20-5-2016 Raga Sudha Hall - Kalyanapuram Aravind

[hSrikanth]

Kalyanapuram Aravind, R Rahul, NC Bharadhwaj, Nerkunam shankar

I attended a concert of Kalyanapuram Aravind at Raga Sudha hall under the aegis of Naada Inbam and the following was my take on his concert. I feel there must have been better crowd in the audience on that day to have enjoyed this chaste music. The concert srated of with Merusamana - Mayamalava gowla I didn’t expect this start from Aravind. It was a refreshing start to the concert. The tempo of the concert was set there right away and a brisk round of swaras Energitic environment was set .
Kulabirudunu - Devamanohari Being an Avid listener of Aravind’s Guru for years together, Kula Birudunu was so nostalgic for me to listen to. It was rendered at a great kalapramanam again enlivening the mood of the audience.
Ne Pogada Kunte - Varali Next came a wonderful alapana of Varali. He covered the entire raga and the key phrases in just 4 min and yet gave a complete feeling. The song he took up was Ne Pogadakunte of Thyagaraja He did neraval at a challenging place 2 before the samam in Kanda Chapu. Both the neraval and swaras were executed with great precision. Sri Mathurapuri Viharini - Bilahari It is such a delight to listen to compositions that are not heard much these days. Sri Mathurapuri is a rare Dhiskshithar krithi is very rare heard these days. He took up delineation of swaras at the line Patali Kusuma Priye and made it an enjoyable experience.
Ranganayakam - Nayaki

Should I call this the crown of the concert? The Nayaki Alapana was rendered with so much chaste. Each phrase that he sang was oozing with the raga
bhavam and it was highly evident that he had a great command over the raga. And to have that for a raga like nayaki deserves a lot of credit to him. And Ranganayakam, was rendered in an unhurried kalapramanam making me feel that I am seeing the lord at Srirangam. He took up swaras in Nayaki. He should be lauded for this once again. I even saw a few ppl getting emotional amongst the crowd.
Marugelara - Jayanthasri Thyagaraja Kriti was chosen as an apt filler before he plunged into the main.
Enduku Peddala - Shankarabharanam
The main piece that he took up for the evening was Shankarabharanam. He had the patience to ornament each swara with their appropriate phrases and develop the raga. i kept on feeling he was singing phrases which would lead to Akshya linga vibo
Rahul on the violin brought out the essence of shankarabharanam in the few minutes of his alapana. The krithi was rendered with full gait justifying its bhavam. Neraval swaras were appropriately handled at Veda sastra tatvartamulu.

Nc Bharadwaj and Nerkunam Sankar played an amazing thani.

Namam Annadhu Kel - Being Narasimha Jayanthi he sang this verse from Kambaramayanam set to tune by his Legendary Guru Sri TNS.Naan Enna Thavam - The final Item before the mangalam was this composition of Oothukadu Venkata Kavi in Khamas followed by the Mangalam.

[sangeethadasan]

Wow! Thats an amazing review.
@hSrikanth - Certainly handling Nayaki like ragas with an aplomb requires a lot of Uzhaippu. More than uzhaippu it requires a lot of Gurunathar anugraham, which I am sure Aravind has. I had written few reviews of Aravind in this very forum. Now am very happy to see his name appearing here from some other rasika too. I am feeling very happy that he is slowly climbing the ladder and hope he will reach the cream layer soon.

[kssr]

Isn't Ne pogada kunte of Thyagaraja in Subha pantuvarali?

[rajeshnat]

Hsrikanth/sangeethadasan
For the first few reviews in this forum he was introduced as the disciple of s kasturirangan. Later I came to know that he is the disciple of TNS too . I am assuming that he has learnt from both s kasturirangan and TNS. I would like to know from whom he learnt first and who was his second guru .

Very recently i was asked by some one "Have you heard Aravind soundararajan". Then some one told me that Both kalyanapuram aravind and arvind soundararajan are one and the same . IS that true?

Best wishes to this musician -I have immense respect for both TNS and S kasturirangan for their intense classical approach to CM.

[sangeethadasan]

@rajeshnat - As far as I know, he has learnt from both of them. I heard that he had learnt his basics under Mrs. TNS and then under Sri TNS for few years, then with Sri Kasthurirangan and now again back with Sri TNS I suppose.

Yeah Aravind Soundararajan and Kalyanapuram Aravind are the same. Aravind is carving his own way of presenting the music that has been imbibed on him by his gurus.

[rajeshnat]

Mrs TNS also knows music to teach - I did not know ? All the more better to aravind. Best wishes , looking forward to hear him.

[sangeethadasan]

Isn't Ne pogada kunte of Thyagaraja in Subha pantuvarali?

I have heard different versions of Ne Pogadakunte in both these ragas.
Ive heard Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar sing it in Varali!

[sangeethadasan]

All the more better to aravind. Best wishes , looking forward to hear him.

I am happy to see that Sri Aravind is getting the word of mouth. Hope he gets there

[thenjasatta]

Would be better if it was a balanced review instead of overly praising everything. I am sure every artist will benefit from balanced reviews.

