Sangeetha Swaminathan@Sastri hall on Dec 31st,2013

[rajeshnat]

Sangeetha Swaminathan@Sastri hall on Dec 31st,2013
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Vocal : Sangeetha Swaminathan
Violin : R Raghul
Mrudangam : Nellai Balaji
Kanjira : Nerkunam shankar

Concert Type : Nirvana- no concert to follow
Day/Duration : Tuesday / 2 hrs
Crowd : The hall had just 25 to 30
Sabha/Hall : Sri kapali Fine Arts/Sastri Hall
Ticket : Free.

1. ennAllu tirugudunu (N,S)- mandari (not poorvikalyani) - HMB
5 mins neraval in "pannaga bharana shiva balasubramanya"
5 mins swaras

2. muNdu venuga -darbAr - T
3. nee daya rAdA (R ,S ) - vasantha bhairavi - T
11 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
5 mins swaras
4. sari evaRE mA jAnaki (R) - sahana - Tirupathi narayanaswamy
8 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return

5. kamalacharanE- amritha behag - GNB
6A. shree kAnthimathi (R N S T) - hemavati - MD
10 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
6 mins neraval in sukha shankari....tamirabharani for 6 mins
7 mins swaras
6B. tani for 10 mind

7. koovi azhaithAl - valaci - kavignar vaali
8. saramaina - behag - ST
9. pavamAna

[rajeshnat]

This is my 4th or 5th concert of sangeetha swaminathan that I am hearing . I always come with an impression that there is a recurring maturity in her presentation. The recurrence of maturity is an amalgamation of singing quite a few unknown krithis , the voice that has a real real magical pitch and a very high shruthi adherance . Incidentally she is a disciple of Sudha ragunathan - her school of MLV is there but i find a touch of more S kalyanaraman(sibling paramaguru) in her music .

The concert started at 07:10 to me that is bit welcome as there is no dry varnam but going a bit directly to a near submain piece is welcome .Her start was a rare krithi having harikesa mudra in mandari (not poorvikalyAni) . Her voice was there the harikesa mudra krithi pallavi line was not that perfectly enunciated it had words ennAlu ThriruvuTudu with a neraval in pannaga bharana shiva bAlasubramanya and a real lovely drop of swaras was just right. May be i can crib a bit as it is mandari (not poorvikalyAni) as at times the tendency to go bit circular is indeed there - but that is there with many artist. Mundu venuga in darbAr was next , i got bit confused not with nayaki alone but I could spot a bit more shree ragam trace .

The concert hit its peak in her vasantha bhairavi . S kalyAnaraman in nee daya rAdA with an arresting alapana is a must listen for even a basic rasika. O gosh what a krithi it is nee daya rAdhA , i have a personal emotional sentiment to this krithi as I discover a elusive search of divinity, sadguru Thyagaraja latched me there . Sangeetha presented beautifully with an alapana for nearly 11 mins and R raghul latched up the muse. The krithi with a dash of swaras kept me hooked with no trace of fatigue that can set usually in a working day. WOw vasantha bhairavi.

Another rare number in sahana popped up , tirupati narayanasway pushpalatika is famous , but this sahana I have not heard her . She jogged well in sahana sustaining the trace muse of vasantha bhairavi with a nice alapana and a plain krithi.The filler kamalA charanE was not sung that well , sangeetha tried to make it bit faster her voice did not cooperate that well and with that the muse was not that registered .

Muttuswamy dikshitar came up with elegance in hemavati , i was quite satisfied as the tube light in me did not flicker that much as to whether it was dharmavati or vacaspathi or hemavati, i got hemavati right away. The krithi shree kanthimathi was sung beautifully with a good pop of neraval in the usual line ,few sangathis there did not go with her bit caving voice , but she managed beautifully as the cave in voice was just very incidental . Liked the swaras there too.

Koovi azhaital kural koduthal is a kavignar vaali number , I have been mesemerized as i have heard maharajapuram santhanam sung this to me when I heard it live when i was a gallery boy. Only thru forum i have heard that S kalyanaraman has tuned this valaci masterpiece . sangeetha has taken a lot of passion to understand s kalyanaraman and it came out so well almost the next best to vasantha bhairavi . behag saramaina was good not as good as valaci.

