Parassala Ponnammal, Nada Inbam

[rbharath]

Parassala Ponnammal, K Bhama - Padma Shankar - Nanjil Arul - Udupi Balakrishnan

Nada Inbam
26 Dec 2011. 6:15 pm

sarasijanAbhA - kAmbhOji varNam
vAtApi gaNapatim (S)
rAma nannu brOvarA (RNS)
janani ninnuvinA
mantriNi mAtangatanayE - hEmavati - rUpakam - HMB (RS)
dEva dEva mAm pAlaya - tODi - misra cApu - ST (RNST)

[bilahari]

The concert concluded with:

pArvati nAyaka - bowLi - Adi - ST
kalakanTi katam hAram (?) [R] - nIlAmbari - miSra cApu - ST
dEva dEva kalpayAmi - nAdanAmakriya - rUpakam - ST
tillAna - dhanaSri - Adi - ST
madhyamAvati sketch

Pristine classical music from the opening notes of kAmbOji to the concluding shadjam of madhyamAvati.

After a beautiful kAmbOji (can't believe I missed rAsa vilAsa yesterday), PP sang a sweet alapanai of hamsadwani, including long phrases often stretching an octave. She used the niSAdam particularly beautifully, and Padma Shankar's reply incorporated PP's phrases and was beautiful too. Somehow, I never tire of vAtApi gaNapatim, and really enjoyed PP's slower madhyama kAla rendition of the kriti. Her kalpanaswaras had a lovely ga-oriented finale, with Padma well up to speed here too.

PP sang a concise harikAmbOji ragam without dramatising the nishAdam, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed her rAma nannu brOvara, which is generally not a personal favourite in the ragam. Janani ninnuvina was really moving, although there seemed to be some initial discord. Although I generally dislike hEmavati, I liked HMB's kriti, which I'm hearing for the first time.

PP's tODi alapanai was the highlight of the concert. Her alapanai was elaborate and she lingered so perfectly on the gAndAram, and sang every gamaka with clinical accuracy. More than such technical perfection, PP built up the ragam really aesthetically, exercising great discretion in not overdoing the oscillations on the gA, combining mandra, madhya, and tAra stAyi phrases in good proportion, singing some pa-eschewing phrases ending in the tAra stAyi, and including so many time-tested winning piDis. Combine all of that with her beautiful, deep voice and you have an absolutely arresting alapanai.

The tODi kriti, neraval, and swaras were all done well, though the swaras were pretty brief.

Nanjil Arul and Udupi Balakrishnan accompanied quite sensitively throughout the concert and I thought they played well for kritis in general and were never overbearing. The tani was as crisp, as befits PP's music.

Padma Shankar played beautifully. I'm hearing her after several years, and she still plays with the same sensitivity and sweetness. In particular, I thought her hamsadwani, harikAmbOji, and hEmavati raga essays were all beautiful and very chaste to PP's own interpretations. Her neraval and swara replies were also nice. She was very unobtrusive while accompanying for kritis.

PP's nIlAmbari right at the end was very touching and such was her sketch that nobody clapped at the end in fear of disrupting the absolute tranquility in the air.

I met Arvind (semmu86), Lalitha Ram (Gamakam), and Rajesh (rajeshnat) at the concert, and saw Bharath too. Looking forward to hearing their views.

[sankark]

After tOdi the following items were presented

pArvati nAyaka - bowli - Adi - ST
kAlakanti kathamkAram- nIlambari - misra cApu - ST
dEva dEva kalpayAmi - nadanAmakriyA - rUpakam - ST
thillAnA - dhanashrI - Adi - ST
madyamavathi raga sketch as mangalam

Fate that played cruel joke on me and made me miss Vijay Siva @ Kalarasana favored me today and enjoyed PP's chaste traditional no frills just pure music concert. For a nonagenarian her voice is in so fine shape, no audible breathing (youngsters to take note and may be a lesson or two from her) and sings totally from memory - no sir who needs those notes of notes when everything is etched in her memory.

IMVHO, if some one has heard DKP but not PP and in a blind test, they could mistake PP for DKP.

Amrutha Venkatesh, Prince Rama Verma were there for the entire concert. Rama Verma has recorded this in his video recorder. AIR was also there - so soon a 1 hour segment may be played in 102.3 FM or 720 AM.

[fuddyduddy]

finally heard her today and it was total divinity! her thodi and neelambari were ultimate! made my concert trips complete!

[semmu86]

I just couldnt describe this concert in words. Her last year ragasudha concert with a top notch arabhi was still ringing in my ears and LO this year she gave another veritable feast.

