Amrutha venkatesh@vanimahal(mini) on Dec 25,2012

[rajeshnat]

Amrutha venkatesh@vanimahal(mini) on Dec 25,2012
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Vocal : Amrutha Venkatesh
Violin : B. Ananthakrishnan
Mrudangam : Arjun Ganesh
Kanjira : Anirudh Athreya
Concert duration/Day : 2 rs /Tuesday
Concert Type : Non nirvana- concert to follow

1. VanajAkshirO - kalyAni - Poochi Iyengar
2. tAyE yashodhA (N,S) - tOdi - OVK
7 mins each in neraval and swaras
neraval in "kAliniL silambu konja "

3. santatam bhajAmi(R) - bilahari - MD
6 mis alApana and 4 mins violin return

4. ini oru kanam (RS,S)- shree ranjani - psivan
4 mins swaras
5A. raghuvara nannu (R N S T) - paNtuvarAli - T
13 mins alapana and 8 mins violin return
5 mins neraval in "manasuna neekE marulu kaNNU nAnura"
6 mins swaras
5B. tani for 14 mins

6A slokham "kasturi tilakam" - darbAri kAnadA -
6B. gOvardana giridhara - darbari kAnadA - NT

7. shyAmaLE mInAkshi(nOttuswaras) - shankarAbharanam - MD
8. dhritutOm "gAyaka jana" - bEhAg - BMK

I am hearing Amrutha venkatesh perhaps for the 4th or 5th time in a live concert.She has a very soothing and a very powerful voice .Amrutha's concert had its share of pluses and a few shortcomings both exhibited in the course of her concert . It was a great varnam to start with and the team did have some problems in mike setting , I personally felt it was ok but even after correction thank god it continued to be still ok.

The next in todi was quite a rare #2,tAye Yashoda was easily the pick of her concert . Her voice was very soothing and she maintained a very apt kAlapramanam and both her neraval and swaras had its share of creative sangathis . The heavy bilahari rAga was done well and the krithi rendition was a very intellectual presentation.

In shree ranjani felt her voice strength was indeed there but there was not that much swiftness in singing fast cuts for both krithi and swaras . PantuvarAli alapana had its share of ambiguity ,infact it was not the usual confusion of Pantuvarali vs poorvikalyani. Her alapana did have pantuvarAli rasa to me but it was not in total,may it also had some kind of different muse . Infact one elderly rasika got up and asked the rAga name and there were quite a few surprise heads when she announced it as pantuvarAli . The krithi of raghuvara nannu could have had a bit faster kalapramanam atleast till the beginning of neraval .Till the beginning of main neraval ,The percussion artist was playing as though she sang a shade faster and it was not that enjoyable .She made up well with a tailored neraval and swaras in pantuvarAli .

The tukkada start was lovely .darbAri muse in kasturi tilagam was so soothing that I liked it immensely and she sang well the popular darbari krithi of NT. The nottuswaras of MD was quite catchy and it is indeed light which was how MD composed . The behag tillana of her paramaguru BMK was well done.

The violinist played well but since it was too cold with the AC in blast , I presume he lost considerable nAdham. The percussion team gelled well . Arjun Ganesh is a youngster to watch , his speed is very good and anirudh gave a very able support.Anirudh is going strength to strength with a lot of ganam(weight) in his playing . Their tani was nice and definitely it was not just pass the vocal baton type .

Amrutha, a very gifted singer excels with a very strong voice and her forte is in mandara to madhya sthayi . She is extremely gifted in shruthi suddham. Possibly her heavy voice is bit difficult to go with quick turns especially in mEl kAlam and she indeed stays too close to her comfort zone .

Strategically she is showing an inclination to present a bit too intellectual presentation, could that be a reason for her pantuvarali alapana to be very very different .Nothing wrong with that for rasikas who have taken time to understand CM.But she indeed loses the pulse of the audience.

The team was entirely young and each of them had a spark.Overall a good to very good concert for 2 hours.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

Rajeshnat: As usual a good comprehensive review--an anecdote re: Amrutha Venkatesh.

