Aishu Venkataraman 3/31/12 Pasadena CA

[appu]

Divine Strings Orchestra

Principal Violin: Aishu Venkataraman
Conductor: Marcy Sudock
Mridangam: Rajna Swaminathan
Narrator: Sue Carol

This was one elaborate production traversing Western Classical, Carnatic Classical and Jazz with a 26 member Orchestras. This production had violins, violas, cellos, contrabass, keyboard, electric bass, mridangam, and drum set. The whole performance was very well orchestrated keeping the concept of a carnatic concert in mind.

The concert began with a varnam, had a Ragam Tanam and Pallavi and ended with the traditional mangalam.

1. Navaraga Varnam ragam: Kedaram, talam Adi
2. Vathapi Ganapathim (r,k,s) ragam Hamsadwani
3. Abduction from Seraglio: Composer Mozart
Performed by the 22 member orchestra
4. Mojito: Composer Regina Carter
Performed by the 5 member small band jazz combo
5. Watermelon Man: Composer Herbie Hancock: Ragam Nattai
Performed by the 5 member small band jazz combo
6. Sing Sing Sing: Composer Louis Prima
7. Ragam Tanam Pallavi: Thodi (Ragam 14 mins, Tanam, 21 mins, Pallavi, 11 mins Kalpana swarams, 8 mins Tani Avartanam 8 mins)
Tanam in thodi, sahana, subhapantuvarali, devagandhari, begada shanmukhapriya, kalyani, kapi and mohanam
Pallavi sahitya: Nalada Marulu kontini, Vanipai sAla sada nanda Adi Talam (2 kallai ) arai edam eduppu followed by a mesmerizing Tani Avartanam.
8. Dhun Ragam Pahadi
9. English Note
10. Bhagyada Lakshmi Bharama

The song list was pre printed in the 22 page souvenir and I have reproduced it. Aishu announced the ragams in the Tanam and I took notes. She choose 9 ragams in the tanam representing 10 years of the birthday boy Harihar Rao for each ragam. This was Harihar Rao's 85th birthday. Among the three concerts I attended at the festival, this by far drew the most audience.

The varnam was played in two speeds in coordination with the orchestra. The orchestral arrangement was by VS Narsimhan. Once again the tall chapel added an ambience that provided a very pure and serene sound. The varnam was played with no mridangam accompaniment.

Vathapi Ganapathi was rendered in all its splendor with a 2 min ragam and Kalpana Swarams for almost 13 mins. The orchestra was very well rehearsed and the conductor did a tremendous job guiding the orchestra to the final Koruvai. The GRS, GRSNP RS RSNPG S Koruvai with 12 violins 4 cellos and 3violas was mind blowing.

This was followed by a Mozart composition performed by the orchestra. When I first saw the song selection in the souvenir I was not sure what to make of it. It became clear as the concert progressed that some songs were fillers to give Aishu a chance to get down from the stage to change violins from south Indian style to Western style. What impressed me the most was Aishu's ability to glide back and forth between 3 distinct styles of music. The next two jazz pieces had the audience on their feet giving her a standing ovation. The small band combo of five artistes called themselves "Delhi Fresh".

Sing Sing Sing a Louis Prima composition was a brisk piece and reminded me of Raghuvamsha Sudha. The virtuosity of the drummer was definitely highlighted in this composition. By this time Aishu was back on stage to perform her elaborate RTP. Thodi ragam was developed in all its splendor and Aishu traversed 3 octaves of the scale like knife through butter. The tanam was a TNK original with long bows and cutting bows interspersed. The transition from begada to shnmukhapriya was extremely noteworthy. Pallavi was not very intricate. Pretty straightforward. The tani avartanam by Rajna Swaminathan was intricate with beautiful thisram and Khanda nadais. The nadam and the gumkis were a UKS speciality. rajna has definitely imbibed her gurus technique to its fullest.

The Pahadi Dhun was a real surprise. This was definitely a North Indian speciality and Aishu's long bows reminded me of Dr. N Rajam. This was followed by HMB English Note.

The concluding piece Bhagya Da Lakshmi was played with the orchestra providing a beautiful ending to this memorable event. If this orchestra performs in your town, I would definitely recommend it.

Total concert was about 2 hours and 15 minutes.

