with tukkadas. She brought out the lyrical beauty and punches in the Sivasakthi of Bharathiyar. She was almost planning to wind up when someone from audience requested her to sing the Sumanesa Ranjani. She said, I can go on and on, it depends on the audience. I have to mention that she was announcing items before the song (of course depriving some people's identification game). This in contrast to majority of the artistes on stage who do not talk much but only sing, She seemed very comfortable talking on stage and especially her thanks speech at end of concert seemed to really come from her heart.

Ganesh Prasad was such a fantastic accompaniment. Like the auto-hide computer toolbar that will fold out of the way for the main window to take over the entire display most of the time but still be there when needed, he was there to provide just that right dose of accentuation, follow-up and karvai, and his violin faded or remained silent and let Nithyashree's vocals occupy the soundscape.

[sramaswamy]

This is an aside.

I had to take my friend's teenage daughter to the concert. I was very happy that she decided to come for the concert. But learned to my dismay, that she is there more on her father's insistence. And why is that so I asked. "If one goes to pop concert there is action on stage. You get to see costumes and different stage decoration and arrangement on the stage. To some extent, you get to be involved in the action as well. But in a carnatic music all you see is three people sitting in the same position everytime. She says I will sit at home and listen to tape / CD / MP3 instead of attending a concert"

I thought I will share her remarks, and thought it will be interesting to know your take on this. But please be kind! This is not a remark out of scorn or contempt but rather a very genuine expression of a viewpoint. Let me add that, she likes carnatic music and learns as well.

[rshankar]

Ramaswamy - thank you for the report! Seems to have been a good concert. I do believe that she spells her name as Nithyashree.

And your friend's teen daughter should be commended for her honesty. There are very few children who understand and are driven by CM as a passion (and you get to see most of them in Cleveland year after year). But the overwhelming majority of teens of Indian origin growing up in this country are like your friend's daughter. It is amazing to me that children like her continue to be involved in cultural activities like CM despite being pulled in so many other directions.

I do think that those of us who call this country home should become, and encourage our children to be successfully bi-cultural. In this instance, it may involve the parents attending some 'pop' concerts with their daughter and try to understand and particpate in the energy that is so much in eveidence in those concerts, and help her understand the repose that charaterizes CM concerts, and to watch for, and catch the energy that is present in the voice/music; something that is rather hard to capture in CDs/digital recordings.

[srikant1987]

How big is this Hindua temple? I think that the exchanges between artistes and between artistes and the audience are subtler in CM, and become more observable and enjoyable in chamber concerts, etc. The listener should also "pay attention".

[gee]

This is an aside.

I had to take my friend's teenage daughter to the concert. I was very happy that she decided to come for the concert. But learned to my dismay, that she is there more on her father's insistence. And why is that so I asked. "If one goes to pop concert there is action on stage. You get to see costumes and different stage decoration and arrangement on the stage. To some extent, you get to be involved in the action as well. But in a carnatic music all you see is three people sitting in the same position everytime. She says I will sit at home and listen to tape / CD / MP3 instead of attending a concert"

I thought I will share her remarks, and thought it will be interesting to know your take on this. But please be kind! This is not a remark out of scorn or contempt but rather a very genuine expression of a viewpoint. Let me add that, she likes (mayb not love) carnatic music and learns as well.

One thing I can suggest is to have her ask the main artist if she can sit on stage during the kutcheri. It is an totally different experience to sit on the stage and listen to the concert than it is to sit amongst the audience. You can learn so much more, and I am not talking about the music alone. You learn a lot about the interactions that go on between the artists...some that you might not even notice sitting in the audience! There is nothing wrong with going up to the artist beforehand, introducing yourself and telling them what you learn and who your guru is, and kindly requesting them if you can sit on stage for the learning experience. The worst they can say is no, right? But I am sure they would be more than happy to say yes. This way, she gets a very live interaction and won't be bored. Its frankly exciting What do you think?

[kssr]

One thing I can suggest is to have her ask the main artist if she can sit on stage during the kutcheri. It is an totally different experience to sit on the stage and listen to the concert than it is to sit amongst the audience.

different experience . Your knees should be strong to sit cross legged for the period of the concert
Definitely it is cheaper, if it is Music Academy- Only 50 bucks

[doyoucare]

What? CAMAGA concert and Dr.Ram Sriram was not the mridangist?

[sramaswamy]

Thanks for your comments, Shankar. I agree about some compromise from the two generations. Maybe we can create a new genre of "Carnatic Pop" to satisfy everybody.

