Priya Sisters at Gudiya Sambhrama - 28th Feb 2016

[shreedarshan]

Vocal: Priya Sisters
Violin: Mysore Srikanth
Mrudangam: Neyveli Skandasubramanyam
Khanjira: BS Purushottam

1. Panchamatanga - Malahari - Dikshitir [S]
2. Kotinadulu - Todi - Tyagaraja
3. O Pavanaatmaja - Sri - Annamacharya [A]
4. Annapoorne - Sama - Dikshitir
5. Ranjani Alaap with slokas "Vande Maa Bhoodevi Aaryamaataram"
"Bhooloka Kumari"- Ranjani - Subramanya Bharathi [A,S]
6. Ennakadehaayisuvudu - Neelambari - Purandaradasa
7. Jagadeeshwari - Mohana - Ramaswamy Pillai [A,N,S,T]
8. Maa Telugu talli
9. Kurai Ondrum illai
10. Aadimulame maaku - Anandabhairavi - Annamacharya
MAngalam


Gudiya sambhrama concluded on 28th Feb at Ramanjaneya Temple,Hanumanthnagar, in Bangalore..Stage set under the Ashwatha tree, opposite the beautiful Bhakta Anjaneyaswamy. Pleasant weather, pious temple atmosphere set the perfect ambience for Priya Sisters concert...Gudiya Sambhrama programs were conducted on 5 weekends at 5 different temple locations across Bangalore, each week emphasizing on one of the Panchabhoota's..- 5 basic elements - to create public awareness through art and culture..The last week [27th &28th] was aimed at creating awareness on Pruthvi [Mother Earth].Keeping the theme in mind, Priya Sisters chose many compositions which had reference to the Panchamahabhootas...
Sisters began with "Panchamatanga", which extols Lord Ganesha as the Cause of the universe which is composed of the Panchabhootas[5 basic elements]...Followed by a composition of Saint Tyagaraja, "Kotinadulu" where the saint composer emphasizes that all holy rivers [Jala- one of the panchabhootas] are indeed present at the tip of Lord Rama's bow itself.
Hearing the glories of Lord Hanuman "O Pavanaatmaja in Sri ragam" composed by Annamacharya in His presence was an experience. (Vaayu- one of the panchabhootas]
The fertile mother earth gives us Anna [food], hence to sing "Annapoorne Vishalaakshi" was a very good choice..
Singing slokas on Mother Earth in Ranjani "Vande Maa Bhoodevi Aaryamaataram", was followed by "Bhooloka kumari". Haripriya mentioned that this was one of the very few compositions composed by Subramanya Bharathi in Sanskrit on Bhoodevi [Mother Earth].

This was followed by a beautiful composition of Ramaswamy Pillai "Jagadeeshwari" in Mohana with beautiful swaraprastharas and nerval. [Preceded by a detailed Alaap in Mohana]
Post tani they chose to sing Maa Telugu talli, Kurai ondrum.
The concert was concluded by another composition of Annamacharya "Aadimulame Maaku" where the saint relates the Lord with the Panchamahabhootas beautifully in different ways and invokes the Lord to protect him from natural calamities that can arise from them.
The effort put in by the sisters to choose kritis so aptly was so evident..which again proves that a concert is just not a collection of various compositions by different composers in varied raagas.. The bhava and sahitya and their presentation are also equally important...
Mysore Srikanth provided excellent support on violin, and tani by Skanda Subramanyam and Purushottam was enjoyable.

[Krishnan4856]

Nice list

[Rsachi]

This temple is a landmark in Bangalore and the centre of Hanumanthanagar, a predominantly Kannada-speaking locality. Gudiya Sambhrama is generously funded by the Government of Karnataka. So I am surprised they didn't sing a single song in Kannada. It is not difficult to think of some good Kannada composition for singing in a concert. Their guru has tuned several Kannada compositions well.
Was it on instruction from the organiser? Or?

[Swami]

they sang neelambari ragam kriti of purandaradasar. not sure

[shreedarshan]

didn't sing a single song in Kannada.

They sang a composition of Purandaradasa in Neelambari...Had missed it out....!!

[Rsachi]

Ok! That sets the record straight.

[shreedarshan]

The concert has now been uploaded by Gudiya Sambhrama organizers on youtube...
Here's the link
https://youtu.be/Nidq2XWykBM

[hnbhagavan]

Thank you for the link.The announcer introduced the artists and mentioned their profile.She said that they are still getting advanced lessons from Sri T R Subramanyam.It is true that they were under his tutelage.But as Prof T R subramanyam is no more a small correction/clarification would have been in order.

[Vijayalakshmi V]

Namaskaram, Thanks for the detailed write-up, just a few points, GUDIYA SAMBHRAMA is an annual event and this was th 6th edition. Each year we take up one single theme and this year it was Sacred Earth / Bhumi Devi. The artists are requested to perform at least one piece relating to the theme. We do not instruct artists on what they should sing or not, it is their artistic freedom to perform. It was wonderful indeed that Priya Sisters had chosen to sing so many songs relating to the theme and so wonderfully rendered too.

[Vijayalakshmi V]

This temple is a landmark in Bangalore and the centre of Hanumanthanagar, a predominantly Kannada-speaking locality. Gudiya Sambhrama is generously funded by the Government of Karnataka. So I am surprised they didn't sing a single song in Kannada. It is not difficult to think of some good Kannada composition for singing in a concert. Their guru has tuned several Kannada compositions well.
Was it on instruction from the organiser? Or?

Namaskaram, Kindly let us not draw boundaries of language on art, we are all Indians first and any Indian language is to be appreciated. How much the Government of Karnataka gives to the organisers I doubt is known to you hence kindly don't draw invalid conclusions.

[hnbhagavan]

Post 310
I agree with the post.It would better to avoid reference to specific languages.On any given day the artists come with a plan and sing.As mentioned they stuck to the theme.Even in concerts else where,people do pass on chits requesting for songs.In fact they will be so engrossed in passing the chit that they do not even wait for opportune moment to give the chit.
In the concert list,there is one Purandaradasa kriti in Neelambari raga which was perhaps omitted in the write up and later included.

[Rsachi]

Vijayalakshmi-ji,
You well know that Carnatic musicians make a special effort to learn songs in many languages. It would have been an act of omission on the part of such an accomplished pair of musicians to have not included a Kannada song.
The discussion itself has become completely irrelevant as the Kannada song WAS sung but was missed in the original post.

Yes, I do not know what exact amounts you received for the Gudiya Sambhrama.

But I know how wonderful the festival is, I have attended many recitals, I know you spare no effort or expense to make it a success. My thanks and congratulations to you.
I do wish that the government continues to support you generously.

You may not have read it, but here is my review of a Gudiya Sambhrama recital:
http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic ... lit=Gudiya