Sriranjani Santhanagopalan The Fine Arts Mumbai 22/6

[priyashekar]

Sri Ranjani Santhanagopalan - Vocal
Rajeev - Violin
B Ganapathi Raman - Mridhangam

Maruva konadi - Narayangowlai - Veenai Kupaiyer
Sarasiruhasana priye - Nattai - S at saraswati
Kadailkan paramma - Behag -A
Marukulaviya - Poorvi kalyani - N S at Thirukai vel - Thirupugazh
Dayakaru chuta dasarathe - Gyana varidhi ( she announced) -Thyagaraja (not sure about lyrics/raga)
Mokshamu galada - Saramati
Meenalochana - Dhnayasi - A N S at Tamasamannu
Maasil Veenayum Virutham followed by Parvathi Nayakane - Shanmughapriya
Thillana - Khamas
Sundarathe gyana - Abhang
Niraimadhi - Hamsanandi
Pawamana

The 3rd day of Geetham Sangeetham was a bit of a let down especially after a brilliant Swarnarethas concert .
May be one expected too much from her as she is Neyveli sir's daughter.

She had voice problem from the start and tried her best to over come.
One felt she was trying to put everything what she learnt from her father in the concert
resulting in overdoing at times .
The begada alapana was stretched a bit and she started for a second in bhairavi and slipped in to todi again for a second and then settling
finally to dhanyasi for unknown reason.
I am a strong anti abhang woman in a carnatic concert and she sang in a raga which she herself was not sure. ( some one asked her the raga and she
said she was not sure).

I was wondering why the organizers dint give her the previous day song list when she took up the begada and poorvi kalyani
one after other especially after Rethas took the same raga yesterday.
In the end it turned out that organisers did send the list but she dint see.

Luckily she dint sing the same songs .

Rajeev was excellent through out and so was Ganapati raman with crisp thani and perfect subdued playing.

A good concert which could have turned in to an excellent one.

[Lakshman]

The Tyagaraja song is dayajUcuTakidivE in the rAgA gAnavAridhi.

[kittappa]

It should be 'dayajUcuTakidivELa'. (daya jUcuTaku idi vELa: This is the time to show your grace).

[rajeshnat]

Sundarathe gyana - Abhang
......
I am a strong anti abhang woman in a carnatic concert and she sang in a raga which she herself was not sure. ( some one asked her the raga and she
said she was not sure).

I appreciate her honesty here - perhaps she learnt from a casette/cd or even a youtube (I just googled to see the composer sundarathe dhyana is thukkaram). This one number she could have not asked her appa about the raga. I wish some one asked a second question what was the tala that would have been possibly another blank. Tx priyashekhar for a 3 in a bang reviews.

[HarishankarK]

About not knowing the raga for the Abhang that is very strange and inexplicable because even Abhang has many sangatis and without knowing raga how one can product the sangatis. How about the violin how would he/she follow the song without knowing the raga?
Those who attended the concert can tell us whether she was putting talam for the Abhang. If yes then she must know the tala.

Singing a song in a carnatic music concert and responding back saying i don't know the raga of the song i just sang is plain very bad.

[HarishankarK]

About not knowing the raga for the Abhang that is very strange and inexplicable because even Abhang has many sangatis and without knowing raga how one can produce the correct sangatis with bhava. How about the violin how would he/she follow the song without knowing the raga? Latha Mangeshkar has sung this in Kalavathi (aka Valaji).
Those who attended the concert can tell us whether she was putting talam for the Abhang. If yes then she must know the tala. Am sure she was putting tala.

Singing a song in a carnatic music concert and responding back saying i don't know the raga of the song i just sang is plain very bad.
Even casettes and CDs provide raga and tala info very clearly these days.

[kvchellappa]

Without knowing either raga or tala, I was wondering whether there is unanimity about the raga of Katrinile varum Gitam. While, I heard it was in Sindhubhairavi, I remember Gowri Ramnarayan introducing it as in Ratipatipriya. Possibly, there are songs which do not have definite raga contours.

[arasi]

Harishankar,
Had it been a CM number, yes, I suppose.

Yet, it might have gone something like this:
Someone says, just before she gets on stage, 'sing an abhang!'. She says, I don't know any, but for one which I don't even know the rAgA of for sure!' (to herself or aloud).
'Sing it anyway!' (you know how the abhang lovers need at least one in a concert!). Sriranjani might have heard the song somewhere which might have made her hum it around at home. So, she fulfilled a rasikA's wish--that too, at the end of the concert--'please them time', even rAgA-oriented film songs time.To please such a listener, she might have sung it. It might have been in some miSra something, who knows?

Are we rasikAs making it seem like a test to the performers every time they come on stage?

Having heard Sriranjani sing recently at Cleveland, my impression is that she has come a long way in her singing!

Yes, her uncooperative voice that day was a major factor for all this, is my guess.

As for repetition of a rAgA in a series, it's a good idea both for the organizers and for the artistes to take a note of what was sung in the previous concerts. Of course, the less the number of concerts in a place, the more we feel disappointed because we want to hear as many different rAgAs sung as possible, in our limited opportunity for live concerts...

[arasi]

Chellappa,
Agreed. When in doubt, it was better to say "I don't know', rather than name the rAgA wrongly!

