Aishwarya Vidhya Raghunath - Naada Inbam - 5 Aug 2013

[bilahari]

Kum. Aishwarya Vidhya Raghunath - vocal
Sri R. Raghul - violin
Sri Arvind Raghuraman (semmu86) - mrudangam

Thatha's Memorial Concert Series
Duration: 2h 15m

Approximate Songlist:

inta calamu - bEgaDa - Adi - Veenai Kuppaiyer
yOcana - darbAr - Adi - T (S)
murugA tirumAl maruga - harikAmbOji - rUpakam - TSI (R, N @ karuNai kaDalai, S)
candram bhaja mAnasa - asAvEri - c. maTya - MD (R)
nenaruncara nApai - simhavAhini - Adi - T
rAma kata sudha - madhyamAvati - Adi - T (R, N @ bAma maNi, S, T)
?
varugalAmO aiyyA - mAnji - m. cApu - GB
sAyankAla (vruttam) - Ananda bhairavi, dhanyAsi, nIlAmbari
madhava mAmava dEva - nIlAmbari - Adi - NT
nI nAma - sowrASTRam - Adi - T

It was another lovely concert and a fitting conclusion to the series. There were several compositions unknown to me, so please pardon errors. The bEgaDa varNam is always welcome, and Aishwarya immediately demonstrated the consummate ease with which she sings gamakas, which defines her identity as a singer. It has been so very long since I heard a darbAr, and I liked AVR's presentation with several rounds of concise but insightful swaras. AVR's harikAmbOji was absolutely unambiguous throughout, and her phrases around the tAra G, along with the kArvai, were particularly well conceived. AVR has very fluent musical 'thought' as reflected in her ability to weave long strings of patterns when singing alapanais, although a phrase here and there veered into stream-of-consciousness territory. TSI's kriti, which I have not heard before, was sung with a beautiful and comprehensive neraval which was again especially evocative in the upper reaches. However, my prejudice against this raga as an undeserving parent of kAmbOji still stands. AVR's asAvEri was superb, and I liked MD's kriti a lot. It was nice to hear a composition in maTya tALam as well. After a pleasant simhavAhini, AVR launched into an elaborate madhyamAvati. She sang a number of fast phrases ending in the upper reaches, and maintained great intensity throughout the alapanai. The hallmark of her singing, again, was how complete her gamakas sounded each and every time. She sang the nishAdam every which way and it sounded so beautiful and so correct each time. In particular, AVR's jArus have a remarkably consistent tone throughout, and reflect great training. RAma kata sudha was an excellent choice for main, and I enjoyed the kriti, neraval, and swaras. A little more second speed neraval would have been welcome. AVR's varugalAmO was emotive and having heard only KVN's interpretation of this kriti, I enjoyed AVR's often different pADam. The elaborate rAgamAliga vruttam was an excellent idea; I enjoy these pieces a lot in yesteryear recordings, but aside from Sanjay, I have not heard elaborate slOkams and vruttams in contemporary concerts. AVR's Ananda bhairavi was again interesting for the differences in D-N, and I enjoyed her nIlAmbari very much as well. Madhava mAmava dEva, a favourite of thatha's, provided a tranquil lullaby to the concert and to the series.

AVR has a very bright future with such strong basics and fundamental aesthetic sense and a sense of deep classicism. Her chief strengths are (1) her voice, which easily traverses the upper octave, though she didn't sing much in the lower octave today, (2) her command over gamakas, singing them with the care typical of the B-M school, (3) her grip on ragas, given her fluent phrases in alapanai, and (4) her planning (a great variety this evening). She also has a very crisp and concise style of singing, with little anAvasyam. Her kalpana swaras were also very appropriate this evening. I would definitely like to hear more mEl kAla neraval from her in the future.

Raghul was excellent on the violin. His fidelity to Sri MC's style is admirable. He plays ragas with great ease, and he dished out one winner after another today. His madhyamAvati in the tAra stAyi was a highlight of the evening, as was his use of plain notes in a segment of the alapanai. His Ananda bhairavi was exceptionally concise and well-conceived. He matched AVR's neraval and swaras, with a beautiful stop at the tAra G in the harikAmbOji neraval inviting many a chu-chu. It is clear when listenting to him that he has listened to a lot of music and absorbed so much. Raghul also has great technique with his use of the full blow and his MC-esque fingering.

Arvind accompanied beautifully on the mrudangam. He has such a sparse style, and I liked his bold strokes. I admired his ability to end a kriti in the same Avartanam the vocalist stopped singing, without lavish finales that have become popular. This is especially an asset in concluding each part of a composition and played a part in the crispness of today's concert. I liked Arvind's understanding accompaniment for kritis, but I especially enjoyed his playing for violin returns, where he would absorb the patterns completely from AVR and reproduce them beautifully to complement Raghul's essays. His tani was a little short, though.

