Gayathri Venkataraghavan in Greenbelt, Md, USA

[Ranganayaki]

[flash=][/flash]Kamalakiran Vinjamuri - Violin
Vijay Ganesh - Mridangam
Sowmya Narayanan - Ghatam
Vivek Chellappa - Kanjira

1. Jagadaananda Kaaraka – Nattai – Adi Taalam – Thyagaraja
2. Seetaapate Naa Manasunaa – Khamas – Adi Taalam - Thyagaraja
3. Hiranmayeem Lakshmeem – Lalita – Rupakam – Muthuswamy Dikshitar
4. Rama Katha Sudha - Madhyamavati – Thyagaraja
5. Bhaavayaami Gopala Baalam – Yamuna Kalyani – Khanda Chapu – Annamacharya
6. Anumanai Anudinam Ninai Maname – Ragamalika ( Madhuvanti, Bageshri, Sindhubhairavi, Revathi) - ??

This was a lovely concert which began a little late, with rather poor sound at the beginning and since everyone in the audience was rooting for Kamalakiran who was playing for two great artists for the first time, it was a little disconcerting not to be able to hear the violin at all at first. I felt rather annoyed that whoever was responsible for the sound was not using the acoustic features of the auditorium (I'm sure it had some), but would stick with the usual blaring speakers. So though I couldn’t really see the artists too well because of the distance from our balcony seats, the sound was reverberating inside my skull. The concert was held at the Eleanor Roosevelt High School auditorium.

I relaxed a little and started enjoying GV’s voice, but by the time items 4,5 and 6 rolled around, I was again feeling a little ill from the noise. The tendency of the percussionists to be loud did not help much. The first piece, with its speed and all-round noise-level was not really very enjoyable, even though everyone was performing quite flawlessly (as far as I could tell). I found myself thinking of Vellore Ramabhadran.

With a change in pace for Seetapate Namanasuna, things improved. She performed a short sketch of khamas and her beautiful voice, beautiful sancharas and kamalakiran’s effective accompaniment soothed me and touched my heart in a matter of a minute. The song was however at a brisker pace and ended with a lot of lovely kalpana swarams at Vaataatmaja.

Again, lovely Lalita for a sloka on Lakshmi that I cannot identify:

Namaste Sharanye, Trijagatvandye, Vishnuvakshasthalaalaye, Padmaasane, Padmakare, Sarvalokaika Bhushite, Naraayanapriye, Supreeta ---?? --- sarvada(?).

Kamalakiran offered a short, stirring response. Hiranmayeem Lakshmeem was the song of the concert that stayed with me, and I replayed it in my head all the way home, 40 miles.

GV presented a beautiful Madhyamavati in a quick sketch, and Kamalakiran offered up a fluent return, brimming with ideas, though he did not deliver it as unhurriedly as GV did. They performed a Neraval on Bhama Mani Janaki Saumitri in two tempos, each of them garnering applause at the end of the higher tempo neraval. Swarams followed, also in two kaalams. Now this was a short concert that in the end seemed to be intended as a warm-up to the Balamurali concert that followed on the same stage. But at the time, I was quite into this one and when the tani started, it sounded like a slightly long, concerted teermaanam to me and was completed within a couple of minutes, leaving me surprised and disappointed. But I didn't have to be: the bigger picture was that it was two concerts and there was much more to come.

This was followed by Bhavayami Gopaala Baalam, beautifully sung, but without any surprises. I was just struck by the sweetness of her voice.

This was a pair of fundraising concerts for the construction of a temple. the Sri Bhakta Anjaneya Temple. I understood that the plan was to have two idols, a "sookshma rupa Hanuman" at just 6 feet tall and a "bhimaroopa Hanuman" at 36 feet tall. GV’s final piece was Anumanai Anudinam Ninai Maname. At the time, I was left feeling disappointed that it was so short. But as it turned out, the concert she gave was perfect in length as a very effective warm-up to BMK's concert.

The percussionists were all local artists. Vivek Chellappa, the second youngest person on stage, is a college student studying medicine. All of them played very well with good control and it was interesting too, but I only wish they would modulate their style and would add a little gentle playing too.

[rajeshnat]

6. Anumanai Anudinam Ninai Maname – Ragamalika ( Madhuvanti, Bageshri, Sindhubhairavi, Revathi) - ??

The composer is swami surajAnandA. Tx for your back to back review -ranganayaki

[Nick H]

I was again feeling a little ill from the noise

Five people come together to make music, one person ruins it. It is tradition, worldwide. Tradition is all. It cannot be changed.

Very sad.

On a more practical note, did you communicate with the organisers about this? Ultimately, that is the only way to make a difference.

[Ranganayaki]

I'm afraid not, Nick.

[mahavishnu]

Ranganayaki, thanks for your review. It sounds like a wonderful concert despite all the problems with acoustics.
The slOkam in lalitA that you refer to (roughly) goes like this:

"namastE sarva lokAnAm jananyai punya moorthayE
sharanyE trijagatvandhyE vishnuvaksha stalAlayE
padmasanE padmakarE sarva lOkaika pUjitE
nArayaNapriyE dEvi suprItA bhava sarvadA"

GV sings this slOkam in a beautiful recording that she did for Charsur a few years ago in an album called janani. It has excellent mridangam by Patri Satish Kumar as well. The lalita and nattaikurinji in that album are absolutely superb. Highly recommended!

BTW, is it the same organization that holds concerts in MD, DC and VA? That's quite a radius to cover.

[Rsachi]

I will try to buy the download version of that CD today. Thanks Mahavishnu!

[Rsachi]

I bought the download! It is very evocative.
I also found out that the said shloka is the dhyana shloka for Varalakshmi vrata.

[Ranganayaki]

Thank you, Rajesh, Ramesh, Rsachi for all that nice information.

PujitE - thank you. Was uncomfortable with BhushitE.

BTW, is it the same organization that holds concerts in MD, DC and VA? That's quite a radius to cover.

No, Ramesh. Most of the big concerts are held by the cultural committee of the Sri Shiva-Vishnu Temple (SSVT). The temple, located in MD, organizes a weekend in homage to Sri Thyagaraja around the Bahula Panchami and a Dikshitar-Shyama Sastry weekend when individual participants sing and concerts are held too.

Some teachers here with large schools organize weekends of celebrations at the SSVT auditorium, where their own students perform and a grand finale concert is held. One is Nadatarangini whose audience is mainly from Karnataka.

Then there is Sangeethalahari (not a school) located in Virginia which is connected to the Lotus Temple in Fairfax. Sangeetalahari seems to operate without funds and requests singers to perform for the love of music. The venue is usually the temple. Sangeethalahari organizes a Trinity Day, usually held in the George Mason University auditorium. All events are free.

Then there is the SRGMPDN, a googlegroup of music enthusiasts who organize lec dems by knowledgeable members and small weekend concerts monthly in members' homes or occasionally at the SSVT. All these events have taken place in MD so far (as far as I know). A lot of these events are aimed at the children who learn music, but the adults attend and often learn too. Video-recordings of many of these events have been posted to Youtube.

The DC concerts were at the Kennedy Center, not involving any of these groups.

[mahavishnu]

Ranganayaki, thanks for the info about the DC area CM organizations.
RSachi: Glad you liked that album. It is one of my favourites of all time.