Gayathri Girish for Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha 24.12.2013

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Gayathri Girish has been extremely popular in view of her thematic presentations in Chennai: Myriad forms Lord Siva (extensively reviewed in our Forum by CRama) wherein she has successfully completed ten episodes attracting not only music lovers but Tamil scholars and enthusiasts, Saivites etc. I too had attended a few and was particularly interested to know whether this serious pursuit has in any way influenced the so called ‘kutcheri’ style. Of course, not! (As Prof T R Subramaniam used to advocate) She sang with ‘gay abandon’, and what all expected out of a good ‘season concert’ were in place at her presentation in the Sri Parthasarathi swami Sabha. (This has also been the reason for my posting this review)

The evening 4 O’ clock ticketed concert on a working day did attract a reasonable crowd.
Gayathri Girish: vocal (Accompnists: Mysore Srikanth:Violin, Poongulam subramaniam: Mridanga, Sree Sundar kumar: kanjira) Sruti(pitch):5, acoustics: good
1. Pantuvaraali: Varnam-Saami nine
2. Durbar:Munduvenuga-Tyagaraja-Aadi
3. Todi:Meenalochani-Muthiah Bhagavatar-Roopaka(R,S)
4. Harikambodhi:Dinamanivamsa-Tyag-Aadi (R,N,S,Tani)
5. Yamunakalyani: Jamboopathey-Dikshitar
6. Hidolam: Nambikettavar evarayya-Aadi
7. Madhukauns-RTP (sahitya: sabhaapathikku veru daivam samaanamaakuma)
8. Viruttam from Kandar alangaaram (Naadaswaraavali, Hamsaanandi,Br saranga)
9. Brindaavana Saaranga: Kaliyugavaradan-Aaadi
Durbar was sung well. This Tyagaraja kriti (familiar to me through the famed Radha-Jayalakshmi duo) was sung well. Truly a majestic composition. (A concert of M D Ramanathan -where this was the main kriti-comes to my memory. He had detailed Bhaagavatapriya for niraval and swaraprastaara).
Muthiah bhagavatar’s Meenalochani – a ‘rare uruppadi’ was presented with a brilliant aalaapana in Todi and crisp swara prastaara at 'maanikkaveenadhari' in the charana passage. I wish this song gains circulation.

Harikambodhi was the right choice for the ‘main’. The novelty and grandeur aspects in aalaapana imbibed from her Guru TNS were perceptible. The charana passage ‘Nirvikaaraguna nirmala Karadhritaparvatha’ was meaningfully elaborated for Niraval. A well laid out kalpanaswara with a befitting korvai followed. Jamboopathe was good. (Incidentally T. M. Krishna had sung it well at the same venue the previous day and I was there)

If you use ‘pratimadhyamam in Suddhadhanyasi’ it must yield Madhukauns. The Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi suite (khanda jaati triputa with tisra nadai in the uttaraardha) was over in less than 25 minutes. (That is exactly the advantage of selecting such scales in case the artist is running out of time, I think!) However all the technical ingredients for a serious RTP were in tact. The raagamaalika section had just Aabhogi to acknowledge the monumental kriti Sabhaapathikku veru daivam samaanamaakuma. (When contacted later, Gayathri told that this Pallavi was taught to her by the renowned Mridangam Vidwan Sri Mannargudi Easwaran a couple of years ago).

The Viruttam ‘Sendanai kandanai’ included Naadaswaraavali, Hamsaanandi and Brindaavana saaranaga and followed by the popular ‘kaliyugavaradan’.

Violin bowing for ‘H kattai’ sruti is not that easy. Mysore Srikanth’s style is bold and beautiful and he accompanied quite well. His sense of proportion is admirable.

Poongulam Subramaniam played Mridangam with absolute ease and soukhyam supported by Sree sundar kumar’s Kanjira. No thunder, no fireworks! Their tani for Dinamanivamsa was pleasant and devoid of the usual tisram, khandam expositions perhaps due to the concert duration. An excellent mridanga style, unobtrusive to the main artist.

I was overjoyed to have our ace forumite Mahavishnu with me at the concert. A pleasant experience!

[rshankar]

Beautiful list. Smt. Gayathri, true to her lineage, has a very good repertoire of Sri HKMB's kRtis.

[mahavishnu]

I was delighted to be at this concert. I was especially happy that Smt GG entertained my request to sing Harikhamboji
It was wonderful to sit next to Sri Sivaramakrishnan and exchange notes during the entire concert.

Mysore Srikanth gave excellent support, as did the percussionists. I was very impressed with Sundar Kumar's khanjira.

Excellent team and solid presentation that made for a memorable concert! :ymapplause:

[CRama]

Thanks for yr succinct review Sivaramakrishnan. I long for a concert with HK main for quite some time. Sorry that I missed this concert. Thx Mahavishnu for requesting HK.