Vizianagaram D Vardhani@Sarvana Sangeetha on Oct 27th,2014

[rajeshnat]

Vizianagaram D Vardhani@Sarvana Sangeetha sabha on Oct 27th,2014
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Vocal : Vizianagaram D Vardhani
Violin : anayampatti venkatasubramaniam
Mrudangam : Guru raghavendra
Ghatam : Sivaramakrishnan

Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow
Day/Duration : Monday/ 2 hours
Occassion/COncert Type : Vaggeyakkaras from the state of Andhra (donot know if it is new andhra or old andhra with telengana)
Crowd : ~75
Hall : Ragasudha hall, Luz , mylapore

01. pAlimpa rA rA shree rAmachandrA - behag - vizianagaram d vardhani
sketch of behag raga for few minutes

02. jaya jaya swamin (RS,S) - nAttai - NT
sketch of nattai for few minutes and 7 mins of swaras
03. manasa sanchararE - shyamA - SB

04. evarinA seyanchadAra inikulesa rAmachandrA ??(R N S) - hemavati - ??? Hari nagabhushanam
7 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
4 mins neraval in parama padamu and 5 mins swaras

05. mArajanani - nAtakapriyA - NC Krishnamacharyulu
06. he ramba sadA varambA - Arabi - ajjADa Adibhatla Narayanadasu

07. alarulu (R N S) - shankarabharanam - AC
8 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
neraval for 3 mins in anthuva thiru venkatapathi ??4
swaras for 5 mins
07B. tani for 10 mins

08. rAma namamE jeeevanamu - hamsanadam - tumu narasimha dasu???
09. Emitiki dayaRaDU - Anandabhairavi - BR
10. nanati baduku- revati - AC
11. yE tIruga nanu.... shreee raghunandana - nAdanAmakriya - BR

12. ksheerabdhi kanyakaku shree mahalakshmi - kurinji - AC

[rajeshnat]

The carnatic ecosystem of chennai is considerably changing . Atleast from years 2002 to 2012 excluding the concert season , there are atleast 5 perennial sabhas that guaranteed atleast 3 to 4 concerts every day . Sarvani sangeetha sabha that used to take up MA- mini hall, nadopasana taking up PS high school , Safe and saraswati vaggeyakkara taking up sastrihall and ngs-mini and ofcourse the most perennial ragasudha hall where the lions share was taken by its parent sabha nada inbam . IN the last 2 years I have noticed the perennial sabhas are dwindling with every one flocking to ragasudha hall , all concerts are mostly only held at ragasudha with one new arkay convention hall making up with the loss of pshigh school,ma-mini ,sastri hall etc. Sarvani announced 2 years back that they cannot afford MA mini hall and was moving out . It is sad I had a choice of atleast choosing 4 to 5 on most days to just one or two. The ecosystem of chennai is surely not as good as it used to be and I dont like to lose my choices of selecting with more choices on each day.

Sarvani champions many unique concerts the most favoured for me is the 4 hr concert . This theme for 3 days is based on vaggeyakkaras of Kerala, Andhra and Karnataka shows how open the chennai sabha is - it surely encourages the rare and forgotten contribution of neighbouring state vaggeyakkaras who are surely lost in mindshare with vidwans/vidushis who typically go with more established vaggeyakkaras. I had a chance to attend the theme of Andhra contributors- The theme is a familiar Telugu language but in vaggeyakkaras there is no Thyagaraja, Patnam or poochi there .

I had a chance to hear vardhani once 5 years back in NCA in season, a very rare musician who certainly had and who continues to have an intense depth to present carnatic music in a pristine form . She started with behag was that a varnam or a krithi , I almost forgot now . When she began with behag i was thinking if that was one of the varnams of TRS , but she surprised me when she announced it was her own . The behag start was very nice. Narayana theerthar nattai krithi jayajaya was sung very well she gave an elegant round of swaras and it came out very well.


Manasa sanchararE as a two drop is very strange . When shyama is dropped early this krithi is usually not dropped . My love for this krithi goes back to one vidwan Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam who sang wonderfully with his emotive voice . I was thinking she would perhaps go with a round of neraval in say the line sree ramani but she sang nearly the same way as her andhra counterpart Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam.

Hemavati as submain was really wonderful ,the contours were never confusing to dharmavati or vachaspathi it stayed completely as hemavati. Neraval and swaras were well done. Natakapriya composition is famous where voleti has taken it very elaborately, I liked the rendition but without any creative element of neraval or swaras felt bit letdown . The same feeling continued with a rare arabi krithi .

THe main was the big 5 shankarabharanam . Her alapana did not start in the usual relaxing muse but she fired from second or third stage , I enjoyed it but felt she could have done more with alapana . The neraval in main was a definite letdown , tentative and she did not give enough punch,. swaras were done well but overall I felt it was a shankarabharanam without much abaranam.

Tukkadas were varied felt I tuned to a television channel . Hamsanadam compostion was rare felt it was semi classical . I liked the anandahabhairavi and revati a lot . the pick of the whole tail was nadanamakriya, bhadrachalam ramadas has composed a lot of krithis in this nadanamakriya and I love to hear any composition in this emotive and expressive raga. The last filler was ksheerabdhi in kurinji - i usually love this krithi a bit more when it is sung with more emote in ragamaliga like maharajapuram santhanam then just singing only in kurinji. She started few minutes before 06 15 pm but ended in exact 2 hours

The violinst should have pepped considerably more but his nadham was not adequate at all and I was not satisfied . The roll of Guru raghavendra was very very impressive , nice nadham with tremendous "let us keep moving "approach with vardhani indeed lifted the concert. The gentle taps of Sivaramakrishnan was minimal but he made up well with more smile in his face. Guru raghavendra was the pick of the team , he is going to make it big for sure.

