GV for Smrti @ Naada Inbam, 13/6/2014

[sankark]

Gayatri Vengataraghavan - vocal
Padma Shankar - violin
Erode Nagaraj - mridangam
Chandrasekara Sharma - ghatam

slokam in nAttai? madyamAvathi
vinAyakuni - madyamAvathi - Adi - T (ns@anAdha rakshaki srI kAmAkshi)
sAveri - srI kAmakOti pIta sthithE - Adi - mysore sadasiva rAo (s)
sri sankara guruvaram - nAgasvarALi - rUpakam - mahA vaidyanAtha sivan (MVS)
viruttam (sahAnA) enna perunthavam - sahAnA - Adi - periasAmi thUran
kAmAkshi kAmakOti pIta vAsini - sumadhyuti (s'madhyamam?) - rUpakam - MD

seems i have incurred some bad karma today very intermittent connection/flow. have to listen later.

[Rsachi]

I have a great connection and it's a lovely concert...
Hope you catch it in the archive later without the breaks...

[HarishankarK]

Very nice concert indeed though a bit predictable.
i watched upto the Sahana viruttham and was totally enchanted.
GV has a great voice and the mridangam was good too. Violin was subdued but very elegant. Violinist played a beautiful Sahana response to GV's viruththam.

[CRama]

It was very good concert and the webcast was neat. The main was Sree Chandrasekara yatheendram in the ragam Sankarabharanam- Khanta Triputa- composition of NS Ramachandran. MS has sung this as main song in many concerts. All the songs were rendered very well. Erode Nagaraj, our forumite played very well. GV sang a composition of his in the ragam Kanada on Mahaperiyava. At the end, she started Maithreem bhajatha. but then announced that she would sing one more song and started Manathirkuganthathu Muruganin roopam- NO great loss if this song was missed. Neverthless... But somehow I did not appreciate the starting of the concert with Vinayakuni. Eventhough she gave some explanation, it could have come later. I also remember there was some mistake in the sahithyam in the first line itself. If I remember I will post later.

For me, there were some breaks only in the first song, afterwards it was good.

[HarishankarK]

Also in the first song Vinayakuni, in the charanam GV forgot the words for the last line i think and she struggled a bit but recovered somehow.
She is rather young artiste but still she was constantly referring to the notes for the krithi lyrics and vrittam lyrics. That was odd and it gave a feeling to listener that the music was not free flowing and spontaneous. She should correct this.

[sureshvv]

Free flowing and spontaneous it was pretty much all the way through. Wonder why the swarajathi has not been cited (we are already 5 posts into the thread here) as it was undoubtedly the crown jewel of the evening for me.

For singing uncommon/rare kritis or viruttams, I would cut some slack and allow the artiste (young or old) to refer to notes. The alternative is that you would hear only the same worn out kritis all the time.

Vinayukuni did seem a bit out of place, as the preceding viruttam was on Lord Vinayaka. But the concert was full of "inside" references, so I may have missed the significance.

[CRama]

Now I remember. The very first line of the concert- in the pallavi line of Vinayakuni there was a mistake. Instead of Ninuvina velpu levaramma, she sang ninu sada velpulevaramma. This alters the meaning completely. She has become a very famous musician at a very young age. This should bring in more responsibility to avoid such flaws in the concert.

[srikant1987]

Instead of Ninuvina velpu levaramma, she sang ninu sada velpulevaramma.

:O

If it was a slip of tongue rather than mis-remembering, I think it's all right.

[harimau]

sri sankara guruvaram - nAgasvarALi - rUpakam - mahA vaidyanAtha sivan (MVS)

Composed and sung in the presence of the Peetadhipathi of the Sringeri Mutt on the occasion of Maha Vaidyanathan Sivan's visit to Sringeri.

With no regard for history, it has been appropriated to memorialize the Mahaswamy of the Kanchipuram Mutt!

[rajeshnat]

The main was Sree Chandrasekara yatheendram in the ragam Sankarabharanam- Khanta Triputa- composition of NS Ramachandran. MS has sung this as main song in many concerts.
.. Erode Nagaraj, our forumite played very well. GV sang a composition of his in the ragam Kanada on Mahaperiyava.

