Thematic concert on Thyagaraja by Dr. T.S.Sathyavathi : Oct 8, 2016

[ranjanifinearts]

Namaste and Navaratri greetings from Ranjani Fine Arts!
Ranjani Fine Arts celebrates the 250th birth anniversary year of Sadguru Thyagaraja, with a special thematic concert – “Sangeetha Chinthanam – Saint Thyagaraja’s musings on music”, featuring

Vidushi Dr. T. S. Sathyavathi (vocal),
Vidishis Archana Bhoj & Shruthi Bhaskar (vocal support),
Vidwan Mattur Srinidhi (violin) and
Vidwan Tumkur B. Ravishankar (mridanga)

Date : Saturday, October 8th , 2016 at 5PM.
Venue : Sobha Lakeview Club, off Outer Ring Road, Bellandur, Bangalore-560103

Do share this with your friends and all music lovers. We look forward to seeing you this Saturday

[rshankar]

Best wishes!!

[ranjanifinearts]

Thanks for your kind wishes, rshankar.

Dasara greetings from RFA to all rasikas, and a reminder about tomorrow's special thematic concert by Dr. T.S.Sathyavathi. We look forward to seeing you.

[munirao2001]

Many thanks for the invitation for the not to be missed concert of Dr.TSS. I will be attending the concert and shall reach the venue by 4.30 p.m. Hope to meet you and other forumites.

munirao2001

[HarishankarK]

Kindly make notes and post a detailed review for the benefit of those who cannot be there
She is a very knowledgeable Vidushi.

[HarishankarK]

Kindly make notes and post a detailed review for the benefit of those who cannot be there
She is a very knowledgeable Vidushi.

[cienu]

Wishing the function all success.

[munirao2001]

This was my first event attendance of RFA, Bellandur. I had the pleasure of meeting Sri Arvind Brahmakal, Founder Trustee and he introduced RFA Team. RFA has set on high values of event conception and management. I had the joy of meeting yet another founder trustee and a good event manager, our forumite Sri KSSR.
Dr.TSS is lakshya and lakshana Vidushi with meritorious scholarship in Samskruta and Kannada. Her concerts, thematic concerts, lecture & demonstration, talks are always performed with very good preparation, discipline, dignified delivery and sense of proportion and balance. Dr.TSS is one of the very few Vidwans and Vidushees hailing from Karnataka Region, who has won standing ovation at Music Academy for her L&D in the past.

Vulnerability is human and Dr.TSS proved no exception on Oct 8th, 2016. 'Sangeeta Chintanam' was the chosen theme. Sangeeta Chintanam is not listing of the compositions in which sangeeta/paata/gaana words are used-which she listed and read out in the beginning numbering to 30. Vidushi announced that few selected compositions will be rendered for performance in the traditional format of alaapana, niraval and svarakalpana. Her rendering -alaapanas of Aarabhi, Kanada and Begada ; niravals for the sub main and main compositions of 'Sree Narada' and 'Naadopasana'; svarakalpana with imaginative sarva laghu and kuraippus in svarakalpana, were full of classicism and praise worthy. Vidushi was very given vocal support by her chosen disciples Ms.Archana Bhoj and Shruti Bhaskar,very ably as both of them are performing solo concerts. Some of the selected compositions were ', 'Melukovaiyya', 'Gaanamurthe','Narada gaana lola', 'Sree Narada', 'Nadopasana'. I am sorry, I did not note down the song list. Rendering of compositions reflected Dr.TSS high merits on patantara suddhatvam,sans sangati ornamentation and gimmicks of mounted 'brighas'.

