Nithyasree Mahadevan at NGS on 25/12

[aish1986]

Vocal: Nithyasree Mahadevan
Violin:Raghavendra Rao
Mridangam: Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan
Ghatam: H.Sivaramakrishnan

I attended NM's concert today at NGS. Today also her dad was not her accompanist. NM along with Sudha,Aruna is one of the less reviewed artist here in this forum.She remains an enigma to me.She is panned by purists but still remains as one among the top 3 in terms of gate collections. Today also she had a house full auditorium.I am unable to find out the reasons for her mass appeal.
She sang a sparkling ShanmugaPriya today which showed her aesthetic maturity. And her regular thukada numbers like ragathil and rasathil were conspicuous by absence.

Here are the songlist.
1.Ata Tala Varnam - Tanjavur Ponnaiah Pillai - saramathi
2.nenarunchara napai - simhavahini - adi -t.rajar(s)
3.andavane unnai nambinen - shanmugapriya -rupakam - p.sivan(R,N,S@tandavamadum)
4.e kamakshi - yadukula kambhodi - m.chapu - andavan pichai
5.thyagaraja yogavaibhavam - anandabairavi - rupakam - dixitar
6.vijayambike - vijayanagari - hmb(s)
7.mamava satatam - jaganmohini - adi - t.rajar(R,N,S@mamava satatam,T)
8.hari hari virutham from paanjali sabadam followed by Chakaram endi-MSB - hamsanandi -adi
9.tirupati venkata ramana - ahirbairav - eka -p.dasa
10.varugalamo - gkb -manji -m.chapu
11.tillana - ragamalika - lalitha sivakumar

Ata tala varnam was sung in 3 speeds. Simhavahini was okie kind. She came to full form with Shanmuga Priya.Thyagaraja yogavaibhavam and Vijayambike were good and Jaganmohini was outstanding. thukada were new for me. I have not heard them before.

[rshankar]

Sounds like a great list. Smt. NM's popularity must have something to do with her forays into film music (the song from Jeans happens to be a great one even in these days of 'soup and breadsticks' numbers)...
Was the rAgamAlika tillAna the one that is patterned on Maharaja Swati Tirunal's dhanaSri tillAnA?

[mahavishnu]

I am unable to find out the reasons for her mass appeal.

I have wondered that too. I am not a fan of her music, although I don't find it objectionable. But I am perennially surprised by her continued popularity even among audiences abroad.

[squims]

I've attended concerts of hers that I have gone gaga over and some that I've very strongly disliked. So for me, I just see individual concerts. Overall though, I think I do try to make it to her concerts if I can.
Regarding her popularity, maybe the DKP family stamp helps?

[mahavishnu]

Squims, while the DKP lineage (and PMI as well) gave her a huge boost early in her career, I'm not sure if the aura is still there. I found her very compelling in the early 90s, but I have not found it inspiring in recent years.

[Jigyaasa]

A few observations:

1) The varNam was actually in chalanATa. It was quite interesting to see the vivAdi notes being sounded out right at the start of the concert but I thought the treatment of the chatushruti dhaivatam was rather aesthetic.

2) The swara patterns for simhavAhini were refreshing in some spots and trite in others.

3) There's a certain quality to her brighas, particularly in rAgas like shaNmukhapriyA that I have found very cerebral and definitely like hearing. The choice of ANDavanE and the neraval at tANDavam were intelligent. She covered a gamut of composers, languages and tALas, the hallmark of good song selection.

4) I have heard hE kAmAkshi by DKJ before and it was a pleasant surprise to see it included in the concert. Very pleasing Sanskrit composition with a few not commonly heard words as compared to other compositions (herambhaguhajani or mUlAdharakuNDali for instance... I haven't heard those specific words anywhere else)

5) She was TOO loud while rendering tyAgarAjayOgavaibhavam... I think she needs to be conscientious about maintaining the right distance from the mic. Whenever she gets too close, all I can hear is shouting. It's weird though, because she generally tends to mellow down in vilambakAla kritis.

