Dr. Gayatri Rajapur - GoTTuvadyam, 7th Dec 2012, Malleswaram

[keerthi]

Tyagaraja Gana sabhA, Kanyaka Parameswari Temple, Malleswaram, 8th Cross

7th December 2012, Friday

Dr. Gayatri Rajapur Kassebaum - GOtuvAdya
M.Vasudeva Rao - mRdanga
Dayandanda Mohite - ghaTa


01. Sami ninne - PantuvarAli Adi tAla varnam - SaTkAla Narasayya
02. mahAgaNapatiM - nATa - C. EkaM -MD [O]
03. srIsaraswati - Arabhi - rUpakam - MD - AS
04. srIshukrabhagavantaM - paras - K.ATa - MD
05. mAmava mInAkSi - varALi - Misra Eka - MD - ANS
06. yAre rangana - hindOla - Adi - Purandara dAsa - A
07. bhajarE bhaja - kannaDa - M.chApu - Ty.
08. marivEre gati - Anandabhairavi - M.chApu - ShyAma shAstri - ANST
08a. Tani Avartanam
09. bhAmarO / emandunamma - kEdAragauLa padam - M.chApu - ksetrayya
10. samayamidE - bihAg - rUpaka - PSI
11. TillAna - hindOlam - Adi - ?
12. Mangalam - nI nAmarUpamulaku - saurAShtra - Ty.

Smt. Gayatri is a senior student of Budalur Krishnamurthy ShAstri. She aslo learnt from Stalewarts like TKRangachari, Musiri and T. Brinda at the Central College.

It was nice to listen to her AlApanas with short phrases that packed rAga-bhAva. It was unusual to hear first kAla swaras in Arabhi; which I quite enjoyed. The paraz song was from Smt. T.Brinda's version. the Alapanas for varAli and Anandabhairavi had non-hackneyed phrases. The version of BhajarE bhaja was different from the other prevalent pAThams, in that the pallavi had only three Avartanas in most sangatis except the last.

There were a few tAla hitches, but the song selection was indeed memorable. It was also nice that the viduSi sang along several sections of the songs.

It was a pleasant surprise to discover at the venue, that the concert was in memory of the vaiNika L.Rajarao.

[kittappa]

There are a few recluses among Carnatic musicians too. This lady seems to be one of them. Not being in the so called happening place, Chennai and therefore 'out of sight, out of mind' I suppose. The concert list suggests she is a serious musician who does not run after garlands, concerts, awards etc.
keerthi, did she employ the prati madhyamam in 'srI shukra bhagavantam'. I believe B-M used to, though I don't have a recording of that song by them. Never heard any of the disciples sing this song. That's why I asked.

[srikant1987]

This lady seems to be one of them. Not being in the so called happening place, Chennai and therefore 'out of sight, out of mind' I suppose

Oh PLEASE! I'm in Bangalore for over two years, and this is the second concert of hers that I'm hearing of. I have heard her at the Karnataka Gana Kala Parishat which holds (or used to hold) concerts at one Archana mami's residence near BTM Tank.

I totally agree about song selection and all that, but I did feel her control over the instrument and especially tALa pulled the KGKP concert down considerably. Indeed she played tillAnas in shankarAbharaNam and and kalyANi (?) in her KGKP concert (sAvEri varNam, shrI gaNapatini and bAlagOpAla are the other items I recollect). I cannot tell you how refreshing it was to hear tillAnas in such rAgams after sindhubhairavi, dhanashrI, rEvati and whatnot.

Before anyone else blames Chennai for ignoring musicians such as herself and sarvashri A Shankar Raman, Bhagyalakshmi Chandrasekaran, R Vishweshwaran, Usha Ramamoorthy et al, they should seriously look into what Bangalore is doing for them.

[kittappa]

I don't know about Bangalore, since I live in the North. But Chennai has ignored musicians like R.K.Srikantan, Puducode Krishnamurti, Neyyatinkara Vasudevan and many others. They were good musicians but the Chennai sabhas did not think it fit to invite them, excepting Srikantan who started getting invited in the 1990s when he was past 70. Shakuntala Narasimhan was another ignored musician. Who is the loser? Serious rasikas. Generally with regard to Carnatic music, Bangalore or Delhi or Mumbai or Calcutta follow the lead provided by Chennai. This is what I have seen and heard.

