Radhika Rajesh Concert - student of Sudha Ragunathan

[Sivakumar2012]

Mrs. Radhika Rajesh's Carnatic Music Concert Review

By
Prof. V. Sivakumar
Washington, DC, USA.

The Great Poet and Sanskrit Scholar, " Barthruhari ", wrote:

" Sahitya Sangeetha Kala Vihinahaa Saakshaath Pashu Pumsha Ivahaa ... "

According to him, those humans without any ability to appreciate literature, art and music are just like animals. I always wondered whether that is a true statement. After some thinking on the subject, I realized the true meaning of what he meant by that statement. With money,power, status and fame, one can enjoy creature comforts, high positions with power to hire and fire people, get name recognition and attain celebrity status in the society but for a person to elevate himself/herself to higher realms of Creation, Beauty, Aesthetics and to understand the " Self ", one's Core Values etc., he/she has to have some appreciation for the finer aspects of Life such as Art, Literature, Dance, Drama and Music. etc.

I thanked God Almighty for bestowing in me a little bit of such a sense of appreciation for the Carnatic Music so I could truly enjoy one of the most memorable Carnatic Music Kutcheries , recently, by Mrs. Radhika Rajesh accompanied on the Violin by Mrs. Pavani Srikant and on the Mrudhangam by Mr. Vijay Ganesh. This was organized by the SA RI GA MA PA DA NI group located in the Washignton, DC, Metro Area in the USA.

Rendering the Kritis as part of the Kutcheri is all about timings, beats/rhythm, Sruti, melody, ragam, bhavam and diction, the core requirements plus the artists' body language, beauty of delivery with focus and discipline . All these elements converge into providing ' total satisfaction to the audience '---SOWKIYAM_for the song. To provide this Sowkiyam, both the vocalist and the accompanying artists have to have perfect coordination in each and every aspect described earlier with the highest quality standards through out the concert. Radhika having been trained by Sudha Ragunathan was absolutely at her best , Qualitywise , through out the concert. Since Sudha maintains very high quality in her own concert performances, she has imparted the same high standards in her student Radhika too . Both Pavani, the violinist and Vijay, the mrudhangam vidwan, being Professionals in their respective fields of expertise, were also able to maintain the highest quality. Together the whole concert was one of the best , joyful experiences in recent days in the Wash. DC Metro Area.

Radhika began the concert with the Sri Raga Varnam-- Sami Ninne-- and followed it with a mini Alapana in Hamsadwani for the Koteswara Aiyar song, Varanamukha, inpraise of Lord Ganesha with some nice kalpanaswarams towards the end of the song. This was followed by Subbaraya Sastri's famous Reethi Gowlai song , " Janani Ninnu Vina " ,in Misra Chapu Thalam. Radhika 's alapanai was sooooo good that people maintained absolute silence while paying rapt attention to the variations in the different sancharas during the alapanai.
Pavani provided an able support and had a good improvisation for the ragam with her expertise. Radhika had good pacing between the slow and medium kalams during the swarams in sync. with the ragam's bhavam and structure. She sang the song with perfect diction in varying pitch in ' mandarasthayee ', adding more melody to the song.

Muthusawmy Dhikshitar's famous " Subhapanthuvarali song Shree Sathyanarayanam Upasmahe " was the main piece with extensive alapanai followed by niravel and swaram. It is the Alapanai phase that showcases a performer's talent, manodharmam etc to the audience to rate him /her as excellent, good,fair etc. Based on how Radhika did the Alapanai for the ragam-subhapanthuvarali-, one would have definitely rated her, "excellent" , with the attestation that excellent teachers produce excellent sishyaas. Again, Pavani showed that she is no less capable in playing the violin both as an accompanist and as a solo player. Her performance was superb. This alapanai is likely to etch in the minds of avid lovers of music for quite sometime. Radhika did a good niravel in the line, " sree sathyanarayanam upasmahe ", and transitioned to the swara phase. This was done sooo smoothly like an experienced pilot gaining altitude during the 'take off ' time.

Following a quick rendering of the famous GNB Amritha Behag song--Kamalacharane--, Radhika moved to the RTP in ragam Nattaikurinji. She maintained throughout the alapanai the salience and the distinctiveness of the ragam without mixing it with kamas, again a testament to her talent and hard work. The Pallavi was a line in praise of Lord Rama and the ragamalika swarams were in Amrithavarshini and Chandhrakouns. She took an unusual thalam---kanda Jathi Triputa Chathusra in 2 kalis. While Vijay managed to do a good job on the mrudhangam , this writer felt that some prior practice would have facilitated him to do even a better job on this somewhat different talagathi. This was followed by Vijay's Thani that was adequate and decent.

Radhika then sang a couple of songs with viruttams in behag,hamsanandhi and maand on Lord Murugan and Lord Krishna. These were followed by a soulful rendering of St. Thyagaraja's famous Neelambari song--Uyyala Luga Vayya Sri Rama-- that provided a calm and serene moment for all that were present in the room as if they were witnessing Lord Rama going to sleep. Such was the power of the song and the way it was sung by Radhika. She followed it with , " Petra thai thanai maha marandalum " in ragams Saveri, Valaji, Shanmugapriya and Rageshree with the famous Lalgudi Jayaraman's Thillana in Rageshree and concluded the concert with Mangalam.

Everybody in the audience rushed to the stage to complement and praise the artists for their superb performance including this writer. I suggested to Radhika that she should keep her eyes open while singing for the most part. That way her own experience with the audience and fellow Team Members on the stage would be more enriching for her.

The concert was followed by a sumptuous S.Indian dinner resulting in the kutcheri providing food for the mind and the stomach, so did I think.

Thanks to SA RI GA MA PA DA NI and the Host Radha and Shivakumar for making the evening a memorable and an enjoyable one.



Prof. V. Sivakumar
[email protected]
Washington DC, USA

[Rsachi]

Prof.
Your first post is full of enthusiasm and it seems to have been a very good concert plus sumptuous experience, best wishes to artistes, organisers and your good self here.

[VRV]

Welcome to the forum Shri Sivakumar. Best wishes to the artist and hope we get to hear them in the Southern California area real soon.

Vinod Venkataraman

[Sivakumar2012]

Dear Rsachi and VRV: Greetings. Thanks to both for your favorable comments on my review of Radhika Rajesh's Kutcheri.

Yes, She will be more than happy to perform in the Southern California Area.
Pl. contact me at [email protected] for her contact info. at the time you plan to have her kutcheri.
I promise you, you would be pleased as much as Sudha's kutcheri. That is how meticulous she is in every thing she does just like her Guru.
Thanks again.
Happy Deepavali to you and your families.
Regards
Prof. Sivakumar

[rajeshnat]

Welcome sivakumar
I have not heard the name Radhika Rajesh , till you pointed out . Perhaps she is in the same league as sangeetha swaminathan who is also a terrific musician based now in US.Clippings would help to know Radhika Rajesh better, may be taanam and ragamaliga will be a good place to start

[Sivakumar2012]

Hello Everyone - Here is some Youtube clippings from Radhika Rajesh for your review -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XavLdQcV_S8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaFlH70qYK0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-AkKudQQWQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhZLbcXu1A0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAwt1ZPuGms

Sivakumar.

[Madras Talkies]

Brilliantly Voice . ..

[shriroop]

Really a nice voice. Best wishes.

[kssr]

I guess she is US based