Vidushi Bombay Jayashri concert in Bay Area - Oct 11, 2015

[manisubramaniyan]

Accompanists:
Vidwan Embar Kannan - Violin
Vidwan Anantha R. Krishnan - Mridangam
Vidwan B. Shree Sundarkumar - Kanjira
Vidushi Rangashree Varadarajan - Thambura

Duration: approx. 3 hours 15 minutes
Concert organized by Sankritilaya

(incomplete) song list... (please correct as necessary, as I was in and out of the auditorium..)

1. Varnam - intha thAmasame - Kanada
2. oh JagadambA - Ananda bhairavi - Shyama Sastri
3. theliyalEru rAma - dhenuka - Adi - Thyagaraja
4. marivere dikkevaru rAmayya - Patnam Subramanya Iyer (24 minutes)
5. sogasu chUda taramA - kannada gowla - Ruapakam - Thyagaraja
6. nanu pAlimpa - mohanam - Adi - Thyagaraja (50 minutes)
7. entha nee vina vinthurA - Urmika - adi -Pallavi Seha Iyer
8. RTP - ragamalika - bhairavi..... ( 1 hour)
9. mrigaya tharA dhava mAdhavam - behag
10. sarvam brahma mayam - adi - Sadasiva brahmendra
11. Thillana - Pahadi - Lalgudi GJ
12. Mangalam

[mahavishnu]

ManiS: Thank you for posting the song list. I meant to write a short review earlier, but somehow didn't get around to it.

1 Varnam is by LGJ
8. RTP in Bhairavi in Khanda jati Triputa talam (eduppu @ samam) had the following lines: "vElanai vadi vElanai pannirukaiyanai | dhinam dhinam ninai"
with rAgamAlika swarams in sUrya, naLinakAnti & vAsanti.
9. is mrigayatha rAdha mAdhavam by nArAyaNa theerthar.

It was an absolutely superb concert by Jayashri and team. Jayashri occupies the stage with such grace. It feels like she loses herself in the music, while at all times remaining in such tight control over the proceedings. Her music is perfect in shruti alignment with just the perfect mix of pAtantara shuddham (kriti rendering) and manOdharmam. Her concerts have all the excellent planning as seen in her guru's performances and this one in the Bay Area was no exception. The concert was superbly organized in terms of pace, selection of kritis and elaboration of each piece for treatment. Not sure if there is an element of essentialism in this, but at times it felt like there were so many violin-esque sangatis in her vocalization.

I have not listened to Jayashri in almost two decades now, the cost of seeking thrills and adventures elsewhere

There is a measured restraint in her music, which was wonderful to rediscover. Every sangati had its place, every oscillation seemed meaningful and there were no purposeless articulations or gestures. It is not surprising to see that she is as popular as she is. I am just glad that she has been able to sustain her presence at the very top, which appears to be crowded with people that deliberately pander to elements of populism. That said, on occasion I have wished Jayashri would go the distance and provide that uber-complex pallavi and the heterodox treatment of a vivadi ragam, say, kOsalam.

Embar Kannan is a class act. As I have mentioned before, anyone that brings a spare violin tuned to madhyama sruti has a deep sense or professionalism. He provided the perfect foil for Jayashri's composed evenness and balance. His returns on the bhairavi tAnam were superb, as was his short rAga sketch of pahAdi at the end, where his use of anyaswarams took the rAga to zones that pleased the ear and activated the neural expectancy structures for this folkish ragam.

I was very curious to see Anantha play with Jayashri. He did not seem his exuberant self, and it seemed like he too was expressing the same measured restraint, which I would dare say was the emergent theme of the evening. There were gaps where he might have normally added extra flourishes and short tirmanams that remained filled with silence (or on the odd occasion, filled by Sree Sundar kumar).

Sree Sundar Kumar was a bit loud and rapaciously aggressive, maybe it was just the amplification. Perhaps he didn't get the memo about the restraint motif The tAnam had mridangam accompaniment in proper Trivandrum style. I am still ambivalent about whether this worked well or not, especially the khanjira parts.

The tani was explosive, with a good keezh kAla sankeernam round. So few young mridangists even venture into this territory. I am happy that we have talent like Anantha (and Sundar Kumar) around that dare to attempt these. The first round of the tani was long and elaborate and then the subsequent rounds were much shorter. I personally prefer the tani essay to be done differently, but I'm not complaining.

There were several highlights. But I have to say the soulful Latangi, the very LGJesque mohanam, the ragamalika swarams in the pallavi (esp Kannan's returns) and the pahAdi tillana will stay with me for a while to come.

Overall, I really liked this concert. Jayashri's music is truly enchanting. Thanks to ManiSubramaniyan and Sankritilaya for another superbly organized event.

[manisubramaniyan]

Thanks Mahavishnu!
No 4: Marivere dikkevaru was Lathangi, if that is not clear from these postings..

[Sindhuja]

Thanks manisubramaniyan, and Ramesh - for the lovely review.
I have sometimes found BJ's voice nasal and her enunciations a bit odd. But her class and bhavam take over and the output is quite wonderful.

[rshankar]

I have a friend that classifies Smt. Jayashree's concerts as 'mAnasa sancararE' concerts - manasu angEyE sancarittu koNDirukkum - 'the mind/heart will repeatedly relive the experience' (an obviously tamizh take on the sanskRt phrase, but, nevertheless, gets the point across!), and this doesn't seem to have been any different!
Thank you, Ramesh and ManiS....

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Very good apprisals of the concert - because they give rather a true, imaginable account to 'non attendees'.

(It's sheer joy to read you, mahavishnu!)

[Jigyaasa]

activated the neural expectancy structures

spoken like a true academic