Bharat Sundar at Tampa, FL on May 02, 2015

[Sundara Rajan]

Bharat Sundar - vocal
V.V.S.Murarai - violin
Trivandrum Balaji-Mridangam
K.V. Gopalakrishnan-Kanjira

The artists were ready on the stage at the scheduled hour of 5:00 p.m., but there were only very few in the audience. It is usually the other way around. I guess people took it for granted that the program would be by "Indian punctuality". The concert commenced at
5:20 p.m. with only about twenty five in the audience. More people joined later and added up to about seventy.

Bharat Sundar started the program with
1. "vAthApi gaNapathim" of Dikshitar in Hamsadwani
followd with a brisk round of sawaras (13').
2. Next he sang Swathi ThiruNAL's "dEva dEva kalayAmidE" in mAyAmALava gowLa
with neraval and swara for 12 min. at "jAta rUpa".
3. Popular kamAs raga composition "brOchEvArevarurA" of vAsudEvAchAr.
He skipped the chittaswara after the anupallavi (unlike in Cleveland) but
did sing chittaswaras after the charaNam.No kalpana swaram.
4. Brief alApana of SimmEndra madyamam followed by another composition
of vAsudEvAchAr "ninnE nammithinayya". swaram at 'parama krupAsAgara" (15')
5. SwAthi's kunthalavarALi composition "bOgIndra sAyinam"(6')
6. Main item: kalyANi rAga alApana for 15 min. + 7' violin return follwed by
ThyAgarAja's "EthAvunarA" plus neraval & swara at
"srikarudagu thyAgarAja-karArchitha" (16')

Good Thani Avarthanam for 18 min.by Balaji & Gopalakrishnan

Rasikar viruppams:

7. KulasEkara AzhwAr's pAsuram:"mannu pugazh kOsalaithan maNivayiru vAiththavnE"
in rAgamAlika. I don't recollct all the rAgas, but remember traces of
TillAng (?)& Sindhubhairavi (?)
8. Purandara dAsas "jagadOddhAraNa" in kApi
9. ThillAna in BehAg (?)
At this juncture he started the mangaLam "pavamAna----" and was interrupted
with a request for a pApanAsm Sivan song. Sundar responded with alacrity and started
10. "karpagamE" in madyamAvathi and concluded with
"pavamAna" in sowrAshtram.

Though not as appealing as his performance in Cleveland, to day's concert was
quite good and enjoyable.
Violinist Murari proved himself to be a "chip of the old block" and
provided excellent support. The percussionists also gave good support.

Now for my nit picking about splitting compound words:

In the kamas song he CORRECTLY split "charaNAmbujamulunE" into charaNa ambhujamulunE.

In Cleveland, he sang the charaNam as "seethApathE nApai kapimAnamulEdA" twice
& then corrected to "nApai nIkabhimAnamulEdA" the next two times.

Here in Tampa both the times he sang "nApai kapimAnamulEdA"!
nEEku + abhimAnamulEdA = nEEkabhimAnamulEdA. If you leave out the
word nEEku, then it should be 'abhimAnamulEda' and NOT "KAPI mAnamulEda",
which will mean "monkey's love"

PurandaradAsa's kApi raga composition starts with the compound word
"jagadodhAraNa". If you split the word, it becomes "jagadaha uddhAraNa" and
makes it musically difficult and hence the compound word is pronounced as such.
Many split and sing "jagadod uddhAraNa" as did Bharat Sundar today, which is not correct

[arasi]

Sundararajan,
Good to hear that you are not missing any of the concerts in your area!

With a good cast of supporting musicians, Bharath Sundar has the chance to display his talent in NA during his tour.

It is tough to get all the lyrics right and to separate words without taking the sense away from them in languages they are not familiar with. However, it's best that in their practice sessions before a concert, they do go through krutis they are about to sing, paying attention to the words! That will enhance the bhAvA quotient in their concerts as well.

