Nithasree in Margazhi Mahautsavam - 12/16 Sun Tv

[CommonMan]

Was very saddened to listen to the way Nithyasree sang this morning (telecast in Sun TV) . Honestly, I have been only hearing from people that she is not able to sing fluently or in tune with sruthi because of lots of different reasons. Definitely my heart goes out to her; or for that matter anyone from that great family of Mani Iyer; or any artist in general. Having said that, if this has been happening for prolonged periods of time then why perform (excuse me for being harsh - but trying to be concise).

I know Subhashree is one of the forum members here: Madam - I sincerely appreciate your efforts in getting our music out to the public for many years now, and I also understand the sponsoring constraints you might have with respect to projecting popular artists. But this was too much of a stretch. I would opine that only established forums like yours can convince sponsors in presenting 1 or 2 deserving talents in main slots for every 5 or 6 typical popular artists; IMO that will add to the service that you are already rendering.

So many youngsters like RK Murthy, Sandeep naraynan, B Sundar who really put in lots of efforts; sing well; and yearn to climb up the ladder definitely deserve the main slot much more. Or if you were particularly looking for women balance, there are artists like Nisha Rajagopal, or Amritha Murali who sing lot better. Or if you were looking for bit more seniority you have artists like Surya praksh, or Nithyasree's cousin Palghat Ramprasad (my personal favorite). Having her take up this slot in lieu of so many deserving artists is definitely not fair given what I heard today and what people have been consistently complaining of this artist in the recent years.

[VK RAMAN]

Critiquing an artist for poor performance is one thing and appealing to rasikas to eliminate an artist is another thing. IMHO you are making an unreasonable uncommon demand.

[CommonMan]

1. Nithyasree's mileage from this coverage is far insignificant than what it would have been for the artists I had mentioned
2 If there are artists who consistently have been performing good and others consistently not so good, why not substitute the latter with the former?
Putting together 1. and 2., I do not think my request was unreasonable.

[kvchellappa]

As a commoner man, I liked her singing. I wish all sabhas and Shubhashree to have her programmes.

[HarishankarK]

Really very sad. I did not believe it when i read something similar in another post because i did not find much difference except that her voice had mellowed down a bit which was even better for me. But now from what am reading, she's really seems to be having some trouble and my heart goes out to her too.
Hope she would recover from this problem soon.
I think we rasikas should support her in this problem. Even another very popular artiste had serious breath control problems during her singing but has now overcome it intelligently.
Am sure Nithyasree will come up again soon.

[HarishankarK]

Interestingly there is another singer Mrs. Niranjana Srinivasan who sings very very much like Nithyasree. Is she Nithyasree's student, any idea? If one closes ones eyes and listens to her it's just like listening to Nithyasree around 10-15 years back.

[harimau]

Interestingly there is another singer Mrs. Niranjana Srinivasan who sings very very much like Nithyasree. Is she Nithyasree's student, any idea?

She very much is.

[arasi]

Chellappa,
Here's a commoner woman who agrees with you.
In our zeal to listen to better and better music, its best for us to remember not to point fingers at individual performers and pass judgement on them at the drop of a hat.

In this case, I have two valid reasons not to do so. 1: Here's someone who is back after a tough period in her life. 2: She comes from a line of an important school in CM, having inherited and imbibed its treasures. We cannot overlook that.

Let organizers deal with their line up of artistes, hopefully in a wise manner...

[sureshvv]

Dr. Niranjana Srinivasan, I believe, is Smt. Lalitha Sivakumar's (Nithyashree's mother) student.

[CommonMan]

1: Here's someone who is back after a tough period in her life. 2: She comes from a line of an important school in CM, having inherited and imbibed its treasures. We cannot overlook that.

Let organizers deal with their line up of artistes, hopefully in a wise manner...

I agree with 1., Arasi. As for 2, to be honest, in the last several years, I am not sure if she has done justice to the kind of school she hails from: at least from the song list of her recent year concerts. Earlier she used to handle heavy songs such as "adigi sukamu, rakshabettare, meenalochani, Anandanatana, saamikisari...and the kind, just with the same flavor and vigor that Maha Vidushi Smt DKP did. And DKP/DKJ school is known for their song rendition (including the choice of songs). Just the bare rendering of the song is good enough to mesmerize rasikas - there is not even the slightest need to sing swaram, ragam or neraval to embellish the songs. I have not heard nithyasree handle songs that are synonymous with her school and lineage in the last few years. So I am wondering if your pt-2 is entirely valid; IMHO I do not think she is propagating the values of her lineage or school, at least in the recent years.

[hnbhagavan]

It is best not to pass such harsh judgement in a public forum such as this.Since it is already open in public,I would like to say some artists get better premium due to their lineage.This is one such case and even in earlier years the artist was rated highly.

[HarishankarK]

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in the last several years, I am not sure if she has done justice to the kind of school she hails from: at least from the song list of her recent year concerts. Earlier she used to handle heavy songs such as "adigi sukamu, rakshabettare, meenalochani, Anandanatana, saamikisari
Unquote
Cannot agree : Am not in Chennai and have not attended a concert of Nithyasree's in the last few years. But from what i see in the uploads in sangeethapriya - just sampling the uploads under her name for October till today - she has rendered - Meenakshi Memudam, Thiruvadi Charanam, Sabapatikku (Abogi), Raghuvara Nannu etc etc. as main items which are solid numbers for main in different concerts. I do understand that she had started including tukkada items from contemporary modern day (for some obscure) composers but she justifies them and renders them in an appealing devotional manner just like Abhangs are being sung. If there's someone who deserves a chance, it's her.

[HarishankarK]

It is best not to pass such harsh judgement in a public forum such as this.

Bhagavan Himself has spoken. So no more appeal :-BD

[kvchellappa]

Bhagawan has contradicted himself in the next sentence. So we need a bhashyakara. For my part, I believe Nithyasree is in the CM arena in her own right, earned both by birth and training. She is one of the few whose pronunciation is good (e.g. she pronounced natanam correctly, not as nadanam as an average Tamizhan will do), her voice was sweet, but less so now, her appeal has been genuine (Her concerts were well attended and only half a dozen other artists had such patronage), her delineation of ragas has been pleasing to many, even among the knowledgeable ones, and she has inherited the humility of her grandmother and grand uncle. She is a worthy scion of an illustrious bani and her today's singing was not as bad as bewailed. Mamyura was sung with verve. Mohanam was good and other numbers were not bad. Not her best, but not a total let-down.

[arasi]

She's quite young and has plenty of years ahead of her. It's possible that she will get closer to the family's rich tradition.

We have Vijay Siva who is steeped in that tradition. She may also aspire for the more classical mode and get there. She has all the assets in her, having been trained from an early age.

As for obscure modern composers (excuse me!), she sings her mother's compositions. Why not?

As much as I want to stay away from personal and family matters of artistes (none of our business), musically speaking, I do feel that her concerts are bound to sound better, if she has a mrudangist other than her father...

[HarishankarK]

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As for obscure modern composers (excuse me!), she sings her mother's compositions. Why not?
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I want to clarify that i respect all composers and am only saying here that some people might feel that new modern day composers are relatively obscure and why can't artistes simply stick to the time-tested trinity songs and routine tukkadas. The thukkadda section is usually for miscellaneous compositions and short songs like bhajans, ancient tamil poems, dasara padas, devarnamas, etc, etc,. Artistes can choose to sing whatever they like in this section in the devotional fervour, even popular bhakti oriented film songs.