VVS @ Musiri's house 8.1.2012

[semmu86]

Sri.V.V.Subramaniam - Violin
Sri. TV Gopalakrishnan - Mrudangam

1. praNamAmyaham - gowlai - Adhi (??)
2. sujana jeevanA - khamas- rUpakam - R
3. siva siva siva yenarAdA - panthuvarALi - Adhi - R,S
4. I forgot this piece
5. nI vADa nE gAna- sArangA- khanDa chApu -R
6. amba kAmAkSi- bhairavi- R, N @ syAma krishNa, S
7. enduku peddala- SankarAbharaNam - R,N,S,T
8. He was about to start a Saibaba Bhajan

My only regret of the season of not able to listen to VVS was fulfilled that evening......

The greatest thing about VVS which i (And am sure most others too) adore is his ability to bring out the complete bhavam and the essence of any raga, without indulging in any kind of acrobatics, thrills and frills which we see in today's concerts... All the mathematics rehearsed for hours together and the vyavahAram which most of them play today i feel exposes the inability of the artists to bring out the richness of the raga bhavam and its beauty....

Words fail to describe the concert. Absolutely sublime concert in a great ambience. The rAga alApanAs of " khamAs, bhairavi, SankarAbharaNam, panthuvarALi" were all vintage VVS stuff, interspersed with TKG's sangathis. VVS announced that this concert will be a kind of homage to TKG.

The bhairavi delineation was as majestic as ever and the way he launched into the SS magnam opus as a continuation of the alApanA was BRILLIANT!! There were quite a few musicians like PSN, K.S.Kalidas, Mullaivasal Chandramouli, VVS Murari, K.R.Ganesh etc...

Shame i had to leave after the thani though....

(P.S : Pls assume honorific before all the vidwAns' names)........

[varsha]

4. I forgot this piece

bhuvini dAsuDanE - SrIranjani - tyAgarAja

[cienu]

wonderful to read a VVS concert review. Thank you Semmu

[Nick H]

My second VVS solo concert.

I find him a challenging artist, not always easy to listen to --- but I do not intend any negativity in that word. Literally, he challenges my ability to enjoy, limited by my comprehension.

Then, suddenly ... the challenge is forgotten as I find myself entranced in, and by, the most exquisitely subtle and gentle performance of an alapana.

Quite an experience.

[S.NAGESWARAN]

The solo concert of Sri VVS was excellent.

My longing for a meditative, soulful and visranthi music was fulfilled today by Sri VVS.

When I was listening to the krithi “Ambha Kamakshi”, I felt like sitting in the pooja room
and singing the song myself [mounamaga]. I was able to fully understand the words of the full lyrics of the Song.

The ambience of the concert hall at Musiri’s home made all the Rasikas enjoy the music.

Now I am fully convinced that chamber music is to be conducted frequently wherein the musician and the Rasika will be in tune with the Nadopasana.

S.NAGESWARAN.
10.01.2012.

[mahavishnu]

semmu, any words about Sri TVG's accompaniment?
I love the nadham of his instrument and his gumkis.

[Nick H]

[The ambience of the concert hall at Musiri’s home made all the Rasikas enjoy the music.

i commented to Sr Nageswaran that Musiri House concerts are not so much "house" concerts as Home concerts.

Mahavishnu, I am a great fan of TVG's mridangam too. As far as I remember, he did not make any great show of his trade-mark gumaka swaras this time, but his accompaniment was excellent and the sound of the mridangam was beautiful. more from semmu, I hope...

[semmu86]

bhuvini dAsuDanE - SrIranjani - tyAgarAja

Thanks.. Can you Pl fill the list, if you were there till the end of the concert?

about Sri TVG's accompaniment?

To be frank it wasn't too great. Most of the time it was just too loud and furious for a chamber concert. The sound on his valanthalai (Right head of the mrudangam) had a "virusal" (When the black patch on the valanthalai starts to fall off, there will be a distorted sound to it, and his right hand side sounded like that to me) and i found it way too disturbing.

[Nick H]

I bow to your knowledge --- and learn a word!

virusal! Is that when a tiny patch of black comes loose from the skin, but is still held in place by the bit around it, so it vibrates on it own? Can make a szzszzz sound, a bit like a snare.

[semmu86]

virusal! Is that when a tiny patch of black comes loose from the skin, but is still held in place by the bit around it, so it vibrates on it own? Can make a szzszzz sound, a bit like a snare.

Yes it is... If the artist realizes that and plays in a subdued way, that sound can be masked somehow. But maybe TVG's mrudangam that day originally did sound like that, and when played so forcefully and with the presence of a mike in such intimate atmosphere, was a bit too much for comfort.

