3hrs. 45 min. concert. with S.Varadarajan on the violin and Neyveli Venkatesh on the mrdanga.
Song list. Corrections welcome.
ninnE kOri-vasantA varNa-Tachur Singaracharyulu-Sk
tanavAri tanamu-bEgaDa-Tyagaraja-Sk, N@ rAma rAma,S
rAmanukku mannanmuDi-hindOLa-Arunachalakavi-A, S (song started with anupallavi)
murugA murugA-sAvEri-Periyasami Tooran-A
nEnendu veTukuturA-karnATakabehAg-Tyagaraja
tAyE yashOda-tODi-Uttukadu Venkatakavi-grahabhEda to shankarAbharaNa-A, N@ kAlinil silambu, S,Tani (song started with anupallavi)
annapUrNE vishAlAkSi-sAmA-Dikshitar
RTP mOhana/ranjani in c/jhampa tALA, khaNDa naDai. Pallavi line: mOhana ranganai paNi manamE dinamE gOpiranjanam. SvarAs-brndAvanasArangA, sArangA, bhUpALa, shuddhasArang (after each svara the raga name was substituted for the first word of the pallavi)
viruttam (from kandar alankAram) in mAyAmALavagauLa, dhanyAsi and brndAvana sArangA followed by
kaliyuga varadan-brndAvanasArangA-Periyasamy Tooran
tillAnA-khamAs-Lalgudi Jayaraman
mangaLam
Saketaraman at Toronto-May 27th, 2012
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mahavishnu
- Posts: 3341
- Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 21:56
Re: Saketaraman at Toronto-May 27th, 2012
L-ji. Thank you for posting the song list, as always, without fail like clockwork.
He also sang a grahabedam from Todi to Mohanakalyani also (the tonic shift would have produced Kalyani, but he was being extra creative). Similarly, I thought he shifted to Kurinji/Navroz rather than pure Sankarabharanam.
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It was a very scholarly concert by young Saketaraman. Getting billed with seasoned accompanists like Varadarajan and Venkatesh, brought out the best in him. Varadarajan was very supportive and was able to assist when there was even a hint of instability. Venkatesh played a vibrant tani, full of excellent Pazhani school strokes. His accompaniment for sahityam was filled with sowkyam with just the right use of thoppi/gumki elements.
Saketaraman is talented in many ways, but I believe that kalpanaswaram singing is his forte. He has imbibed this from his guru, whose kalpanaswarams are pure poetry. The way LGJ blends the syntax of the swaram pattern into the line of the eduppu is very unique. Saketaraman showed some nascent signs of this in his swarams for tanavari in begada and in the pallavi.
When he began the mohana alapanai, I was a tad disappointed, since he had already sung another pentatonic (audava-audava) ragam earlier. But I have to say that the Lalgudi school owns this ragam. His presentation of it was the highlight of the evening. Varadarajan was not far behind; his interpretation of mohana was equally spellbinding. The pallavi appeared a bit pedantic to me, but this is not a complaint. The combination of Mohana and Ranjani makes for an interesting pair (symmetry-breaking audava pairings).
IMHO, Saketaraman is 99% there; a few more years and he will be at the very helm. He needs to work on his voice in the lower reaches and be careful in avoiding the occasional slip in swara stanam, while making sure he maintains and optimizes his energy for long performances. That said, singing for almost 4 hours like he did today does not come easy.
Overall, excellent effort from this young man and his brilliant team. We are on a serious roll here in Toronto. Such talent has walked through this week. I feel like we are hosting the olympics or something
He also sang a grahabedam from Todi to Mohanakalyani also (the tonic shift would have produced Kalyani, but he was being extra creative). Similarly, I thought he shifted to Kurinji/Navroz rather than pure Sankarabharanam.
-------
It was a very scholarly concert by young Saketaraman. Getting billed with seasoned accompanists like Varadarajan and Venkatesh, brought out the best in him. Varadarajan was very supportive and was able to assist when there was even a hint of instability. Venkatesh played a vibrant tani, full of excellent Pazhani school strokes. His accompaniment for sahityam was filled with sowkyam with just the right use of thoppi/gumki elements.
Saketaraman is talented in many ways, but I believe that kalpanaswaram singing is his forte. He has imbibed this from his guru, whose kalpanaswarams are pure poetry. The way LGJ blends the syntax of the swaram pattern into the line of the eduppu is very unique. Saketaraman showed some nascent signs of this in his swarams for tanavari in begada and in the pallavi.
