G.Srikanth's concert for Mudhra

[radha bhaskar]

G.Srikanth gave a splendid concert for Mudhra on 20th May. He has a very melodious, smooth and even voice which traverses with complete ease in all the octaves. There was a lot of fine imagination in the rendition of each raga but at the same time, proportion and restraint was well maintained. This made the concert very methodical and complete.
Srikanth made a fine blend of rare and popular compositions. Starting briskly with the kedaragoula varnam, he rendered mahisasura ( goula), sri kumara nagara (atana), kalavati kamalasana (kalavati), sankari nee ve(pantuvarali), marugelara (jayantasree). The main piece was Evarimata (kambodi) which he started briskly from the anupallavi. He ended with an ashrtapadi and tillana (brindavani).
Anayampatti Venkatasubramaniam and B.Sivaraman’s accompaniment made the concert a fine team work. Venkat’s play was marked by experience and he precisely knew how to add his bit to make the concert a fine aesthetic experience. He was brilliant in his solo parts but took care to follow the vocalist without overdoing at any point. Sivaraman embellished every kriti very beautifully.
As Srikanth does not get to perform too often in Chennai, some rasikas who came to the concert, asked me “who is this Srikanth?’After listening to his wonderful concert, they remarked while leaving the hall, “what a nice performance! Glad that I was able to attend today.”
Instead of featuring the same artists over and over again, I wish sabhas give space to other talented artists like Srikanth as well to prove their worth!

[rajeshnat]

G srikanth is the disciple of OST.Tx radha for your review

[Lakshman]

The pantuvarALi song must be shankari ninne ika cAla nammiti-Mysore Vasudevachar.

[sureshvv]

Heard him on FM Gold fri morning & heard a very original raga alapana of Rishabapriya. Could not make it to mudhra but intend to attend his concert soon.

[annamalai]

Instead of featuring the same artists over and over again, I wish sabhas give space to other talented artists like Srikanth as well to prove their worth!

Excellent point. I think the burden is on the rasikas and not the sabha nayakas. Sabha nayakas would immediately point to the crowd and ticket sales. As is well-known, most rasikas flock to the concerts of popular musicians only. Some exceptions like Nada Inbam feature concerts of scholarly musicians.

Interestingly, there is also sufficient corroboration even in this rasikas forum postings; only the concerts of popular musicians are reviewed often and the many subsequent rasikas appreciation and responses. Someone lamented a while back, only a handful of rasikas turned up for nadaswaram concerts @ KGS. Why would a sabha feature those concerts.

[radha bhaskar]

Sorry for the error, it is of course sankari ninne only - i was singing the song to myself while typing but typed it wrong!

[malavi]

G.Srikanth is the son of smt.Leelavati gopalakrishnan.i never miss his concerts in AIR.he also sings for dance programmes i heard.there was a very good review of his concert in sivagami pethachi auditorium in december.

[arasi]

Radha Bhaskar,
Thanks for the review and for encouraging young artistes at Mudhra.Your programs during the season prove it.

While it is true that popular musicians attract more crowds and more reviews, I see quite a number of reviews here on Rasikas.org on the concerts of young artistes. Yes, we do have several reviews of Naada Inbam concerts, which is heartening. Thanks to Bharath for covering some of them. Ram writes about young artistes whom he accompanies. The same with Erode and Balaji. Rajesh is no exception.

[kssr]

As Srikanth does not get to perform too often in Chennai, some rasikas who came to the concert, asked me “who is this Srikanth?’After listening to his wonderful concert, they remarked while leaving the hall, “what a nice performance! Glad that I was able to attend today.”
Instead of featuring the same artists over and over again, I wish sabhas give space to other talented artists like Srikanth as well to prove their worth!

Interesting! Why would someone go to a concert and then ask who this artist X is Also good of those rasikas to come back and say that it was wonderful

I understand the message of these imaginary conversations- it was a good concert. The artists' frequency of performance and their remuneration is directly a demand and supply equation. Rasikas demand- sabhas supply- with or without ticket.

[radha bhaskar]

I

Interesting! Why would someone go to a concert and then ask who this artist X is Also good of those rasikas to come back and say that it was wonderful

As far as Mudhra is concerned, we have featured quite a few artists who are not that well known but have very good potential. So our members trust us about our choice of artists and come to the concert with the confidence that whoever it is singing, it will be of good quality. In such cases, they are totally unfamiliar with the artist's background and as I am a musician, they take interest in finding out from me some details about the artist. So, I was not exaggerating when i made that statement!
This was also the case when the "Thirumalai Brothers" sang for us a few months back and Dr.Saraswathi Vidyarthi sang in the December fest !