Vasudha Ravi @ SRLKM 17.7.2015

[kssr]

Vasudha Ravi- HM Smitha- Akshay Anand

I went in when Vasudha was singing Varali swaram. Do not know which song. Swaram was for "Maragadaangi". People who know can give the pallavi.
Next was thyagaraja kriti Nera namminaanu- fast paced. Then came a beautiful Brindavana saranga alapanai. Comparable to some of the best I have heard. Deep and meditative, very good bhava. Smitha was following well. Vasudha requested her to follow the ragam in the lower octave strings. Very thoughtful. It definitely gave a better effect to the ragam. Smitha's return was also very good, except that it could not evoke the same bhavam as the vocalist, also may be due to the naturally higher pitch and sharpness of the violin. The song was Soundarrajam ashraye. Beautiful selection. Also well rendered. Detailed swaram. (Why no neraval for this main item?) Quite a bit of kanakku towards the end. I think some slip ups too. But overall it was a good success.
After a good thani by young Akshay, Vasudha started her RTP in keeravani. Dwi-jaathi thaalam. You take aadi thaalam. For the first four beats you have 4 aksharams for a beat and for the rest of the four beats there are 5 aksharams for a beat (kanda jaathi). I tried putting the talam. I was successful. But then what was she singing. I totally missed out! I realised that I could do only one or the other !! I started listening.
Pallavi:
maa Madurai vaLar meenakshi madhuravaaNi keeravaNi.

Then swaram. There was also trikaalam in this thalam. . Then ragamalika swarams and ending with a grand reverse running in the different ragas back to keeravani. Boooo. Difficult. But nice to listen and a clear demonstration of the musical prowess.

Thukkadas: Guruvina gulama and a thillana - T.K.Govinda rao composition.

In vote of thanks, it was mentioned that she has been learning for 20 years from the same guru(did not catch the name- Not PSN as I had expected!!). She is quite young. Started when she was 5?!!

She is sure to rise to be a popular singer. Good voice. Hope she continues learning and perfecting. Wish the young girl a great musical future. Smitha has already established as a standard artist. Wish her and Akshay too a good musical career.

Thanks to Sri.Krishna Prasad and team for arranging the concert. The 50 minutes drive was not a wasted one.

[Rsachi]

KSSR,
Another rich review. Thanks!

Vasudha has been the student of Dr Manjula Sriram, who did her music Masters and PhD in Mysore under Dr Gowri Kuppuswamy. She later taught nearly 20 years at Music Academy Madras and also privately in Chennai. Vasudha has been lucky.
Dr Manjula is now leading a less busy life in Bangalore. I was fortunate to meet her.

[anand_900315]

Vasudha Ravi, HM Smitha, Akshay Anand at SRLKM (26 July 2015)

Here is the full list from the concert;

Era napai Todi varnam (Patnam Subramanya Iyer)
Gam Ganapathe (S), Hamsadwani (HarikeshaNallur Muttiah Bhagavathar)
Rama nive, Narayani (Saint Thyagaraja)
Karuna judavamma (R,N,S), Varali, (Shyama Sastry)
Nenarunchinanu, Malavi (Saint Thyagaraja)
Soundararajam ashraye (R,S), Brindavana Saranga, Muthuswami Dikshitar
Tani Avarthanam (Tisra Ekam, 2 kalai)
Palayamam mayibo, Kamas (Swathi Tirunal)
Ragam, Thanam, Pallavi, Keervani (Laghu - Chatusram, 2 kalai-total 8 aksharam, Drutam-Kanda 2.5*4=10 aksharam total of 18 aksharam per cycle) with ragamalika swaram in Behaq, Bowli, Hamsanada)
Guruvina gulamanaguva tanaka, Darbari Kanada (Purandaradasaru)
Sindhu Bairavi, Tillana of TK Govinda Rao
Mangalam

Here is the video link to Karuna judavamma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNadNiCRUgU