Sudha Raghunathan @ Philadelphia on Sept 23, 2006

sangeetarasikan · Post by **sangeetarasikan** » 25 Sep 2006, 03:51

Sudha Raghunathan - Vocal
B Raghavendra Rao - Violin
Neyveli Skandasubramaniam - Mridangam
R Raman - Morsing

1. Mate malayadhwaja - Khamas - Adi - Muthiah Bhagavatar
2. Sharanu siddhi vinayaka - Sowrashtram - Mishra Chapu - Purandaradasa
3. Slokam from Soundarya Lahari followed by a composition of Iraiamman Tampi in Nata (Can't remember the song) (S)
4. Ramaneeve - Narayani - Adi - Tyagaraja (R, S)
5. Akhilandeshwari - Jujavanti - Adi - Dikshitar
6. Birana varalichi - Kalyani - Adi - Syama Sastri (R, N, S & T)
7. Marugelara - Jayanthasri - Adi - Tyagaraja
8. RTP - Bhairavi
9. Tukkadas included Jagadhodharana, Kandanaal, Teeradavilayattu pillai...

This was apparently Sudha's first concert of her US tour. Nothing spectacular, but decent performance lasting nearly 4 hours, which was a trifle too long for many in the audience who had sat through a dance performance earlier in the evening. The accompanists were very good and contributed in a big way to the concert effect.

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 25 Sep 2006, 04:40

sangeetarasikan wrote:1. Mate malayadhwaja - Khamas - Adi - Muthiah Bhagavatar

Do you remember how many ettudaDe swaras she sang for shAmE sakalabhuvana sArvabhoumE?

-Ramakriya

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 25 Sep 2006, 13:10

Gosh, the other krithi I was thinking of yesterday was Birana...(kalyAni). Intriguing to see the elaboration in Narayani. What was the pallavi line? Please provide other details about RTP...

It's a pity Tiruvarur Vaidhyanathan wasn't accompanying - he'd have raised the roof a little more, I'm sure.

sangeetarasikan · Post by **sangeetarasikan** » 25 Sep 2006, 17:55

Ramakriya, if I'm not mistaken she sang 4 swaras in shAmE.

Vocalist, I'm sure Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan would have been great, but Skandasubramaniam didn't give any opportunity for one to miss anybody else. His naadam and accompanying skills were stupendous. He definitely raised the bar very high that day.

I wasn't able to hear the Pallavi as my children needed to be packed into the car and sent home with my wife. Like I said before, it was 10ish when she started the Pallavi. I sat through a few tukkadas and went home myself.

This brings up the question of whether it is prudent for an artiste to start a Pallavi so late in the concert. Esp. someone as seasoned as Sudha could have planned her concert a little better and gone straight to the tukkadas after the Kalyani piece. The audience would have surely preferred that.

jayaram · Post by **jayaram** » 25 Sep 2006, 18:17

I feel so jealous of rasikas in N.America - most concerts there are upwards of 3.5 hours. Having lived there for several years, I consider myself spoilt too much. I realize this these days, concerts here being quite short. A 2.5 hour concert is considered by many to be too long! Just last weekend we had a high quality violin recital by Lalitha/Nandini and it lasted just 1.5 hours! (they would have liked to play for much longer, but it was time constraint imposed by the organizers...)

By the way, a quick look at the song list above suggests to me it was quite appropriate for Sudha to start the RTP 'so late'. There was just one major ragam before that, right? That is the regular format, I thought.

Ah, how I long for those days of detailed, satisfying concerts.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 25 Sep 2006, 18:35

I think Sudha would have sung an elaborate alapana in Narayani as well as Kalyani. I remember her singing Narayani elaborately in the Music Academy a few years ago. It kept a lot of the patrons of the Academy guessing for a while.

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 25 Sep 2006, 21:15

sangeetarasikan wrote:Ramakriya, if I'm not mistaken she sang 4 swaras in shAmE.

Thanks. The reason I asked was because I knew only 3. Recently I heard one artist singing 4th. The 4th is really beautiful with lots of dATu prayOgas. Later on I got a reference, that has one more ettugaDe swara!

-Ramakriya

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 25 Sep 2006, 22:36

In Muttiah Bhagavatar's composition book, in addition to 4 ettugada svaras, there is an extra svara passage. I can email it to you if you want. The script is in tamil though.

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 26 Sep 2006, 15:20

Lakshman, please email it to me too.

Thanks sangeetarasikan. I heard skandasubramaniam is really good from someone else too - I'll check if I've heard him in a commercial release at least.

Regarding RTP, this is where the organisors should have made preferences clearer earlier. Here, when TNS and Unni came here, they sang a main item, and then a hardcore RTP. A lot of people weren't interested. For Sudha's concert however, the organisors told here that the audience more into thukkadas. So she only sang a main item (no rtp). Everyone who was present enjoyed the concert from start to finish.

I've heard TVR, Sowmya etc. sing Periyasami Thooran's Brindavani item, but Sudha has so far topped it. It's a thukkada worth requesting, definitely (rather than Kurai ondrum Illai or Theeratha Vilayattu Pillai).

sangeetarasikan · Post by **sangeetarasikan** » 26 Sep 2006, 19:54

Mohan, you are right. She sang a fairly long alapana of Narayani and a quite long alapana of Kalyani.

Jayaram, I would normally enjoy a 3-hr plus concert with a Pallavi. But like I said before, it was already a long day for many of us in the audience. The general feeling was that she should have started the tukkadas right after Kalyani. My surprise is only because a seasoned artiste like Sudha didn't get this vibe.

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 26 Sep 2006, 21:26

Lakshman wrote:In Muttiah Bhagavatar's composition book, in addition to 4 ettugada svaras, there is an extra svara passage. I can email it to you if you want. The script is in tamil though.

Thanks Lakshman

I can read tamizh.

-Ramakriya

kartik · Post by **kartik** » 27 Sep 2006, 18:31

Correct Ramakriya,the 4th is beautiful but rarely sung.HMB was extremely brilliant at datu prayogas.