I bow to your knowledge

Oh No not at all..... Am NOBODY to comment on TVG's vidwath or his multifaceted mastery Maybe it was an off day

[varsha]

Can you Pl fill the list

a song in desh - an extremely haunting version .
not to speak of that idiotic caller tone which rang on some body's mobile in the front row ;;;;. that guy was not even apologetic .sat like a sphinx .
VVS then spoke about TKG and was about to break into another thukkada when he noticed TVG had packed his mridangam - as though ready to leave . A very unaesthetic approach by someone on stage . Having picked the bow to play , VVS gave a wry smile and played Pavamana .

Even at a home concert , some hard boiled vidwans fail to move away from a-day-at-the-office mode . That sums up the mridangam quotient for the day .

VVS's concert was an act that is fast disappearing from the music scene . Take the 90 seconds he took to coax Sankarabharana in one unbroken sequence of phrases . Or the Saranga . Or the myriad ways he opened up Siva Siva ennarada .
It was feligree work on the violin that had no traces of any of the styles of the three great masters of his time .
VVS's biggest handicap must have been to be operating at a time when LLG-TNK-MSG were redefining violin playing .
Heartrending when we realise that there are no soloists left , of such merit .

As to the concert itsef , he eschewed typical Instrementalists flourishes during Swaraparsathara and kept his focus on the various sangathis he had learnt at the feet of TKG .
Hence , it was a true homage to the departed great TKG .

[semmu86]

It was feligree work on the violin that had no traces of any of the styles of the three great masters of his time .

Establishing an individual artistry is something for which musicians never get any credit most of the times. On the flip side, they get all the flak if they try to imitate X,Y or Z... This is where VVS' brilliance stands head and shoulders above the rest, for it would have been too easy and tempting to follow the road set by the violin trio of MSG-LGJ-TNK...

VVS's biggest handicap must have been to be operating at a time when LLG-TNK-MSG were redefining violin playing .

Even in the concerts in which he has accompanied the masters (the time when the trio was at their peak), VVS distinctly stood out amongst the rest. Maybe his choice of not playing too often, resulted in him not getting what was due..

[varsha]

While we may have to wait for Musri Home to do something on the lines of Parvathi Blog , Here are samples from the halcyon days of VVS .
http://www.mediafire.com/?ltya3qb20kvm7kh
http://www.mediafire.com/?4c4ugf1prn7nsyf

The concert being reviewed was no different than the mood created in these tracks . At one point he broke down saying - You all who have come in numbers to listen to me - You all are my Music Academy - I will try my best not to disappoint you .

The evening was special in many ways than one .

[ganeshkant]

I listened to this pair last season in a concert in rAgasudha hall and it was an excellent one.

Regarding TVG's mridhangam it produces some sort of resonance sound that is quite disturbing which I noticed last to last year when he played for CRK in MA.I thought it was a fault of the speakers in the balcony then.

TVG once when playing for a vidwan in a HM concert in the 80's packed mid way and left in sAstri hall.The tabla player who was in the audience came in handy.

[CRama]

During the last two seasons I was lucky in listening to this genius weave magic in MUDHRA and I wrote review in this forum. Unfortunately, he is not getting the desired attention and recognition. Even in this season, there were very few concerts of his and I could not attend one. Very pleasant, very scientfic bowing, necessary azhutham, visranti, no gimmicks. He was overshadowed by the BIG THREE VIOLINISTS. We should flock in good numbers whenever there is a chance iof hearing him and expereience the rasa of his music. Today, instrumetnalists get crowd only if they resort to gimmics and loud volume.

[fduddy]

... TVG once when playing for a vidwan in a HM concert in the 80's packed mid way and left in sAstri hall.The tabla player who was in the audience came in handy.

Geniuses are generally eccentrics. TVG is probably one of them :tmi:

[Nick H]

I don't doubt that TVG is one of them.

Oh No not at all..... Am NOBODY to comment on TVG's vidwath or his multifaceted mastery Maybe it was an off day

I never thought that you were commenting on anything other than that one single day.

Everybody's comments on this concert are really illuminating and I hope I don't have to wait too long for another opportunity to be "challenged" by VVS --- but it seems that the opportunities are sadly rare.

The ring-tone incident --- it came just at one of moments when it could not be ignored, or covered by the sound from the stage. VVS even paused, and his face seemed to say, "excuse me, but I do not need any accompaniment."

[semmu86]

Varsha, Thanks very much for the brilliant reethigowLai.. Is there anywhere i can find the complete concert?

