Lalgudi GJR Krishnan&Vijayalakshmi-Violin-Chicago-6/Apr/l4

[vasanthakokilam]

Lalgudi GJR Krishnan & Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi - Violin
Trichi Sankaran, Mridangam
Tirupanitura Radhakrishnan, Ghatam
Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple of Greater Chicago
6th April 2014

Varnam, Charukesi Lalgudi Jayaraman, Adi
Smaranae onthae Saaladhae, Malyamarutham, Purandaradasa, Adi
nADADina mATa nEDu tappu valadu nA taNDri shrI rAma, Thyagaraja, Janaranjani, Misra Chapu
E nATi nOmu phalamO E dAna balamO, Bhairavi, Adi, Thyagaraja
vina rAdA nA manavi, Devagandari, Adi, Thyagaraja
mOkshamu galadA bhuvilO jIvan-muktulu kAni vAraluku - sAramati, Adi, Thyagaraja
rAma kathA sudhA rasa, Madhyamavathi, Adi, Thyagaraja ( Grand Alapana, Swara )
Thani ( 20 minutes )
RTP, Kanda Jampa Kanda Gathi, Vachaspathi, "gopika manohara muralidhara gopala mampahi", ra of dhara on the arudhi-karvai
Eppo varuvarao, jOnpuri
Krishna Nee Begane Baro, Yamuna Kalyani, Misra Chapu, Vyasatirtha
Enna solli azhaithal, Kanada, Adi, Ambujam Krishna
Thillana. Misra mand, Lalgudi Jayaraman
Mangalam

--
Incredible 3.5 hour concert. I am not qualified to write any review of it but let me write a few thoughts about the concert.

It was quite an emotional concert for many of us in the audience. And so it was in turn for the siblings when they heard the spontaneous and heartfelt appreciation from the audience, especially for the grand Madhyamavathi alapana. Krishnan and Viji took turns for this alapana and it is hard to put in words the emotions it stirred. It was the invisible hands of the maestro at work through his son and daughter. We have seen and heard all three of them on stage play Madyamavathi before and today it was just the two of them physically, but there was nothing missing. The audience erupted in to a roar spontaneously at the end of the alapana and that visibly moved the siblings.

What followed was the LGJ school classic, rAma kathA sudhA rasa. As is typical of the Lalgudi bANi, one can hear the words of the song in their playing which makes it so special. One thought occurred to me. I am not really sure how long back I have heard a vocal rendition of this song but I can still follow along the lyrics when they played. So in a way it seems the Lalgudi style of playing defines the standard for 'uccharippu/vocalization' even for vocalists.

As if this was not enough, the thani followed this song. What a thani it was. It went on for 20 minutes and it was just incredibly dynamic. Trichi Sankaran stopped playing for a few seconds at the beginning of the thani and 0.10 humorously said ( pOravAllAm pOhattum, 'let those who want to go clear out first' ). He was definitely annoyed a bit since the few people who were leaving caused some disturbance. Given what he had in store for the thani, he was probably thinking at that time how unfortunate they are to miss out on this. Tirupanitura Radhakrishnan, who till now played the appropriate role of upa-pakkavAdyam, exploded on to the scene which actually made Sankaran take notice and he joined in for the few beats of the ending of the Gatam round. Radhakrishnan's speed is amazing, it may have been something like 16 strokes a second. And in one stretch he was playing at that fast speed for like 4 avarthanams. The audience loved it and so was Sankaran. He was quite appreciative of his counter part. It did not feel like it went on for 20 minutes. The Koraippu was awesome, they switched from exchanging on the samam to exchanging on the half beat to set up the final merger and from then on it was a fun ride of laya exposition culminating in a very enjoyable Korvai. When the Siblings took back the song, the audience cheered for the entire duration from that time till the finish and 30 seconds after that.

