Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Review the latest concerts you have listened to.
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sureshvv
Posts: 5523
Joined: 05 Jul 2007, 18:17

Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by sureshvv »

Accompanists
-------------------
Vaikom Padma Krishnan
Kumbakonam K.Swaminathan

Song List
------------
0. Chelimikori (varnam), gowla, adi, Veenai Kuppaiyer -> for mike testing with curtains down
1. Chalamela jesi (varnam), darbar, adi, Tiruvottiyur Thyagaiyer
2. Sri balambikayai, nattaikurinji, rupaka, D, s @ nattaikurinji ragapriya
3. Subhapantuvarali, Velaney verey gati illiye, misra chapu, Koteeswara Iyer, nst @ ezhai mel irangavinil en seiven
4. Mariyadagadayya, bhairavam, adi, T
5. RTP in 3 ragas, valachi, keeravani, kalyani
"Kalavathi parvathi neeye gati! Keeravani Kalyani"
2 Kalai Misra triputa with multiple nadais, drutam in chathusram
Ragamalika swaras in Saramathi, Nalinakanthi, Revathi
6. Sumanasa vandhita sundari madhavi, Revathi
7. Khamas tillana, Adi, LGJ

Observations
------------------
1. Spectacular concert that showcased her vidwat, voice and presentation.

2. Starting varnam was a bit rough as her voice needed to settle in.

3. Rare nattaikurinji kriti with some rapid fire swaras did the trick.

4. Subhapantuvarali alapana and neraval were simply original and unmatched. The pathos in the raga and kriti were laid bare. It was as if someone reached into your rib cage and squeezed your heart and held it for a while.

5. Mariyadagadayya is a one-of-a-kind kriti and it was sung with brighas flowing with great felicity and breezy ornamentation.

6. RTP was a wondrous affair. What a tapestry was woven with the 3 ragas all the way starting from the alapana itself in short spurts. The mood changes from a upbeat and buoyant valachi to a sombre keeravani to a delightfully sensual kalyani were done in a gradual and deliberate fashion. The RTP prize is accounted for already.

7. Wish she had announced the tala for the RTP. Hope the judges got it. I could tell there were nadai variations but not exactly what. Even the misra triputa was evident only later during the ragamalika swaras when she went to uniform nadai briefly.

8. Violinist tried to keep up and it was a challenge. Kumbakonam Swaminathan accompanied very competently, especially after something was whispered to him early on.

9. Amazing Grace - in front of the bean counters at the Academy.

rshankar
Posts: 13754
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by rshankar »

WOW! I am envious.....of your experience, Suresh!
sureshvv wrote: 19 Dec 2017, 23:059. Amazing Grace - in front of the bean counters at the Academy.
What does this mean??

Rasika_first
Posts: 32
Joined: 20 Nov 2017, 21:49

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by Rasika_first »

You are spot on Suresh.. Man where do you find the time to write so much. Sabha hopping, I hardly get the time to gather my thoughts and write reviews here, though i always think that writing in rasikas would be the first thing I do. ANyways coming to the concert Smt Sangeetha Swaminathan displayed her sheer brilliance and vidwat at the MA concert yesterday.

She had a shaky start with the varnam but got into the grove immediately. The nattaikurunji piece isn't heard frequently in the concert circuit and it is good that musicians like her revive it by singing at such venues.

Ah the Shubhapantuvarali.. It is such a beautiful ragam. What joy rasikas have felt listening to some masterly rendition by of Ennalu and Sri Satyanarayana by genius MLV and her sishyai Smt Sudha Ragunathan. Sangeetha followed their footsteps and left no stone unturned while rendering the ragam. Again the beautiful Koteeswara Iyer composition was sung well. I have heard Sanjay sing it once in his inimitable style. She has a lot of shades of her guru while rendering neraval and swarams.

Coming to the RTP. What ease she showed in shifting ragams and the nadais. Don't worry Suresh I am hoping that the judges would be competent enough to understand it :P. After a point I couldn't really follow the talam, may be some laya expert can chip in. Or if someone attends any of her other concert can ask her the intricacies and update it here. It was a total Ah moment for listeners during the ragamalika swaras.

All in all a classy concert. I am sure she has made her guru proud :).

I sat for Sumitra Vasudev too and then was done for the day.

sureshvv
Posts: 5523
Joined: 05 Jul 2007, 18:17

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by sureshvv »

rshankar wrote: 20 Dec 2017, 00:26
sureshvv wrote: 19 Dec 2017, 23:059. Amazing Grace - in front of the bean counters at the Academy.
What does this mean??
I feel she has long been denied her due at the Academy. In spite of that she offered them her best.

harimau
Posts: 1819
Joined: 06 Feb 2007, 21:43

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by harimau »

sureshvv wrote: 20 Dec 2017, 05:56
rshankar wrote: 20 Dec 2017, 00:26
sureshvv wrote: 19 Dec 2017, 23:059. Amazing Grace - in front of the bean counters at the Academy.
What does this mean??
I feel she has long been denied her due at the Academy. In spite of that she offered them her best.
I thought you meant that a few of the Academy bigwigs came and sat in the VIP row!

harimau
Posts: 1819
Joined: 06 Feb 2007, 21:43

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by harimau »

sureshvv wrote: 20 Dec 2017, 05:56
rshankar wrote: 20 Dec 2017, 00:26
sureshvv wrote: 19 Dec 2017, 23:059. Amazing Grace - in front of the bean counters at the Academy.
What does this mean??
I feel she has long been denied her due at the Academy. In spite of that she offered them her best.
Agnjatha Vaasam in America didn't help.

