AISWARYA SANKAR AT ARKAY CONVENTION-6/8/16

[CRama]

Aiswarya Sankar is an upcoming vidushi, a prominent disciple of Suguna Varadachari. Her concert was featured in the series of Musiri-Suguna Varadachari Sishya Parampara series. She was accompanied on the violin by M.Rajeev and on the Mridangam by Kallidaikurichi Sivakumar and on the Ghatam by Chandrasekara Sarma. List of songs.

• Slokam- Dakshinamurthey- Sankarabharanam-MD (S)
• Virutham-Vedanayakam Vediyar nayakam
• Tiruvadirai darisanathukku vanden-Dhanyasi-GKB
• Nijamukharama-Keeravani- Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar (R,N,S)
• Venkatasailavihara-Hameerkalyani-Subbaraya Sastri
• Paridanamichithe-Bilahari-Patnam Subramania Iyer
• Giripai nelakonna-Sahana-T (R,N,S)
• Ivan yaro ariyen sakhiye-Kambodi padam- Kavi Kunjara Bharathi
• Ela radayani kamini- Bhairavi Javali
• Thyagaraja Mangalam-Madhyamavathy- Walajapet Venklataramana Bhagavatar

About Aiswarya Sankar
The family of Aiswarya hails from Kolkata. Her father Dr.Sankar was working in a famous hospital there and mother a teacher. I am very close to their family since my Kolkata days. Her father himself trained in music, is a great connoisseur of music and was very active in the R.R.Sabha, Kolkata which conducted a grand musical festival every year and used to bring all leading singers from Chennai. Aiswarya showed promise in music right from her childhood and she had her lessons from (Late) Indira Renganathan Mami- a famous teacher in Kolkata in that period. After Class 12 in Kolkata, Aiswarya was determined about taking music as a whole time profession and hence the family relocated to Chennai in Aug 2008. Since then she has been under the tutelage of Suguna Mami and provided vocal accompaniment to many of her concerts in India and abroad. Simultaneously Aiswarya pursued her graduation & post graduation from Queen Marys College in Music. Currently she is pursuing her Phd from the same college. Dr.Sankar is presently with MIOT hospital, Chennai.

Aiswarya has a rich sonorous voice which is capable of traversing the three octaves with consummate ease and her rich manodharmam is evident in the kalpana sangeetham segments. Her rigorous training under Suguna Mami and her hard work is reflecting aplenty in her concerts. I am listing some of the prestigious prizes she has won in the competitions held by various music institutions. This is just a tip of the iceberg.
 Bagged the prestigious L V Memorial Award from Rasika Ranjana Sabha, Trichy under the Junior category in the year 2003, with a total of 11 prizes out of 12 sections.
 Won 16 prizes out of 20 sections in the music competition conducted by The Indian Fine arts Society, Chennai in 2008.
 Won 12 prizes out of 14 sections in the music competition conducted by Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai in 2008, which includes First Prize in Raga Alapana
and Ragam Tanam Pallavi.
 Sweeped 21 prizes out of 22 sections in the competitions conducted by The Music Academy, Chennai in 2009, with First Prize in Alapana Neraval & Swaram and Ragam Tanam Pallavi.
 Awarded the First Prize in the Carnatic Music competition held at The Mylapore Academy for the year 2009 – 2010.
 Recipient of Tamilnadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mantram scholarship award for the year 2013.
 Secured First Prize in the Pallavi Competition conducted by Carnatica and Parthasarathy Sabha in 2016. (I had already reviewed this concert in the forum)

Now about the concert.
Guru Peyarchi had just happened. So Aiswarya thought it appropriate to commence the concert with a slokam on Guru and the mighty song Dakshinamurthey of Deekshitar. The song was rendered in the appropriate kalapramanam and the few rounds of swaras in two kalams brought the required weight and gusto to the concert in the first song itself. The next virutham as also the song in Dhanyasi of GKB are totally new to me. Aiswarya rendered all the three charanams which are in Madhayama kalam. Keeravani was the first ragam of the day and the ragam was expanded with the characteristic sancharams. Aiswarya’s open throated singing, with the akara passages, well rounded gamakams, choicest brighas all made it a memorable Keeravani for 10 minutes, fit to be hailed as the main ragam. I was glad that the song Nijamukha rama was chosen which is not very common in the concert platform. Neraval at Aja rudra nutha aanandakara and cracker swaras in second kalam was demonstrative of her vidwat and sadhakam.

After the two fillers, Sahana was the main ragam for the day. It is a long time since I heard any concert with Sahana as the main ragam. The ragam was developed in a systematic manner dwelling on the key notes of the ragam and weaving highly imaginative patterns around the important swarams and exploring the beauty of the ragam in all its myriad hues. The alapana took a solid ten minutes and the audience sat as if in a trance. The kriti was rendered in a leisurely kalapramanam. The elaborate neraval at Ilabadi visaruchu gosaruchu sevimpaga in two kalams and following cascade of elaborate swaras with imaginative koraippu culminating in a complex teermanam was received by the discerning audience with a huge applause.

Post tani, Aiswarya rendered the padam and javali as a tribute to Sangeeta Kalanidhi T.Brinda as the day happened to be her twentieth remembrance day. Aiswarya concluded with the Tyagaraja Mangalam of Walajapet Venkatramana Bhagavatar.

M.Rajeev provided excellent support on the violin. His alapanas of Keeravani and Sahana were brimming with raga bhavam and the swara and neraval returns were succinct. His mellinam vallinam was admirable. Kallidaikurichi Sivakumar played with good anticipation and understanding and the tone was brilliant. Chandrasekar Sarma played with good tonal quality and the tani was well received by the audience. It was a very happy sight that the hall was full and there were many sitting on the floor. There were many young musicians among the audience and Guru Suguna Varadachari and Vasundhara Rajagopal were sitting right in the front to encourage the young vidushi. An excellent concert for two hours.














T

[rajeshnat]

• Slokam- Dakshinamurthey- Sankarabharanam-MD (S)
....
• Nijamukharama-Keeravani- Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar (R,N,S)

...
• Giripai nelakonna-Sahana-T (R,N,S)
....
Guru Peyarchi had just happened. So Aiswarya thought it appropriate to commence the concert with a slokam on Guru and the mighty song Dakshinamurthey of Deekshitar.

Crama
I always thought starting with a mighty krithi with dakshinamoorthE saves time for the artist as it is a near submain status . I did not know that daksinamoorthE competes with vinayaka to give a great start . Tx for your info on guru peyarchi.

Looks this nijamukharama is very much a suguna v and suguna p export that came to the next generation of disciples . IIRC The first time I heard was when K gayathri sang at rasikas concert when TRS mama gave the preceding lecture . Also once Brinda Manickavasagam sang this krithi.

It takes a lot of musical maturity to render giripai nelakonna in sahana as a main . A tough krithi and kudos to aiswarya sankar, looking forward to hear her live .

Tx for your review.

All
IS there by any chance a TRS or Musiri recording available where they have sung nijamukha rama in keeravani ??.

[CRama]

Aiswarya is again singing in Musiri's house on 14 Aug.

[keerthi]

Nice song selection.

NijamugA is probably sung most often by Smt Vedavalli and her shishya-s. R.K.Srikantan too has sung it in the past.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

The Keeravaani kriti has been very popular in Trivandrum since the late seventies after Sri R Krishnaswamy of AIR taught it in the Radio lessons. It is very suitable for Veena too. The anupallavi Sahitya 'Ajarudranutha' is an excellent, 'irresistible point' for niraval.