Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi@Toronto-May 15th and Bay Area concerts

[Lakshman]

Accompanied by Patri Satishkumar on the mrdanga and K.V.Gopalakrishnan on the kanjira. 3 hrs.

Song List:
unnaiyanri vErAr (tv) - kalyANi - Lalgudi Jayaraman
rArA mAyiNTidAka - asAvEri - Tyagaraja - S
nannu brOva lalitA - lalitA - Shyama Shastri - A
nAdupai balikEru - madhyamAvati - A, N@ AjAnubhAvu , S
AruL seyyA vENDumayyA - rasikapriyA - Kotishvara Iyer
bAlagOpAla - bhairavi - Dikshitar - A, S, Tani
durgA dEvi durita - navarasakannaDa - Muttiah Bhagavatar
RTP SaNmukhapriyA in m/jhampa tALA, tisra naDai - dEvi brOva samayamidE ati vEgamE vacci
svarAs: kuntalavarALi, hamIrkalyANi, dvjAvanti
candrashEkharA IshA - sindhubhairavi - Anai Vaidyanatha Iyer
krSNA ni bEganE bArO - yamunAlakyANi - Vyasaraya
TillAnA - Mand - Lalgudi Jayaraman
TillAnA - behAg - Lalgugdi Jayaraman
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurASTra - Tyagaraja

[arasi]

Lakshman,
That ShanmukhapriyA RTP alone would have been a treat...

[thanjavooran]

Shri Lakshman
Thanks for the song list. Besides Shunmukapriya, Madhyamavati of Lalgudi pani I love to listen.
With wishes,
Thanjavooran
16 05 2016

[hnbhagavan]

I know thru FB Smt Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi is on tour to USA and Canada.However i was disappointed that there were no reviews so far.I am very happy that Mr.Lakshman has posted the first list.Mr.Laksman can describe how the concert was.The song list looks an excellent one with familiar as well as rare ones.
As per FB this is her 10th concert in the tour.

[arasi]

Bhagwan,
You are right. We are all keen on hearing about as many concerts as possible on the concerts forum. I'm sure many attended her concerts, Patri and Gopalakrishnan being added attractions.

The reason for the dearth of reviews is perhaps this: though some members would have been at various concerts, very few are keen on reviewing or reporting...

[Lakshman]

In all the years I have been a member of this group, I have never written a review of any concert and I am not about to start now. Thanks for asking though.

[arasi]

Lakshman,
Nor do I If I do write about concerts, it's my impressions--for I do not possess the knowledge to write them.

As for you, you always give the song list from the concerts you attend, which themselves are very good to read and learn from. Moreover, you are doing worthier things than to be shooting the breeze like a big mouth you know well

[hnbhagavan]

Madam arasi,

When stars like RaGa or Sanjay undertake tour,there are enough reviews,but when lesser known or known in limited circles,the reviews are far less.
It is to give better publicity to such artists - in this cae Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi who has an uphill task as she gets compared with the legend Lalgudi Jayaraman.

[rajeshnat]

To play as a solo violin artist for 3 hours - that too with a dash of all popular lalgudi numbers with a terrific patri and kvg - is certainly a rare treat. I am assuming this is a rare concert with only viji playing.

[hnbhagavan]

This is a tour of USA and Canada.The above concert is concert number 10.

[arasi]

Bhagwan,
Again, you are right.

On the other hand, how many listeners who go to concerts even know there is something called Rasikas.org? Even if some did, and happened to be members here too, how many write about them? Yes, there's a lot of demand for reviews, but how many take the trouble to write!

Also, instrumental concerts in CM as we know, are not crowd pullers (unless they are by popular artistes, by which I mean speed merchants).

As for popular vocalists, even they don't get covered at every concert. For the ones they do get reviews (rave ones, mostly) it's because they are written by enthusiasts who get swept off their feet after listening to a live concert. This can be understood only when you consider that the distance from live concerts for years, makes it all very special for them. Count me in too

[mahavishnu]

I attended her concert in the Bay Area. I had to leave town for work just after that so I didn't have time to write a review.
As you know, I am huge admirer of the Lalgudi tradition and I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. I will post a song list from memory and write a short review when I get more time.