The clueless Indian community in the US would rather import 2nd rate musicians from India with USPs than listen to someone who is the genuine article.

sureshvv
Posts: 5523
Joined: 05 Jul 2007, 18:17

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by sureshvv »

She has had the 1.30pm slot for a few years now, longer than most. And won the prize for the slot a few times also. So the Agnatha Vasam argument does not hold.

shankarabharanam
Posts: 296
Joined: 24 Apr 2006, 09:12

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by shankarabharanam »

Suresh and Rasika thanks for the reviews. She probably hasn’t been getting the evening slot as she isn’t in India

Sivaramakrishnan
Posts: 1582
Joined: 02 Jan 2010, 08:29

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by Sivaramakrishnan »

Excellent posts.

Why don't we - rasikas.org forumites (whoever available at Academy) gather-say in front of the Kasturi Srinivasan Hall- to know/ identify ourselves- by 1.15 pm around lunch break? Academy seems to be the hot-spot of the Season

I met (NRI) forumite Smt Malathi Vasudevan(MV) yesterday after several years of a global Rasikas meet in Chennai. She has posted a review of Sunil Gargyan's concert).
Forumite Munirao is giving a Lecdem on 21 Dec 9 am at Academy (topic: Sandhyavandanam Srinivas Rao).

I am using this 'concert reviews' thread itself to ensure attention of forumites to what I have suggested.

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by rajeshnat »

sureshvv wrote: 19 Dec 2017, 23:05 The RTP prize is accounted for already.
...
I feel she has long been denied her due at the Academy. In spite of that she offered them her best.
...
Suresh
She will surely not get RTP prize as it is only for evening I and II slot . Indeed she is in afternoon slot for too long , this year I was expecting but they gave it to VIdya kalayanaraman and Amrutha Venkatesh and not to her. It is also bit dangerous to get to evening slot as it is ticketed and after few years if you dont draw crowd you will be pushed out - musical delivery alone does not count , crowd also counts . In 2015 when sanjay got sk , they pulled a bunch of male vidwans out and brought in new faces , that kind of clean up may happen or rather should happen for vidushis in evening I and II slot soon then she will get one .

I associate more of s kalyanaraman when sangeetha swaminathan sings ragas like subhapantuvarAli . IN my opinion she is better than her guru sudha ragunathan any time perhaps yet not in the league of the tigress MLV. Glad to see that she still gives quality concerts despite a bit out of touch due to her New Jersey/ New York domicile.

parivadini
Posts: 1190
Joined: 22 Oct 2013, 22:44

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by parivadini »

I was there when Sudha Raghunathan sung this pallavi in its fullest Granduer during a four hour epic on a Christmas Morning at Krishna Gana Sabha. I'm not a big fan of Sudha. But that concert will be etched Permanently in my memory.

I may have some notes. I will wait for the ones who attended this concert to fill us up on the talam. Otherwise I will post on which talam Smt. Sudha rendered the Pallavi. (if my memory serves right it was an Ata talam that facilitated two arudhis to separate the three ragas)

vijay.siddharth
Posts: 358
Joined: 14 May 2017, 13:08

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by vijay.siddharth »

The pallavi was in Khanda Triputa 2 Kalai with the laghu being in pancha Nadai in the following order - Chaturashra nadai, Tishra Nadai, Mishra Nadai, Khanda Nadai, Sankeerna Nadai. Druthams was Chaturashra nadai. She changed the talam to Mishra Triputa 1 Kalai for the swaraprastharam part. She excecuted Trikalam and Tishra in the original talam.

sureshvv
Posts: 5523
Joined: 05 Jul 2007, 18:17

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by sureshvv »

Thanks vijay! That clears it up :D

If anything merits announcement, this one would.

sankark
Posts: 2321
Joined: 16 Dec 2008, 09:10

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by sankark »

vijay.siddharth wrote: 20 Dec 2017, 14:12 The pallavi was in Khanda Triputa 2 Kalai with the laghu being in pancha Nadai in the following order - Chaturashra nadai, Tishra Nadai, Mishra Nadai, Khanda Nadai, Sankeerna Nadai. Druthams was Chaturashra nadai. She changed the talam to Mishra Triputa 1 Kalai for the swaraprastharam part. She excecuted Trikalam and Tishra in the original talam.
was the pallavi in k triputai & swarams in m triputai?

Rasika_first
Posts: 32
Joined: 20 Nov 2017, 21:49

Re: Sangeetha Swaminathan @ MA, 19-12-'17

Post by Rasika_first »

vijay.siddharth wrote: 20 Dec 2017, 14:12 The pallavi was in Khanda Triputa 2 Kalai with the laghu being in pancha Nadai in the following order - Chaturashra nadai, Tishra Nadai, Mishra Nadai, Khanda Nadai, Sankeerna Nadai. Druthams was Chaturashra nadai. She changed the talam to Mishra Triputa 1 Kalai for the swaraprastharam part. She excecuted Trikalam and Tishra in the original talam.
Thanks for the clarification Vijay

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