Season Summary - 2013 - best of best

[rajeshnat]

Season Summary - 2013 - best of best
==================================
Being sunday had time to do this, others can also join with their views.

Here is a take representing the best of best concert in margazhi season 2013-2014 :
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The season of margazhi - 2013, was again a definite hit for me . I was very lucky , did not get any seasonitis(vicks vapourub) related problems with any of the artists- only two had a bit of rough voice . Also i did not fall sick for few days which was the case in the last 4 to 5 years .Attended 19 concerts for 16 artists, from the period of December 07th,2013 till Jan 11th,2014. Reviewed all 19 that I attended.Also attended shree SRJ lecdem on Dikshitar MMG ragam and janyas.

Incidentally sent 4 or 5 reviews to deccan herald , i do know one was published in deccan herald not sure of any thing else .In addition to the 19 that i attended and reviewed , about 4 or 5 I attended less than half , if I have time I will put the song list of those all of them are different artist .

Best Varnam:
--------------
You will be surprised , out of 7 varnams that I heard in 19 concerts , 5 were sAmi ninnE kori in shree ragam
None of them I cherish it that much as some thing extrordinary as there were atleast most of them had mic hiccups.No best varnam awarded

best #2 or #3 (non submain) :
--------------------------------
Abhishek Raghuram@Vanimahal on Dec 16th,2013
02. mEru samAna (N S) – mayAmAlavagowlai – T
8 mins Neraval in “galamuna shObillu kanaka bhooshana mula”
11 mins swaras

best submain:
--------------
Sangeetha Swaminathan@Sastri hall on Dec 31st,2013
3. nee daya rAdA (R ,S ) - vasantha bhairavi - T
11 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
5 mins swaras

best no between submain and main- Slow Filler:
---------------------------------------------
May be this time I will segment as two .If you consider a slow filler with either Raga or Neraval

Master Abhilash@BharathkalAchar on Jan 11th,2014
5. rAman EzhuNdarilnAn (R)- Anandabhairavi - AK
2 mins alapana

best no between submain and main- Fast Filler:
---------------------------------------------
Suryaprakash@chromepet-vasantha mantapam on Dec 30th,2013
5. manavyAlkincharA (S) - nalinakanthi - T
6 mins swaras

Best main number:
--------------------
Suryaprakash@Music Academy on Dec 16th,2013
5A. akshayalinga vibhO (R N S T) - shankarAbharanam - MD
15 mins alapana 7 mins violin return
10 mins neraval in badari vana moola nAyika sahita
12 mins swaras

Main has to be MAIN. No questions about that . CM aesthetics lives on elaboration, and it was a wonderful shankarabharanam and a weighty krithi akshayalinga vibhO with a really arresting rendition of main.

Best Tani and Accompanist support:
---------------------------------
Abhishek Raghuram@Vanimahal on Dec 16th,2013
Mrudangam : Ananta R krishan
Kanjira : BS Sundar Kumar

The tani by Anantha and BS sundar kumar was the best after marubalka
5B. tani after marubalka for 20 mins

[rajeshnat]

=====
Best single rAga RTP:
-----------------------
None , I heard not even one.

Best RTP with rAgamAliga pallavi
--------------------------------
Abhishek Raghuram@Vanimahal on Dec 16th,2013

06. RTP in sindhubhairavi for 58 mins
20 mins vocal alapana
9 mins taanam in violin
Pallavi for 16 mins in “Maal maruga muruga guha shanmugha mahapathiyum vithiyum thozhuvum”
Swara kalpana for 16 mins with most footprint in sindhubhairavi
With few sangathis in behag + revati + ?? + sindhubhairavi
Lovely sindhubhairavi ragam , despite abhishek not singing taanam

AND

Suryaprakash@chromepet-vasantha mantapam on Dec 30th,2013

7. RTP in brindavana sArangA
13 mins ragam and 7 mins violin return
7 mins taanam
29 mins pallavi and swararagamALiga in brindavana sAranga+ jog+ chandrakowns+ nAyaki+ darbAri kAnadA
pallavi line was "brindAvanam idhuvO kannan kuzhaloodiya"

Lovely attempt,with high shruthi adherance in the raga with a really great dash of swaras especially the jog.

Best viruththam:
----------------
I heard just two viruththam both by the same artist suryaprakash. Looks most of the time for lack of time viruththam was passed.Between the two concerts i will give it to
Suryaprakash@chromepet-vasantha mantapam on Dec 30th,2013
78A. viruththam pachai mA malai - nattaikurinji+
arangamanagarulaneN- ranjani
muruga thirumAL marugA - jonpuri??? +
shanmugha - aananda ragam???

Best Slokham:
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Trivandrum Dr Baby Sriram@Music Academy on Dec 16th,2013
6A. slokham peethAbaram kAravirathAdhi shangu chakram - kAMbOdhi + hamsAnandi + behag -????