Crama,
I am yet to hear ms amma rendition of the song . I have heard maharajapuram santhanam singing the same rare sankarabharanam song of NS Ramachandran - there was a famous audio tape of santhanam that had this.

Erode,
Good to hear that your song on mahaswami in kAnadA was sung by GV.

[sankark]

But somehow I did not appreciate the starting of the concert with Vinayakuni. Eventhough she gave some explanation, it could have come later.

CRama - If you wouldn't mind, why? I thought it was a fantastic opener and pepped the concert with a nereval in the first song itself.

harimau - mahA vaidyanatha sivan seems to have passed away in 1893 and Maha periyaval was born in 1894. So, I doubt if such kind of misappropriation could have happened.

[CRama]

The song was preceded by a Vinayakar slokam. But GV can not mistake that song as on Vinayakar. (Many others still think like that).

Madhyamavathy is a mangalkaramana ragam. But except people belonging to TMK league, nobody sings that as first song. It can fit anywhere in the middle. There are umpteen songs on Kamakshi which can be the opener. eg, Kanchadalayathakshi. GV herself is not sure of the lyrics. She goofed up twice. It was not slip of the tongue. I was particularly watching. IF it was a slip of the tongue, second time she would have corrected it. But same mistake was repeated thrice. It does not look good to make mistake in the first line of the opening number. She gave some explanation- some reason for rendering the song. BUt it could have been in the middle.

[CRama]

Rajesh, Yes MS Amma used to render this song very frequently. Even SSI and RJ also have rendered this song as main song in a few concerts.

[pattamaa]

1. sada velpu levaramma - is indeed odd. I don't think GV made a mistake.. Might be another patantaram ?

2. It is not uncommon to have vinayakuni or madhyamavati keerthana in the beginning.. If it is auspisious raga, why not start the concert with it ? Sri ragam is also auspicious, we do have concerts with sri raga varnam and endaro as starting item.... Here is a concert of vijay siva reviewed, with vinayakuni as 2nd item - http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... ni#p182214

3. GV sang a sloka on vinayaka in nattai, and then a slokam on ambal. After song, she mentioned that mahaswami has explained about this song in detail, and also about 2nd sloka in deivathin kural - vol #4. Erode Nagaraj mentioned about the sloka to GV in that morning, and she sung the sloka.

4. Sri sankara guruvaram is not out of place.. Might be the song was composed during MVI visit to Sringeri. The song is in praise of a guru, why not sing on this occasion ?

[arasi]

My! After reading this thread, I can't but be reminded of the thread title 'Rasikas and their expectations' in General Discussions

Pattamma,
Good to hear from you. I agree with you about madhyamAvathi. Is it merely our association with the rAgA as a final piece that makes us find it odd to be sung in the beginning? And, if Sri is acceptable, why not MadhyamAvathi? Again, because of our conditioning?

Harimau,
Wonder if Gayathri V mentioned the composer and the subject of veneration. What is worthy of one guru can as well be sung in praise of another. Otherwise, the choice of songs and of not oft- heard ones can be limited.

I have a song about Sri Chandrashekhara Saraswathi. Suddenly it occured to me one day that it could be sung by anyone in praise of their own gurus because there is no mention of his name in it. MahA periyavar won't mind that at all, the way he went about respecting other gurus, and asking his followers to go have darSan of them!

[HarishankarK]

Sri Sankara Guruvaram is in praise of Adi Sankarar.
It can be sung anywhere. Both Kanchi mutt and Sringeri mutt are followers of Adi Sankarar. It is not out of place.

[arasi]

Nagaraj,
Would like to see the lyrics of the song. Knowing of your devotion to mahA periyavar and of his blessings to you, and of course of the poet in you, I guess it's an inspired piece of work...

[erode14]

.. Erode Nagaraj, our forumite played very well. GV sang a composition of his in the ragam Kanada on Mahaperiyava.

Erode,
Good to hear that your song on mahaswami in kAnadA was sung by GV.

thank you