6) The control with which she sang the quickfire kalpanaswaras for vijayAmbikE was admirable. The violinist fell short in my opinion probably because he wasn't as familiar with the rAga.

7) It's always a pleasure to hear mAmava satatam, a DKP school staple. JaganmOhini is a beautiful rAga with plenty of scope. The violinist's exposition smacked of kamalAmanOhari at some spots.

8 ) tirupativenkaTa was preceded by a shlOka - govindEti sadA snAnam, govindEti sadA japam... where she really brought out the karuNA rasa of Ahirbhairav.

9) The tillAnA was in bhUpalam, kEdAram, nIlamaNi and brindAvani with the names of the rAgas incorporated in the lyric. The kEdAram usage sounded a little silly to me - ulagirkE AdAram or something to that effect!

Overall, I was glad I went to this concert. I'm hearing her for the first time in more than two years and though I've heard about her inconsistent performances, this one was worth attending especially because of the songs selected.

[aish1986]

I accept with Jigyaasa..When she came near the mike she was too loud. The violinist lacked at some places.Like squims pointed out,some of her concerts are cerebral and aesthetic which showcase her mettle while some are banal material. I always love her raga alapanas for i feel she s one who does complete justice to the Ragas.May be her popularity with the masses myt have forced her to go for more populist way.

[priyashekar]

I loved the concert.Shanmukhapriya stil rings in my ears.I loved the song selections as many of them were new to me.Wonderful concert for me.

[srikant1987]

The control with which she sang the quickfire kalpanaswaras for vijayAmbikE was admirable. The violinist fell short in my opinion probably because he wasn't as familiar with the rAga.

Imo it isn't sensible to expect "quickfire" swarams in vijayanagari. It will be better to precede these weird rAgams with a AlApanai or at least a sketch in which the violinist can also warm up with the rAgam.

[Jigyaasa]

I've heard this same combination of artistes rendering vijayAmbikE elsewhere. She sang an extensive AlApana although vijayanAgari can tend to be quite "filmy". I personally like the rAga. So I don't really think familiarity was the issue.

[clmweb]

...She is panned by purists but still remains as one among the top 3 in terms of gate collections. Today also she had a house full auditorium.I am unable to find out the reasons for her mass appeal...

By purists, perhaps you refer to the tone-deaf or the apologists for the mediocre who plague the CM scene?
She is one of the few Carnatic singers with a comfortably wide tessitura, who can sing any composition as the composer intended, without butchering everything in the higher reaches or burping over anything in the mandra stayi. I don't attend too many kutcheris these days, but I remember many vocally resplendent performances of hers.

It is not just a question of being born with a good voice, there is a huge amount of work and training that goes into singing well.

Karthik

[CommonMan]

There was a time when she used to sing carnatic music..I was very hopeful of artists like her (and balaji Shanker) bringing to fore the old and treassured DKP/DKJ paadaandharams....unfortunate....hope her cousin does not fall into a similar web of moving away from traditional singing to "melagu rasam vs jeeraga rasam, tea vs coffee, laptop vs desktop, coke vs pepsi (wow I'm on a roll)"....I've heard her sing heavy songs like rakshabettare, adikisukhamu, adiyapaadham, etc, the trade marks of DKP....blood boiling loss of such padandharaas....and what a transition??

[aish1986]

CommonMan,even yesterday she was awesome. Her ShanmugaPriya and JaganMohini were outstanding and showcased her intelligence, hardwork and her commitment towards CM. But the reality is she is very inconsistent. Her Bharat Sangeet Utsav concert and Bhakthi Festival concert were eg when nothing went right. My question is like if she can produce concerts like y'day with maturity and class, then what is her problem in showing the same class in all occasions. See the eg of Sanjay,irrespective of where he sings he maintains his class.There is no doubts about her talent or whatsoever.The thing is she should show her class irrespective of the venue and occasion and should not play to the gallery much.

did anyone from this forum attended NM's Academy concert. If so please gve us a sneak peak so that we can come to the conclusion like whether the venue or kind of audiences makes her vary her style.

( Mod note: aish1986, fixed many abbreviated English words, such sms/twitter style makes it harder to read )