Gayathri Girish-Rare Compositions/Ragas at BTM-29.6.2014

[arvenky]

Smt Gayathri Girish / B K Raghu / Srinivasan / Phanindra Bhaskara

List of krithis :

1. Valachi vacchina (V) Hindola Vasantha - Ramaswamy Dikshithar
2. shrI shiva jaya vaibhavE -abhogi - HMB (R,S)
3. manaviche konavayya - sarasangi - PSI (R,N,S)
4.Chidambara natarajamurthim-tanukeerthi-MD
5. vanchathouna-karnaranjani-HMB
6.pahnipathi saree-jhankaradhwani-Thyagaraja
7.Azhaga Azhaga - Suddha Dhanyasi - Ambujam Krishna (R,S)
8.Marachitiyo Ma Ramana-Latantapriya-Yoganarasimha
9. Pasupatheesvaram -Sivapantuvarali-MD (R,N,S,T)
10. Gayathi vanamali (missed )
11. Thillana & Mangalam (missed )

Good concert with good attendance too on a rain threatening weekend. These kind of thematic concerts always evoke interest in me and well it was satisfying.
The Chauka varnam rendered beautifully after the vocalist explained the nuance of the varnam and Tiruvaarur where it is been played regularly during the swami veedhi purpaadu even today.
Sarasangi, the first detailed alapana was etched out well and also Suddha Dhanyasi alapana.
I liked her rendering Tanukeerthi (is it called as tanaroopi also?), Lataantapriya and Sivapantuvarali which was elaborate.
Personally i felt she could have sung couple of dhuridha kaalam compositions since most of the above are in one speed. Also in S Dhanyasi she could have taken another composition
rather than AK.
But speaking to her later found that "Karnaranjani" was a request along with Suddha Dhanyasi composition.
Having heard her many such thematic concerts like Myriad of Shiva, Swati Tirunaal (which she performed recently) it was really satisfying.
Spoilers came in during fag end of thani, the power went off and rains lashing with high decibel thunders.
Able support from the accompanists and Violin returns were good in Sivapantuvarali especially.

[HarishankarK]

I can only hope that this concert was recorded. Sarasangi has been my current favourite and have been listening mostly to Nee Kela Dayaradu a lot. Never heard this Manavi song though.
Yes Azhaga Azhaga and Sudhdha Dhanyasi will not fit into the theme. But not her fault some people don't understand the meaning of this theme and ask for such requests.
Imagine what rare raga or krithi could have come in it's place??

[kvchellappa]

She kept up the tempo. Singing was quite good. She did not overdo anything and there was no effort for effect. She sang naturally.
She said that she learnt the varnam from Prof. S R Janakiraman. She also said that abhogi was derived from Ritigowla as per Dikshitar. I heard earlier that Sri ragam was the janya raga 22 (instead f KHP) in Dikshitar school.

[Rsachi]

I have been missing her concerts. My loss indeed.

[arvenky]

She kept up the tempo. Singing was quite good. She did not overdo anything and there was no effort for effect. She sang naturally.
She said that she learnt the varnam from Prof. S R Janakiraman. She also said that abhogi was derived from Ritigowla as per Dikshitar. I heard earlier that Sri ragam was the janya raga 22 (instead f KHP) in Dikshitar school.

Sri KVC, she did mention "Hindola vasantha" derived from Ritigowla not Abhogi. Abhogi was the second krithi. I think you got it mixed up.

[kvchellappa]

Sorry.

[kssr]

It was an excellent concert.

The neraval in sivapantuvarali was interesting. Pasupatheeswaram kriti itself is in praise of Lord Siva in Kathmandu, Nepal. The neraval was @ Paschima Kashmira Rajyam.It is the most impressive verse in the song. And Yes. Kathmandu is indeed to the west of Kashmir with similar climatic conditions. Excellent comparison.

The title given was something like "Rare Kritis". GG was very clever in the choice. She explained it herself. She chose A. better known kritis in rare ragas and B. rare kritis in better known ragas.

A bit of filling up here and there:

2. shrI shiva jaya vaibhavE -abhogi - HMB (R,S) is part of 108 Chamundi Ashtotra krits.
3. manaviche konavayya - sarasangi - PSI (R,N,S). Swaram @ Varadavekatesudarusu
10. Gayathi vanamali . It is in raga Gaavathi which is similar to Kalavathi. Composition of Sadasiva Brahmedra. Popularised by Sri.GNB
11. Thillana was a Oothukkadu Venkata kavi composition in Sindhubhairavi.

[kssr]

Phanindra Bhaskara has been completely blocked. Sorry about that.

[CRama]

A very impressive song list. She has proved many times her vidwath, sincerity and zeal in presenting unheard kritis in her concerts. The varnam in Hindolavasantham was presented in the Myriad Forms of Siva. It is a janya of Nareereethigowla- the 20th melam as per Deekshithar sampradaya. It was composed by Ramaswami Deekshithar-father of MD.