The violinist Raghul had few problems in getting a cleaner shruthi suddham for the first few numbers but he zoned to excellence in the second half . Nellai balaji and our forumite nerkunam shankar teamed up well only during krithi , tani was a bit of let down

All said this vidushi Sangeeta swaminathan is to me a really solid musician . I know she is settled in us , i remember harimau mentioning in one post that she is in California . One has to appreciate despite her being that far and coming back during just season if she is able to pull with a lot of quality is indeed praise worthy. I personally think her as a really capable musician in the female list of must hear , surely a top 3 or top 5 to me.IIRC she also got a slot in academy sub senior this year , dont know what happened in the awards.

Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours.

[PUNARVASU]

Ms. Sangeetha Swaminathan lives in Mumbai now.

[harimau]

Sangeetha Swaminathan@Sastri hall on Dec 31st,2013
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Vocal : Sangeetha Swaminathan

6A. shree kAnthimathi (R N S T) - hemavati - MD
10 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
6 mins neraval in sukha shankari....tamirabharani for 6 mins

The neraval line is sukha sounakhadi sadaaraadhitaam, suddha tamraparni thada sthithaam.

[harimau]

Koovi azhaital kural koduthal is a kavignar vaali number

Koovi azhaital kural koduppan, parankundram eri nindru kumara endru (koovi azhaital)

[rshankar]

taTa stithAm, right?

[CRama]

Rajesh, That was a wonderful review . Thanks. I have heard SS many times and got impressed.
The Kriti you have written as Poorvikalyani- I remember the same song sung in Mandari by TNS in his commercial HMB Kritis AVM album. Whether it was PK or Mandari. PL revisit.
You are lucky to have heard Hemavathi. I very much longed for this in this season. But I could not.

[rajeshnat]

Ms. Sangeetha Swaminathan lives in Mumbai now.

That explains how about 6 months back i had a chance to attend a ramanavami concert of hers at ayodhya mantapam, west mambalam . ALso in kutcheris or some online link i saw that she is performing in poona some time back. That is wonderful news punarvasu. I just saw a post she got an award for lady vocalist in sub senior category -best wishes to sangeetha swaminathan(post by rajagopal).

[rajeshnat]

Rajesh, That was a wonderful review . Thanks. I have heard SS many times and got impressed.
The Kriti you have written as Poorvikalyani- I remember the same song sung in Mandari by TNS in his commercial HMB Kritis AVM album. Whether it was PK or Mandari. PL revisit.
You are lucky to have heard Hemavathi. I very much longed for this in this season. But I could not.

Crama
I cannot verify that - may be I goofed up mandari as poorvikalyani . TO me I should get a chayA of amruthavarshini to make my mind go towards mandari . Otherwise mandari is mandarin to me. I thought I ended up well getting hemavati immediately now mandari tricked me. LEt us wait for Lji . Can you put the exact pallavi line of the HMB krithi .

[vsarmaiitm]

1. ninnaDu thiruvuTura or Ennalu thiruvuTudu (N,S)- poorvikalyani - HMB

4. sarvi evarrE mA jAnaki (R) - sahana - Tirupathi narayanaswamy

1 looks to be mandari
ennAllu tirugudunu I janmamettinE, Mandari, K/Chapu link: http://www.indian-heritage.org/lyrics/hmb82.html)
4 should be
sari evvaRE mA jAnaki

[CRama]

Rajesh, vsarmaiitim has confirmed that the song is in Mandari.

[rajeshnat]

Thank you vsarmaiitm and crama - changed the post . The lyrics has also few neraval lines that i had put .Thank you hemavati in alapana itself went inside me :-BD , but mandari went out of me was i yawning like this smiley (-| missing the feel of few amritha varshini raindrops there.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Has SS learnt under Sudha Raghunathan?

[rajeshnat]

Has SS learnt under Sudha Raghunathan?

She had her early lessons under her father Karur D Krishnamurthy and later had advanced training under Sudha Raghunathan. I am not sure if she underwent training also with MLV

[shankarabharanam]

Rajesh she is still under Sudha Ragunathan. I don't think she ever learnt from MLV. Her music has a good blend of MLV and her guru SR. Thanks for the review. My friends who attended her MA concert were spellbound by her RTP in rathipathipriya and Amrithsvarshini. She is a musician who will surely scale to greater heights like her guru for sure.