AND

Raji gOpAlakrishnan@BVB-Mini on Jan 10th ,2014
7A. vasudev sudham devam - slokham - madhuvanti - ???

Best ugabhooga:
--------------
Heard none

Best tukkada(non viruththam/slokham or non thillAnA)
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Being short song, it is quite a task to make up one's mind to say the best . Liked all of the below

Sikkil Gurucharan@CCA on Dec 07th,2013
6. shree parthasarathy thiruvallikEniyil - sumanEsa ranjani - rukmini ramani

AND

Dr Narmadha@CCA on Dec 09th,2013
8.kandanaal mudhalAi- madhuvanti - ns chidambaram


AND
Suryaprakash@Music Academy on Dec 16th,2013
7B. kandan karunai puriyum vadivel - bhimplas - guhan

AND
Sangeetha Swaminathan@Sastri hall on Dec 31st,2013
7. koovi azhaithAl - valaci - kavignar vaali

AND
Master Abhilash@BharathkalAchar on Jan 11th,2014
7.taruneenYan(ragam sketch) - dwijAvanthi - ST

AND
Raji gOpAlakrishnan@BVB-Mini on Jan 10th ,2014
Liked both
7B. nAtha harE - madhuvanti - jayadeva ashtapadi
8. pampA theera vihArA - sivaranjani - PV Natarajan (raji's appa)
7.taruneenYan(ragam sketch) - dwijAvanthi - ST

Best thillana:
-------------
None worth that great , pass it

Concert of the season:
----------------------
There were 3 excellent to outstanding concerts -two by suryaprakash (chromepet and NGS MINi) and Abhishek at Vanimahal .
Between the 3 ,the best was indeed the best for its elaboration and paripoornam .(I guess 3 hours and 15 mins is one of the supplementary and important reason though not the only reason- The clincher was especially the pallavi especially high speed tanam and jog swaras was one of its kind). The winner is

Suryaprakash@chromepet-vasantha mantapam on Dec 30th,2013
http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=22700

[rajeshnat]

Non trivia - Canteen:
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NGS Sabha Canteen is always the best for me. Hot coffee , staff helping even charging the mobile ,

Misses of the season:
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# During the last 8 years or so , I wanted to hear erode anantharaman@skgs, hopefully will cover in 2014. Also wanted to hear trichy pradeep kumar at nadha sudha velachery, looked at the paper on that day and it was cancelled and passed to another artist. . These were my top list that i took from home but did not make it to venue

# Also planned many artist in just the paper and kutcheris.com but could not make it

# I Went to hyderabad brothers to the wrong venue- meenakshi college in kodambakkam instead of kk nagar.

Yougsters or Veterans whom I heard for the first time:
----------------------------------------------------
Vocal:
------
K Dharini, Gokul chandramouli , Trivandrum Dr Baby Sriram and Bhushany kalyanaraman

Violin/Veena/flute
-------------------------
Emani Lakshmi (Veena) , Ambi sriram (Violin), Ravi Srinivasan (violin support),Vaikkom padma krishnan (violin support),sriram Sridhar(Violin suport) ,Tiruvarur Swaminathan(flute)

Mrudangam/ other percussion:
-------------
TR Sudaresan ,Thirucherai kaushik rajagopal , Niranjan Balachandran , mandapakkam nagalakshmi all in mrudangam
Nanganallur Ramanujam -Morsing and Madipakkam Govindarajan - Kanjira

General Impression of the season:
----------------------------
# I am certainly benefited by the sabha sprawl as i have more choices . I prefer atleast 30 to 40% of concerts to come down and get spread to months of April to Aug where musicians generally sing in their pooja room. But that is never going to happen.

# Wanted in general to have a more horizontal spread , chromepet is great . I was thinking there were few concerts in DG vaishnava college in arumbakkam few years back but that did not happen this year, Also very sad to hear that in the last 2 years the finest auditorium Rani seethai hall is RIP for Carnatic .

# One thing that did get caught my attention which was kind of unique. We usually have prabhata sangeetham where early morning concerts is done as obeisance to god . That is fine as there is shraddai (devotion).I saw in paper that Ganesh and kUmaresh are performing violin duet at 05:30 AM in PK Mahal, that is indeed strange .Even flights and shatabdi express is pushed to 6 AM but mylapore having a 05:30 AM concert is quite a first occurrence to me in season. I hope 05:30 AM is not a misprint for 05:30 PM and what I am stating is right.

# All said and done , Season is overall nice , more choices is quite a positive thing to me - pray for 40% cut and a definite horizontal spread especially in week days.

[Nick H]

Nice to read your reviews/experiences.

I think we bumped into each other just once, at the NGS canteen. It is a feature of the season that I meet people from all over the world, yet those that I see, for the rest of the year, regularly in concerts here, seem to spend December going to different concerts to me!

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Rajesh,

A very good concert of Lalgudi Siblings was reported by Maha vishnu,but finds no mention in your columns.