When he began the mohana alapanai, I was a tad disappointed, since he had already sung another pentatonic (audava-audava) ragam earlier. But I have to say that the Lalgudi school owns this ragam. His presentation of it was the highlight of the evening. Varadarajan was not far behind; his interpretation of mohana was equally spellbinding. The pallavi appeared a bit pedantic to me, but this is not a complaint. The combination of Mohana and Ranjani makes for an interesting pair (symmetry-breaking audava pairings).
IMHO, Saketaraman is 99% there; a few more years and he will be at the very helm. He needs to work on his voice in the lower reaches and be careful in avoiding the occasional slip in swara stanam, while making sure he maintains and optimizes his energy for long performances. That said, singing for almost 4 hours like he did today does not come easy.
Overall, excellent effort from this young man and his brilliant team. We are on a serious roll here in Toronto. Such talent has walked through this week. I feel like we are hosting the olympics or something
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kunthalavarali
- Posts: 426
- Joined: 03 Mar 2010, 01:30
Re: Saketaraman at Toronto-May 27th, 2012
Yes it was a very good concert. Grahabedam was a bit unexpected, I thought after showing glimpse of Sankarabharanam he moved to Kurinji, Mohanakalyani was also a surprise (which swara did he shift?). Eschewing elaborate sanchara in the upper octave was notable.
It was very nice to see a very disciplined audience sit through and appreciate the entire 3 hours 50 minutes concert.
It was very nice to see a very disciplined audience sit through and appreciate the entire 3 hours 50 minutes concert.
Last edited by kunthalavarali on 28 May 2012, 18:11, edited 1 time in total.
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varsha
- Posts: 1978
- Joined: 24 Aug 2011, 15:06
Re: Saketaraman at Toronto-May 27th, 2012
Very True . Owns it . Farms on it. Reaps such beautiful flowers too. That makes Earth seem like Heaven.But I have to say that the Lalgudi school owns this ragam.
As this 4 minute beauty shows .
http://www.mediafire.com/?yt2s94te2i5fgp7
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mahavishnu
- Posts: 3341
- Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 21:56
Re: Saketaraman at Toronto-May 27th, 2012
Kunthalavarali: Saketharaman did the grahabedham to Mohanakalyani from the upper rishabam (R1). The tonic shift to R1 yields the structure of Kalyani. The Mohanakalyani scale, being a derivative falls out as a corollary.
The shift to Sankarabharanam is done from the Dhaivatam (D1); again the omission of the second half of the octave and the S-p prayogam in descent would produce the effect of Kurinji. This works out well because going higher than the panchamam with the new tonic puts one in the upper limits of one's vocal range.
Varsha, thanks for that clip. And I couldn't agree more on this. Lalgudi himself has spoken of his love for Mohanam on several documented occasions. There is a beautiful mohanam that he performed at the Harbourfront theatre in Toronto in '94, which has been released commercially by Zakir Hussain's Moment records label.
And whether it is mATi mATiki delpa, nannu pAlimpa, mOhana rAma, rA rA rAjivalOcana, or kapAli, his violin just sings. But the manodharma is at its best, when he is accompanying MMI, TKR and GNB (on sri ramA ramaNI). I could go on...This is a sort of discussion that needs Mr. Coolkarni, who can draw illustrative clips with the precision of an optimized search engine.
I am glad that Saketh's training has exposed him to the glory of this mOhanam.
The shift to Sankarabharanam is done from the Dhaivatam (D1); again the omission of the second half of the octave and the S-p prayogam in descent would produce the effect of Kurinji. This works out well because going higher than the panchamam with the new tonic puts one in the upper limits of one's vocal range.
Varsha, thanks for that clip. And I couldn't agree more on this. Lalgudi himself has spoken of his love for Mohanam on several documented occasions. There is a beautiful mohanam that he performed at the Harbourfront theatre in Toronto in '94, which has been released commercially by Zakir Hussain's Moment records label.
And whether it is mATi mATiki delpa, nannu pAlimpa, mOhana rAma, rA rA rAjivalOcana, or kapAli, his violin just sings. But the manodharma is at its best, when he is accompanying MMI, TKR and GNB (on sri ramA ramaNI). I could go on...This is a sort of discussion that needs Mr. Coolkarni, who can draw illustrative clips with the precision of an optimized search engine.
I am glad that Saketh's training has exposed him to the glory of this mOhanam.