Nityashree Mahadevan, April 15th, 2012, Broomfield, CO

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ksrimech
Posts: 1050
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 04:25

Nityashree Mahadevan, April 15th, 2012, Broomfield, CO

Post by ksrimech »

Vocal: Dr. (Smt.) Nityashree Mahadevan (NM)
Violin: Sri B V Raghavendra Rao (BVRR)
Mridangam: Sri Patri Satish Kumar (PSR)

Venue: Broomfield Auditorium
Date & Time: April 15th, 2012 -- 4-730pm
Organizer: Colorado Fine Arts Association

Legend: R - Ragam, N - Neraval, S - Swaram, T - Tani Avartanam

1. sAmi ninnE nammi (varNam) – kAmavardhini – Adi – ShaTkAla narasayyA
2. sujana jIvanA rAmA – khamAs – rUpaka – tyAgarAjasvami
3. ora jUpu juchE idi nyAyamA – kannaDagouLa – Adi – tyAgarAjasvAmi (RS): svarams at orajupujuchEdinyAyamA

4. sadA sAranga nayanE – ranjani – Adi – yOgam narasimham (RNS): neraval and svaram at prEmajita jananAnta rINa bhartrukE kAmAri manOranjani
5. endraikku Siva kRupai – mukhAri – miSra chApu – nIlakanTa Sivan: started from anupallavi kandrin kurali kETTu
6. kAya ArOhaNa ISam bhajarE rE – dEvagAndhAram – Adi – muttusvAmi dikSitar
7. dorakunA iTu anTi – bilahari – Adi – tyAgarAjasvAmi (RST): svaram at rAma brahma tanayuDau tyAgaraju tA pADucuNDagA

8. bhagyadA lakShmi bhAramma – miSra bouLi – Adi – purandaradAsar
9. rAgam tAnam pallavi – dharmavathi – catursrajAti tripuTa catusranaDai: “kaNNai paNi manamE anudinamE, maNi vaNNanai tAmarai”. rAgamAlika svarams in hamsadhvani, karNATakaSuddhasAvEri, bEgaDa, Anandabhairavi, hamsanAdam, mOhanam, nalinakanthi, kalyANavasantham, bEhag, dvijAvanthy, nIlAmbari, amRtavarSiNi, hindOLam, sindhubhairavi, madhukauns, valaji, brindAvani, nATTai, gouLa, Arabhi, varALi, SrI.

10. Sandananum javvAdum (viruttam) – karnATakadEvagAndhari
11. kANa Ayiram kaN – karnATakadEvagAndhari – Adi – aruLavan
12. jagati viSati mantram (SlOkam) – Sindhubhairavi
13. rAma rAma ena rAdA – Sindhubhairavi – Adi – prayAga rAngadAsa
14. nArAyaNa hari – rAgamAlikA – eka tALam kanDa naDai – mangaLam gaNapathi. rAgamAlika in Anandabhairavi, bAgESrI and SyAmA.
15. SAnti nilava vEnDum – tilang – Adi – sEtumAdhava rAvu

Dr. (Smt.) Nityashree Mahadevan was one artiste whom I have always given less importance ever since I started listening to karNATaka sangIta since I never thought she was a good singer and shouts too much. Of course, I have to admit this was my first full concert of NM. But this concert organized by CFAA has made me change my opinion about her and her music. She was simply phenomenal! Simply stupendous! Not exaggerating but I haven’t heard any other artiste with more perfect Sruti alignment in the current lot of vidUSis. IMHO, the crown jewel of India and the tavapudalvi of maduraimAnagar was Ms. Sruti Perfection! NM seems to have reduced her Sruti a bit from before which made her extremely pleasant to listen too. Her perfect renditions of songs makes me respect her pATAntaram very much. Also, this was the first concert I have attended since December of 2007 where I have heard an RTP. This was one of the most satisfying concerts I have heard in the recent past.

