Gayathri Venkataraghavan for Madhuradhwani, 30Aug15

[natts1959]

Gayathri Venkataraghavan - Charumathi Raghuraman - Neyveli Skandasubramaniam - Anirudh Athreya

List

Mathe Malayadhwaja - Khamas - Adi - H.M.B
Arul Seyya - RasikaPriya - Adi - Kotteshwara Iyer (S)
Janani Ninnu Vina - Reethigoulai - M. Chapu - Subaraya Sastri (R)
Varalakshmim Bhajare - Sourastram - Adi - MD
O Rangasayee - Kambhoji - Adi - T (R,N,S)
Shobillu Saptaswara - Jaganmohini - Rupakam - T
Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi (Brindavana Saranga) - had to leave during since it was already 9:30 PM and had a flight to catch

Have been want to write this but dint get time on my trip to pen this

Gayathri Venkataraghavan (GV) is what you would call a percentage player like the Dravids of the cricketing world. There are no flourishes, no gimmicks, nothing out of the ordinary and yet she can deliver melodious music and an engaging concert.

The structure of the concert is so well planned. Has almost everything - Raga variety, tala variety, different composers, krithis to match the occasion of Varakshmi Nombu. May be a krithi in kanta chapu may have completed the package.

Personally, i liked both the raga alapanais delivered. Reethigoulai can be easily mixed up with Anandabhairavi and GV did so well to tread on the right side of the raga. Janani ninnu vina redition would have made the composer proud... GV was able to bring the emotive spirit so well. She chose to render "vanajayata natri' instead of the more common 'varadayaki gada'

Kamboji was again well done. Her voice is so pliable in the mid and higher ranges and she took full advantage of it. Lower octave was a struggle and she could avoid spending too much time there. The quality of voice was clearly lacking below sadjam. O Rangasaye, the neraval, swarams etc were all well done and crisp. One could not but feel whether there is a different place to attempt neraval other than 'Booloka vaikuntam'. But may be that's the most apt line for a neraval in the krithi.

Shobillu saptaswara as a filler was brisk followed by Brindavana saranga ragam. I presume its for the RTP but unfortunately i had to leave at this point.

A very satisfying concert.. rendered with poise, melody and bhavam.

Now coming to my most favorite artist of the evening - Charumathi. I tell you she is going to make a huge mark in the field. her musical ideas are mind-blowing and she has the technique to deliver them. Both reethigoulai and kambhoji alapanas were so well done. Most of all she has a sense of proportion. I was really happy that she had a great outing in this concert after not being given much scope in the Jugalbandhi.

Some last words on the Madhuradhwani festival itself. The entire festival was so well organized and put together. Of course the young lady couldn't keep up her punctuality on the 2nd and 3rd days for reasons that probably were not under her control - sound equipment issues, the crowd immersed in the food outside and taking longer to return and so on. However one must give credit to have put this together, creating a great ambiance and giving us all great music. I hope to attend the December season this year, god willing and wish I can catch up with all the artists that performed here - Abhishek, Shankar Narayanan, TMK & GV. They all really did very well in my mind TMK standing out.

[MV]

Thanks for a nice review. I really enjoy Charumathi's music as well. And well done to the lady who organised it

[HarishankarK]

Could anyone post full song list please?