Her masterly exposition of the krithis and the rAga alApanAs flavored with humility and and a sense of detachment while acknowledging the applause, the way in which he signaled the end of the concert after singing a lovely madhyamAvathi as if nothing had happened, kept reminding me of the maxim "vidyA dadhAthi vinayam"

[tiruvarur]

Her music came as a fresh breeze that warmed the hearts and cooled the mind that gets cluttered with thoughts about music and musicians today! What is with all these golden oldies who sing with so much gusto even at this age? The other day it was Sri. R K Srikantan and yesterday it was Smt. Ponnammal. Semmu86 described it perfectly when he said, "Her masterly exposition of the krithis and the rAga alApanAs flavored with humility and a sense of detachment while acknowledging the applause". Was happy to see a full hall sprinkled with musicians and connoisseurs.

[CRama]

Wonderful reviews by bharat and bilahari for that out of the world cutchery which I had to miss due to official commitments. I am still savoring the Musiri house concert. In the Nada inbam concert, she has included many songs which I wanted to listen- Kalakanti, Devadeva kalpayami, Devadeva etc. Wait for the next opportunity.
There are two or three CDs released a couple of years back- really tresasure of Swati thirunal and other kritis. Whenever I get time, I will upload some old stuff sung by Mami.

[tiruvarur]

CRama, yesterday I felt that it didn't matter what song Mami was singing. Her raga bhava is so high that one can simply close one's eyes and enjoy whatever is being served. Almost all the songs that she sang were unfamiliar to me and most of the audience, yet everyone seemed to be in a trance!

[rajeshnat]

ParassAla PonnammAl@rAgasudhA on Dec 26th,2011
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Vocal : ParassAla PonnammAl
Violin : Padma shankar
Mrudangam : Nanjil Arul
Ghatam : Udupi Balakrishnan

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours and 25 mins/Monday
Concert Type : Nirvana (prime evening concert to follow)
Sabha/Hall : nAdaInbam /RagasudhA

To me parassala PonnammAl's concert was a combo to reinforce two statements of truth, one by ariyakudi and other by madurai mani iyer.


We generally hear anecdotes told by PMI or KVN about Ariyakudi's assessment of his own voice even before the concert and really modelling his own concert with that self assessment.

1.sarasijanAbhA - kAmbhOji varNam
2.vAtApi gaNapatim (R,S)
3 mins alapana and 2 mins violin return
7 mins swaras

2.rAma nannu brOvarA (RNS)- harikAmbOdhi - T
3 mins alapana and 1 min violin return
neraval in "meppulakai kannatAvu-nappu baDaga" for 3 mins
swaras for 2 mins

4.janani ninnuvinA

5.mantriNi mAtangatanayE(RS) - hEmavati - rUpakam - HMB
2 mins alapana and 3 mins violin return
swaras for 3 mins

6A.dEva dEva mAm pAlaya (RNST)- tODi - misra cApu - ST
12 mins alapana in two stages
7 mins violin return
neraval in "sevaka subhakara sriman Adikesava" for 4 mins
swaras for 3 mins

6B.tani for 14 mins

Touch of Ariyakudi's "Assess your voice rightly for every concert" :
------------------------------------------------------------------
The golden girl started bit softly and tried to test waters with a very powerful rAga KamboDhi varnam . She sang the varnam sarasijanAbha and the calm(not KAM)bOdhi flavour was there , though not very vocally intense . Nevertheless that is what varnam is for in a concert,benchmark your voice .

The next in hamsadhwani was a more strategic delivery.Her alap was very soft in hamsadhwani,again I assume she was really cross checking her sareeram and did not want to overdo and strain, and as she progressed there was more power with her rendition and swaras were really good , as bilahari mentioned gA gA , particularly few sangathis in pa ga ri sA ri gA gA

HariKAmbOdhi alap was bit short nevertheless I did not mistake as khamas and the rendition was quite good , such a lovely number of T with different avatars of singing ramA ,rAma ,rAmA in pallavi itself you can bring so much of charm. Her neraval was bit short I think she did not want to over do and strain her voice, swaras in harikAmbOdhi were quite ok. The elaborate krithi of janani in reetigowlai was quite good , her pitch was kind of getting closer to her golden mean there.

The next prati was a rare hemavati and I have not heard that all. I am not a fan of hemavati in general but I certainly liked it , for once I did not feel to ask any one next to me if it was dharmavati, vachaspati, etal . Swaras in hemavati kind of bombed she was not singing there more it was a mono syllable and I could not get her aesthetics there.

TOdi has million facets and her tOdi alapana was nice , she latched to that pitch that suits her best ,I liked the alapana a lot , very madhyama KAlAm centric, the krithi was a mixed bag , this was not a devi krithi of ST and it was new to me , particularly the neraval was "sevaka subhakara sriman Adikesava" was good and her swaras were bit short but overall a nice todi. Also after violin return she sang for another few minutes and it was very nice , thought may be she is singing a tanam as it is customary to sometimes sing alapana in two parts for a rtp.