Gee, you have a novel idea. The stage is quite huge and it can accomodate quite a bit. But from the stage, like kssr says you have to sit cross legged for the duration and added to that everyone is going to be watching you if you get up in between!

Srikant, by Hindu temple I assume you are asking about the auditorium. It is big sized auditorium. The interactions were definitely not the type of chamber concert level. The stage is huge and there is a spotlight on the artistes. Infact the spot light can get pretty hot. If I remember correctly one of the artistes even remarked "it is hot like Chennai"

[gee]

Sri Ramaswamy and Sri KSSR,

I have to disagree with you on this. If you are an aspiring musician, you will be sitting on the stage whenever you yourself perform, am I right? So why is that a problem if you are simply listening to the concert? It isn't as tough as it sounds, as I and countless other students like me have done so for several concerts. Also, the best way to not have everyone watch you get up midway through the concert is to not get up during the concert If your friend's daughter is serious about carnatic music (which you have implied that she is headed in that direction), she will someday be sitting on the stage cross-legged performing herself. Might as well start practicing sitting on stage now, right?

[vasanthakokilam]

Ravi: Excellent, that last paragraph of your post above. Great advice to parents.

[srikant1987]

The stage is huge and there is a spotlight on the artistes.

That will be so loathsome!

Is it not possible to light a "spotlight" auditorium "normally" (uniformly well-lit) for Carnatic concerts? I can see that when there's dance we may want something different. "Pop" music often has a dance or dance-like component.

Large size is relatively more of a necessary evil. But with large size, necessary amplification to provide good shruti volume uniformly amongst the audience should be insisted upon.

[sramaswamy]

That will be so loathsome!

I totally agree and invariably, the heat from the light is so intense for the artistes that they end up dimming the lights somewhere during the concert. However, let me add that it is not that bright to make it difficult see the audience.

[sramaswamy]

I do believe that she spells her name as Nithyashree.

I changed the name. I was being thrifty in my usage of letters, especially to fit in the heading.

[sramaswamy]

gee

Agreed about sitting continuously on the stage. And your passion and learning should be appreciated. But here we are taking of persons who have some interest but not real passion. Like Shankar says there are indeed some kids for whom this carnatic music is the main focus. In their case, there is no need to persuade them to attend the concert. Why talk about student / kids? I do not even see music teachers attending the concert, leave alone the student / kid.

[gee]

gee

Agreed about sitting continuously on the stage. And your passion and learning should be appreciated. But here we are taking of persons who have some interest but not real passion. Like Shankar says there are indeed some kids for whom this carnatic music is the main focus. In their case, there is no need to persuade them to attend the concert. Why talk about student / kids? I do not even see music teachers attending the concert, leave alone the student / kid.

Yes this is true. I am 22 now, but when I first started learning, I quite frankly disliked going to music class. My parents had to push me tremendously...but over time, I began to appreciate its value and now am passionate about the art. I think there are two kinds of musicians...and this goes along the lines of what you said...those that are born with the natural talent and those that need it to be cultivated. If my parents hadn't pushed me, I wouldn't have developed the interest at all. So I guess what I'm trying to say is...those who have at least some interest should be pushed to develop that interest further. Of course, this is just how I view it...

[arasi]

Gee,
The way you speakabout it doesn't seem to me as if you're being pushed!
You mean, they encourage you and are appreciative of your advancement in your learning and in your practising. They also give you constructive criticism. A child who is really pushed can achieve heights but may not have the same healthy perspective that you have. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[gee]

Gee,
The way you speakabout it doesn't seem to me as if you're being pushed!
You mean, they encourage you and are appreciative of your advancement in your learning and in your practising. They also give you constructive criticism. A child who is really pushed can achieve heights but may not have the same healthy perspective that you have. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Arasi,

You are not wrong at all...I guess "pushed" is really vague and could be taken negatively. I agree that constructive criticism/encouragement would be a better term. As of now, I don't need my parents to tell me to practice or go/listen to concerts...i create the motivation for myself. However, the point I was trying to make was that this wasn't always the case. When I was 7 or 8 (and first started learning), it took a lot of effort to get me to go to class. I admit, there were several periods where I just wanted to quit because of the frustration/dwindling interest. Thats when my parents would "push" me (in a positive manner )

Now that that is clarified, I kinda feel that allowing carnatic music students to sit on the stage during a vidwan/vidushi's concert would be a positive type of encouragement. It would definitely increase one's interest and motivation. What do you all think?