[rajeshnat]

Appu
Tx for the review . Even though not there , for me just running this list of numbers played , it just gives me an impression between two layers of carnatic add a layer of western/jazz, making me more believe that cm rocks more and more when presented along with jazz/western,Where ever you go you have to finally land in tOdi RTP .

Kudos to Aishu, Rajna and the team.

[rajeshnat]

7. Ragam Tanam Pallavi: Thodi (Ragam 14 mins, Tanam, 21 mins, Pallavi, 11 mins Kalpana swarams, 8 mins Tani Avartanam 8 mins)
Tanam in thodi, sahana, subhapantuvarali, devagandhari, begada shanmukhapriya, kalyani, kapi and mohanam
Pallavi sahitya: Nalada Marulu kontini, Vanipai sAla sada nanda Adi Talam (2 kallai ) arai edam eduppu followed by a mesmerizing Tani Avartanam.
..
Aishu announced the ragams in the Tanam and I took notes. She choose 9 ragams in the tanam representing 10 years of the birthday boy Harihar Rao for each ragam. This was Harihar Rao's 85th birthday.

appu
I cannot get the connection 9 tAnA mALiga morphing to 10 years of birtday boy, then you say harihar rao's 85th birthday. Is this any nAdi Josiyam(astrology) here?

[PUNARVASU]

rajeshnat, may be what appu meant was 'one ragam for every 10 years completed + ONE for the remaining).Then the 'kaNakku' is correct.

[appu]

Punarvasu

That is exactly what I meant to say or that was what Aishu said. Thanks for the clarification. Rajeshnat, Definitely no nadhi jolsyam here. Just pure pure music from Aishu's violin. You are right ultimately it does land at Thodi ragam. Aishu was completely immersed in her music and had all the prayogams necessary of this ragam and traversed three octaves effortlessly. The RTP was definitely the highlight of the evening. She had something for everyone in the audience which was quite an eclectic blend of Caucasians, North Indians a few mamis in podavais and even a few African Americans.

[Nick H]

It's nice to see Aishu's name here again. When will we see her in Chennai?

[rshankar]

Appu - lovely review, thank you! Good to see that Aishu is managing to keep up her trademark perfection amidst all the stress of undergraduate life, and great to see the confluence of Aishu and Rajana. Best wishes to both of them - both in their musical journeys as well as their chosen paths in life!

[appu]

Shankar,

The narrator Sue Carol shared an interesting story about Aishu and her education during the concert. Apparently Aishu got accepted to Berkley college of music in Boston at age 12 with a rendition of Watermelon Man for the audition. She was offered a full scholarship and graduated out of this music school at age 16th having blended South Indian Music and Jazz and her graduation presentation was also Watermelon Man. She had her undergraduate degree before she got out of high school.

So I think she has finished with the stresses of school. Hopefully she is focusing on music full time. Also when I googled Berkley College, I only found Berkley in California not in Boston

Also I must say the jazz drummer who accompanied for Watermelon Man Wyatt Johnson had both his Karavais and Koruvais in sync and with total control. He definitely is trained in South Indian style. Oh and I forgot there was a 3 minute konnakol/drum solo between Vinod Venkataraman and Wyatt at the end of Watermelon Man.

[mahavishnu]

Also when I googled Berkley College, I only found Berkley in California not in Boston

That would be Berklee college of music (http://www.berklee.edu) not Berkeley, which is why your google search didn't work.

[appu]

Thanks mahavishnu for the clarification. On searching the Berklee site for Aishu I found this. Interesting read
http://www.berklee.edu/news/214/student ... nkataraman

[kssr]

7. Ragam Tanam Pallavi: Thodi (Ragam 14 mins, Tanam, 21 mins, Pallavi, 11 mins Kalpana swarams, 8 mins Tani Avartanam 8 mins)
Tanam in thodi, sahana, subhapantuvarali, devagandhari, begada shanmukhapriya, kalyani, kapi and mohanam
Aishu announced the ragams in the Tanam and I took notes. She choose 9 ragams in the tanam representing 10 years of the birthday boy Harihar Rao for each ragam. This was Harihar Rao's 85th birthday.

I am sure mohanam was given half the number of aavarthanams (duration) compared to the other eight signifying 5 years out of 85

[rshankar]

IIRC, Aishu is pursuing an undergraduate degree in Stanford currently. And yes, I am aware that she graduated from Berklee college while still in high school.