[rshankar]

Rajesh has listed the best of the concerts he attended - others can add their own unique expereinces.

[badari]

Surprised not to see any Top artists in your list !!

[sureshvv]

My best concert of the season:

Abhishek, Akkarai Subbalakshmi, Ananta krishnan & Sundarkumar at Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan.

For the first part of the program, Abhishek debunked all criticism of lack of sowkhyam in his approach. I recall Ramanathan Bhajeham and a soothing Swati tirunal kriti in yadhukulakamboji.

The second part was the RTP in kharaharapriya which he wove a mesmerizing dvi nadai pallavi executed with implicit counting. Akkarai was so deferential and attentive in her playing. Percussion support for the RTP brought out what was not obvious in the kriya itself. It was a mind blowing performance all the way around.

I was hoping to read about it here but unfortunately it was a rainy evening and it seems the regular reviewers here missed this one.

[rajeshnat]

Others can also join .

Suresh,
You were bit more expansive last year than this year . Tx. You cannot excuse yourself that you are not a regular reviewer.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Surprised not to see any Top artists in your list !!

What, according to you, are the criteria to be grouped under 'Top artists' ?

[grsastrigal]

I could have attended max 10-15 concerts. Since they are top 10 artists, the concerts were, one or other way, good. But, I think Bombay Jaishree's concert at Narada Gana sabha stood out for three things..

This is the only concert where "The Hindu" mentioned this this as "House full" on the date of the concert. To my knowledge, there is no other concert with this credit. The concert might have been full like TM Krishna in KGS but mentioning this in a famour newspaper shows the rasikas' interest.
BJ takes every concert as "yagnam" (tavam in Tamil). She, along with Embar kannan, produced a swara jathi (bhairavi) that would be in my "memory" even today.
BJ never takes a drop of water during her concert. It may be insignificant for some. For me, a sheer concentration, control and practice would make an artist to become llike this. Certainly LGJ's true disciple.
Personally, Iam not a "big fan" of BJ as I have my reservation of her singing pattern. This concert was also not in my "must attend" list. I accompanied my wife as she is the big fan of BJ. But, It was truly enjoyable.

Others:
Gurucharan's kambodhi- koniyAdina- along with Shri UKS in mridhangam was another exceptional one. It was at MFAC.
Abhishek's "mArubalga" at vAni mahAl - made me to remember SSI
Full concert of Vijay siva for "Nalinakanti" at "MGR Janaki college" (Mr.Nick also attended) was the best concert overall in DEc season.

[sureshvv]

Award for singing great but less known kritis goes to Sangeeta Swaminathan. Some of the kritis she sang:

1. Mangala vara dayaki, Kadhanakudhuhalam
2. Swaminathena Samrakshitoham, Brindavana Saranga
3. Sandhya devim saverim, Saveri
4. Rama ramana narayana, Nagaswarali
5. Velava va vinai theeru, Keeravani
6. Na che neravukara, Nattaikurinji
7. Rang na daalo shyam ji, Hamsanandi

[sankark]

Full concert of Vijay siva for hamsadvani at "MGR Janaki college" (Mr.Nick also attended) was the best concert overall in DEc season.

That would be Nalinakanti, not hamsadvani.

[rshankar]

Award for singing great but less known kritis goes to Sangeeta Swaminathan. Some of the kritis she sang:

1. Mangala vara dayaki, Kadhanakudhuhalam
2. Swaminathena Samrakshitoham, Brindavana Saranga
3. Sandhya devim saverim, Saveri
4. Rama ramana narayana, Nagaswarali
5. Velava va vinai theeru, Keeravani
6. Na che neravukara, Nattaikurinji
7. Rang na daalo shyam ji, Hamsanandi

Very nice...truly, less-known.

[Nick H]

Full concert of Vijay siva for hamsadvani at "MGR Janaki college" (Mr.Nick also attended) was the best concert overall in DEc season.

Nalinakanti, indeed, as mentioned. I think that was about 3rd December? I counted it as my first concert of this season, and it was enormously enjoyable. I think it was almost exactly a month later that I next saw Vijay Siva, in Thiruvanmiyur, this time with Trichy Sankaran.

[sureshvv]

Award for alapanas in rarely heard ragas goes to Sangeeta Swaminathan. Sang an RTP in Thandavam for Charsur and an RTP in Rathipathipriya/Amrithavarshini at the Music Academy. Mahathi gets an honorable mention too but hers were mostly vivadhi ragas.

