Vasudha Ravi @ Nadasurabhi on 17.7.2016

[nadasurabhi]

Nadasurabhi Cultural Association, (Regd.)
Email:[email protected]
Web: http://nadasurabhi.org
FB: http://www.facebook.com/nadasurabhi

Cordially invites you for the Monthly Programme on
Sunday, 17th July 2016 at 4.15 PM

Venue: The Indian Heritage Academy Hall,
Near Police Station, 6th Block,
Koramangala, Bangalore. 560 095.



CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE

Grand Carnatic Music Concert

Vidushi Vasudha Ravi - Vocal
Vidushi Aditi Krishnaprakash - Violin
Vidwan Adamya Ramanand - Mridangam
Vidwan Sunaad Anoor - Khanjira


ALL ARE WELCOME

Vasudha Ravi, is a popular young carnatic vocalist. She has had her musical training from Dr.Manjula Sriram for over 20 years. Vasudha is a recipient of the prestigious title “Yuva Kala Bharathi” and awards like D.K.Pattammal Award of Excellence and RMKV Award of Excellence. She is an A grade artist of the All India Radio, Chennai.
Vasudha holds two post graduate degrees including MA in Music. She has made a mark in Karnataka by being one of the very good performers in Kalavanta 2015 music festival conducted by Karnataka Fine Arts Council, of which Nadasurabhi is an important constituent. She has also demonstrated her talent in several of the recent concerts in Bangalore.

Aditi on violin is an A grade artist of AIR and winner of Best Violinist award from Krishna Gana Sabha Chennai.
Adamya, on mridangam is a disciple of Umayalpuram Sri Sivaraman. He is a recipient of Ananya Yuva Puraskara, and an A grade artist of AIR .
Sunaad on Khanjira is from a family of leading percussionists. He is son and disciple of Sri. Anoor Dattatreya Sharma and nephew of Sri. Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma. He is the winner of the Kalavanta Upa pakkavaadyam award.

[hariniraghavan]

Concert review of Vasudha Ravi
Songs list:
1. Sami dayajuda Varnam Kedaragoula
2. Vandisuvudadiyali Naata (S)
3. Paahimam Rathnachala Mukhari (R)
4. Kudure bandide Valaji (Composition of Vadhiraja)
5. Mahima dakkinchu Rishabhapriya (N, S) at Vihita marga….
6. Evarikai avataramu Devamanohari
7. Mohanarama Mohana (R,S), Tani avartanam
8. Kailasa trinetra gangadhara RTP, Pantuvarali, Chatutasra Triputa.
Ragamalika swaram in Madhukauns and Vaasanthi.
9. Jeeva praan ek Abhang
10. Dheem tarana… Thillana , Pahadi, (Lalgudi Jayaraman)


Vidushi Vasudha Ravi’s concert is something not to be missed. She performed at Indian Heritage Academy, Koramangala, for Nadasurabhi on 17th July 2016, as part of the monthly concert. As she opened the concert with an Adi tala varnam in ‘Kedaragoula’ raga, her mature, bold voice filled the auditorium. Quickly moving over to Purandaradasa’s ‘Vandisuvudadiyali in ‘Natta’ raga, she embellished lord Gananatha with beautiful swaraprasthara. Then came the bhava laden ‘Mukhari’ ragalapana in all its fineness. What a change of mood full of pathos, immediately after fire works of swaras for Natta!! This was followed by a neat presentation of Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s ‘Pahimam Rathanchala’, a rarely heard song. As the rasikas were still soaked in the mukhari-experience, the tear jerker was over shadowed by her breezy ‘Kudure bandide’, in ‘Valaji’, a kannada composition of Vadhiraja, shaking up everyone. She literally was galloping with a care free laugh on her face, bringing cheer to the accompanying artists and the entire audience. After the horse ride she calmed down to present the ‘Rishabhapriya’ kriti - ‘Mahima dakkinchu’ and ‘Evarikai avataramu’ in ‘Devamanohari’ both by St.Thaygaraja. The main item came then in ‘Mohana’ raga, another kriti of Thyagaraja – ‘Mohanarama’. With her uninhibited, yet cultured voice, she treated ‘Mohana’ delicately, but in detail. She sculpted it with mesmerising sancharas, as if it was a prelude to the presentation of the charming image of Lord Rama in the kriti. She enhanced the raga with required ‘gamakas’ and adequate ‘vishranti’ in the raga alapana making it appealing. The swara prasthara which followed the composition was technical, with multiple combination of swara patterns, varying speeds and ‘gathis’. RTP in ‘Pantuvarali’ had ‘ Kailasa trinetra, gangadhara, shiva shambo’ for the Pallavi line, in Chaturasra Triputa tala, 2 kalai, a simple one, so to say, as she is better known for presenting complicated ‘Dwi nadai’ pallavis often. With an ‘Abhang’ and a thillana in ‘Pahadi’ raga she concluded the concert. On the whole it was a very good concert. Her ragas rendering is crisp, swaras come with ease and her voice range is good. There is no faltering at any point. Absolute control over breath and talam were the plus points. She is one of the most cheerful artists, both on and off stage!
Aditi Krishnaprakash was on Violin and her support was admirable. Despite a challenging job, looking at her great improvement over past few years, it was evident that she did nurture her music also quite well.
Adamya Ramanand on Mridangam, as usual was good. His best came for the Mohana kriti with the following Tani avartanam, and for the RTP.
Sunaad Anoor was vibrant and excited and provided excellent support.
The full house audience only wished that the musical treat could have continued for some more time. They were full of praise for young Vasudha. An interesting thing about Vasudha Ravi is that in her 20+ years of musical training she has had only one Guru who has shaped her up into such a fine artist with her own unique style!!! A wonderful two-way dedication indeed!

