Aishwarya Vidhya Raghunath SPSS, 28th Dec 2013

[hema]

I meant to write about her but got into the AR tangle. As somebody commented in this forum -- she is indeed
somebody to be watched. Her concert was extremely well planned.

Accompanists: Padma Krishnan (violin), R Ramkumar (mridangam)

Song List:
Saveri: Varnam, Adi
Dhanyasi: Sangeeta Gnanamu, Tyagaraja, Adi, swarams
Kedara gowla: Venu gaana loluni, rupaka, Alaapana and swaram
Vijaya shree: Varanarada …
Devagandhari: Enneneramum undhan sannidhi, Gopal krishnabharathi, -- the alaapana was simply marvelous.
Kalyani: Eta unaraa, Tyagaraja, Alaap swaram and Tani
Huseni: tavilO, padam, kshetrayya, rupakam
Surati: Patiki haarathi, Tyagaraja, Adi

The music was refreshingly different. Her alaapanas were really superb -- in Tamil I would state: ezhachchi unarndhu padinaa.
There was a slight problem with speed though -- the speed visibly increasing as she moved on into the piece or item.

The choice of ragas was indeed well thought out. The typical phrases in every raga were stitched together rather aesthetically. Padma Krishnan is an accompanist, also very good -- so much nidhanam and matched the vocalist rather well. I liked her Kalyani better than that of the vocalist. Ramkumar gave very good support -- playing according to the syllables of the song. Always present but completely unobtrusive to the artists.

On the whole, this was a very good concert.

[rshankar]

Ramkumar (of ramsabode fame) is also a forumite! Way to go....

[Vyuptakesha]

Aishwarya's presentation is one of great confidence and composure. And very refreshing.
A very promising vocalist who will, with time, definitely be a treat to us rasikas.
Hema's comments on Aishwarya's speed were noticeable, and a slip here or there on shruti should be made up by Aishwarya when she listens to her own concert.
Looking forward to listening to more of Aishwarya

[samarasaa]

Aishwarya has good stage presence and very good concert planning. She was really good even at the Nada Inbam concert which I could attend for about an hour. Her ability to handle both slow and fast speeds and is an advantage.

Two areas of improvement - clarity of lyrics when singing in the Tara SthAyi. Effect was a bit muffled in both Nada Inbam and at SPSS. Some effort to use the mike system to her advantage will help her refine her presentation. And the slight slips in Shruti - nothing that practice cannot correct.

She has a great future!