It's quite unfortunate that we, the rasikas forumites whoever at Chennai, are unable to meet, if not identify each other at the kutcheri venues during the season.
Why not we, in future have an exclusive thread in the forum to exchange contact numbers during the season so that meeting would happen at least among those who are keen?
Here's a better idea : PM or whatsapp our profile pics to each other so that we can recognize each other if we bump in. I met Nick, Vijay, pattamma, uday_shankar this time around. rajeshnat and I have in fact been at many venues this year at the same time and place and not realized it.
Earlier there was Sudha madhurya bhashineem crowned by an elaborate swara exchange & a nice slow Aadiya paadam in darbar which kept the audience wishing for more.
Suresh, the way you're going, it looks like TMK has made a definite impact. The musicians are sharing the stage as an ensemble.
I saw snippets of Anantha sitting in the middle between RKM and Charumathi in another concert.
Sachi_R wrote: ↑23 Nov 2019, 18:39
Suresh, the way you're going, it looks like TMK has made a definite impact.
Let us hope his impact stops there
Actually the seating arrangement was the conventional one. Just more interchange & feeding off of each other musically.
Intetestingly Nisha went on an elaborate minor key excursion during the pantuvarali alapana preceding Sarasaksha & Charumathy didn't extend the mood during her raga elaboration which was a bit of a let down. Is it harder to do it on the violin?
Rasikas says I cannot make another post so soon after my previous one
Last edited by sureshvv on 23 Nov 2019, 19:31, edited 2 times in total.
The Boss belts out Kambodhi. Lots of places where it feels as if he is showing what is possible with this rago -- not so much what he can do with his voice.
Kaana kann kodi
Boss sitting on the shoulder of giants as he dives into the swaras.
Nisha Rajagopalan was very good. BHarat Sunder was excellent. His masculine voice, roaring manodharmam, the raga Kambodi, the kriti all contributed for the excellence. The pakkavadyam- the sure shot artistes.
Latest travesty at BVB is overweight couple walking in with huge bag full of smelly samosas & then proceeding to stuff themselves hiding from the view of the loud & rude BVB ushers
I'm a little worried by that idea. The less amplification for the mridangam, the better it sounds, especially the left side.
But... I am yet to see/hear. Who was the player?
It was Pravin Sparsh who played for Nisha Rajagopal and Bharat Sunder. But it is not an assault on your ears. The sound is perfect. After cordless mic fixing in Ghatam, now it is the turn of Mridangam.
CRama wrote: ↑24 Nov 2019, 18:09It was Pravin Sparsh who played for Nisha Rajagopal and Bharat Sunder. But it is not an assault on your ears. The sound is perfect. ...
Ahh! Good! I'd expect no less from Praveen. I have great admiration for him.
CRama wrote: ↑23 Nov 2019, 23:03
Suresh, did you notice the wirelss mic attached to the Mridangam. The Mridangam sounded very good in the second concert- for the lower sruti.
I am afraid I didn't notice it. I remember him brushing against the stand mike once but that may have been during the earlier concert. I do remember the excellent percussion nadam from both Tanjore Praveen & KVG.
A.S.Ranganathan on mrdangam I think. Amazing artiste we see seldom on stage.
BVB does not print the name of the accompanying artistes on their schedule or on the board at the front. Highly unfortunate! Would be nice if the main artistes announce their names. Rama verma almost did
Yesterday Sid Sriram presented a very good concert for an overflowing audience in BVB in the company of H.N.Bhaskar and Sree Sunderkumar. There was one Ganjira vidwan. But I could not see him from my seat. The concert went for extended duration- must be upto 9.30 whereas all others including Abhishek called off at 8.30.
There were four songs which were treated with elaborate alapana, neraval and swarams. They were.
Sogasuga mridanga talamu, Biranabrovaide, Ennalu oorage and Balagopala. The alapanas of Kalyani and Bhairavi deserve special mention.
CRama wrote: ↑23 Nov 2019, 23:03
Suresh, did you notice the wirelss mic attached to the Mridangam. The Mridangam sounded very good in the second concert- for the lower sruti.
Me and CRama -who was my 'next seater' at the above concert at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan- could be the firsts to note the unique attachment on the Vaadyam. The twin tiny mikes for the main and Thoppi face the respective sides at an interval of say 2-3 inches from the 'playing sides' which meant there is no hindrance to the player, only that he must a bit cautious!
However 'Aranju vaasickarathu' (thundering strokes) and frequent adjustment of the position of the instrument by the artist may be difficult.
Perhaps Saxophone maestro Kadri Gopalnath could be the forerunner in this regard. The tiny mike with a long cord would face the horn at an interval of about 2 inches and move along with his 'sways' to ensure uniform pick up of the output.
Last year I saw a 'synthetic skinned' mridangam but the output was not satisfactory.
Sid Sriram at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan on 25 Nov drew a huge audience (with a good percentage of youngsters). Endowed with a voice that is unique and easily traversing the upper octaves, he chose to present popular kritis well received by rasikas. I felt he could add more of the element of what you call 'Vishraanti' in the recital.
The young vidwan deserves appreciation for his loyalty to the carnatic idiom amidst his busy schedule as a playback singer in many languages.
Gayathri Girish presented a very impressive recital in Arkay. She elaborated three ragams- Devamanohari (Kulabirudulu), Jyotiswaoopini (Ganaamudhapaanam)and Kedaragowla (Saragunapalimpa). All kritis were decorated with detailed swarams. Jyotiswaroopini deserves special mention as such an elaborate alapana and swarams is rarely presented. A virutham in karaharapriya, Valaji and Bhavani to top up with Unnayantri utra tunai of Dandapani Desikar and a tillana in Hamsanandi brought the curtains down. The pakkavadyams- B.Ananthaklrishnan, Shertalai Ananthkrishnan and Trichy Murali supported well.