They then followed it up with a pallavi in Vachaspathi, followed by many audience favorites like eppo varuvaro, krishna ne begane and Enna Solli Azaithal. Incidentally the theme of the last two songs are similar, inviting Krishna to come, as Krishnan pointed out! Also Vidwan Madurai Sundar was in the audience and Krishnan made a reference that the composer of 'enna solli azhaithal', Ambujam Krishna, is related to him. (We can of course go toe to toe with that since we know a dear one among us who is related to Ambujam Krishna!). They wrapped up the concert with a delightful LGJ thillana in Mishra Mand.

Though the above was the latter half of the concert, the impact of Madyamavathi was so great that I have to give it prominence. Actually, in a sense, after that, everything else took a backseat in retrospect. If someone is running out of word quota, I would not have faulted them if they wrote only a few words about the rest. Not the fault of those pieces, so was the emotional impact of that Madyamavathi.

The beginning of the concert was no slouch definitely, as the song list would inform you. In fact, the crown jewel of the ragas made a big appearance. I was quite delighted when Viji started on the Bhairavi Alapana. I have not heard Bhairavi in a concert setting in a really long time ( not that i have attended a lot of concerts, but still ) and it was a great treat. And so was the song, an all time favorite of mine and I am sure many of yours too: E nATi nOmu phalamO. It was excellent. I actually thought that was the main piece but little did I know then what was in store with Madhyamavathi.

An excellent and emotional concert enjoyed by all immensely.

[mahavishnu]

Thanks VK. It has been very intense and emotional the last few times I have heard them.
A great song list that brings out the best of the bAni. And with top class accompaniment from Sankaran-sir, what else could one ask for...

I still can't see how people think it is just ok to walk out during the tani X(
Pity indeed, since I heard that he played an amazing keezh kala sankeernam!

[vasanthakokilam]

Indeed Mahavishnu. Not too many left but it was still bad form. Those who left missed out on a great treat. For the artists on stage that was only a momentary distraction, Shankaran was back to his usual game face in no time with meaningful glances, smiles and body language. Some dextrous playing it was.

Sankaran of course was at his usual best during the thani as well as during the songs. Someone asked me a while back what laya is and in what way it is different from tala. Not that I know matters well enough to answer such questions authoritatively but I think I intutively understood one aspect of that answer while listening to Sankaran playing for the songs. The difference is the same 'vast' difference in how Sankaran plays for two different songs in the same tala. The implication of this is not a big revelation to most of you which is that he and other great mridangists do not play for the tala of the song, they play for the laya of the song.

The Lalgudi siblings are quite strong in laya, that being a signature aspect of their bANi( which does not just mean they land on the beats or have steady tempo/kalapramanam but more significantly they handle well what goes on between the beats which is where the sukshuma is) and hence veteran Sankaran's experienced accompaniment for them was indeed quite special.

[rajeshnat]

Someone asked me a while back what laya is and in what way it is different from tala. Not that I know matters well enough to answer such questions authoritatively but I think I intutively understood one aspect of that answer while listening to Sankaran playing for the songs. The difference is the same 'vast' difference in how Sankaran plays for two different songs in the same tala. The implication of this is not a big revelation to most of you which is that he and other great mridangists do not play for the tala of the song, they play for the laya of the song.

VK
In one of the concerts (may be it was a mrudanga arangetram)the other doyen Shri UKS told mrudangist have 3 cycles in their career - muddala TAlathukku vAsikanum , athukku apparam pAttukku vAsikkanum and then pAdagarkku vAsikkanum (Master first the talam , then the song and then finally master how to play for the singer). That is one dimension of appreciation/learning .(Erode/Ramkumar if you are there correct me if I have quoted it wrong?)

Now you bring another aspect where you say the vast difference for two different songs in the same thalA bringing in laya. Perhaps this aspect I will fit into between stage two and three of what UKS had defined before.

One thing particularly about this two living legends UKS and TS - they have played so much in their early days with such artists of such imminence and combinations that their mastery is so high , that they can just jog along in today's scenario. :-BD

Did you miss mentioning the ragamaliga swaras in vachaspathi pallavi , the siblings are really good when they rotate in swara ragamAliga

Tx for your review.