And as Rajesh says, it is very rare to get solo concerts of either Lalgudi sibling! And for the record, the concert was very well attended. And in my experience, there appears to be no shortage of crowds for instrumental concerts in N. America!

[hnbhagavan]

Among the instrumental Violin concert Lalgudi siblings present the most melodious ones short of gimmicks.It is heartening to know sizable crowd was present in USA for Vijayalakshmi's violin recital.

[gardabha_gana]

Ramesh, eagerly awaiting your review/report.

Needless to say, I can compete with Ramesh on who is a greater fan of Lalgudi Bani. At least I hope to win this battle, I cannot match Ramesh's knowledge, appreciation of music or articulation
It's indeed heartwarming to know that it was well attended. Lalgudi style has a huge following in the bay area and it comes as no surprise. While I am delighted that Viji m'am is having a splendid solo tour, it comes at the cost of us Bangalore rasikas not being able to hear them during our "season" (ramanavami) Hope they come here over the next few months.

I have found that Lalgudi siblings concerts in bangalore are well attended. Sometime better than what I have seen in madras. Frankly speaking, at least during the december season, the audience for instrumentalists (including say someone like ravikiran) is pathetic in madras. I went with lot of fear that I may not get tickets but sadly it was the other way around

Of course, whether bangalore or madras speedsters still gather all the attention. I keep relearning what is known as "for" loop in computer science....

[mahavishnu]

@G_G: Thanks for the kind words. I think you would have really liked this concert.
Here is a short report and songlist.


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Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi - violin solo
Patri Satish Kumar - mridangam
KV Gopalakrishnan - Khanjira

About 2hrs25mins (song list from memory, so there might be errors/omissions). 4/23/2016.
South India Fine Arts - San Jose/SF Bay Area

sahAnA varNam - Lalgudi Viji composition
ennADu jUtunO - Kalavati - T (AS)
hiraNmayIm lakshmiM - lalithA - MD (AS)
tAmadam tagAdayyA - mOhana kalyANi - Lalgudi Gopala Iyer
ninnE nammi nAnu - toDi - SS (AST)
RTP - kApi - chinnanchiru kiLiyE kaNNAmma | ADi varum tEnE (sankIrNa chApu)
ragamAlika swarams (durgA, Ananda bhairavi, shuddh sArang)
eppO varuvArO - jOnpuri - GKB
tillAnA - pahADi - LGJ
nI nAma rUpamulaku - sowrAshtram - mangaLam - T

It was a true feast for all admirers of the Lalgudi bANi and for those who enjoy the aesthetics of pAtandhara shuddham. It is not a simple feat to make a concert experience reminiscent of LGJ; but the siblings do this time and time again and this solo concert of Lalgudi Viji was no exception.

I believe this is testament to the years of commitment, discipline, rigorous training and an unwavering faith in carrying forward a tradition sans adulteration or dilution. It is relatively uncommon to hear a solo by either sibling, so I made a special trip to San Jose that evening despite having to catch a red-eye flight that night. The possibility of listening to Patri accompanying the violin was icing on the cake.

The varNAm was a composition of Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi herself. It is difficult to create something different in the prime space occupied by the karuNimpa varnam; her compositions have a refreshingly original voice. I believe she has other tillAnAs and varnams as well. Hope to hear more in the future.

This was followed by a relatively rare ennAdu jutunO in kalAvati. This is Tyagaraja's version of kalavati: same as oka pAri juDaga etc. and not to be confused with Dikshitar's Kalvati/yAgapriyA or the hindustAni kalavati which is a pentatonic similar to valaji. I digress. I have not heard this composition in a really long time. And each time I hear one of these gems with the signature of the Lalgudi school, I can see how carefully the sangatis have been arranged and preserved by them.

There are few in the classical realm today who can claim access to this kind of preservation of heritage pieces. Viji's Lalitha was extraordinary and several old-timers mentioned how evocative it was of Lalgudi himself. After a brisk tAmadam in mohanakalyani, she embarked on a very soulful tODi, followed by an RTP in kApi.

The arrangement of the unusual pallavi in sankirna chApu was brilliant; it is a particularly slippery tAlam. Keeping up the stability of 9:4 without losing the aesthetic of the pallavi is something that the entire team should take credit for. As Sankaran-sir often says: "kayila pOttu patha dhan theriyum adhoda shramam" (you can only really feel its complexity when you try to keep up with the talam using your own hands). The rAgamAlika swarams provided an unusual combination of rAgams (durga to ananda bhairavi to suddh sarang)!