Suresh, please write the name of the Main artist for record and future reference. I can now presume that the above is by RKM. But on a revisit afterwards, I may not be able to do so.
Today Sandeep Narayanan presented a enjoyable recital in Arkay flanked by Delhi Sunderrajan, Mannargudi Easwaaran and V. Suresh. Two ragams Begada (Kalayami Raghuramam of Swati) and Kapi (Intha sowkhya) were given elaborate treatment. Mariveredik evvaro and sivaloka nathanai were decorated with elabroate swarams. An added element of visranthi has evolved in his music. The pakkavadyams embellished the concert admirably.
Narayani raga for submain sung by the older sister on our left. Na moralinu vinarada of GNB. Swaras at the pallavi shows off the corner plot occupied by this raga in the upscale neighborhood of its compatriots & how the pallavi brings out the raga swaroopam in full.
They closed with a new abhang in pahadi L.Ramakrishnan was a good match in the Narayani swarams and all of the rest of the concert. Manoj Siva and Krishna provided great support with superb nadam and judgment. Strategically spaced high treble knocks (is there a technical term for this?) on the ghatam were so evocative.
Sureshvv,
Ever since Spring cuckoo ( moderator 2) started this thread more than ten years ago, it has been a good sub-main for the main (Concert Reviews) during the season. You have been contributing a lot for its lively existence. Hope this year you and others write more live reports and make it a favorite during the music season, especially for those who don't make it to Chennai.
I see that a sense of mystery is also added now, your making us guess for a while as to the identity of the main artistes:) The lesser known ones need recognition, of course...
Thrissur Brothers presented a wonderful concert in Mudhra today for about two and half hours. Starting with Ritigowla Ata tala varnam, Amba Neelayathakshi with Neelambari raga alapana, Sreekanthaneeyeda with cracker swarams, and an elaborate RTP in Bhairavi with a cascade of ragamalika swarams all made up my day. I will say, this is the best concert of the brothers I have heard so far. Very matured way of singing, astounding manodharmam, coordination, support of accompanists, all made this a memorable one. The pallavi was in Roopaka talam, Govindanadi Mukundanadi enakkavar sondamadi- made famous by KVN and MS Subbalakshmi.
Mudhra has arranged a photo exhibition of the programmes conducted by them in the last 25 years. Amazing achievement. The exhibition is a joy for the eyes with its lay out and a gift pack also awaits the viewers. Rush and grab.
Crama
Please dont get into habit of writing reviews here. You could have opened a seperate thread for trichur brothers concert. In general all please let us not fall into whatsapp habit unless u attend a part of concert .
Attending lec dems in the morning and concerts in the evening back to back gives me very little time to write reviews. But I wanted to put across this happy news. Hence I posted here. If I get some little spare time, I will write review as usual.
CRama wrote: ↑09 Dec 2019, 13:00
Attending lec dems in the morning and concerts in the evening back to back gives me very little time to write reviews. But I wanted to put across this happy news. Hence I posted here. If I get some little spare time, I will write review as usual.
Crama,
This year personally due to work and personal constraints and bit of travel my concerts are surely down.. It is 09th dec only 3 concerts so far for me. Until last year for many years what i do to mitigate the problem of not having time to attend and also write is break up the problem. As a first step atleast initially type the song list in your notepad and then possibly revisit that review in your notepad and write the subjective part bit later. Then copy and paste into rasikas from your personal notepad . I personally feel you can still try your best not to get into maha kichadi business atleast when you attend full length concerts,
We lost few years back sureshvv , then it appears the young srinathk has also fallen into kichadi way and with you also gone in mahakichadi way , facebook gumbal will think their exclusive approach only wins .Rasikas is all put together all facebook scrap in one place with a provision to agree and disagree with even more convincing post which is simply not there in facebook. Take your time we can always write the review in parts in your notepad and publish it much later.
Sureshvv,
Whatever Rajesh's saying means to you--what's a sari without that border running all along its length? So, a border unto a sari, a fringe unto all the reviewing that the season brings....
Swarajati by A Kanyakumari-Embar Kannan duo & a rare Subbaraya sastri kriti (nannu brochutaku) as main by Prasanna Venkatraman two days ago.
Rare Poochi Iyengar todi kriti as main by Ramakrishnan Murthi yesterday. Not to mention the brisk start to the Kalanidhi concert by Sowmya with era napai.
Todi main by Vedavalli amma, Dakshayani Abhayambike, in progress.
Ah, Sridhar, was it Sri venkatESam varam chintayAmi that Ramakrishnamurthy sang? A mega song and an awe-inspiring kriti. Every word emoting its import. Poochi must have been moved when he composed it. I remember this incident as a child. We were at Poochi's disciple Namakkal Sesha Iyengar's house and he asked Jayalakshmi Santhanam (a teen then) which song she was learning at the moment. She mentioned this song, and he started singing 'nIrajAsananuta padam, nAradAdi gaNAspadam, ghOra pApa haraNamudam, vAraNArthi hara varadam' in two kAlams and how moving it all was! He had tears in his eyes, I think...
Hope I got the words right...
Scintillating Vijayanagari alapana for Vijayambike. Haunting swaras that left the audience wishing for more. Could have been split into 2 parts with violin exchange - would have doubled the magic.