[CRama]

Last year, in the places where VVS concert was held, they sold a commercial mp3 album including 3 live full concerts of VVS- original recording. I purchased. It was excellent. I had posted a reveiw of that album in the forum. It is a good buy for the VVS buffs.

[varsha]

semmu - sent you a mail through forum

[rajeshnat]

As to the concert itsef , he eschewed typical Instrementalists flourishes during Swaraparsathara and kept his focus on the various sangathis he had learnt at the feet of TKG .
Hence , it was a true homage to the departed great TKG .

Varsha
When you say "VVS learnt at the feet of TKG", you meant it as when VVS accompanied TKG right and not as his guru. IIRC VVS ,TVG and TKG have learnt from chembai bhagavathar who was their guru.

[varsha]

you meant it as when VVS accompanied TKG right and not as his guru. IIRC VVS ,TVG and TKG have learnt from chembai bhagavathar who was their guru.

No . As meant by

learning these songs from TKG .

.
Maturing into a CM Vidwan is not like taking a degree from Harvard , is it ? They have to drink the nectar at many many streams before becoming somebody of substance .
VVS mentioned that he owed each of the sangathis he played that day to TKG . And that he could feel his presence .

[semmu86]

One more treat for VVS fans.. Like Viv Richards coming out without any protective gear on a green top @ Perth and demolishing Lenny Pascoe, Lillie and Thomson... Clearly VVS @ his peak and @ his most brilliant..

http://www.mediafire.com/?1414iw3p4fk3c28

[sankark]

seemu86 - that pallavi goes like mAmaramum nizhalum kuyilum unnaith thozhuva idhu nalla samayam (மா மரமும் நிழலும் குயிலும் உன்னைத் தொழுவ இது நல்ல சமயம்). That pallavi is in 2 kalai Adi - is that correct?

Is it thazhuva (dear ones/secular) or thozha/thozavE (pious/devotion)? Believe thozhuva isn't proper tamizh.

[semmu86]

That pallavi is in 2 kalai Adi - is that correct?

Not quite. The basic structure remains Adhi thALam, but first half is in thisra gathi and second half is in khanDa gathi. I had posted an explanation of this structure somewhere else, couldnt locate where, but giving it anyways again.

The basic structure is Adhi thAlam..In that the lagu part will be in tisram and the drutham part will be in khandam...to put it more simply , the first four beats of Adhi thAlam in thisra nadai and the remaining four beats will be in khanda nadai..so you must basically put Adhi thAlam thisra nadai for the first four beats and khanda chapu thAlam for the remaining 4 beats....

The pallavi eduppu is 2 aksharas after samam.. let me try to notate that

,,tham,thakita thathakujonu tham,,,,
tha,ka,tha,ki,ta,
tha ka dhi mi tha ki ta

,,mA, maramum nizhalum kuyi lum,,,,
un,nai,tha,zhu,va,
i dhu nal la sa ma yam

In that the "tham" in the first line will end at first druthham (ie, the beat following the long finger or more simply the fifth beat of Adhi thAlam..)

now since the kArvai after tham is 4 aksharas( ie 5 aksharas including tham) , the next line will start from the first wave of the hand since the kArvai is 5 aksharas as it will be coming to one full beat like in khhanda chApu thAlam...So , tha,ka,tha,ki,ta, will now correspond to the next two beats as they are totally 10 aksharas.. so in the remaining last line , thakadhimitha will come in the last beat and kita will overlap with the kArvai at the samam..

Is it thazhuva (dear ones/secular) or thozha/thozavE (pious/devotion)? Believe thozhuva isn't proper tamizh.

Am not sure about that, but the reason i put up this pallavi is to enjoy the brilliance of VVS.. DKJ would have started singing the swaras after doing trikAlam, but VVS was like "Hey Dude its not over yet.. Something still left in my kitty" and played a masterful trikAlam reply.. At no point of time, did the mathematics sounded like mathematics. GOD bless the great souls who have captured such moments on tape and shared it with us.

[annamalai]

Here is VVS rendition of Dikshitar krithi - Maye Twam Yahi & Sivaraman mridangam

http://www.mediafire.com/?62ko4fh6cj05w33

BTW, Semm86 - nice comparison - as a Viv fan.

[HR]

It was an outstanding experience , to listen to the two great musicians - stalwarts perform, and both of them enjoying , appreciating , supporting and enhancing each other's playing . Beautiful Khamas , Sriranjani , Bhairvai , Saranga , Sankharabharanam , and such a fitting finale with a Desh that was oozing sowkyam and beauty in each note . It was a grand concert , and am extremely happy I got to listen to it.