[kittappa]

Kathmandu is indeed to the west of Kashmir

How? Have the Chinese redrawn the map of both India and Nepal? Kashmir is in North India and Kathmandu (Nepal) is to the East of India near Bihar. The geographical detail in the song is wrong. The dvitiyAkSara prAsa between pallavi-anupallavi is non-existent. The kriti itself, because of these two mistakes seems to be spurious.

[kssr]

Yes. At least by the mistake, I thought of equalling MD

[bhakthim dehi]

Even the dvitiya akshara Prasam is not maintained in the charanam.. neither it follows the rules of muhana

[arvenky]

Sorry.

KVC Sir no need for sorry and all and I also didnt try pointing it out. Please dont mistake me.

[satyabalu]

She had become popular crowd puller through her constant updating of her vast repertoire ,being clever in selecting the theme of concert invariably including brief explanation then and there .She readily acknowledges suggestions& promptly implements in the following episodes.Great future with showering accolades awaits her.

[satyabalu]

"Marachitivo ma Ramana. Latantapriya is derived from mayamalavagowla. SRMPDS SDPMRS. Sounds very similar to Malahari"
I got this information from the artist.

[priyaram78]

Thanks for the info. Many years back GG had presented a thematic concert consisting of "priya" raagams, where ragas end with priya. Hope to attend a similar thematic concert of GG in the future. There are many other priya raagams to explore.

[rshankar]

Looks like another great effort, and a wonderful concert! Kudos to Smt. GG and her team!

[arasi]

As you know, I missed being there too...

[keerthi]

Kittappa, Bhaktim dehi,

While I'm inclined to share your doubts re this kriti, I feel that some of the reasons offered aren't strong enough.

The geographical detail in the song is wrong. The dvitiyAkSara prAsa between pallavi-anupallavi is non-existent. The kriti itself, because of these two mistakes seems to be spurious

Pallavi-anupallavi prAsa problem is clear. No debate there. About the paschima-kAshmIra-desha.. This is a peculiarity seen among Sanskrit poets in the South, and in post medieval times. So if this term refers to Nepal, it must be interpreted not as 'The land to the west of Kashmir' [Paschime KashmIrasya yad desham] but as 'the land to whose west Kashmir is' [Paschime yasya deshasya kAshmiram tat desham].

I have seen such unusual samasas used by dIksitar in other (irreproachable) krtis. surya is called karNa-sUno - which on ordinary scansion would mean Karna's son, but here means One who has Karna for his son. Similarly guruguhAtmajaya in the beGaDa song referring to tyagarAja; guruguha-kumAra in the mukhAri masterpiece pAhi mAm.

Such usages are avoidable, but have come to stay. PUci ayyangar similarly says rAvaNa-ripu-samhAram in his huseni song, which would mean one who kills rAvaNa's enemy, while it means one who kills enemies like rAvaNa.

Even the dvitiya akshara Prasam is not maintained in the charanam.. neither it follows the rules of muhana

Hmmm.. Aren't there two or three patterns of yati [monai] anyaprAsa and anuprAsa used in different sets of krits..? do you feel the monai problem about the madhyamakala sahityam??

[bhakthim dehi]

Keerthi, its so nice to get a new information from you, regarding the use of samasa. But is that grammatically correct or its a variation?


regarding the prasam:

pāka śāsanādi dēva bṛndaṃ
pañcānanaṃ praṇata muni bṛndaṃ
para śiva tatva bōdhitānandaṃ
vara guru guha nutaṃ sōmāskandam
(madhyama kāla sāhityam)
śōka haraṃ śubha phala prada karaṃ
paraśu mṛga dharaṃ śūlādi dharaṃ
śuka śaunakādi ghōṣita -
śiva pantuvarāḷi rāga priyam ati chathuram

the kriti is set to adi talam ( I kalai , if I m not wrong) and so we have paaka, pancha para, vara, shoka and suka as first words. If we apply the rules of prasa, ka should be be the dvitiyakshara prasa; pancha is in muhana with paaka;
para is also in muhana with paaka,
vara is not in either muhana or prasa with paaka, making it wrong ( other way of taking is that ra in vara can be considered to be in prasa with para )
Again Shoka is in prasa with paaka ( also the first syllable is dhirga in both paaka and shoka), prasa shifted to ka here again.
But Shuka, though is in prasa with paaka , its first syllable is hrasva making it wrong.
It is allowed to use two dvityakshara prasas, but they cannot alternate with each other, to my knowledge.

[satyabalu]

Forward from a post from
Nagi Narayanan Bangalore. Yesterday, 29th June, I attended a thematic concert by Smt. gayathri Girish at BTM Cultural Academy, Bangalore. She had taken a lot of trouble to present the concert whose theme was Rare : Ragas, Compositions, Composers.
If the Ragam was a known one, the krithi was rare and if it was a known composer, then it was a krithi we had hardly heard earlier. On the whole it was a rare occasion too !! We got to listen to so many new krithis and some ragas we had never heard before.
Pashupathishvaram in Siva Panthuvarali was a rare treat preceded by a wonderful alapana in the ragam. Her announcements before each piece gave us a lot of information about the kriti she was taking up.*
The "Paschima Kashmira" reference being one.
Nice to see musicians like her, who take the trouble to prepare a well balanced concert like this. Thoroughly enjoyed .