[rajeshnat]

Award for singing great but less known kritis goes to Sangeeta Swaminathan. Some of the kritis she sang:

1. Mangala vara dayaki, Kadhanakudhuhalam
2. Swaminathena Samrakshitoham, Brindavana Saranga
3. Sandhya devim saverim, Saveri
4. Rama ramana narayana, Nagaswarali
5. Velava va vinai theeru, Keeravani
6. Na che neravukara, Nattaikurinji
7. Rang na daalo shyam ji, Hamsanandi

Add this two
8. ennAllu tirugudunu (N,S)- mandari (not poorvikalyani) - HMB
9. sari evaRE mA jAnaki (R) - sahana - Tirupathi narayanaswamy

[rajeshnat]

Others also post in terms of Season Summary - 2013 - best of best - please- gentle remainder

[arasi]

Nice thread, all...
RTP in ThaNDavam! Hope I get to hear Sangeetha Swaminathan sometime soon.

Rajesh,
While wanting to read a novel, the season summary (ah, exactly ) has so far been like reading a precis! Of the hundreds of concerts that went on, surely there were some other concerts (in all time slots) which were outstanding in their own way to be written about?

I am glad we have a handful of excellent concerts which have been mentioned in this thread.The rest? A pity, not many rasikAs have chimed in about the high points in their musical experience during this season.

Still, it doesn't mean there was a want for excellent concerts this year /:)

Our focusing on a few artistes (for good or bad) and a very analytical trend in our recent reviews--putting on hold the rasAnubhava while penning our impressions-- might have made some 'mere rasikAs' hesitate a bit in sharing their experiences? I'm just wondering. Correct me if I'm wrong.

It's also possible that folks don't have the time to post reviews when they are trying to catch as many concerts as possible.

[sureshvv]

Nice thread, all...
RTP in ThaNDavam! Hope I get to hear Sangeetha Swaminathan sometime soon.

May be available from Charsur at their website already.

[grsastrigal]

Hamsandwani..changed. Thanks sanker.

Actually I came to know that Nick attended that concert (Vijay Siva) only through his review. Otherwise, I would have met him. better luck next time (for me..)

Going by the number of concertts, I found Sikkil Gurucharan was performing 12 concerts in December season and in ladies wing, Sowmya gave equal number of concerts. (Award flashed my mind- Usain bolt award to SGC for running from sabha to sabha to give concerts, Usain Bol"ti" award to Sowmya")
Followed by OST and sanjay with 11 concerts.

[Rajagopalan_V]

All, my personal best was Sanjay @ Vani Mahal. Closely followed by Saketha Raman @ Mudhra.

Other concerts I really liked were the following --
1. Sanjay at KGS and Chettinad School (for MMU)
2. Abhishek @ BVB (listened to the second half only) and Parthasarathy Sabha
3. TMK @ MFAC
4. Chitravina Ravikiran @ KGS
5. OST @ Music Academy
6. Ramakrishnan Murthy @ Raga Sudha Hall on the New Year day
7. Vasudha Ravi @ NGS Mini Hall
8. Amruta Venkatesh @ NGS Mini Hall
9. Amruta Sankaranarayanan @ KGS Mini Hall
10. Vishal Sapuram, Chitravina @ KGS Mini Hall

Thanks!

[Nick H]

Actually I came to know that Nick attended that concert (Vijay Siva) only through his review.

It is not foolproof, because, especially in the season, I am not the only one, but there is a good chance, if you spot a person wearing vesti and kurta, having non-local looks otherwise --- it'll be me.

[rajeshnat]

Going by the number of concertts, I found Sikkil Gurucharan was performing 12 concerts in December season and in ladies wing, Sowmya gave equal number of concerts. (Award flashed my mind- Usain bolt award to SGC for running from sabha to sabha to give concerts, Usain Bol"ti" award to Sowmya")
Followed by OST and sanjay with 11 concerts.

GRS,
For the record many are performing 12 concerts , I recollect GV and Sriranjani Santhanagopalan had 18 concerts and also carnatica brothers had the most concerts among male. Just fyi.

[rajeshnat]

a very analytical trend in our recent reviews--putting on hold the rasAnubhava while penning our impressions-- might have made some 'mere rasikAs' hesitate a bit in sharing their experiences? I'm just wondering. Correct me if I'm wrong.

It's also possible that folks don't have the time to post reviews when they are trying to catch as many concerts as possible.

Definitely on rasAnubhava it is not getting diluted because of any analytical trend . I am sure you or any one can write what they liked.
I agree that many who are travelling have a constraint to post. Awaiting for others to post.

[arasi]

Oh,no, Rajesh--I do like to read analytical reviews (I do learn a bit from them!). What I meant was the extremes (in thamizh--akku vERu ANi vERAgap pirithup pODudal) where it can reach highly clinical research levels!

Each reviewer is different. That's good! However, if his/her musical experience is put aside and super analysis takes over, then it's not my cup of tea.

You for instance, however much you may go into details of the form of the music you hear, you always have your passion for music finding its way all through it.

Mahavishnu, a super scientist can analyze music too, but his reviews are a joy to read because they are given life by his fine aesthetic sensibilities. vvsuresh, sastrigal, CRama and many others have their own stamp. It's only when folks want to show off how clever they are that such a thing arises (both with those who write for the papers and as rasikAs). It's just in the way a consummate musician decides to show off his skills in a concert at the cost of bhAvam

[mahavishnu]

Arasi, thanks for your kind words. Sorry, I have just been lurking the last couple of weeks due to a huge pile of work that I had to catch up with after almost a full month away! Just saw this thread...Rajesh, thanks for starting it.

