Abilash Giriprasad@Aanmajothi(Arkays Hall) on Aug 18th,2022

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

Abilash Giriprasad@Aanmajothi(Arkays Hall) on Aug 18th,2022

Post by rajeshnat »

Abilash Giriprasad@Aanmajothi(Arkays Hall) on Aug 18th,2022
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Vocal : Abilash Giriprasad - 4th generation disciple of Semmangudi-> PSN->As Murali
Violin : V V Srinivasa Rao- violin disciple of vidushi pantula rama
Mrudangam : Trichur Narendran

Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow
Day/Duration : