Visakha Hariji @ NGS on New Year Day 2017

[Vocalist]

Narada Gana Sabha main hall, 4pm, 2hr55min

Visakha Hari vocal/story
B U Ganesh Prasad violin
S J Arjun Ganesh mridangam
Trichy K Murali ghatam

Another jam packed auditorium, and I'm not surprised at the turnout given how great the concert was by this Harikatha & Carnatic music specialist. She has a very commanding voice, a beautiful sense of pitch, vocal aesthetics, story-telling, and sense of humour.

The theme title was "Hanumantha Prabhavam". She began the concert with a verse of the Kamba Ramayanam in Nattai before launching into Dikshitar's Pavanathmaja in the same raga. She also took up Swathi Thirunal's "Anjaneya Raghurama", as well as several popular a and rarely heard compositions of both Arunachala Kavirayar and Thyagaraja. Verses from compositions of her Guru, as well as anecdotes regarding her gurus were also included in this presentation, together with an overview of Hanuman's birth to his role at the end of the Ramayanam (excluding Uttara Kandam). The last composition she sang in full was a beautiful and emotional Kanden Kanden in Bhageshri. There is a lot more which should be said but I disn't take notes so I will leave the content there unless there are specific questions.

Thani avarthanam was crisp and nice, and the violinist's tanam/nerd all in two different ragas was impressive. This sabha has comfortable seats, good leg room, properly functioning air conditioning, and a very nice audio system (at least in the main hall). I was happy to get a seat for this concert, given that advance booking availability was only 1 day in advance for this sabha and in view of the fact that Bombay Jayashris concert was sold out by 10am on the day of her concert.

My only disappointment was that the sabha did not allot a longer time slot as it was warranted. The last part of the katha was rushed at the end as a consequence, and she was conscious she was running late. Still, she finished with 5 mins left to 7pm which was a good effort even though I wished she could have continued in the same level of detail until the natural end of the katha.

Some remarks about the next concert which followed:
* The Harikatha concert mentioned above for which the auditorium was jam packed did run over the allotted time slot by 10 mins.
* The auditorium was left almost empty for the next concert which started at 7:15pm. The next concert scheduled was of a Bharatha Natyam recital by Padma Subramanyam + crew.
* The person who introduced that concert apologised for the 15min delay in starting the concert, said that it was not their fault they were starting the recital late, and directly blamed the artist from the previous concert for finishing late.
* I thought I'd see if I could watch the so-called Bharatha Natyam dance performance by this famous dancer despite the seemingly rude way in which this unnecessary blame was directed for a minor delay given the ticket covered attendance for both concerts.
* The announcement for the first item was to the effect that a Pushpanjali in praise of Nrittha Ganapathi of Mylapore Kapaleeshwarar Temple which Padma Subramanyam learnt from the last devadasi of that temple would be performed.
* I left after 5 mins of the walking performance commencing.

[thanjavooran]

Many thanks for the brief write up. IMO no doubt she is a great muscian, can concentrate more on Haikatha than deviating from the standard format, with elaborate Alapana, Niraval , Swaraprastharam and RTP with full bench. Dr Padma subramaniam, a great dancer will never mind such things.
Thanjavooran
02 01 2017

[rajeshnat]

Narada Gana Sabha main hall, 4pm, 2hr55min

......
My only disappointment was that the sabha did not allot a longer time slot as it was warranted. The last part of the katha was rushed at the end as a consequence, and she was conscious she was running late. Still, she finished with 5 mins left to 7pm which was a good effort .....

You want even more than 2 hours and 55 mins ..... Hmmmmm......

[Vocalist]

Narada Gana Sabha main hall, 4pm, 2hr55min

......
My only disappointment was that the sabha did not allot a longer time slot as it was warranted. The last part of the katha was rushed at the end as a consequence, and she was conscious she was running late. Still, she finished with 5 mins left to 7pm which was a good effort .....

You want even more than 2 hours and 55 mins ..... Hmmmmm......

It is an epic after all. Perhaps her concert format should change as the lengthy elaboration of Emi Jesithe was unnecessary for the katha imho. That was the only time the audience grew restless. That said, more compositions probably would best occupy that time so I'd probably still say 3.5 hrs would be perfect.

[kvchellappa]

In fact, I enjoy her singing more.

[rshankar]

* I left after 5 mins of the walking performance commencing.

Dr. Padma's performs bharatanRtyam

[grsastrigal]

The same issue happened in BVB in last december. Last 15 minutes was so confusing.

I attended harikathA of Smt.VH at Thyaga brahma gana sabha last week of Dec. The topic was "Narayana teertha tarangam".

There are few problems in Smt VHji's perforamance

First, she had to stop full-fledged accompaniments. If she wants, has to do only a full concert. No harikathA. When you have harikatha with full accompaniments, you are forced to sing full kritis, sing one rAgam, give an opportunity for violin to return. Tani is also forming part as you cannot disown them. Hence, the focus is shifted. Listeners also get confused "what is going on- sort of "to be or not to be".

Shri. AnnA (Krishna premiji)- Father in law of Smt VHji- always tells- a person who performs UpanyAsam, has to stick to upanyasam. Even in rAgam, one had to give an outline (mOOrchanA-in sanskrit) of rAgam.

Unfortunately, she does not follow this. Comparing sri. Dushyant sridhar, he keeps separate artists for musical part, and has lot of time to stop them from singing or to increase his "upanyasa" time.