My two paise on the most memorable concerts from the season: (Interestingly my top two were both instrumental concerts).

1) Jayanthi Kumaresh @ Prabhat Sangeetham. It was truly magical. I had written about this here... http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=22692

2) Lalgudi siblings at MMA: It was a very emotional concert for me (and for most of us in attendance that day). I have always had a mad love for the music of LGJ and the special concert by the siblings after the great personal losses they have been through this year was absolutely superb. I also penned some thoughts on this earlier this season. http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=22686

3) I heard Sanjay Subrahmanyan at MMA and KGS on successive days. Both were lovely. I was one of those that complained in an earlier thread that Sanjay should rotate his accompanists more (especially mridangists). The season is the best time to catch these variations. At MMA he gave a very soulful concert with a superb Vagadeeswari, to the excellent accompaniment of Tanjore Murugabhoopathy on mridangam. The following day, the concert at KGS was equally good but extremely different in spirit and quite exuberant if I may say so (Guntakriya, Bhairavi). Harikumar on the mridangam (with his very Karaikudi Mani-esque moments) changed the flavour of the concert entirely. Varadu as usual was the anchor for both.

4) I listed to several other excellent concerts at the Academy. Malladi Brothers were uniformly excellent, my greatest find of the season was the mridangam playing of Palladam Ravi. He was really superb; I thought he should have received the award for the best senior mridangist. He played with so much sensitivity. I wish he would get more recognition for his excellent work. I aso heard Gayathri Venkataraghavan at the academy who gave a wonderful performance with Padma Shankar.

5) I thoroughly enjoyed a concert of Gayathri Girish at SPSS. I have a special fondness for Parthasarathy Swami sabha and the lovely Iyengar mamas that run it. GG gave an excellent concert and entertained my request for a harikambhoji main. I had the pleasure of listening to this with Sivaramakrishnan of our forum and also with Mohan (Kamalamba). This was just a week or so before Balu mama's (GBL's) passing. Mohan and I had a lovely conversation with GG at the SPSS cafeteria afterwards. None of us even could imagine that Balu mama would pass away just a few short days after that.

6) RK Srikanthan with UKS at the academy was also excellent. The concert was a lesson on how a concert should be structured and how mridangam should be played. Sadly, Ramakanth needed more help in sticking to the shruti from his nonagenarian father than the other way around! I had the pleasure of Semmu's (Arvind) company through the entire event.
After the concert Semmu, Nick, Mrs Nick and I had a wonderful Woodland's lunch during which we dissected everything; life, the universe and the works. And I had the pleasure of these long conversations with Nick on more than one occasion and for that I consider myself quite fortunate.

7) Among the younger musicians, I heard a couple of concerts by Ramakrishnan Murthy. He is truly exceptional and is in a league of his own. He gave an amazing concert with Charumathi Raghuraman (what talent!) at KGS. Superb Ma janaki and a pallavi in Kalyani. I also heard RKM at the prabhat sangeetham morning concert. I wish this youngster the very best; I am sure he will go places!

8) And it is no secret that I am a huge Abhishek admirer. I heard him on three occasions. Each one of them was a psychedelic experience. But a special shout-out to Mysore Srikanth, Neyveli Narayanan and Anantha Krishnan for superb accompaniment each time. I was floored by their consistency.

9) I also heard a few other very good concerts by OST, Suryaprakash (excellent RTP in Revathi @ CCA), Vijay Siva, Carnatic brothers and Bharat Sundar. Did not get a chance to catch TNS Krishna, TMK or Ranjani-Gayatri. I did catch a few minutes of Sangeetha Sivakumar @ the academy. It was competent but quite ordinary.

10) I really enjoyed running into members of our forum everywhere: MV, Nadasudha & her father, Ponbhairavi, and frequent chance meetings with MKR; and other lovely folks like Sridhar_ranga who recognized me from the pictures posted by Lata Ganapathy-Ravikiran from our gathering.

Of course the rasikas gathering is always special and seeing many of you there (Arasi, Rajesh, CRama, MKR, Uday and many others) was the highlight of my India trip. My father was delighted to come to the rasikas gathering, and he sends his regards to all of you!

I also got to spend a lovely morning with Uday after an amazing lec-dem by Trichy Sankaran. I met some of the veteran members of our forum as well (Cool-ji, Ram, Mantra, Vainika, Vijay) for a solid woodlands lunch.

Overall, it was a great music season for me. But with a finite amount of time, it is hard to cover a lot of ground. I often wish that I could be bi-local (not in the quantum sense). So much to see, so little time!