I find him to be a xerox copy of TNS. Would advice him to develop a style of his own, instead of purely mimicking his guru. Guru bhakti and all is good but that doesnt mean you ape the guru completely.

The other thing that he can work on is his stage demeanor. Its not a very pleasant one. He should also work on reducing the nasal tone in his voice.

That said, he has definitely worked hard to sing like he is singing today. His hard work shows. Would advice him to not take the critique personally and rather just work on improving.

[MaheshS]

I quote from his website,

Kalyanpuram S Aravind hails from a family of rich vedic and musical heritage of generations which mainly includes Kalyanapuram Sri Veeraraghavachariar and Kalyanapuram Sri Aravamudhachariar, a renowned Harikatha Exponent and musician. Aravind possess music in his gene, which is inherited from his traditional culture.

He started walking in the path of the music voyage as a child of 4 years, holding the hands of the legendary Sangeetha Kalanidhi, Padmabhushan, Madurai Sri T N Seshagopalan, thereby learning every nuances of the musical form imbibing the bhaani, offered from the rich tradition of his guru.

Aravind started rendering krithis of Swami Thyagaraja right from his 6th year, which has now culminated into a matured and confident musician which attracts the rasikas.

The sword of the music, which Aravind carries has been further sharpened and polished by the veteran musician Sri S Kasthuri Rangan, a prime disciple of Sri TNS who carries with him and maintains the bhaani of the TNS school of the impeccable paatantharam.

[hSrikanth]

I definitely feel that he has carved out a style of his own , the has been echoed by many other rasikas too , he has put in hard work for sure ..

I have seen artistes with total nasal tone , probably rasikas have accepted them. as they are .he is certianly not in that category.



To an earlier point raised he is a TNS sishya , except for a brief period.
The views expressed above are mine....
Happy listening . And keep posting ..

[sangeethadasan]

@MaheshS I found the site not to have been updated. Probably the site was done when he was learning under Sri Kasthurirangan. I've seen him behind Sri TNS in all concerts recently. I hence conclude that he is under the tutelage of the legend now.

[Lakshman]

nE pogaDakuNTE has versions of varALi, shubhapantuvarALi, dEshyatODi and janAvaLi.

[hSrikanth]

I have seen him behind Sangeetha kalanidhi TNS many times during the season and other concerts, I have no doubt that he is under his tutelage of as @sangeethadasan mentioned.

The URL to the website is showing a error page.

[sankark]

Is he in nAyaki/ranganAyakam month for May 2016? nAyaki/ranganAyakam at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gEuttEYErA for Kalavanta KFAC

[sangeethadasan]

Is he in nAyaki/ranganAyakam month for May 2016? nAyaki/ranganAyakam at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gEuttEYErA for Kalavanta KFAC

Yes I listened to this concert too! He has sung Nayaki followed by Ranganayakam. May be he is trying to make this song as his own by singing it everywhere

Jokes apart, Nevertheless I found the Kalavanta concert, worthy concert to listen to Violinist appears to be new. He has done well too. His Nayaki Alapana was highly Rakthi based and he has played without mixing Darbar in it. Mridangam Karthick has also done a great job. The Thodi that Aravind sang was really exuberant and filled with chaste phrases reminiscing me of Sri TNS.

[thenjasatta]

I like how Mandha Sudharani (one of the judges at Kalavanta) pointed out, in her speech, that a couple of artists, who participated in the event, purely imitate their gurus. I am sure she was talking about Kalyanapuram Aravind aping TNS. She gave an example of how KVN was from Ariyakudi school but never aped the latter's style or mannerisms but just imbibed his baani.

The other aping that i observed was this guy called Girijashankar Sundaresan. His body language is almost the same as Bombay Jayashri's. I have heard guys imitating other male musicians. Here is a guy whose body language is that of a female musician. I dont know what to say.

Whatever it is, it would be great if artists just imbibed their guru's baani instead of purely aping them.

[sangeethadasan]

@thenjasatta - good that you had seen the webcasts of Kalavanta. I'm feeling that u are very biased in your opinions. I ve interacted with many rasikas and they have told that Kalyanapuram Aravind has been evolving constantly and coming out of His guru imitation. May be he is not fully out yet. But from what I've heard in the previous years, and now, I'm sure and very confident to say that he is coming out of that imitation and I'm
Sure he will come out soon fully! But the whole point of learning under a guru is lost when u force someone not to sing like his guru. I would rather advocate KA to keep singing like his guru for the next few years until he makes a name and by then automatically evolution will bring him out of this imitation (so called imitation as mentioned by u)

[hnbhagavan]

Sandeep Narayan and Swarna Rethas both disciples of Sanjay Subramanyam.While Sandeep Narayan completely imitates Sanjay,Swarna Rethas does not.His mannerisms are very different and has developed his own style.I attended Kalavantha 2016 and MandaSudharai's remarks were apt as already pointed out.Sometimes Instrumental tone production of Gurus are accepted,but in vocal imitations are not welcome.