My late father K.S.Mahadevan(then a music reviewer for Indian Express for over 25 years) heard Amrutha V in the early 2003 or 2004 was impressed and was pushing her case to the Sabhas in Chennai(MA.KGS,MFAS etc for the December season to no avail--despite personal contacts with Vasu(MA)Yagnaraman(KGS),MFAS Secretary--the name slips my mind at this time. he persisted in 2005 and 2006 as well. He fell ill in Mid-August 2006 and on the day of his death on Sept 4,2006@ 6 P.M.--3 hours before he died,a call comes to my brother's house where my father was living from MFAS--my mother picks up the phone and the Secretary(not knowing that my dad was critically ill-he thought it was the usual old age ailment!!) tells my mother to inform my dad that the candidate that he was pushing so hard Amrutha Venkatesh is being slotted for the December season of 2006. My mother conveys the news to my father, and he tells my mother"See unless you shamelessly push deserving cases without letting your ego interfere artists outside of Chennai(at that time Amrutha was from Bangalore) cannot crack the berlin Wall!!(My mother used to chide him that at his age --when he was in his nineties--and given his stature amongst artistes and Sabhas he should not lower himself to pleading for artistes however capable and deserving they may be). P.S. Amrutha to my knowledge has not missed a single December season since 2006!!
Likewise my father used a ruse to have Subbudu attend a VIOLIN duo of Ranjani and Gaythri in the Mid-Nineties(@ 10 A.M during the December season for a concert @ the Bharathi Vidya Bhavan Hall(name of the Sabha escapes me)--their first introduction to Chennai--he wanted Subbudu to review it although he himself could have reviewed for Indian Express!! Subbudu affectionately cursed my father for dragging him early on a winter morning(although he was used to much colder new Delhi!!) to hear an unknown violin duo. he was mighty impressed and when my father introduced Subbudu to R and G's father,Subbudu asks him straightway without any comments about the performance --"YEn ganum photo vacchirukkeera(have you a photo of the girls) to which R& G's father sheepily says no. My father intervenes and says to Subbudu,you go and start writing your review I will make sure the photo reaches before your review goes to press. P.S. Subbudu gave a rousing review and R and G had made a name for themselves as the Violin Duo--subsequently when they shifted to Vocal their credentials had been well-established.

If you get a chance please attend and review Varun Ganesan's concert--check out the dates from the general Discussion thread.

Keep those reviews coming-- I am planning to be in Chennai between Jan 20 thru feb 17th--let's see if we can attend a few concerts--although it would be a "dry" season for Music at that time!!!

[kssr]

Thanks for the review. Good to see that our bangalore girl (I think she is still in Bangalore) is getting good reviews from the chennai stalwarts.

Where was neraval in Thaaye yasodha? Was it "kaalinil chilambu". The MMI school's neraval here can be a bit irritating (at least in MHO).

Yes. Amrutha's singing is slow paced. She has chosen that style and it is good in its own way.

With regard to the higher octave singing, my observation was that it has never been a struggle in the case of Amrutha to reach higher panchamam. It is absolutely effortless and smooth. Of course, one can feel that her singing in the lower octaves are more enjoyable due to the characteristic pace that she has chosen.

Nottuswaras- once again MMI school? I wonder.

Even without the confusion with Poorvikalyani, Panthuvarali is tricky, as I have found in many artists. She should fix the problem quickly by starting off with the sharp identifyable pidis right in the first couple of minutes.

She is flawless in Dr.BMK's complex thillana formations.

I wish Amrutha great success.

[Nick H]

Amrutha is still, indeed "from Bamgalore," and travels for her concerts.

I think she sets an example in taking seriously the technical aspects of singing, voice control, breathing, projection. This may be one of the secrets behind her evenness up and down the scale. More singers should learn to sing!

Only attended one of her concerts during this season, which suffered from overloud amplification (I wrote about this elsewhere: the mridangam player himself was responsive to requests to turn it down). She has given at least three other, which I didn't make it to. One was at 5.30am!

[sairaam]

Mr. Kssr - MMI's neraval at ''kalanil silambu''is the best of all.. I sincerely request you to not comment like this and exhibit your agnanam. Thanks.

[cacm]

[quote="kssr"]Thanks for the review. Good to see that our bangalore girl (I think she is still in Bangalore) is getting good reviews from the chennai stalwarts.
Where was neraval in Thaaye yasodha? Was it "kaalinil chilambu". The MMI school's neraval here can be a bit irritating (at least in MHO).

In an otherwise DECENT piece you have CLEARLY EXPOSED your IGNORANCE by dragging in MMI'S name, school etc. Clearly you are not "upto snuff" in what MMI did in these niravals. SMART thing esp. if you are interested in praising Amrutha is not to fall into these kinds of traps.
From one who arranged a half hour discussion on MMI'S Niraval in Kalinil Silambu in a Chennai meeting by experts like S.Rajam, M.Chandrasekharan , K.S.Kalidas, Dr.S.A.K.Durga etc and still AMAZED at how MMI could present it afresh in EVERY ATTEMPT.......VKV

[bilahari]

Seriously? Agnanam? Ignorance? Just because someone happens to not like something you do?