[vasanthakokilam]

Rajesh: Thx. I think what I wrote fits into what UKS terms it as 'pAttuku vAsikkanum - play for the song'. That is how it is normally referred to. One aspect of playing to the song is to play to the laya inherent in the song which is the solkattu structure/base of the song which is not heard as solkattu of course but it is there nonetheless in every song. The beauty of a 'lyrics based' composition is that aesthetic correspondence and interplay between the arrangements of the two sol-kattus, given that a word is literally a sol-kattu, so to say. Anyway, I am sure there is more to it artistically. One place where this is laid quite bare is in the chittaswara of compositions and it is instructive to see how great mridangists play for that portion. Just for fun, ask a mridangist friend to recite the chittaswara of a familiar song using solkattus.

Regarding ragamalika swaras, yes, they were there. I think there were four with them rotating as you wrote. I do not recall three now, Bagyashree was one of them which was played by Viji, may be there was a Maduvanthi'sh raga too. Often times with ragamalika swaras, I do not latch on to the raga names though they sound very familiar. If anyone else attended the concert, please fill in.

[arasi]

And they come in such quick succession, the memory of familiar rAgAs can get smudged. I have found it so, even with people who know their rAgAs very well.

[cmpassion]

Great review by vasanthakokilam.

It was really an emotional concert.. was amazing to see the audience react spontaneously. Rarely happens these days! Some of us who have not seen the Lalgudi-Srimathi Brahmanandam pair live were able to visualize what that would have been like.
Madhyamavathi was truly something magical.. still dazed under its impact. And the tani was a special treat.. even the kids glued to their respective electronics were unable to to not listen. The siblings have such a quiet understanding of each other.. it was a joy to watch.

Hope to see them often!

[hnbhagavan]

Dear friends,

It is great to know how well the Lalgudi siblings conduct themselves on the concert platform.In fact I understand that they deserve higher recognition than what is accorded in Chennai circles.It was interesting to read the detailed reviews given by rasikas.

[svAbhinava]

Dear "Vasantha-Kokilam"

Thank you for your personalized appreciation of this concert that I have cited and sourced in my review for Desi Talk Chicago (below):

http://epaper.desitalkchicago.com/2014_ ... .html#10/z

The link will be active from Friday (April 18) morning.

Sunthar

------


Siblings Lalgudi GJR Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi (Viji) presented a Carnatic violin duet to a packed hall at Sri Venkateswara Swami (SVS) temple in Aurora, Ill., to mark the festival of Rama Navami. This “Tribute to Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman,” their late father, was also co-sponsored by RR International and Rajaveena School of Music. The violinists were accompanied by Vidwan Prof. Trichy Sankaran on the mṛdaṅgam and Tirupanithura Radhakrishnan on the ghaṭam.

The Lalgudi Bāṇī, a style founded and evolved by Jayaraman that gives precedence to melody over technique and rhythm, aspires to make the violin sing with all the expressivity of the human voice (vāṇī) and prides itself in revealing the full contours of the rāga in shortest time possible. Songs (kṛti) are rendered in the spirit of the composer to bring the lyrics to life, through optimal blend of tempo, ornamentation (gamakam) and subtle nuances, all the while maintaining a lofty devotional appeal that does justice to the spiritual core of Carnatic music.

As Chicago’s “Veena-Pani” Saraswathi (Ranganathan), who offered Desi Talk a connoisseur’s take on their repertoire, observed “tonal clarity, perfect coordination, bowing finesse and rich emotion-filled rāga portrayals” characterized this three-and-a-half-hour concert. Lalgudi bāṇī “has perhaps the most student-following in India and around the world,” she added.