Vid.Mattur Srinidhi, on violin was following with devotion and sincerity reflecting the class of the main performer in following. Not beyond the following, in his own creativity sparks enlivening and driving the main performer for raising the bar on creativity. Vid.Tumkur Ravishankar on mridangam is now a seasoned performer and his stint of higher training with Great Maestro Sri Karaikudi Mani has added strength in his choice of teermanam, kuraippus and nadai (tani, in particular). TR won the praise of Dr.TSS, main performer, a noteworthy achievement. Dr.TSS received wholesome praise from Sri Arvind Brahmakal for 'bringing the vaggeyakara and rasikas closer in relationship'. Shaale.com have done audio-video recording of this concert and it will be put on youtube.com within the next 30 days, as per the announcement of Arvind Brahmakal. One must listen/view this concert.

Given the details of dignified and traditional concert, what was her vulnerability in this thematic concert? It was only 'maatu' engaging her total attention leaving aside the critical aspect of 'dhatu'. Vaggeyakara has Kavi and Geya hridayams. With her scholarship and experience, she delivered on 'maatu' deserving and meeting the expectation. Sangeeta Chintanam of Thyagaraja demanded the focus and delivery of musical values-dhatu hailed, believed and declared in compositions which contained these critical and unique elements-ragas, ethugada, raga sanchari, svara porutham/aptness, avenue for scope for manodharma, kalapramana vaividhyatva (variety)-all creating 'Raaga sudha 'RASA','RANJana','Tantri and Laya', 'NAADA' and 'NAADA UPASANA'. It was missing, very disappointingly but surprisingly.

munirao2001

[kssr]

After the scholarly elucidation of Sri.Muni Rao, I just wanted to add a lay man's view.
a. I am not too sure about the literal meaning of the "title" of the concert. However, Dr.TSS made the theme as "the way Saint Thyagaraja viewed Nada and Rama as one and the same".
b. At the outset, she said that her programme is just a "concert" and not a lec-dem. Nonetheless, the insight she gave into the Thyagaraja kritis by her brief comments before each song was worth its weight in gold.
c. She first listed the 30 kritis where the theme chosen has been exhibited by Thyagaraja. Then came the googly. "I will now sing ...." (everyone expected that she would mention the songs that she will select out of the 30).... "9 songs other than the 30 !!!"
d. The emphasis of her talk- the throw of her words are things which are inimitable. I envy her lucky students. You cannot take your mind off the song or lecture even for a minute. It is so absorbing and informative. Besides the presentation skills, she strongly believes in- actually knows- what she is talking. That is her authority on the subject.
e. After a few words about the meaning of the kriti and the beauty of its construction, when she started with melukovaiyya it was somehow so moving and touching that I had tears in my eyes. The bhava was so genuine and deep.
f. She is also fully aware of the limitation of her voice range. However, under no circumstance would she allow the voice to become unpleasant for the listener. She had the support of two of her students, who just helped in the higher octave and the transitions were absolutely smooth.
g. The experience was so fulfilling, that on return I told my wife that it is a privilege not only to have access to her programmes but also to know and have friendly communication with such a great unassuming personality. I sincerely think so.
h. Ravishankar is a senior vidwan and he embellished the concert as is normal for him. I felt that Srinidhi did not have adequate opportunity to express himself. But his accompaniment was also flawless.
I. Sincere thanks to the Ranjani team for giving us such a great memorable programme. (Should probably think of methods to get a larger audience for a programme of this calibre. It is just a thought)

[munirao2001]

KSSR Sir,
Theme was 'Sangeeta Chintanam...musing on music', time duration (communication, in this instance) on reflection and thought on Thyagaraja's musical thinking as reflected in his compositions. Theme demands primacy for musical aspects-Sangeeta bhaavam over Sahithya bhaavam. For e.g. the grand composition of 'Naadopaasana-Begada'. Thyagaraja also declares that Naadopaasana is the sanmarga for the grace of Sankara and Narayana and composes the music for the saahithya bhaavam with choice of raaga Begada. Begada at its zenith. Its establishment by difference in composing his other kruthis in this raaga and differently from many other of his kruthis. Saahithya bhaavam, with minimal knowledge of understanding the language-Telugu and Samskruta, rasikas understands with ease. Your report on personal experience stand testimony to this fact. Sangeeta bhaavam requires detailed explanation on the insights of the composer's imagination, creativity and its unique values for the rasikas (at times, even the discerning rasikas and practitioners are no exceptions) to experience (by listening) and appreciate.