[rajeshnat]

Without knowing either raga or tala, I was wondering whether there is unanimity about the raga of Katrinile varum Gitam. While, I heard it was in Sindhubhairavi, I remember Gowri Ramnarayan introducing it as in Ratipatipriya. Possibly, there are songs which do not have definite raga contours.

Katrinile varum gitam is in ragam savithri- possibly even gowri Ramnarayan introduced wrongly as ratipatipriya.

[Jigyaasa]

Katrinile varum gitam is in ragam savithri- possibly even gowri Ramnarayan introduced wrongly as ratipatipriya.

No, it is not.

Savithri is
S G3 M1 P N2 S
S N2 P M1 G3 S

It is a janya of Harikambhoji.

kATrinilE is certainly not set to sAvitri. IMHO, it is mostly in ratipatipriyA.

[priyashekar]

As far as I know there was no listeners request being sent on stage nor did any rasika shout for an abhang.I have heard the same abhang sung in different tune .I did ask one of the mama who was standing around.Seems she told she had learnt the abhang from Anuradha Sriram ! On hindsight I should have seen if she put tala or the violin was just bowing in a subdued manner ( i mean varum ana varadhu ) ) style! lol

[arasi]

You mean, Anuradha Sridhar? I also didn't quite catch your tamizh expression.

Is it possible that someone (hosts?) requested an abhang well before her coming to the concert?

[Lakshman]

Harishankar wrote:

How about the violin how would he/she follow the song without knowing the raga?

Some years ago, at the Cleveland festival, I could not place the rAgA of a song and at the end of the concert I approached the popular violinist, whom I knew well, and asked her what the rAgA was and she said she did not know . She said that she simply listened to the notes and accompanied the vocalist.

[arasi]

Lakshman,
You made the point. We don't expect them all to have a doctorate in music, and even those who have one may not know all the rAgAs that were created and are being created. By the same token, when those with doctorates give concerts, very good ones at that, I don't see a large audience, either.

So, what are rasikAs' expectations? Not pointing a finger at anyone, but with an expectation level of a rather high order, are we bringing down the level of enjoyment of music as rasikAs--analysis taking away some of our rasanA? Just wondering...

[HarishankarK]

Arasi ji and Lakshman ji, i do see your point. Sometimes we do set up very high standards for the musicians and particularly for our favourites.
I should like to mention here that am very much a fan of Sriranjani Santhanagopalan.

But her concert her in Abu Dhabi was a dip and now this one. Hope she would soon turn the tables and come back to form.

[MV]

Are we rasikAs making it seem like a test to the performers every time they come on stage?

Yes, her uncooperative voice that day was a major factor for all this, is my guess.

As for repetition of a rAgA in a series, it's a good idea both for the organizers and for the artistes to take a note of what was sung in the previous concerts. Of course, the less the number of concerts in a place, the more we feel disappointed because we want to hear as many different rAgAs sung as possible, in our limited opportunity for live concerts...

I hear you Arasi. I heard her recently in Sydney and have heard her sing that Dhanyasi - Minalochana very well in Dec 2013. I guess as a youngster feedback on each concert is vital for growth but not to knock out their confidence.

[kssr]

Why so much is written about Abhang. Anyone can sing, I say.

"Vittala Vittala jai jai vittala, panduranga panduranga..... aaaang paaaaaandurangaaaa vittaLLLLaaaaa jai jai pandu pandu pandu ranga ranga vittallaaa" -finish. No raga is required. If by chance someone says it is not an abhang tell them it is Bhajang.
(Apologise for the inevitable hurt sentiments )

[HarishankarK]

kssr your comments are rather harsh on Abhangs
I donot think we should look down upon Abhangs just because they are being included in carnatic concerts.
Abhangs are devotional pieces and they have musical qualities too. I don't think that anybody can sing an Abhang it requires a lot of strength and even high pitch musical abilities to sing with the kind of involvement and devotional fervour.
Even i am not a fan of Abhangs and would not mind if they are not included in the concerts of certain artistes who have made it a staple in their last segment. But that does not mean that Abhangs are not musical or are songs that anyone can sing.

[kssr]

Apologies already appended to the original post.

The point was just that Abhangs are closer to Bhajans than a kriti in the traditional sense of the word. It can also be argued (in fact it is also true) that a good Bhajan has great musical content in it. But are they concert worthy?? Well, just like strong coffee with plenty of sugar and milk cannot be compared to a therattippal or doodh peda or a mysore pak. They belong to different categories.

I greatly respect the artists who can sing abhangs as well.

[priyashekar]

I meant Anuradha the one who also sings in films wife of Sriram parthasarathi??. Well in my tamil words i meant the violinist just bowed just like that no raga nothing just followed what he picked up in the song - it was like he played but dint play !

[rajeshnat]

I meant Anuradha the one who also sings in films wife of Sriram parthasarathi??.

Anurandha sriram is wife of violinist Sriram Parasuram.

[arasi]

Priyashekar,
Got it! Somehow the violin reference made me think of Anuradha Sridhar who plays it.

Thanks, Rajesh. So, it's the other Anuradha!
Can you imagine? Had the name been Aishwarya or Gayathri, I would have needed more clarification!

[HarishankarK]

But are they concert worthy??

You should hear Vidushi Seetha Narayanan sing bhajans like Madhuban tum kyun in raga Desh etc, etc, - really they are concert worthy and since they are not totally classical compositions they are included in the tail end pieces.