Kanyakumari@MusicAcademy On Dec 28th,2017

[rajeshnat]

Kanyakumari@MusicAcademy On Dec 28th,2017
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Violin : A kanyAkumAri
Violin Support : Embar Kannan
Mrudangam : Mannargudi Easwaran
KanjirA : Guru Prasanna

Concert Type : Partial Nirvana - concert to follow (but it does not matter between morning and evening it is same exact 150 mins)
Day/Duration : Thursday/ 2 hours and 30 mins (4:00 PM to 06:30 PM)
Concert Type: Ticketed Concert
Hall : Music Academy

1.sri ragam varnam
2.vAthApi ganapathim (R,S) - hamsadhwani - MD
2 mins alapana and 8 mins swaras

3. is that a jayanthasena krithi(not sure) - vinatha sutha
4.krithi in hariKAmbodhi(R, S) - may be entarA ni(notsure) ???T
6 mins alapana and 14 mins swaras

5. nAda Loludai (R) - kalyAnavasantham - T
5 mins alapana
6. murugA murugA (Raga sketch) - sAveri - PT

7. vara rAga laya - senchukAmBODhi - T
8. parama kripa sAgari - yadhukula kAmbOdhi - GNB
9. shree kAnthimathim (R S) - hemavati - MD
7 mins alapana and 4 mins swaras

10A. RTP in brindavana saranga for 30 mins
9 mins alapana and 7 mins taanam
swaras in brindavana saranga + ?? + lalitha + valaci?? + Abhogi+ revati
10B. tani

11. tukkada 1
12. tukkada 2
13. sindhubhairavi number??

vidushi A kanyakumari is perhaps the best vidwan vidushi of today in terms of leaving a legacy. See the panorama of performing sishyas of her, while many learn and go and join vidwan/vidushi for branding after learning a lot from non branded gurus, I think vidushi AK gets all sizes of sishyas and every one is concert worthy . Concert worthy as in established sabha concert worthy. I heard her 4 years back and many times before that , her love for excess volume did put me in a spot , but if it is academy the volume is also adjusted right. I am glad the amplification disorder did never creep in.

I was in double mind to go to Amrutha Venkatesh followed by VR Dileep kumar in the mylapore side . But NRI syndrome hit me , let me hear this and the next concert in academy itself is what i thought as i had to also grab few bites in between. I would be greatful if some post a new thread to give a review about VR dileep in BGS trust.

Embar kannan has always melody and AK teaming with embar was nice overall with a bit of annoyance/irritation that was there in fairly regular intervals. Violin is a divine instrument and i dont know how much one has to get to spend to get the best violin but one always longs to get that special naadam from the divine instrument

She started with a racy speed in shree ragam and i just settled . Usually vAthApi is never sung as it is a bigger stature krithi and singing that can cannibalize the main or sub main. But violin concert only has violin return as alapana , any way i love this krithi , she played very well with a round of brilliant swaras in hamsadhwani, she has the depth .

The next filler i think was jayanthasena and she did well . HarikAMbodhi was the submain and I noticed from that point there was the bit of irritation setting in , the tone of AK violin was always bit saxophonish and I think she used the electric violin. Embar bow was more rich in harmonics and i assume the reason was only because of he using the more harmonics rich sampradaya violin that you hear in concerts. Krithis was well done and the dash of swaras were nice.

kalyanavasantham nAdaloludai emote in violin was only there in the direction of a typical lalgudi school , i felt little more less speed would have given more magic.The fast filler vara raga laya senchukAmbOdhi had the usual speed . THe yadhukulakAMbodhi paramakripa sagari is slightly racy GNB creation and I liked her play , it was a tribute to her paramaguru GNB. Hemavati krithi was well played and she clearly disambiguated with all its close cousin, here embar gave some magical moments in few followups.

The RTP was in brindavana saranga the alapana had a lot of vAdhya supremacy sangathis and bit robbed from the serene and emote power that this dearest of dear ragas has . At few places in alapana it turned bit fusionish. Taanam was non metered and was just touch and go . Embar sang few lines but he did not sing to the microphone , i think the lines were on the divine Venkatesham and padmavathy. The swara ragamaliga showed her artistry in brindavana saranga + ?? + lalitha + valaci?? + Abhogi??+ revati
and all were quite quick in speed but maybe i felt little more detail would have been better . Three tukkadas were all just passable the second one was nice and i failed to connect the krithi for all three and not sure of the ragas of the first two.

Manargudi Easwaran played with controlled aggression and did up the concert for sure . He must be the next designate mrudangam artist to get the coveted award that vidushi AK got from this sabha for sure. The kanjira artist from bangalore guruprasanna played very well and he showed his class almost everywhere . I did not hear the tani and a part of the first tukkada as it was bio break time for me as i had to be for next concert . I heard a bit of Pattabhirama pandit post my lunch(some one can write in a seperate thread about pattabhi concert) , he was wrapping with jagadodhArana and one more which i forgot

Kanyakumari has some saxophonish sound and at times i find an irritation as though a sand paper bit is there in between her bow and strings . I donot know what that anti sunAdam that crept into the most melodic instrument of CM, is it a electric violin . In any case her artistry and control was fully shown with a very able sishya.

Overall a very good concert for exact 2 hours and 30 mins.

[sankark]

#3 yes, I think so but at a tad slower kalapramanam
#4 it was entarA ni tanakenta with ns@sEshudai sivuniki?
One of the thukkadAs was mAlai varum vELai

as I had noted down it was nAdham sunAdham throughout. Though the s for HK went a bit overboard

[Sivaramakrishnan]

rajesh,
Nice review. (I couldn't attend this concert)
The slightly bigger 'whitish' violin which the Vidushi uses is invariably played at C or C * (1 or 1.5 Kattai) pitch which produces a base sound. She accompanies Kadri -(saxophone) who plays at this pitch and perhaps suits it.

Of late AK seldom accompanies female singers (who normally sing at high pitches of 4.5 or more) probably due to her choice of this type of instrument/ pitch.

It's well known that 'Carnatic' Violin solo will be best appreciated at 2.5 or 3 kattai in the ordinary type of instrument. The Vidushi may kindly consider this.

[pperumal]

I honestly wished that a legendary artist such as Kanyakumari would have picked heavier ragas - Kalyanavasantham, Hemavathi and Brindavana Saranga...nah not my cuppa tea!!!!!

- PP.

[SriKrishnan]

I attended the concert and found it heavily affected by sound quality. She uses a normal Violin with the varnish removed, but with a pickup. It must be the pickup and the equaliser settings that make the peculiar tone. Embar Kannan's Violin sound was natural and sweet.