[rajeshnat]

Madurai Mani Iyer has said "if the voice sounds progressively strained during the course of a concert, it is not the correct method and when the correct technique is followed, one should feel like singing for 3 hours after the mangalam". This was quipped in our forum few months back by a contemporary vidwan/vidushi.


Touch of MMI's statement - The voice should never progressively strain :
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. pArvati nAyaka (Raga Sketch)- bowLi - Adi - ST
8. kalakanTi katam hAram (Raga Sketch)- nIlAmbari - miSra cApu - ST

9.dEva dEva kalpayAmi - nAdanAmakriya - rUpakam - ST
10.tillAna - dhanaSri - Adi - ST
11.madhyamAvati sketch

For me post tani segment was the best and it was simply superb, mmi's doctrine of progressively singing without strain was always there. The golden girl had a platinum touch. with her alapana sketch in bowli her rendition of parvati nayaka was excellent . The top number for the day was indeed neelAmbari, I did not know about this krithi at all , it was a manipravalam (sanskrit with malayAlam), she just bought such a wonderful bhAvam to this lovely neelAmbari - kalakanTi katam hAram, it was simply beyond words .

The contrast of neelambari with nAdaNamakriya just was like a semmangudi polish of jagadeesha , that krithi dEva dEva kalpayAmi was beautiful too and it was the fourth rare and first time krithis of my day.

Her voice continued with zero entropy (strain) and I liked the dhanashri thillAnA, it was right speed , usually musicians sing this fast , but ponnammAl had the best speed .Overall the tukkadas was carnatic intense , though the krithi was not too big , but when voice reaches that sustained Pitch, and when musicians gets into the zone of rAga bhavam , as a rasika one finds Extreme joy in attending Carnatic concert.

Accompanists were very sensitive , padma shankar had right melody and did give the right spacing to the vocalist , I am hearing both the percussionists for the first time, there was lot of sowkhyam from both. For few slower numbers I would have preferred little more sparseness in playing from nanjiL, tani was just good

P.S
----
I am not implying that today's musician ranging from vidwans /vidushis who are junior by few years to Smt ponnammAl to the junior most Master AbhilAsh , are not doing self assessment and singing without over straining like Smt parassAla ponnammal, but to me the golden girl was more prominent in doing what she did, to that extent other musicians have not demonstrated that yet like the golden girl. I will keep my fingers crossed on that.

I wish she sang for another 2 hours after mangalam.Overall a very good to excellent concert.

[rajeshnat]

sankark/bilahari/bharath etal
There was a point that sankark raised about how tOdi alApana is kind of in line with the krithi (he mentioned in another thread), when golden girl was singing tOdi alApana , I was thinking that only shree krishnam bhaja mAnasa was on the way, so many alapana hues pointing to that Md krithi. Did any of you feel that way or was it just me?

[rajeshnat]

ON an interesting sidenote :
------------------------------
I was seated next to an elderly couple and an elderly lady behind me. The elderly couple just picked few conversations with me and the elderly gentleman said he was tirukoddikaval krishna Iyer's grandson. Oh I said you are attending ponnammal mAmis concert whose guru was semmangudi who learnt from your grandfather .

That was not that interesting anecdote , what interested me a lot was after that...

That elderly man introduced the elderly lady seated behind me , she was in her seventies or more , a slim lady and he introduced her as dharmA, and said "avanga yAr theriyumA".

I said no idea ,

He quipped "avanga thAn semmangudi mAmA Oda ponnu(she is the daughter of Semmangudi mAmA) . O gosh I looked very closely , Smt dharmA was a carbon copy of semmangudi mAmA (I have not seen smt semmangudi srinivAsa Iyer yet).

I just quipped unga appA dharmasammvardhini neenga Poronda vudanE pAdinAla(did your dad sing dharmasammvardhini - madhyamAvati song after you were born). She blushed and then the next song rolled with Smt ponnammAl in the foreground.

I have to say this I am so confused for the last few weeks about this conundrum of either Is this "Like Mother like daughter" or is that "Like Father Like Daughter" and there was Smt dharmA an exact carbon copy of Semmangudi mamA, a true mastercard moment!!!

[Sivaramakrishnan]

I am out of station but very much expected someone come up with a review of Mami's concert at Vedavyasa Tapovanam, East Tambaram on 27 Dec.

[MV]

I so wanted to hear her. Hope she is singing somewhere next week.

[rbharath]

rajesh, if you start finding about each of the old man/woman sitting at concerts these days, they would all be related to/disciples of some big stalwarts of the bygone era. I have personally myself seen Smt. Dharmambal at many concerts. There are many other men and women of that kind who choose to silently come and listen to concerts and leave. If only, you chose to find out!