[Nick H]

For those of us who remain here after the season passes (passes? I have been to five concerts this week!) the music is always there --- or at least, almost always, given a break in midsummer when artists try to be in cooler lands. What is special about the season is the social aspect.

My special memories of this season are the rasikas meet, lunch (and a couple of other conversations) with Mahavishnu and Arvind, and attending MV's concerts. I wonder how many other members have been quietly performing without letting the rest of us know?

Musically, I find it very tough to single out any particular concert, although perhaps it would be R K Srikantan at MA. Had it not been a few days too late to be called "season," I might have picked R K Sriramkumar's violin solo at RS hall a few days ago. Smt Vedavalli was like a golden thread running through my entire season: I think I attended no less than 11 or 12 concerts by her, Sumithra, and other members of her musical family. RV's 25th Dec concert, and SV's 2 Jan concert (both at RS Hall) would be well up in my best-of-best listings.

I would have to mention, too, Shashank's MA concert as having been the most wonderful way to begin a new year.

[rshankar]

?.....and attending MV's concerts.

Forgive me for being dense, but who is MV?

[cacm]

MV has to be the one&only Mahavishnu. vkv

[rajeshnat]

MV is malathi vasudevan from NZ who gave a concert at PK mahal

[Nick H]

Correct. On this forum, she is "MV!"

She can be found in the rasikas meet photos. She gave two concerts here.

[mahavishnu]

Yes and MV is also a vainika and a very talented person. After the late Sri Sam Swaminathan, MV and Sreecons are key individuals for Carnatic music (organizing and teaching) in New Zealand!

Fortunately for rasikas and anyone in the vicinity, Mahavishnu (yours truly, not the lord) does not give concerts

There are some negatives about the season as well, in addition to the bad acoustics and the terrible restrooms. There are simply way too many sabhas and events going on at the same time. While it is great that suburban organizations (Velachery, Chromepet, Tiruvanmiyur, Nanganallur etc) are flourishing, the skewed distribution of crowds is worrisome.

The distribution of crowds is truly Zipfian; there is a mad rush for the top few performers and the rest are for the crows and flies (it is a weird expression in my family for Ee/kAkka illai). Such power laws (as VKV would put it) are seen elsewhere, but the long term sustainability of this model is something I wonder about.

The economics of this is very puzzling to me. But for now, with corporate sponsorships and silk merchants bankrolling each of these operations, this might work for some time. I suppose even the money laundering opportunities provided by sabhas can only be good for CM.

[vasanthakokilam]

This thread is getting to be quite entertaining to read. Thanks Rajesh, Nick and the MVs ( all three! ).

Ramesh, that is a lot of concerts.Quite impressive indeed. Great to see that you met up with the 'old' gang.
Your description of the early morning concert, Jayanthi Kumaresh @ Prabhat Sangeetham, is still fresh in my mind.
That has got to be the find of the season.

The two worlds many of us live in is interesting in many ways. Getting transported from one to the other and back takes a lot of recovery time, especially after getting immersed in the Chennai season like this.

Smt Vedavalli was like a golden thread running through my entire season

Nicely said, Nick.

[Nick H]

Yes and MV is also a vainika and a very talented person. After the late Sri Sam Swaminathan, MV and Sreecons are key individuals for Carnatic music (organizing and teaching) in New Zealand!

And very modest. She didn't mention any of this.

Fortunately for rasikas and anyone in the vicinity, Mahavishnu (yours truly, not the lord) does not give concerts

I was wondering if you had been keeping it secret!

[rshankar]

I'm glad I asked about MV! Any links to her concerts?

[MV]

Mahavishnu & Nick ... you do heap praise I was actively involved in organising last 2 years but there are many others in NZ who have a hand in it, plus there are many serious and good teachers of vocal and instruments. It is quite a thriving carnatic music scene out here for a small community! And concerts, I am very small fry people. I practice ( and perform?) for pleasure. When there are so many giants out there, I don't like to trumpet myself.

Season? It was great meeting forumites mid-Dec and running into them at various places. In an earlier thread, I had said I missed listening to veena. RSachi-I have just got back and mean to hear the 2 you suggested-just getting back to routine. But Jayanthi Kumaresh I wanted to hear this year and missed. I can never make it to the Prabhat concerts-family stuff and so on. I was hoping to catch her at Nada Inbam but she didn't perform there? Soon.. its on my 'to do' list.

[arasi]

Malathi,
I was so happy to meet you at Ravikiran's place, but didn't have a clue about your musical abilities! Please do post a clip for us.

The other MV,
Good to know your season turned out to be great. Wish I had spent more time with you. It was nice to meet your parents too.

After the RasikAs meet at the start of my season, things came to a halt, and it was barely a season for me. From various posts, I gather that Vijay was there too. Missed seeing him and Mohan (kamalamba) and Mohan and Sangeetha from down under, meeting with Nick and his better half for a meal. Missed seeing Rajesh
and family, Semmu and several others...

And all those missed concerts! Hope I can make up for it all next year...

