Amrutha Venkatesh: Swati Tirunal Concert, Bangalore-Mar 24th

[vanamali]

Vocal - Amrutha Venkatesh
Violin - B K Raghu
Mridangam - Cheluvaraju
Khanjira - Sunaad Anoor

Venue: Sri Ramana Maharshi Academy for the blind, J P Nagar, Bangalore.

01 varnam - kAmboji - ata tAlam
02 pankajAksha - thOdi (R N S). This is a kriti from the utsava prabandham.
03 pAhi parvatha nandini - Arabhi (S) This is a navaratri kriti.
04 bhAvayAmi raghurAmam - rAgamAlika (originally only in sAveri, but tuned in different ragams by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, so that nobody omits any stanza while singing! )
05 ahaha naima jAnE - amrithavarshini (S) This kriti is from the kuchelopakhyanam.
06 vihAra mAnasa ramE - Kapi (R N S T), Followed by thani avarthanam.
07 pAhi jagajjanani - hamsAnandi
08 aliveni kintu cheivu - kurinji. This kriti is in manipravalam.
09 bhajan - japat japat hari nAm - ragamalika
10 thillana - dhanAsri
11 bhujaga sAyinO nAma mangaLam - yadukula kAmboji

This was a thematic concert on Swati Tirunal Maharaja compositions. I think it was apt that Amrutha gave this concert considering that she is currently under the tutelage of Prince Rama Varma of Travancore.

A very good, informative concert by Amrutha. She explained the significance of each song and also details of Swati Tirunal Maharaja, about his compositions, social service etc.

She was well supported on the violin by B K Raghu. The percussion of Cheluvaraju and the young upcoming artiste Sunaad Anoor (son of Anoor Dattatreya Sharma and nephew of Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma) also supported well.

[braindrain]

02 pankajAksha - thOdi (R N S). This is a kriti from the utsava prabandham.

I think the 'utsava prabandha' kriti is 'pankajAkshanAm ramEsan' ... there is another kriti in thOdi starting 'pankajAksha tava sEvam' by Swathi Thirunal.

Looking at the list, it is a bad miss. I had planned to attend this concert.

[kssr]

Thanks for the nice report on the concert.

A few observations:

1. As mentioned in another recent string on Amrutha's concerts, she continued to have an easy and effortless style of rendition.
2. Bhavayaami was presented in a non- MS style. Much more relaxed, more sangathis , slower, a few surprise brigas, a feeling of larger space - "visthaaram". Very impressive.
3. A difficult theme. I was expecting a typical pile up of Swathis songs- Deva Deva-MMG, ragam, swaram.... and so on. It was not to be. The concert demonstrated the various facets of the Maharaja. Informative, too. Demonstration on several occasions his special Swaraakshara compositions.
4. Mridangam was terribly loud. Amrutha felt that it was Ok, via the feedback but for the audience it was a bit too much. Especially, for Sri.Cheluvaraju's style of power-play, it is better to keep the volume a notch lower than normal.
5. BK Raghu is really turning out to be excellent. I am sure he will be one artist who will soon be most sought after, at least in Bangalore. (Another who has similarly risen is BC Manjunath)
6. Cheluvaraju gave a lot of opportunity to young Sunaad and made him play fully, which is really good encouragement.
7. I just observed that Cheluvaraju must have been playing on stage much before the other three artists were even born I have myself been attending his concerts for more than 20 years.
8. Sri.Rama Varma's stamp is very much there. Besides the music aspect itself, she has developed an overall appreciation of the bhava, meaning , speciality of each composition and so on. It is also the right time in her musical journey to be able to blossom in these directions.
9. Every time I listen to Amrutha, I come out extremely pleased ( and a bit proud, too, I guess being a banglorean).

I am sure that she will continue on her high growth trajectory.

BTW, if some of you heard her South Zone Hook up TV concert on saturday morning, I want to have the lyrics of the Gopalakrishna Bharathi song. If available (preferably in Tamil!) kindly post. Also, if there is a book of compilation of his songs please let me know. I wnat to buy. The lyrics sounded very nice.

[braindrain]

BTW, if some of you heard her South Zone Hook up TV concert on saturday morning, I want to have the lyrics of the Gopalakrishna Bharathi song. If available (preferably in Tamil!) kindly post.

KSSR, Is this the one ?

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8879 ... dinam.html

http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrother ... g/a537.htm

[rshankar]

Song 08 - I have heard it as 'aLivENi endu ceyyu', and not kintu ceyyu...which one is correct?

[kssr]

"KSSR, Is this the one "

That is sheer genius, Brain drain. Thanks a lot.

Now the task of trying to learn the song It may take the rest of my lifetime. Let me give it a shot. I do not know if Amrutha Venkatesh's clip in the other string is downloadable. Let me try.

[braindrain]

Song 08 - I have heard it as 'aLivENi endu ceyyu', and not kintu ceyyu...which one is correct?

it's 'aLivENi enthu cheyvu' ..

http://www.swathithirunal.in/htmlfile/16.htm

[sweetsong]

Here is Aliveni by Prince Rama Varma, with some really interesting stuff before it starts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOVV_yfi1Rg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSl78I2BW2w

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks sweetsong. The 00:50 to 01:55 portion of the first link is awesome. I realize the objective there is to show the difference between light and heavy ragas but I have another use for that.
I have a special attachment for explanations that are clear and precise. While that is normally hard when it comes to art, that short one minute portion succinctly demonstrates the difference between a scale and a raga. He first plays the major scale and then piece by piece develops Shankarabharanam that uses the same notes as the major scale. Having that side by side is quite illustrative to show that it is all in how the individual notes are oscillated in those specific ways and how you move from one note to the other that create the Shankarabharanam identity. I am reminded of our interesting discussion in another thread about how to explain the concept of a raga to a western audience. I think this one minute 'elevator pitch' goes a long way towards that. Not that this Major Scale - Shankarabharanam example is a new one but having a great demo sample helps the sale! Let me try it on a few people!!

[sweetsong]

I couldn't agree more. Then you really must check this out too. It is one of the best I have ever heard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyQS5quY6d8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BF72HCe7fM

[sweetsong]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKy0-YqJqwg

Sorry. The last part didn't get posted earlier.

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks sweetsong. He is an awesome teacher indeed. Excellent.

[sweetsong]

You are welcome. Here is the song that started the discussion. Aliveni by Amrutha Venkatesh. She is one of the few people who can sing Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Sanskrit and even Hindi and Bengali like a native speaker. Here, we can see how beautifully she sings Malayalam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfOHK1iWQ1Q

[sweetsong]

Review

http://newindianexpress.com/cities/bang ... 524683.ece

[kssr]

Review

http://newindianexpress.com/cities/bang ... 524683.ece

Good review. Thanks. Strange that reporters skip the organiser's name and mention ramana maharishi academy of blind instead. Intentional?!

[arasi]

kssr,
I don't think it is intentional. To remember the venue name is easier for them, that's all, I think. Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira's concerts often get mentioned as Gayana Samaja concerts because of the venue.
Some may even call your sabha's concerts as Koramangala concerts. Who knows