Harini Raghavan.

[Rsachi]

Harini-ji, I had occasion to meet both Vasudha and her guru. A rare combo indeed!! Thank you for your review.

[kssr]

CLICK TO ENLARGE


CLICK TO ENLARGE

[kssr]

The concert was truly of excellent calibre.
My comments:
a. What would catch the attention of the audience would be the ease and cheerfulness with which Vasudha can go through with her concert. It shows the sheer confidence that she has in her musical talent. Cheerfulness is contagious too. Spreads to the pakkavadhyams and audience.
b. I have heard Vasudha in two earlier concerts in Bangalore- First in SRLKM where she took challenging pieces with complex talam RTP and second was at BTM where she was to present only Purandara dasara kritis. This was a highly softened version befitting the style of the composer. Nadasurabhi is something in between. Good selection of songs with a relatively easy RTP. Good variety.
c. I prefer a method wherein one or two of the manodharma items, R-N-S, are taken in a song, instead of all three in the same song. All three makes it too much of a stretch even in good ragas. Vasudha did exactly that. She did demonstrate her ability to sing all three well but not all for the same song.
d. Bhava of mukhari was excellent. (I felt that the mridangam did not catch the mood of the song and there was a bit of a mismatch- minor issue, of course)
e. On seeing above, I now know that it is Rishabapriya. All the time I was thinking it was Shanmukhapriya Someone, I hope, will comfort me by saying that they are close ragams. There are quite a number of ragams which we have no clue about. That is Ok. But this kind of ambiguous (rendun kettan) cases hurts the ego Why is it considered uncool to announce the ragas sometime during the rendition. Invariably people coming out of concerts circulate wrongly identified ragams and composers to the whole world. Do we need a sanction or order from Music Academy to do it? I wonder !!!
f. Interestingly, for a long time, if my memory serves right, Nadasurabhi had not had a mohanam or pantuvarali as major or submajor. Choosing these two ragams for elaboration was a welcome thing, esp as I like both these ragams.
g. Mohanam was flawless. To some extent, apaswaram in this raga is not uncommon - blame it on the two absent swaras But that was not to be with Vasudha. Very pleasant presentation , bringing out the real character of the beautiful ragam.
h. RTP was also fluent, sweeping and authoritative swarams. Insertion of trikaalam was done in an interesting way instead of giving the usual tension filled moments, when we, along with mridangam wait with bated breath if the artist would succeed in the attempt to come out of the vyuuham.
I. Vasudha, I think, wants to be one among the " popular" lady artists. Yes. You guessed right. It was the abhang. However, she is yet to learn that the Vittaaalaa is to be stretched indefinitely and your popularity will grow in direct proportion to its length. I apologise to the abhang rasikas.
j. In thillana we look for some briskness before ending the concert. But that was not to be. Quite a slow number. Pahaadi, it seems.
k. Young talented artist, Aditi on violin gave very competent support and powerful confident returns. Has a good musical future. Adamya, a disciple of UKS had excellent anticipation while handling swarakorvais as well as saahithyams. Very heartening to see such talent.
l. Overall an excellent concert- just as I had anticipated - after listening to two of Vasudhas earlier concerts in Bangalore.

[hnbhagavan]

Dear Kssr,
Excellent review by the duo madam Harini and Raghavan.It is as though i attended the concert and you have given minute details.i wish RR Nagar and Koramangala gets connected by Metro.I am forced to miss many nice concerts you arrange.

[Nick H]

Her singing is full of joy

[kssr]

Yes. Nick. That is really putting it in a nutshell. Due to the sumitra concert , we could not see some regulars. Still the hall was full. That encouraged the artists to give their best.

[hnbhagavan]

Nick sir was in Bangalore for Sumitra Vasudevan's concert.

[sureshvv]

Her singing is full of joy

It is the voice, stupid (Borrowing a phrase from campaign past)

[Nick H]

It is the voice, stupid ...

The smile helps a lot too. it is always nice to see an artist so obviously enjoying the music themselves when they sing.

[kssr]

I heard that today she gave a good concert on SVBC Naada Neerajanam- Kalyani main. Unfortunately I was not at home.