Opening with Jayaraman’s popular Cārukeśī varṇam “Innum En Manam,” the duo transitioned into rāga Malayamarutam for “Smaraṇe Ondhe Sāladhe” (Purandaradāsa). The swara-kalpanas and long pauses to the steady sarva-laghu beats of percussion exuded tranquility. There followed was a short ālāpana in Janarañjani by GJR for the not-so-common Thyagaraja composition “Nāḍāḍina māṭa.” “There is a precise way in which the niṣādam and dhaivatam are treated in this rāga. The special glides for the sequence ‘pnRsdpmR’ with controlled gamakam and single-bow technique was a joy. The swara-kalpana in two speeds was a beautiful mathematical exercise in the difficult 7-beat miśra capu tālam. They chose to split the 14 akṣaras into an uncommon 5+9 combination to land in the Ṛṣabham – SRgmPm-R,” explained Saraswathi.
“My personal favorite of the evening was the poignant Bhairavī ālāpana by Viji,” she continued. “The gradual build-up of the ālāpana, the perfect vibrattos, the deep rāga passages, the glides from niṣādam to madhyamam, and the rich intonations” personified Bhairavī in her pristine form.” They chose to play Thyagaraja’s “Enāṭi Nomu Phalamu” from Prahlāda Bhakti Vijayam. The neraval in the passage “sundareśa suguṇa” sounded “like the violins were singing the paeans to the Lord. Here too they executed a precise mathematical landing for the swara-kalpana taking the typical Bhairavī sequence Gr-Nd-Gr alternating between the lower and higher octaves to highlight the emotive appeal of the rāga.”

A crisp Devagāndhāri for Thyagaraja’s “Vina Rādā” was followed, on audience request, by “Mokṣamu Galada” that brought out the essence of both its raga Sāramati and of the devotional lyrics. “What every classical Carnatic violin student can learn from the siblings is the committed adherence to tradition, enriching rāga essays, perfect control on tempo (layam) [musical gait? – SV] – the ability to present a composition to the right time measure (kāla-pramāṇam ), refreshing exercises in math for challenging swara-kalpanas, bowing techniques and subtle intonations to bring out the emotive appeal,” concluded Saraswathi.

An extended elaboration followed of raga Madhyamāvatī leading into Thyagaraja’s “Rāma-kathā-sudhā” (ādi tāla), with alapanai, swaram and percussion exchange (tani-avartanam), which in itself lasted 20 minutes. “Krishnan and Viji took turns for this ālāpana and it is hard to put in words the emotions it stirred. It was the invisible hands of the maestro at work through his son and daughter. We have seen and heard all three of them on stage play Madhyamāvatī before and today it was just the two of them physically, but there was nothing missing,” wrote acclaimed connoisseur “Vasantakokilam” (pen name), adding from his own experience of recalling the fading lyrics through their violin intonations that Lalgudi Bānī has come to “define the standard for vocalization (uccharippu) even for vocalists!”

Radhakrishnan played so fast (16 strokes per second?) on the ghaṭam that a surprised and appreciative Sankaran countered on the mṛdaṅgam, switching from exchanging on the final beat (samam) to the half-beat, taking the audience along on a rollercoaster ride into the culminating patterns (korvai). Sankaran was just about to leave for Delhi to receive the Sangeet Natak Akademi award at Rashtrapati Bhavan on April 11 from the President of India.

The choice for rāgam-tānam-pallavi was “Gopikā Manohara Muralīdhara” in Vācaspati set to Khaṇḍa Jhampa tāla in Kaṇḍa naḍai that included a garland of sub-ragas. Then came “Eppo Varuvāro” in Jonpuri immortalized by Madurai Mani Iyer, followed by Vyāsatīrtha’s “Kṛṣṇa Nee Begane” in Yamuna Kalyāni, Ambujam Krishna’s “Enna sholli azhaithāyo,” and finally a rhythmic Miśra Mānd, one of the many thillanas composed by their father Jayaraman that continue to be danced to in India and across the world of the diaspora.

Caption: Siblings GJR Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi, accompanied here by Trichy Sankaran (mridangam) and Tirupanithura Radhakrishnan (ghaṭam), continue to enthrall connoisseurs worldwide with the Lalgudi Bani.

Sunthar V., “Sibling Violinists Keep Lalgudi Bani Alive" (DTC April 18, p.10) [original title, accessible online Friday morning]