This is my attempt,very briefly, on the nature and scope of this thematic concert.

munirao2001

[kssr]

Thanks sir.
Using your terminology itself, we can conclude that the sangeetha bhaavam came from her singing and the sahitya bhaavam came from her spoken word, both brilliantly done.
It is also always a delight to read your erudite comments on musical matters. Thanks again.

[thenpaanan]

Just riffing on the two reviews here, my experience (and I may have gross sampling error) is that more lecdems focus on wordplay of composers than the musical flow. I am sure Smt Satyavati is perfectly capable of rendering both. There is a great lecdem of hers on Dikshitar on youtube where she does a great job on the musical ideas of the composer. I find myself more attracted to these kinds of lecdems than the ones that focus on literary aspects but that is just a personal bias. A friend of mine who is a Jazz musician introduced me to the concept of the "notes not played". The idea is that genius composers deliberately choose some musical lines over others and thereby they are making a statement about the lines that they could have chosen but did not. I have rarely found such an analysis in CM (though I have listened to one such in my life, so it is not impossible). Just to give a sample of that kind of analysis, in the Sahana kamalamba navavaranam, MD uses this peculiar jantai sequence at the very end of the anupallavi that I have never seen anywhere else. If you analyze the musical line that comes before it, it seems that MD Is painting himself into a corner because he has climbed up to the high Sa with just two aksharas left to come down to the low Sa which is the first note of the pallavi. You wonder how he is going to make it all the way down gracefully and then he takes your breath away by using that jantai. Then you realize that he had this ace in his backpocket the whole time to spring it on you! Such is genius. Similarly the first few notes of chEtasri -- MD pointedly uses the ri three times when he had the whole universe to choose from! On the Tyagaraja side my teacher would point out the first line of O ranga shaayee! T keeps on the Ri and Ga seemingly forever before moving on. My teacher would say that is because he is scanning the massive Ranganatha from head to toe as he is singing and he is not going up melodically because the Lord is lying down! Quite an apt musical metaphor!

-T

[arvind.brahmakal]

To be fair to Dr TSS, RFA's understanding with her was to look at several compositions of Sadguru Tyagaraja on music and its essence and relevance. Hence, she was driven by the sahitya element and more so, as it was a concert and not a lec dem

There is a third dimension to what has been expressed prior - which is to view sahitya and sangeetha together and not to analyse each of them separately. This could be a wonderful exercise that will test the alignment of bhava and rasa of the presenter with that of the composer. If there are any such talented artistes who can genuinely do justice to this dimension, do indicate here - organisers are all eyes

[kssr]

Dr.TSS, believe me, is one of the most knowledgeable artists I have come across .She has internalised both the nuances of sahitya and the nuances of music. I had the opportunity of attending two programmes in the last couple of months, one on the theme of Mysore Vasudevacharya at Nadasurabhi and the one here under discussion at RFA on Thyagaraja. In CM, Sahitya and sangeetha and the resultant bhava are intertwined but still when it comes to a lecture the specialist can focus on any one aspect to enlighten the audience. The artist here clearly defined her goals right at the outset and went about it with sharp focus.

In the lecdem-concert on Vasudevacharya, she chose to highlight among many special features, the beauty and musical features of the various chittaswarams in his compositions (to be called chitra swarams acc to Dr.TSS) - just that. That needs real depth. In the Thyagaraja concert, she chose, among many possibilities, how Thyagaraja saw Rama and nada as one and the same. It was a subtle explanation for the different songs taken up. Beautiful. Like Sri. Thenpannan has nicely shown about a particular instance, there are numerous dimensions from which our compositions can be looked at. Dr.TSS , first defines and takes us through the journey, without mixing up very many things,( like in the case of katha kaalakshepaas). I am always reminded of the few super lecturers we had in college. Very pleasing to the heart and brain