No matter the technical proficiency with which a piece of art is delivered, it will be received and perceived differently by each individual, no matter how informed that individual is. That is art! This seems to bear repeating on this forum, and I will do so in this thread. And what does it matter that experts like so and so and so have dissected and appreciated a work? It is akin to expecting everyone to love Booker or Pulitzer prize winning books just because a plethora of experts has stamped its approval on those books. I thought last year's Booker winner, A Sense of an Ending, had a crass ending. I don't give two hoots that the critics thought it profound. Should I hang my head in shame because of my agnanam?

Let us all be more sensitive to each other's varying tastes - it is what makes this forum such an interesting place, even if occasionally acrimonious. Anyone who has browsed this forum regularly would also understand that KSSR is hardly a troll or ignoramus and has contributed objectively to this forum for some years now.

[sureshvv]

Even without the confusion with Poorvikalyani, Panthuvarali is tricky, as I have found in many artists. She should fix the problem quickly by starting off with the sharp identifyable pidis right in the first couple of minutes.

I disagree! Occassionally, she should let the rasikas fret a little, scratch their heads for a while and come to the conclusion that it has to be Pantuvarali (or Kharaharapriya or whatever). MBK still does that very well.

[cacm]

Seriously? Agnanam? Ignorance? Just because someone happens to not like something you do?

No matter the technical proficiency with which a piece of art is delivered, it will be received and perceived differently by each individual, no matter how informed that individual is. That is art! This seems to bear repeating on this forum, and I will do so in this thread. And what does it matter that experts like so and so and so have dissected and appreciated a work? It is akin to expecting everyone to love Booker or Pulitzer prize winning books just because a plethora of experts has stamped its approval on those books. I thought last year's Booker winner, A Sense of an Ending, had a crass ending. I don't give two hoots that the critics thought it profound. Should I hang my head in shame because of my agnanam?

Let us all be more sensitive to each other's varying tastes - it is what makes this forum such an interesting place, even if occasionally acrimonious. Anyone who has browsed this forum regularly would also understand that KSSR is hardly a troll or ignoramus and has contributed objectively to this forum for some years now.

My objection & observation had to do with DRAGGING & in my opinion expressing views about what some one else did- in this case what MMI did in Niraval & in this case he has no way of defending what he did!- & the fact that instead of trying to understand it just making loose statements. Also I don't see any need to compare two different artists; I agree EVERY ONE is entitled to their opinion but that implies others can comment on their opinion also. VKV

[vasanthakokilam]

Rajesh: Thanks for your usual treatment of this concert. I had a good laugh at your "the team did have some problems in mike setting , I personally felt it was ok but even after correction thank god it continued to be still ok."

Yes. Amrutha's singing is slow paced. She has chosen that style and it is good in its own way.

Yes.

I have not heard Amrutha Venkatesh live in a concert, but based on reviews here I have checked her out on YouTube. Her kAla prAmaNam gives her quite a bit of room to do stuff that a faster tempo would not allow. And more significantly, she has the skill and confidence to do all that stuff that the slower pace provides for. In that narrow sense, she has a bit of MDR in her. When I say 'gets to do stuff', I mean, she gets to interpret the song slightly differently and give even familiar songs a fresh perspective. An example is her bhAvayami raghurAmam. Just an amazing and refreshing interpretation of this familiar song while very much keeping with the overall theme of the SSI tuning. Especially Dhanyasi and Mohanam segments. In addition, she has the space to latch on to those little extendible vowels or consonants and pack in high density ragha bhava. I do not know if those are planned or spur of the moment manodharma. It looks to be the latter though I have to listen to her to be sure. My favorite is her audacious and brilliant extension on the closed mouth 'M' in this little Mukhari snippet : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy-oNFL ... page#t=86s

If her live concerts are like that even for a few songs, I do not know what I am doing this long without hearing her live.

[bilahari]

I know Amrutha is fond of MDR. In her pantuvarALi, did she perhaps take a leaf out of this meditative MDR version of raghuvara?
http://www.sendspace.com/file/q59hpl

[kssr]

I did not visit this string for some time and never imagined that my comment would have been discussed so elaborately. Heartening to note that people do read what I write and not just pass on to the next post on seeing"kssr"

On a serious note, I sincerely apologise to have DRAGGED a musical legend's name which indeed was unwarranted. But, like it or not, the first thing you remember when someone mentions of a detailed rendition of Thaaye Yasoda, is the version of the legend( a bit scared to mention the name).

Let there be no misunderstanding. I am one of the greatest fans of the MMI school; Arguably also one who has attended maximum number of Sri.TVS concerts in bangalore over the last 25 years and also a few in Chennai and also in Delhi. My problem with the particular neraval, is probably a problem with my ears.

Coming back to Amrutha, She is one with her own mind, and she surely knows the direction she wants to take for her growth in this field.

[Jigyaasa]

3. santatam bhajAmi(R) - bilahari - MD

This is a composition of Swati Tirunal