S. Aishwarya at Sapthaswara – Malleswaram 28th Oct 2016

[s.harinie]

Date: 28.10.2016
Venue: Sapthaswara – Malleswaram

Vocal: S.Aishwarya
Violin: Anuthama Murali
Mridangam: Phanindra Bhaskara
Ghatam : B S Raghunandan
Tambura: P Manjunatha

6 45 pm to 9 30 pm

Occasion : 150th concert of Sapthaswara.

1. Om Namah Pranavarthaya
2 Ninukori - Mohanam – Aadi – Poochi - 3 speeds
3. Vallabha Nayakasya – Rupakam – Begada – Muthuswami Dikshitar
4. Ksheerasagara Shayana – Mayamalavagowla – Dhruva Tala - Mysore Maharajah Jayachamaraja Wodeyar - Ragam – Neraval and swarams at Kumbha
sambhava lopaamudraarchana toshineem Kaanchipura vaasineem Kanjadalaaya daaksheem Kaamaaksheem.
5. Nenarunchinanu - Aadi - Malavi - Thyagaraja
6. nambi keTTavar illavO rangaiyyaa ninna - misra chaapu - Kalyani - Purandaradasar - Ragam – Neraval & Swaram at garuDa gamana shree purandara
viTThalanaa.
7. Akilandeshwari – Dwijavanti - Aadi – Muthuswami Dikshitar
8. Potruvom Pughazhndiduvom Indhiya Nattai -RTP – Aadi – Khanda Nadai – Nattai.. swarams in Behag , Desh and Vasantha (Thani) 9. Bhavayami Gopalabalam – Khanda Chapu – Yaman – Annamacharya
10. Maithreem Bhajatha
11. Mangalam

I was amongst the 30 fortunate people to attend this unforgettable mike less concert by Aishwarya at Sapthaswara at the home of Dr Gopal. Her voice is so powerful that even without a mike the carry is extraordinary. She began with the Mohanam varnam sung with remarkable clarity in 3 speeds. The next song was a pleasing invocation to Lord Ganesha – Vallabha Nayakasya.

As Aishwarya commenced the ragam in Mayamalavagowla the audience listened in rapt attention for the next 10 minutes absolutely spell bound. She has developed her own model of raga delineation building it step by step. As she reaches the Shadjamam and the mel Gandharam there are a spurt of rapid elegant brigas but crystal clear in clarity which is magnificent. Ksheerasagara Shayana was sung with the purity of the MSS Patanthara Shudham and the neraval and swaras treated with a confident self assurance. Nenarunchinanu was a super fast filler before the main item of the day. Kalyani was elaborated in great detail. Aishwarya’s strength and mastery between the middle octave gandara and the higher octave gandhara is an experience not to be missed! As she commenced nambi keTTavar illavO, the excitement in the audience was palpable. Neraval and swarams at garuDa gamana shree purandara viTThalanaa was sung with complete bhakthi and in two speeds.


The pièce de résistance of the day was the RTP in Nattai, Aadi Talam and Khanda Nadai. She did all 3 speeds in both keezh kalam and mel kalam with supreme confidence and effortlessly. The ragamalika swaras were refreshing and when she sang desh, she interchanged the word Nattai to Deshai with a twinkle in her eye..

Anuthama was fantastic in her support. For a mikeless concert Phanindra knew exactly how to play. He just caressed the mridangam and coaxed the melody from the percussion instrument. Raghunandan supported Phanindra very well.

The concert was attended by 2 VIPS – Chief Guests. Sri H M V Raghu, a close associate of MSS family and one who has recorded almost all the known recordings of MSS as the Sound Engineer in HMV and Dr Sharada Natarajan, President of Ramana Maharishi Center for Learning in Bangalore.

Both of them spoke so well and I had noted down a few points made by both which I am reproducing below.

HMV Raghu: He used to visit Radha Viswanathan’s home often to digitise spool tapes in late 1990’s and also on one occasion for a recording of a group of students of KRK. At that time Aishwarya was just a small girl. But even then, she showed lot of interest in how Mr Raghu used to record and sat with him throughout the exercise, grasping what were volume levels by observing the meters and how they need to be harmonised etc. At that time, Mr Raghu said, he hardly knew that Aishwarya would one day grow up to be a vidushi like this. Mr Raghu said that from today’s concert one can visualise the amount of hard work that Aishwarya has put in and without that hard work it is not possible to give a performance of this quality. He also said that Aishwarya has been able to fuse the juice, cream and heart of the wonderful style of Dhrupad Dhamar into Carnatic Music. He said that one could perceive in Aishwarya’s music a fusion of the two styles of akaram permutation, MS – Semmangudi and MS – Musiri . Mr Raghu said that fidelity to Shruti runs in the family. MSS, Radhamma and Aishwarya, they are born for Shruthi. He said that Aishwarya’s Ksheerasagara Shayana in Mayamalavagowla brought tears to his eyes. It was a playback of MSS and Radha, adding that it is very difficult song to sing.

Mr Raghu praised Anuthama and said that she had in her the purity of gamakas of the MKC and Kanyakumari schools.

Mr Raghu was wholesome in his phrase for Phanindra and particularly praised his left hand control which was awesome and lifted the concert to a celestial level. He said that for a mridangam artist to play like he did especially in a mikeless concert, he should have a good heart – manasu ! .He particularly praised his accompaniment for Nerarunchinanu and Ksheerasagara.

Dr Sharada Natarajan : She said that Aishwarya’s performance reflected the generations of tapasya. She has learnt not just the skills but the entire padhathi of the MS bani as when she folds her hand upon singing the composer’s mudra. She praised all the artists for the excellent concert. She also said it was wonderful to see a real tambura on the stage, a rare sight now a days.

[rshankar]

Thank you for that wonderful review. I do hope that Cienu will post pictures and a few clips (of the RTP???)...IIRC, this is the first time I have heard of a RTP from Aishwarya!

Was the mAyAmALavagauLa kRti preceded by the verse from Ananda lahari, mukhE tE tAmbUlam?

[cienu]

Thank you for that wonderful review. I do hope that Cienu will post pictures and a few clips (of the RTP???)...IIRC, this is the first time I have heard of a RTP from Aishwarya!

Was the mAyAmALavagauLa kRti preceded by the verse from Ananda lahari, mukhE tE tAmbUlam?

Yes. She did sing the verse mukhE tE tAmbULam before the Krithi.
Aishwarya has sung a few RTP' s in the past. The Irinjalakuda concert in April 2015 had a Dharmavati RTP. I think in the last Chennai music season she had sung a Todi RTP in SAFE concert.
And in the US tour of 2016 there was an RTP in Raleigh.
Any concert above 2 hours and an RTP can be fitted in.
I will post a picture and if possible a link to the RTP by next week.

[rshankar]

Cienu - thank you for that information! Looking forward to the links (and pictures)!

[pattamaa]

. I think in the last Chennai music season she had sung a Todi RTP in SAFE concert.
.

how can one forget that todi RTP !!! would like to hear again !!