[srikant1987]

Who is the loser? Serious rasikas.

It is for rasikas to seek out music too!

Generally with regard to Carnatic music, Bangalore or Delhi or Mumbai or Calcutta follow the lead provided by Chennai.

They don't have to. They never had to.

[kittappa]

I think you know very little about these things.

I have been an office bearer in two sabhas, one in Mumbai and one in Delhi. In Mumbai, my sabha believed in inviting only Madras based vidvans. They did not even think of calling Alamelu Mani to sing. When I suggested that we invite Prof Visweswaran, the general question was, "Who is he? Never heard of him". Ditto with Shakuntala Narasimhan. In Delhi it was the same case. They wanted only popular vidvans from Madras to perform. "Shakuntala Narasimhan is neither good at CM nor HM. She is caught between two stools" was their comment. This was about 9 years ago.

After I met Sri.T.Viswanathan in Chennai at a private concert in December 2001 I wanted to invite him to Delhi for a concert. But I had to ask the heavyweights of my sabha. "Oh, no the Dhanammal family musicians cannot attract crowds. Look, we can only follow the lead provided by the Madras sabhas. They know best. Tell us the name of any artist who has sung in the senior slot in the Music Academy, we'll invite that artist without any hesitation." I then told them that Viswa and B-M had performed for many years in the senior slot in the MA."No, no, only 20 people will come for their concerts. We'll cut a sorry figure with our members and our North Indian sponsors will ridicule us." This was when the Bharat Ram group was sponsoring our programmes fully and had advised us to invite true CM artists, 'even if they are not popular. We want to encourage true classicism'. And, lest you should think that our sabhas were small, insignificant ones, let me say that both in Mumbai and in Delhi, we had a membership of more than 800 people.

I have heard the same story from Bangalore too. And Calcutta. Do you know that Brinda and Muktha have never, repeat never, given even a single concert in Calcutta? That was because they were not invited by any sabha there.

[kittappa]

Didn't complete the story. I resigned from the sabha 6 years ago not being able to bear their attitude.

[kunthalavarali]

"Generally with regard to Carnatic music, Bangalore or Delhi or Mumbai or Calcutta follow the lead provided by Chennai."

Hyderabad/ Secunderabad fares no better. I don't think B & M or TV ever gave a concert in the twin cities. I wish I am wrong. In fact many musicians from AP moved to Chennai (lock stock and barrel). The opposite happens in the Ranji Trophy cricket. Some prominent players from the metropolitan cities move to smaller states for various reasons. Wonder if such a thing is possible in CM!

[arvind.brahmakal]

Wonder if there is an opportunity to multiply the number of formats which could help create openings for artistes of varying styles....for eg : adoption of a few schools and colleges, concerts at Companies...essentially, sponsors need a decent crowd and having a captive one such as the ones above could help balance both the worlds in addition to expanding the rasika base ??

[keerthi]

Kittappa,

I couldn't hear the Pratimadhyama in Sri sukra Bhagavantam. I have heard Smt, Ritha Rajan sing this song, as well as my teacher Smt. Sakuntala; and no M2 there either.

RaviSri have told me about the use of pratimadhyama in nIlAyatAkSi in certain places, but I haven't heard it in the recording(s) that we have of the song by Mukta/Brinda. My teacher has also remarked about how they used not two but two and a half madhyamas in the jAvaLi smarasundarAnguni!

For many songs they had special sangatis that weren't sung all the time, or even taught to everyone. These pratimadhyama sangatis, maybe, were left out while teaching 'outsiders' and only taught within the family. This is only my speculation.

[kittappa]

The reason I asked you was I have heard RaviSri sing a certain place in the charanam using M2, in the phrase, 'navAmsha hOrA drEkkANAdi'. When my professor Dileep Veeraraghavan asked them to sing the phrase again they did. This was about 12 years ago. In nIlAyatAkShi also Ravi has told me how they use M2 but as you said they did it rarely and hardly taught outsiders these special things.