NM started her concert with the beautiful DKP-DKJ favorite varNam which can be heard over and over again from their school. Not only she gave perfect (spot-on) renditions of songs like sujana jIvanA, endraikku Siva kRupai and kAyArOhanESam, she also sang astounding rAga AlapanAs for kannaDagouLa, ranjani and dharmavathi. As far as the perfection in renditions of the songs, she sound exactly like her grandmom. The sedate rendering of the khamAs and the mukhAri kritis was the reason I have changed my opinion about he. I felt cannot be any better way to sing those two songs. mukhAri is one rAga which if sung in the right way can bring out ample soukhyam instead just sounding as if the artiste is crying. SrI nIlakaNTa Sivan's plea to SivaperumAn to grant him eternal place in kailAsam through the song endarikku Siva kRpai is one such song in mukhAri with full of soukhyam. NM did ample justice to the scope of the rAga as well as bringing out the emotive appeal of SrI Sivan extremely well.

She also gave us a brilliant main bilahari song, dorakunA iTuvanTi sEva and the svarams at the end was also pretty weighty. This song brings goose bumps to me when I listen to the song each time and think of the puNya phalam of tyAgarAjasvAmi to sing this song in front of SrI (bAla) rAma while performing the TOTTilsEva. Next to kulaSEkarAzhvAr, he is one (may be the only) singing about the Child rAma in TOTTil (cradle). The same feat performed by kausalyA to SrIrAman and yaSOda and periyAzhvAr in yaSODai bhAva to bAlakRSNan. The more I listen to tyAgarAjasvAmi's songs, IMHO, I feel this one janma is not enough to understand the nADa yOgi's state of mind and his devotion to SrI rAman and enjoy it through his songs. Coming back to the rendition by NM, I am listening to this song as a main first time on stage (live). Of course, I have a recording of my guru DrSR with LGJ and UKS singing a neraval at rAma brahma tanayuDau ta pADuchuNDagA. I felt she could have also done it which would have made it perfect.

The rAgam tAnam pallavi was also very good. She treated us to a long list of rAgams in the rAgamAlikA svarams. She moved on so quickly from one rAga to the other that at one point I couldn’t identify karNATakaSuddhasAvErI and madhukouns at all. Other wise I was able to identify everything else. Post RTP she sang some really pleasant pieces. The miSra bouLi and the sindhubhairavi pieces were both worth remembering for a long time. The tune for the miSrabouLi was the popular one by the bhArata ratna, the great bhImasEnar in the movie nODi svAmi navirODu hIgE for SrI ananth nAg. One more thing to this concert was that like her grandmom and granduncle, she has awesome control over her diction. Every single word in each song was shining brightly under each note (in tamizh we would say paLicchunu irundudu). She brought back some fond memories when she sang the tilang piece and completed her concert.

BVRR on the violin ably supported her though at places (like ranjani rAgam and dharmavathi tAnam), I felt he could have been little bit more relaxed. Otherwise, it was a pretty decent performance from him. PSR on the mridangam, on the other hand, was super energetic and remarkable. His accompaniment during each sangati was noteworthy. At times I felt, he matched in soukhyam along with NM in the khamas, the mukhAri and the dEvagAndhAram uruppaDis. His taniyAvarthanam was on par with taniyAvarthanams of stalwarts like PMI, PSP, TS and UKS. I felt his tALam and kAlapramANam during the pallavi was one point better than NM's tALam and kAlapramANam. I have heard him live earlier before but his taniyavarthanam Sunday night made me want to listening to him more.

All said and done, NM needn’t have chosen ranjani and dharmavathi for the same concert. There were places where I felt that some phrases she sang in the AlApanA for rajani crept in for dharmavathi as well. During the pallavi neraval, I felt she didn’t come to the samam at a few places while singing anudinamE and tAmarai kaNNanai. Two songs in karnATakadEvagAndhAri (bhimplas) also was a bit of overkill. IMHO, NM, being such a down to earth person, hopefully will take care of these details such as selection of so that she improves professional presentation skills.

