Unnikrishnan@ San Diego, April 27 2012

[Gadolinium]

UC, San Diego - SPICMACAY inaugral concert

Vocal: P. Unnikrishnan
Violin: Embar Kannan
Mridangam: Anantha R. Krishnan

Song List (Approximate):

1. Sarasuda - Saveri -

2. Vandeham Jagat - Hamsadhwani - Annamaacaarya

3. Kaa vaa vaa - Varali - Papanasam Sivan

4. Kanta Judumi - Vachaspathi - Tyagaraja

5. Kani nilam vendum - Kosalam - Bharathiyar

6. Rajagopalam Bajeham - Mohanam - Mutthuswami Dikshitar

7. RTP - Karaharapriya (Graha Bedham : Kalyani, Harikamboji, Shankarabharanam) - Tani avartanam

"harapriye lalithe mam pahi.. karunendu shekara"

…


Absolutely fantastic concert. Since the last time I heard him (~6 years back), he has quantum tunneled into a different universe. From his rendition of my favorite varnam , I had a feeling this is going to be a good concert.

My thoughts:

- One of the best karaharapriya alapana's. I have listened to. Still ringing in my ears. Tanam was in 3 parts, increasing in tempo (and the last part of tanam had mridangam accompaniment). Varali and vachaspathi were the other highlights of this concert.

- No fillers in the first ~3 hours. Every piece had an alapana (>=2 mins), and most of them had neraval/swaram/both. I liked the effect, no sub-mains nor fillers, and enough time for the RTP.

- Very good rapport amongst the artistes. Embar Kannan was excellent throughout. Anantha - all I could say is he's a born mridangist. I echo mahavishnu's suggestion "listen to him if he's performing in a 2 hour radius."

Overall, a very good debut to SPICMACAY, UCSD.

Mahavishnu - thanks for your review earlier. Otherwise, I might have skipped this.

[mahavishnu]

Gadolinium: Glad to hear of this concert! Thanks for your review. I wish I lived in La Jolla
Equally pleased that Unni is consistent in his performances on this tour.

Anantha is coming back to Toronto to play with Abhishek around memorial day. Can't wait!

Now I'm off to listen to Seshagopalan this afternoon. This has been a very musical weekend.

[squims]

Seems like a nice concert. How was his pronunciation?

[Gadolinium]

squims - there is still room for lots of improvement, especially in faster phrases, but he kind of made it up in other aspects (and also chose songs/kalam appropriately).

mahavishnu - thanks! La Jolla is not all that awesome this year I enjoyed reading all your reviews, especially seshu's.

[mohanakalyani]

Nice review.

Good points:

Very nice Kharaharapriya.

Very fluent and seamless graha bedham.


I would like to add a few comments, which points should apply to his previous concert in San Diego as well:

1. It takes 2 or 3 pieces before we can actually hear unnikrishnan. Till then his voice is so faint, it is hardly audible.

2. Even after that, throughout the concert, the most of the sahityam is very mumbled and swallowed.

3. For me, most of the initial items felt like fillers. I would have liked at least 1 more serious piece before Rtp.

4. Kosalam in the beginning felt odd. Felt like it should be a post Rtp piece.

Regards,
Mohanakalyani