Patri was a delight to watch. His sense of anticipation, his careful embellishment of the sangatis, his following of the vallinam-mellinam in the compositions as evident in the Lalgudi bAni, were all uniformly superb. And when he follows kalpanaswarams or kanakku, he follows like a hawk yet gives himself enough room for creative snatches. I can imagine that it must be a pleasure to have an artiste of his caliber as the accompanist. It must also be challenging to keep him in sufficiently occupied, which is not an issue for the Lalgudi siblings with their strong control of laya matters.

KVG gave excellent support to Patri and appears to be a rock on the stage. I can see how he is becoming a preferred upapakkavadyam artiste for many mridangists alike! The tani was full of beautiful cascading repeating patterns and their joint accompaniment to the pallavi is worthy of special mention. Fortunately, the sound system was perfectly balanced and the percussionists were amplified with just the right volume.

Overall, it was an excellent concert. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to keep up the tradition and the fill the shoes of a giant like Lalgudi. It is not easy to be compared to Lalgudi, one has to earn that! I believe that artistes like Vijayalakshmi not only preserve the Lalgudi mArgam, but also add to it in their own nascent ways.

[mahavishnu]

Here is a link to the aforementioned sahAna varNam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRi_1QsISC8

[arasi]

Ramesh,
Thank you for bringing your top notch review of an excellent concert, bothering to go back, retrieving from memory the details.

Lakshman,
Could you kindly edit the title of the thread to add the Bay area concert too?

[hnbhagavan]

weekend concerts at Norfolk (Saturday) and Dallas (Sunday)
Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi
Arjun Srinivasan (son of Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi)
Patri Satish Kumar...
See More
Arjun Srinvasa - Lalgudi Vijayalakhmi's son is making his foray into Carnatic Music Circuit in USA

[rajeshnat]

Arjun Srinvasan - Lalgudi Vijayalakhmi's son is making his foray into Carnatic Music Circuit in USA

Elated to know that - best wishes on the next sishya parampara of sadguru thyagaraja.

[Pasupathy]

Accompanied by Patri Satishkumar on the mrdanga and K.V.Gopalakrishnan on the kanjira. 3 hrs.
Song List:
. . // . .
candrashEkharA IshA - sindhubhairavi - Anai Vaidyanatha Iyer
. . //

chandrasekharA in Sindhubhairavi is by Papanasam Sivan. This song and his Sivanai ninaindhavar ( Hindolam ) were on the two sides of a 78 rpm record by Alathur Bros. ( who made these songs famous.) We used to have this record in our home in the 50's.

If one wants a Ref , one can look up page 31, Papanasam Sivan Special Issue, Sruti, June/July 1990, which lists many of his famous kritis-s.

[gardabha_gana]

Thanks for the review @mahavishnu. Did SIFA hold the concert in CET?
I echo every word you say about Lalgudi siblings. They have indeed giant shoes to fill - and it is indeed a challenge to adhere to the style rigorously in this day and age and they do it with aplomb. Kudos to them. I am yearning for their music in bangalore - and hope they come here soon. I have never heard their solos. Best wishes to the young Arjun - who I hope will wield the violin like Arjuna himself!

[mahavishnu]

G_G: Yes it was at the CET. They've had such serious acoustics issues in recent times that it was such a relief to go through concerts without screeches and booms.

Here is a video of LGJ's grandson (Arjun Srinivasan) playing a Lalgudi pancharatnam kriti with Viji. https://www.facebook.com/vishwas.fos/vi ... 612636157/

[gardabha_gana]

Wow! Thanks much - Lalithe!
Wonder why they have been trying places other than CET... It used to be a nightmare in the nineties with Cubberly The hall with tons of engineers couldn't figure out a sound system - there was enough of blame to go around. CET was awesome with parking, access to freeway and everything... I believe recently they have again going around different venues... Cost cutting perhaps. I am digressing here...

Hope the Lalgudi legacy is carried forward and Bangalore gets to see this young musician soon

[hnbhagavan]

Here is a clipping from Viji's concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=476dZBBkbsE