[CRama]

MY SEASON 2013
Season 2013 was fairly good for me. I attended 30 concerts mostly in the sabhas in my vicinity. I feel so happy more so considering my health problems which are slowly getting settled. Season- I look forward for this season every year not only because of the concerts I attend- but the entire atmosphere is charged with music. When I used to come to Chennai from other states earlier, I was so happy to sit in the 12 B bus and hear somebody discussing about a concert which I also will join occasionally. Hopping into various sabhas, CD shops, canteens everything gives fun along with music. Listening to new musicians- like Mahathi this year, hearing new kritis, hearing long forgotten kritis like Enthanuchu in Guntakriya, bumping at old friends in the sabhas, saying hello to rasikas friends, catching up with radio relays, webcasts - highly euphoric for me. I did not take any notes or list of songs in the concerts as I did not want to write any review. Now, from my memory I am listing out the concerts I attended and the songs I remember from that concert. There may be some mistakes though. Some of the notable features from the concerts I am mentioning at the end.

1. GAYATHRI GIREESH - CHENNAI CULTURAL ACADEMY-HABIBULLA ROAD
Punnagai onre podume-Hamsanandi-Ambujam Krishna
Sukhi evvaro
Akshayalingavibho
Nambikettavar evarayya

2. B.KANNAN-VEENA-PATHANJALI-FLUTE-VIOLIN-CHENNAI CULTURAL ACADEMY-HABIBULLA ROAD
Anandamrithakarshini, RTP-Hemavathi.

3. TNS -CHENNAI CULTURAL ACADEMY-HABIBULLA ROAD
Panthuvarali, Yadukulakambodi-Divakarathanujam, Balagopala

4. SOWMYA -MUDHRA
DORAKUNA- BILAHARI

5. PRIYA SISTERS-MUDHRA
Grahabhalamemi, Needaya galguno-Shanmugapriya, Rajuvedala, RTP-Ganamurthy

6. GAYATHRI VENKATARAGHAVAN-MUDHRA
Kharaharapriya RTP.

7. R.VEDAVALLI-ACADEMY
Krishnananda, Korinavaramu, RTP-Thodi

8. AKKARAI SISTERS-ACADEMY
RTP-Thodi

9. TNS-ACADEMY
Brindavanalola-Thodi, Paramapavanarama, Akshayalingavibho, RTP_Shanmugapriya

10 SHASHANK-MUDHRA
Swararagasudharasa, RTP-Kapi

11 GAYATHRI GIREESH-KGS
DEEKSHITHAR KRITIS ON SIVA

12 SANJAY-KGS
Budhamasrayami, Guntakriya alapana and Enthanuchuvarnimpa, Chinthayama-Bhairavi, Jyothiswaroopini, RTP_Kambodi.

14 TNS-MUDHRA
Surutti, Santhanamanjari and Tallininnunera

15 ABHISHEK-BHARAT KALACHAR
Chinthayamakanda, Saatileni, RTP_Mohanam

16 THRISSUR BROTHERS-BHARAT KALACHAR
Slokam-Bhavayami, Ramaneesamana

17 SIKKIL GURUCHARAN-MUDHRA
Sree Subramanyaya Namasthe, Pakkalanilabadi, RTP_Lalitha

18 OST-MUDHRA
Venkataramana, Kaddanuvariki.

19 PANTHULARAMA- MUDHRA
Gayakapriya-Koteeswaraiyer kriti, Ksheerasagara, Sree Subramanyaya Namasthe,

20 GANESH KUMARESH-BHARAT KALACHAR
Samikku sari evvare, Raga pravaham based on varamu, RTP_Sankarabharanam

21 VV SUBRAMANIAM VANI MAHAL
Syamasundaranga, Lathangi, Kamakshi swarajathi, Swararagasudha

22 VIJAYALAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAM KGS
Bahudari, Anandabhairavi and RTP-Dharmavathi

23 SOWMYA-KGS
Brovabharama-Bahudari, Kamakshi-Swarajathi-Bhairavi.

24 MALLADI BROS- IFAS
Bhuvinidasudane, Matimatiki-Mohanam

25 VIJAYA SIVA- IFAS
Kamalambike Thodi

26 VIJAYA SIVA-KGS
Kamakshi-Begada, Sree Raghuvaraprameya

27 UNNIKRISHNAN- MUDHRA
Kripaya palaya, Kaakka unakkirakkam illaya-Kharaharapriya

28 RANGANATHA SARMA - RTP CONCERT, NGS MINI HALL
RTP-Ranjini, Manoranjini, Janaranjini and Sree ranjini, Khanda jathi Matya thalam

29 MAHATHI-MUDHRA
Gayakapriya, Sarasangi-Manaveeche konavayya, Kamakshi swarajathi-Bhairavi, RTP-Hamsanandi, Anandavalli.