I thank the organizers CFAA was bringing NM to Colorado after a gap of 17 years and even NM and PSR felt the rasikas were very enthusiastic and at one point NM quipped if you are going to give such a response I would be singing until 9pm. She was also very happy to hand over the prizes for the winners for the vocal and the instrument competetions held at the Rocky Mountain Thyagaraja Utsavam held the previous weekend. Now, the Denver Rasikas are eagerly waiting for Vidushi Soumya (Fall ’12). :)

For further information, contact CFAA at [email protected].
Last edited by ksrimech on 19 Apr 2012, 06:10, edited 1 time in total.

pvs
Posts: 212
Joined: 21 Jan 2008, 19:28

Re: Nityashree Mahadevan, April 15th, 2012, Broomfield, CO

Post by pvs »

Dear Ksrimech, thanks for the elaborate review. Glad to hear NM is back in the reckoning nowadays. I think Sandanum javvadum and Kana Ayiram kan vendum are usually taken as just one song (or viruttam followed by song) instead of two as you mention...

mahavishnu
Posts: 3341
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 21:56

Re: Nityashree Mahadevan, April 15th, 2012, Broomfield, CO

Post by mahavishnu »

Thanks, Ksrimech. for your diligent review.

That is very pleasing to hear. I listened to NM - the budding artiste, in the late 80s/early 90s and she sounded phenomenal. I have stayed away from her music for the last 15 years or so, but with this kind of endorsement I will certainly go to her next performance that I can manage to attend.

And Patri is one of the top performers around today. I would rate him as having the potential to be an all-time great!

ksrimech
Posts: 1050
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 04:25

Re: Nityashree Mahadevan, April 15th, 2012, Broomfield, CO

Post by ksrimech »

PVSji - You are correct. They constitute one item only. But ever since I have posted about concerts (sangeetham days of 2004), I have always felt this is an easy way for me to give the listing.

Mahavishnu - Thank you. I too have heard similar comments about NM. I had heard only from concert recordings and pre-recorded albums which never impressed me really. People say they get irritated by Smt Aruna Sayeeram's Snake Dance Song. Same way I get irritated by NM's songs like "Which is the greatest rAgam - kalyANi or kAmbhOji". But there must be people who surely love it.
Yes, I second your comment about Patri. :)

ksrimech
Posts: 1050
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 04:25

Re: Nityashree Mahadevan, April 15th, 2012, Broomfield, CO

Post by ksrimech »

PVSji - You are correct. They constitute one item only. But ever since I have posted about concerts (sangeetham days of 2004), I have always felt this is an easy way for me to give the listing.

Mahavishnu - Thank you. I too have heard similar comments about NM. I had heard only from concert recordings and pre-recorded albums which never impressed me really. People say they get irritated by Smt Aruna Sayeeram's Snake Dance Song. Same way I get irritated by NM's songs like "Which is the greatest rAgam - kalyANi or kAmbhOji". But there must be people who surely love it.
Yes, I second your comment about Patri. :)

arasi
Posts: 16873
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: Nityashree Mahadevan, April 15th, 2012, Broomfield, CO

Post by arasi »

Krishna,
Thanks for the review. Add my name to the list as well! I have not heard NM in concert in ten years or so! After reading your review, I feel like listening to her the coming season.

Mahavishnu,
Patri? He appeals to experts like you and to tharai mahA janangaL (the groundlings like me) alike!

ksrimech
Posts: 1050
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 04:25

Re: Nityashree Mahadevan, April 15th, 2012, Broomfield, CO

Post by ksrimech »

arasi wrote: I feel like listening to her the coming season.
I am sure she will not disappoint you. :)

squims
Posts: 447
Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 22:10

Re: Nityashree Mahadevan, April 15th, 2012, Broomfield, CO

Post by squims »

Thanks for the awesome review!
I still feel NM's performances are like our cricketers' performances in our one day matches. If she is in form, we're in for a treat. She'll give us something to really remember, but at other times, she can be a very difficult artiste to listen to. I remember three concerts I heard of hers last year. The first was at Unnati, where she sang a superb Madhyamavathi and an even better Shanmukhapriya RTP with the pallavi in dwinadai. The second was at Fort High School, Ramanavami and it was hopelessly bad. Then she sang at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan after a few days, and I still remember going crazy for the Varali she sang that day. So, it all depends. But I'm always prepared to give her the benefit of doubt and try to make it to her concerts.

P.S. Add me to the list of Patri Satishkumar fans. He's easily one of the best artistes around. No doubt at all.

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