Kum.Aishwarya Shankar, Nadopasana,18.6.2011

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Kum. Aishwarya Shankar gave a scholarly recital for Nadopasana at PS School, Mylapore, Chennai on 18.6.2011. Srividya iyer and Hemanth-also youngsters-accompanied on the violin & Mridanga.

I was prompted to attend the concert after reading a write up appearing in sruti magazine (June issue under ‘talent showcase’ columns.) She had won 21 out of 22 competitions conducted by music academy in 2009 – the report read. Certainly no mean achievement for any upcoming singer!

Aishwarya D/o Dr.Shankar, Senior Consultant, Miot Hospitals, Chennai, has taken to music quite seriously. she has done her BA in music and has taken up masters to run parallel with her formal coaching under veteran vocalist cum musicologist Suguna Varadaachaari.

The compositions included

1. Sri raga –Varnam
2. Ramapriya-sri vasudeva- Khandachapu-Mysore Vasudevachar
3. Anandabhairavi-manasa guruguha-Rupaka- Dikshitar
4. Athaana-Chhedey buddhimanra-Aaadi-Tyagaraja
5. Saveri-Janani Natajanapalini-Aadi-Syamasastri (Main item)
6. Govinda-Madhuvanti-Annamayya
7. Surati-Kaanavendum-Arunachalakavi


The concert was notable for the selection of songs and a sampradaaya oriented rendering. Mysore Vasudevachar’s kriti was a rare one. The niraval and swara passages were neat. The few rounds of Swaraprastaara for Chede buddhimanura (the tyagaraja kriti not heard commonly) was interestingly placed at the Pallavi with an atheetha eduppu.

Aishwarya took special care to avoid the antaragandhaara note in anandabhairavi aalaapana (which however the violinist compensated!). The kriti was rendered with poise.

Saveri was taken up unhurriedly and the kriti was fresh. Aishwarya’s penchant for atheetha eduppu again came to the fore when she chose the charana passage beginning ‘Visalakshi’ for niraval. The swara prastara at three different points in the sahitya –a commonly adopted technique,was done with ease.

The accompanists gave the right support.


Aishwarya can look forward to a promising career in music.

[mahavishnu]

Thank you, Sri Sivaramakrishnan.

I believe this artiste was featured in the Carnatic Idol program earlier this year. In fact, I remember her performance there because she sang swarams at "ceDE buddhi mAnurA", which has an interesting eduppu to begin with.

She appears very talented. I wish her all the best.

On a different note, how is Sruti magazine these days (under the new editorship etc)?

[ganeshkant]

Kum.AS is a talent and I wrote a few words after listening to her in a concert arranged by Carnatica for the runners in Carnatic idol.

[CRama]

Thanks for the review Sivaramakrishnan. I very much wanted to attend this concert. But I had to attend a marriage on that day hence I missed a vidwat laden concert. The song list is very impressive. The Ramapriya and Saveri songs are new to me.

Aiswarya Sankar- I know her family for many years and I had been watching her grow.She got trained in music in Kolkata where the family lived, her father a Doctor. As a young girl, I have heard her concerts in Kolkata and I could notice the spark in her at a very young age. Aiswarya was firm on taking music as a career and the family migrated to Chennai, the seat of music and she pursue higher studies under Vidushi Suguna Varadachari. Her growth had been manifold since then and I was deeply impressed by her performance in a couple of recent concerts. She has an inborn talent for taking up complex pallavis and she had won many prizes in this genre. Given her potential, training and hardwork, she is sure to take it to great heights in future.