[rajeshnat]

GRS
Is There is a difference between sangeetha upanyasam and harikatha? We had about 10 years before a thread where it was agreed some thing like this:
Harikatha means more discourse less music. Sangeetha upanyasam means equal music and discourse. Please remember possibly the quantum of singing is increased the quantum of harikatha discourse can be reduced.

[sankark]

My only disappointment was that the sabha did not allot a longer time slot as it was warranted. The last part of the katha was rushed at the end as a consequence, and she was conscious she was running late. Still, she finished with 5 mins left to 7pm which was a good effort even though I wished she could have continued in the same level of detail until the natural end of the katha.

Some remarks about the next concert which followed:
* The Harikatha concert mentioned above for which the auditorium was jam packed did run over the allotted time slot by 10 mins.
* The auditorium was left almost empty for the next concert which started at 7:15pm. The next concert scheduled was of a Bharatha Natyam recital by Padma Subramanyam + crew.
* The person who introduced that concert apologised for the 15min delay in starting the concert, said that it was not their fault they were starting the recital late, and directly blamed the artist from the previous concert for finishing late.

The person who apologised was being professional and attributing the reason to the right party. I find finding fault with that actually faulty!

Perhaps there were few who turned out actually for the next program as advertised and were waiting outside?

And since when is the crowd turnout strength the measure of goodness in art - then going by the stories of MDR concerts he had zilch, exactly zilch, in some of his concerts.

Blinkers-on mode all ahead full steam, are we all getting into?

PS: I had the honor (dubious?) of being the sole member of the audience from the end of varnam - excluding the sound engineers and sabha member - for a recent concert for about 1 hour at which time two more joined to bring the strength to the same as that on the stage (3) - at Nada Sudha where I heard two v good to excellent alapanais of chakravagam and bhairavi. Artiste - Krishna Ramaratnam.

[Rsachi]

I express an opinion here which could be copy-pasted in multiple threads.

1.There is an order of magnitude increase in the biodiversity of Carnatic music as experienced by rasikas here.
2.rasikas.org is itself a microcosm in this universe and I think whole islands of musicians, audiences, radio listeners, and sabha organisations, don't care to connect with rasikas.org
3. Today's typical concert experience is along 3 dimensions: A. where and what and by whom a concert is arranged, B. How and who actually performs what in the concert C. Who attends the concert and how they experience it
A B and C each has at least 15-20 variables. Margazhi, Semmangudi Bani, Music Academy, and say MDR or Lalgudi fans among audiences are just like specks in a galaxy of miasmic mega solar systems.
4.In all this, there is no single gravitational field force or principle. Someone says Carnatic should be spelt as Karnatak. Someone says Thyagaraja is obsolete and irrelevant. Third says he will compose and sing a krithi or RTP with just two notes. Someone says "Only Dikshitar for me". Another says vocalists are terrorists. So... can you imagine the level of Chaos?
5.If audience strength and applause is a saving grace of a measure in this confusion, we should applaud it. Like the ₹300 crore Bollywood club or the Kabali release across 10000 screens around the world.

[sankark]

Third says he will compose and sing a krithi or RTP with just two notes.

Then just one note, that too gone and now we have the perfect and most pleasant music - Silence. The performers and audience will all assemble, just be seated, (yawning, walking in between and all that is permitted ofcourse except the privilege to walk out during tani is forever lost ) and then disperse. Nary a sound of strumming, thrumming and humming.

Just to bring a moment of levity and lol. Don't take seriously.

[dipukaruthedam]

...
First, she had to stop full-fledged accompaniments. If she wants, has to do only a full concert. No harikathA... Listeners also get confused "what is going on- sort of "to be or not to be".

As Rsachi mentioned, I also feel that it depends on the ecosystem and rasikas A "carnatic" listener would want a full concert. A harikathA fan would want more story, less songs. Someone who is in the middle would be loving what she is doing currently. Some may even be attending just for the sake of attending, or for the snacks available at the venue A performer will surely not able to satisfy all people in this spectrum, so, every one will have to choose their line and just keep performing...

[Vocalist]

The person who apologised was being professional and attributing the reason to the right party. I find finding fault with that actually faulty!

Perhaps there were few who turned out actually for the next program as advertised and were waiting outside?

Whether or not it was intended that way (or in fact necessary) is another matter, but it did not leave a good taste - and that's perhaps where our opinions may continue to differ. I overheard at least two members of the audience who were nearby remarking how rude and unprofessional it sounded.

I do not recall seeing anyone waiting outside at the end of the concert - but I did see staff bring people to seats during VH's concert, and people naturally moved seats as the crowd cleared for the bharatanRtya concert. (Thanks rshankar for that - it makes much more sense now )

And since when is the crowd turnout strength the measure of goodness in art - then going by the stories of MDR concerts he had zilch, exactly zilch, in some of his concerts.

PS: I had the honor (dubious?) of being the sole member of the audience from the end of varnam - excluding the sound engineers and sabha member - for a recent concert for about 1 hour at which time two more joined to bring the strength to the same as that on the stage (3) - at Nada Sudha where I heard two v good to excellent alapanais of chakravagam and bhairavi. Artiste - Krishna Ramaratnam.

I don't know. It was sad to see artists greeted without any audience particular in the larger auditoriums. In those situations, I wonder why have that particular concert at all? I felt uncomfortable being a member of such a small audience for one of the concerts.