GV @ BVB, 5-12-'12 Live

[sureshvv]

Accompanists

pakkala ramdas
tiruvarur vaidyanathan
guruprasad

started with slokams
now kamas daru varnam mathe'

[sureshvv]

Puradaradasa kriti Vandisurayadalli gananathena in nattai in khanda chapu

kalpana swaras & ghatam support sounding great... Mrudangam a bit on the loud side

[sureshvv]

Brindavana saranga alapana getting a rousing applause for both the
vocalist & violinist

rangapura vihara is the kriti chosen

[sureshvv]

Vivadi rush is on...

[sureshvv]

Fabulous violin return followed by arul seyya vendum in rasikapriya

[sureshvv]

Some exquisite kalpsna swaras by both the vocalist & the violinist draws thunderous applause & the entire audience is firmly drawn into the concert

[sureshvv]

Grand shankarabharanam alapana settles the audience down deeply in their broken chairs guaranteeing full attendance for the thani

[sureshvv]

endukku peddala is the kriti chosen with neraval and swaras at veda shastra

*charge ran out*

An extra large thani - almost 25 minutes which drew multiple applauses - especially for the usually nonchalant ghatam artiste

tukkadas:

1. viruttam in saveri and kapi followed by enna thavam seidhanai
2. ragamalika kriti - aval thaan anaithayum (thanks sankark)
3. LGJ tillana in mohanakalyani
4. karpagamey

[sankark]

think of perungaayam/koththamalli/pachaimilagai manakkara thalichcha thayir saadham & puli inji for thottukka. gayathri's fare was the thayir sadham, accompaniments were the puli inji. the overall combo was simply superb

however, like you get one or two mouthful too salty - there were two nerudals. too long alapanai of rasikapriya. the last section of nereval at veda shAstra - she took the entire charanam - went on and on and ooooooooon and lost its musicality.

fantastic percussion support.

that raga malika song - avaL thAn anaithaiyum AttubavaL - will this become GV's 'rAgathil sirandha'? I hope not, else all you remember that you heard it first here

[sureshvv]

What?

I would liked it to go even looooooooooooooooooooonger

My nerudal was the extra loud mrudangam. Technique was good but it was unnecessarily loud. It was drowning out GV's voice in some of the really soft intricate sangathis. Ghatam amplification was perfect.

[sureshvv]

that raga malika song - avaL thAn anaithaiyum AttubavaL - will this become GV's 'rAgathil sirandha'? I hope not, else all you remember that you heard it first here

Can't swear to it but think I have heard Sanjay render this even eliciting a slight titter from the audience...

[shankarabharanam]

What?

I would liked it to go even looooooooooooooooooooonger

My nerudal was the extra loud mrudangam. Technique was good but it was unnecessarily loud. It was drowning out GV's voice in some of the really soft intricate sangathis. Ghatam amplification was perfect.

This seems to be the issue with Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan in every concert . He seems to believe that playing loud is the way to go ahead. I am sorry but sometimes the bhava of the krithi is completely lost with such accompaniment. Someone should inform him about this..

[harimau]

This seems to be the issue with Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan in every concert . He seems to believe that playing loud is the way to go ahead. I am sorry but sometimes the bhava of the krithi is completely lost with such accompaniment. Someone should inform him about this..

He turns a deaf ear to any request to lower the volume of the mridangam. That maybe because he is just plain deaf. :@

In Jan 2012, at a Sudha Raghunathan concert for Bhairavi at Vidya Bharathi Kalyana Mandapam, one person went up to the stage and reuested Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan to play a bit softly. Vaidyanathan told him something that caused him to leave the hall and continued beating the living heck out of his mridangam.

We need something more than words to deal with these characters. Someone should just pick up the mridangam and throw it down, breaking it. One can always plead that loud noises cause one to lose one's equanimity. The New York Times actually had an article about this medical condition recently.

PS. Maybe he thinks that Sangeetha Kalanidhi is given for playing the mridangam loud. With the exception of Vellore Ramabhadran (and maybe one other artist), every mridangist who got the Sangeetha Kalanidhi is known for loud noises.

PPS. Yesterday, at the concert of the Proprietress of Ye Honourable Olde & Original Abhangerie, the loudest sound came from Madam Proprietress herself. Even during the tani avarthanam, K V Prasad could not match the decibel levels of the vocalist. Madam Proprietress controls all sound levels by doing a sound check before the concert. But not everyone has the power that Madam Proprietress wields.

[Rsachi]

Harimau and Sureshvv,
There are three possible explanations when the mridangist beats the instrument hard:
1. He knew it when it was a stubborn bullock so it's simple force of habit.
2. He is trying to make both ends meet.
3. He is trying to extract the mridanga chintamani* hidden within.

* a divine gem.
PS: this is NOT a comment on any artiste!

[sankark]

he was loud at times yesterday, but not throughout. may be his bang-the-vessel-um personality pushed the vaidyanathan personality to the background now and then.

[bilahari]

This seems to be the issue with Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan in every concert . He seems to believe that playing loud is the way to go ahead. I am sorry but sometimes the bhava of the krithi is completely lost with such accompaniment. Someone should inform him about this..

Sums up my experience with him as well.

[Nick H]

He is one of the more vigorous artists, but, as ever, I say that the balance is in the hands of the sound engineer, and the sound engineer should not take orders from the stage. Complaints should be addressed to him --- or to the organiser.

Harimau, don't these people quake with fear when you arrive? Or have they not yet seen through that hooded-black-cloak disguise of yours?

[shankarabharanam]

Did Tiruvarur have cotton in his ears |(

http://decseason.blogspot.com/2012/12/v ... up-up.html

[Radhika-Rajnarayan]

A gentle correction, if you don't mind: it is not

Puradaradasa kriti Vandisurayadalli gananathena in nattai in khanda chapu

but 'Vandisuvud(u)aadhiyalli gaNanaathana' i.e pray (vandisu) at the start (aadhiyalli) to Ganannaatha (Gananaatha-na)

[sureshvv]

Thank you for being gentle! Unfortunately a bit late for me to correct it.

[harimau]

Did Tiruvarur have cotton in his ears |(

No; he has cotton inside his head. |( |(

PS. I know some of you are going to be offended by this comment but it was inspired by a book on Richard Nixon in question-answer format.

Q: Is Nixon's hair naturally wavy?

A. No; Nixon's hair is straight, it is his head that is wavy.

[harimau]

Harimau, don't these people quake with fear when you arrive? Or have they not yet seen through that hooded-black-cloak disguise of yours?

I just avoid going to concerts where people like the mridangist who is the topic of discussion play the percussion.

Yesterday, I went to the concert of Malladi Brothers for Kartik Fine Arts. I had hoped Trichy Sankaran's playing would be softer now that he is a year older.

I forgot that age does not wither his hands nor respect for the custom of deferring to the vocalists in terms of volume prevent him from banging his drum as hard as he could and then some more.

[sureshvv]

I had the same impression of his accompaniment. He was adding more din to the already noisy proceedings. I found the thani quite balanced though.