They have sources aplenty now! For instance, VGovindan's website with the script in every language and with meaning, also word by word meaning is just an easy way to achieve this....

[thenjasatta]

Why always scalar ragas for elaboration ? Why not try rakthi ragas such as begada, sahana, mukhari, kedaragowla, surutti, etc for elaboration ? If this goes on, his concert will become stale. The same Sriranjani, MMG, kiravani, kalyani all the time. Ramakrishnan murthy does an excellent job including rakthi ragas for elaboration in his concerts.

[rajeshnat]

sundara rajan
thank you for your review. I am also glad you put few things that matter to me personally like start time , audience count. Looks like you pay a lot of attention to words and you are even relating to how he sang in cleveland . Wonderful Sir that too for your age .The behag thillana could be a lalgudi composition

I wish there was also time for him to sing a RTP. How long was the concert??

[arasi]

Rajesh,
I have a feeling some musicians eschew RTP in 'outside of the main hub sabhAs'--unless someone specifically requests them. Sundararajan and maduraimini can tell us.

[harimau]

Bharat Sundar - vocal

Here in Tampa both the times he sang "nApai kapimAnamulEdA"!
nEEku + abhimAnamulEdA = nEEkabhimAnamulEdA. If you leave out the
word nEEku, then it should be 'abhimAnamulEda' and NOT "KAPI mAnamulEda",
which will mean "monkey's love"

Wow! Another Monkey Song!

I guess I will have to call this the Sighted Monkey Song!

PS. I just remembered that the krithi Appa Rama Bhakthi in Pantuvarali has the words kapi varidhi datuna.

That would make that the Jumping Monkey Song!

[basukrish]

@sundara rajan

Please listen carefully when u go to the next concert. I did sing nIkabhimAnamulEda. I'm not that dumb to mess up with lyrics. If u want I can send u the recording .. And I did not sing swaram for simmendramadyamam and I did sing the chittaswaram for khamas after anupallavi.

Thanks

[maduraimini]

Sundararajan,
Thanks for the review. Looks like you attend all the concerts in Tampa. I could not go to Bharath's concert in Miami, as I did not have a ride. I was glad to hear him sing in the Cleveland Aradhana.
I am not happy when they do Padacchedam (split the words) or pronounce the words wrong. In Tamil or Sanskrit if they add an A , that gives the direct opposite meaning of the word (like adding mis or ill to a word- legal, illegal, fit or misfit).
In the Sankarabharana raga kriti 'Sankaracharyam', I have heard some people sing ' parama dvaitha' instead of 'paramadvaitha' (parama + advaitha). This kriti is about sri Sankaracharya, the follower of the Advaitha philosophy. When they split the word and sing 'parama dvaitha', it means sri Madhvacharya's Dvaitha philosophy. I understand not everyone is a Tamil speaker or does not know Sanskrit, but they should try to learn the words from some one who knows the language. Nowadays, it is very easy with the internet and You Tube, unlike yester years.
I thought it was interesting, when the rasika wanted a Sivan song, the artist, sang the Madyamavathi raga song and finished with the mangalam. Quick Thinking, I'd say!

[arasi]

Welcome to Rasikas.org, Bharath Sundar

A tad late, I know (you have posted thirty four times before), and of course we didn't know.

As for messing up the lyrics, even the veterans have done it.Yet, it's good to know that you pay attention to the lyrics...

[mahavishnu]

Bharath: Welcome to the forum!
I look forward to your concert in the Bay Area next month.

Like Arasi, I had seen your posts before but didn't know that it was you

[hnbhagavan]

What a great response from Bharat Sundar ?This is a generation where there is a follow up by young musicians.

[Sundara Rajan]

Mr. Bharat Sundar:

I saw your response to my report on your Tampa,FL concert. I had no bias, one way
or the other when I reported. I did compliment you on your correct splitting of
"charNAMbujamulunE" and on your instantaneous response to the request for a
Sivan song even after you started the mangaLam.