30. INJIKUDI SUBRAMANIAM- KGS.
Natakapriya main song.Yamunakalyani.

I started my season with the concert of Gayathri Girish in Chennai Cultural Academy, Karnataka Sangha, Habibullah Road. All the songs were rendered well, but I was particularly impressed with Kanada alapana and Sukhi evvaro for which she rendered elaborate first kala swaras. The hamsanandi song is a rare one and the alapana was expansive. She sang three ragas in the concert and I liked her planning.

I went for TNS concert in the same veneue and I reached early - There was a veena concert in the previous slot. It was Veena- Venu- Violin. It was very good. B.Kannan in the Veena was quite impressive. There was good coordination and balancing among the artistes.

TNS sang an elaborate Yadukulakambodi- Divakarathanjujam and a splended Balagopala. His voice was in good form in this concert.

The Thodi RTP of Akkarai Sisters was top notch. Their alapana reminded me of MS Thodi alapana.

Sanjay's concert at KGS was excellent with alapana of 4 ragas- . The song Enthanuchu in Guntakriya I have not heard for many decades. I first heard this by KVN in an old RSS concert. He gave an alapana of the ragam. Further he sang Chinthayama, an elaborate Jyothiswaroopini and RTP in Kambodi. A very fulfilling concert.

Abhishek gave a stellar performance in Bharat Kalachar in spite of very poor mike system.

The concert of Thrissur Brothers did not take off well in the same venue because of the mike system. But the only raga they sang - Kharaharapriya and Rama nee samana was first class with SSI style neraval at Paluku paluku. They sang an elaborate ragamalika slokam preceding Bhavayami.

Sikkil Gurucharan supported by Umayalpuram Sivaraman gave a superb performance in Mudhra. He sang four ragas- Kambodi (Sree Subramanyaya)- Elaborate alapana and song. No neraval and swaras. One more ragam which I do not remember and Pakala nilabadi as Main song. Plus RTP in Lalitha. Very good planning and rendering and UKS excelling in percussion.

OST concert was good in Mudhra. He had the excellent support of Tiruchi Sankaran and Suresh. That Mridangam and Ghatam stole the show. The thani was quite engaging. OST sang a beautiful Lathangi for Venkataramana and Thodi for Kaddanuvariki.

The bahudari alapana by Sowmya in KGS was very elaborate and appealing.

Mohanam by Malladi Bros in IFAS for Matimatiki was good. But the Sreeranjini alapana was not very clear.

The concert of Mahathi was a superb 4 hour concert. I had posted a review earlier.

The concert of Priya Sisters in Mudhra was very good. I had written about this concert already.

The RTP concert of Ranganatha Sarma was excellent. Eventhough this pallavi had been sung by S.Kalyanaraman long time back, his sincerity in raga alapana of each ragam in two stages, elaborate thanam and pallavi with ragamalika swaras were commendable. The concert lasted for one and half hours. So ample time for his manodharmam.

TOP THREE CONCERTS FOR ME

SANJAY IN KGS
ABHISHEK IN BHARAT KALACHAR
MAHATHI IN MUDHRA.

Folks, those who missed MUDHRA concerts, don't miss their webcasts. All the concerts were very good to excellent- in Rajesh's parlance.

[arasi]

CRama,
Super encapsulation. Wish I had your memory!

Good that I could meet you twice--once with your wife too. We are all happy about your recovery from your eye surgery.

More clear eyesight and sharing of your insights this year!

[Nick H]

CRama,
Super encapsulation. Wish I had your memory!

So do I... it's all a bit of a blur for me now, although I did make some blog-type notes about a couple of the days.

CRama, obviously the T Nagara area is your "stomping ground" and you attended some of the venues that I avoid as being "the wrong side" of Anna Salai, or, rather, the wrong side of the Metro works diversions.

[vasanthakokilam]

1. GAYATHRI GIREESH - CHENNAI CULTURAL ACADEMY-HABIBULLA ROAD
Punnagai onre podume-Hamsanandi-Ambujam Krishna

The hamsanandi song is a rare one and the alapana was expansive. She sang three ragas in the concert and I liked her planning.

Intrigued by this, I looked for this in youtube. Guess what, the one version, an excellent one, I got was from our own Sri. V.K.Raman. Quite an inspired singing by VKR.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0iyRON_rq0

[arasi]

VKR,
Very good singing!

Thanks VK.

I saw the text too which has a few typos. Hope Lakshman helps. I don't have that Geetha Mala volume with me here to correct them..

[mahavishnu]

Thanks, CRama. That is a comprehensive list of kutcheris that you attended. I am also very glad that your vision is back to normal levels and you are able to do what you like doing most! Best wishes.

[MV]

Malathi,
I was so happy to meet you at Ravikiran's place, but didn't have a clue about your musical abilities! Please do post a clip for us.
...

Arasi, it was great to meet you and all the other forumites in Dec. But sad to hear you were unwell and missed a lot of the concerts. Anyway, here's a clip of mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVSZBt3UAcE