It was a great finale to our series and the hall was about 70% packed at the start of the concert, which was again a pleasant surprise given it was Monday evening.
---

My highlights of the series:
J&J's panchamATanga
J&J's srI mATrubhUtam
Injikudi's bhairavi
Injikudi's dES
TNK's mAnji
TNK's tODi
AVR's madhyamAvati
AVR's vruttam and madhava mAmava

I would like to thank Jaya mami especially for her efforts in making this Naada Inbam series happen, and I also want to express my gratitude to Sri Sekhar of Raga Sudha Hall who does such a fine job with acoustics and ensuring hitch-free proceedings evening after evening. The man is truly an asset.

Of course, my great gratitude to all the musicians who performed here in thatha's memory for Naada Inbam, and to all our family, friends, and other individuals who attended the series. A special thanks again to Srikant, Bharath, Nick, and Arvind for their guidance in planning these concerts.

I will work to obtain permission from all the musicians to upload these concerts, but I also request anyone who wants a particular recording to email me so I can ensure nobody gets missed.

It's back to school and constant cramming now, so toodles!

[rajeshnat]

bilahari
I have also heard AVR just once and on that day too she sang this sAyankAle slokham which was impressive where if i recall right she ended with kannanai pani maname in shanmughapriya. Would love to hear the recording of this concert especially having not heard semmu86 . By any chance if there is a video recording you can also try uploading it .
You and your family have really done a great job in promoting four different artists (veena , nadaswaram, violin and vocal)- One never sees this kind of combination in a 4 day event. :ymapplause:

[mahavishnu]

Excellent finale to the festival.
Felicitations and best wishes to Semmu on his performance.

[prahalad_rag]

Here's an RTP by AVR. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RoHPBZRXXM

[Nick H]

So sorry I wasn't there. I have to blame some termites and a visit from the pest control man, followed by business that had to be done.

[PUNARVASU]

Bilahari, congratulations on the music festival organised in your Thatha's memory. I can see that it was a grand event with such nice concerts. Your thatha will be very happy.

[srikant1987]

The "wholesomeness" of good vocal music was especially delightful after such a long hiatus.

A darbAr early on in a concert predicts sure success. Pity this trick isn't very commonly used!

murugA tirumAlmarugA or harikAmbhOji was possibly the mridangist's request. I felt the AlApanai dragged a bit, but the krti is always a delight. The swarams were fitting, too.

The neat, definitive rmp with which AVR began her asAvEri was thrilling. I wish that longish gamakams and pauses on d and r were avoided, as they give a sAvEriyish appearance. Also, r1 mp could have been highlighted by AVR.

The madhyamAvati was totally classical. It is especially difficult to manage such orthodoxy with madhyamAvati when it's the main piece, and AVR did very well. Rahul used similarity between the kampitas on ri and ni without sounding unclassical either.

AVR (like many veena vidwans) highlights rAgabhAvam in her kalpanAswaras, using mostly rhythmically intuitive patterns. Rahul matched this well. Sometimes, the swarams brought out nuances of rAgam not highlighted in the AlApanai itself. And what a krti rAmakathA sudhA is! Here I'm nitpicking, but I would have been more thrilled if the krti had been sung without Avartanamful break before the anupallavi. I also felt Arvind could have perhaps played a little more "richly" during the break (but perhaps he too hadn't expected it!).

Arvind's support for krtis and swarams was uplifting. His accompaniment for swarams was especially impressive because of AVR's rAgabhAvam style.

The main was followed by a jAvaLi (I think) in sAvEri, set to Adi tALam. I did not note the words.

Maanji was sung in madhyamashruti, which I find odd. I prefer krShNA nI bEganE, jagadOddhAraNa, etc., (and definitely mAnji) to be in samashruti itself. It is remarkable how different musicians and schools have very different interpretations of mAnji.

Another thing that made this concert especially delightful was the balance between shuddha and catushruti ris. The asAvEri and dhanyAsi came just at the right place!

[semmu86]

murugA tirumAlmarugA or harikAmbhOji was possibly the mridangist's request.

No it wasnt But i was hoping for a harikhAmbhOji though (Maybe rAmA nannu brOvarA). But TSI's "murugA tirumAlmarugA", was a DKJ masterpiece. There is a commercial HMV recording of a Live concert of DKJ singing this krithi with LGJ & T.K.Murthy (Or may be it is JV on the Mrudangam). Absolutely brilliant one.

[srikant1987]

I also wanted to mention that the swarams (especially kIzhkAla swarams) were measured in this concert. I have earlier felt AVR drags them a little bit.