But I did hear you sing "neekabhimAnamulEdA" the way I reported. Since
I don't have any recording, I cannot contest your claim either. Let us assume for
a moment that I had a temporary impairment in my hearing due to my old age and
you did sing that correctly, I will stand corrected and apologize for my mistake.

That said, a recording of your Cleveland concert on April 07,2015 is still available
in the website "icarnatic.com". A careful perusal of the recording will reveal the
same mistake you made the first two times and then corrected in the third and
fourth repetition of the line, as I had reported. Please listen to that.
Incidentally, if it is any consolation, you are not alone to make this mistake.
At least one other very famous carnatic/film singer makes it in his concerts !


I request rasikas who have access to icarnatic "on demand" stream to listen to the
webcast for April 07, 2015 and judge for themselves. The recording is for the
whole day at one go. The relevant material comes about 5 hours and 30 minutes
from the beginning for the day or about 22 minutes into his concert.

My intention was/is not to ridicule any artist but only to indicate mistakes
that could be avoided in the future.

[rupavathi]

My intention was/is not to ridicule any artist but only to indicate mistakes
that could be avoided in the future.

Yeah yeah... we rasikas are so perfect in our conduct and everything else we do in our personal and professional life, that it's our bounden duty to "indicate mistakes" by artistes. After all they have put in so much hardwork, passion and devotion to the art so that they can have the privilege of listening to such nitpicking!

[rupavathi]

Why always scalar ragas for elaboration ?

To combat disease vectors such as yourself, perhaps?

[arasi]

Rupavathi,
Mmm...

Sundararajan did not point out something he observed trivially.

Sundararajan worked hard on writing many concert reviews of the Cleveland festival to share with rasikAs , and many looked forward to reading every one of them. Those who have read them would know how keen and happy he is in seeing the youngsters blossom in their music.

Artistes, if you asked the seasoned ones, would say that while one cannot take all the suggestions rasikAs offer, it's a good idea to pay attention to what they have to say. Afterall, feedback from rasikAs makes it easier for them to pick up pointers as they journey with their music.

With music in mind, these suggestions come. Sundararajan took that long drive to the concert (he ain't no spring chicken) because he liked to listen to Bharath Sundar once again!
Now, if that's not a compliment

Seems as though responsible rasikAs and responsible and hard working artistes won't make too much of a thing out of this. I'm sure Bharath Sundar thinks the same

[thenjasatta]

@Rupavathi

Mind your language! If you dont have anything productive to say, keep your mouth shut. I have been noticing this trend of including only scalar ragas for elaboration for quite some time in Bharat"s concerts. It is for his own good that I ask him to include elaboration of rakthi ragas in his manodharma sangeeta in next couple of concerts and so on. Why cannot this be taken as constructive criticism ? Are we here to only talk about positives in a concert ? I dont think so. Next time, think twice before saying words such as disease vectors and so on, because it talks more about your character than mine.

[maduraimini]

I just saw the discussion on Bharath Sundar's Tampa concert. Sundararajan had lots of good things to say about the concert. After listening to Bharath's Cleveland concert, he still made the long trip to Tampa, to hear him again. And as Arasi says he is not a young man to be dashing around. He enjoyed the concert, but pointed out some mistakes. The young artists learn from the rasikas, what they like and if there is some room for correction , from them. Even if Bharath sang the words they were supposed to be, Sundararajan heard it another way. You don't have to be old to mistake a word . Even young people hear differently. All the old time musicians had to put up with Subbudu's comments. I am sure Sanjay had many rasikas critisize him, as a young artist ( For that matter, there are still rasikas who critisize his music , I bet)! This cannot deter an artist to rise up to the top. I am sure Bharath understands that. He is a very good musician and will continue to grow into a full fledged vidwan.

Bharath, welcome to Rasikas.