Vardhani did have a consistent difficulty in singing sangathis in higher octave and there was a definite roughness there . ONe has to give it to her in presenting so many rare krithis in telugu that too with no pshychological backing of presenting extremely familiar numbers like T, Patnam or a poochi . I wish she sang more atleast for another 30 minutes , her music is without any pretense and very nearly like her team mates pantula rama and manda sudharani .

Overall a very good concert for 2 hours.

[Jigyaasa]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyFZjkjvOW8

evarinAshrayinchedarA inakulEsha - hEmAvati - rUpakam - Hari Nagabhushanam (1884-1959) "Machilipatnam; was a practising lawyer, a violinist and a composer ofkritis. While studying law in Madras in his youth, he had ample opportunities to listen to the violin stalwarts like Tirukkodikaval Krishan Iyer, Tiruchi Govindaswami Pillai and others. He has composed several kritis. His kriti, Madhavapriye mahima- Madhavamanohari is well structured."

hErambha sadAvalamba - Arabhi - rUpakam - ajjADa Adibhatla Narayanadasu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajjada_Adi ... ayana_Dasu)

yE tIruga nanu - nAdanAmakriyA - Adi - Bhadrachala Ramadas

[rajeshnat]

Jigyaasa
Made those corrections in the post . Thanks .
All,
On a side note I was hearing her sing as nanAti baduku or batuku and not bhratuku which is the exact phrase of the krithi. we discusssed long time back here in the forum. So conclusion is Even andhra musicians can slip here and there , but however the revati with baduku or batuku remains intact with the right muse- Just a point I forgot to post yesterday.

[CRama]

Rajesh. Thanks for your erudite review. I am yet to hear this vidushi. Hope I will get an opportunity this season.
Ksheerabdi kanyakaku- You said you like the Maharajapuram Santhanam version which is a ragamalika.
But both are different kritis. This kurinji version is what is popularised by MSS- composition of Annamacharya. The one sung by Santhanam is a composition of Purandaradasa which Santhanam has tuned in a very engaging ragamalika.

[rajeshnat]

I am yet to hear this vidushi. Hope I will get an opportunity this season.
Ksheerabdi kanyakaku- You said you like the Maharajapuram Santhanam version which is a ragamalika.
But both are different kritis. This kurinji version is what is popularised by MSS- composition of Annamacharya. The one sung by Santhanam is a composition of Purandaradasa which Santhanam has tuned in a very engaging ragamalika.

Crama
I did know about that but I just slipped .santhanam devarnama ragamaliga is ksheerabdi kannikE shree mahalakshmi yArikE vaduvaguVE??? , Tx this ksheerabdhi was made famous by MS amma - I am assuming Vardhani sang only kurinji and not madhyama shruthi shankarabharanam.

You should like her music . http://vardhanivizianagaram.com/ is her website, hope she gets more chances this season.

[sridhar_ranga]

Thanks for the review and details, Rajesh.

Occassion/COncert Type : Vaggeyakkaras from the state of Andhra (donot know if it is new andhra or old andhra with telengana)

Must be the composite Andhra Pradesh including Telengana, as Bhadrachalam Ramadasar finds a place in the list. But only just. Like Tirupati or Madras during an earlier reorganization, it could have gone either way but Telengana managed to hold on to the place in the end, I hear.

Makes me wonder in which of the two states Kakarla is? which state is claiming Tyaagayyar as the 'bidda' of their soil

[Pratyaksham Bala]

Andhra Pradesh !

[harimau]

Must be the composite Andhra Pradesh including Telengana, as Bhadrachalam Ramadasar finds a place in the list. But only just. Like Tirupati or Madras during an earlier reorganization, it could have gone either way but Telengana managed to hold on to the place in the end, I hear.

It was only a few years back that the taluk containing Bhadrachalam was transferred to the district which now forms part of the new state of Telengana. Seemandhra didn't make a claim on it when Telengana was made a separate state.

They could have still do a Crimea a la Vladimir Putin! )

[kmrasika]

What a great program!

hErambha sadAvalamba - Arabhi - rUpakam - ajjADa Adibhatla Narayanadasu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajjada_Adi ... ayana_Dasu)

Dr Vyzarsu Balasubramanyan has been endeavoring to propogate the compositions of vāggēyakārā-s of Andhra. He has even authored literature on their life stories. The review on the one on this composer: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 430372.ece

For those who can read Telugu the charitra: http://www.scribd.com/doc/36292693/అజ-జ ... u-Charitra
A program entitled,"ajñāta vāggēyakārulu," where he teaches compositions of vāggēyakārā-s of Andhra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z07UeFGiFY

[rajeshnat]

I atttend one vardhani , the other two which I could not attend is covered by the hindu reviewer swaminathan. Dont forget to click the next image to see the frail vidwan - s mahadevan who is parassala ponnammal student.
http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday ... 570707.ece

[vasanthakokilam]

For reference here is that picture of S. Mahadevan Rajesh refers to. (Don't know why the Hindu writer used 'frail' to describe the looks..lean? yes..but whatever..)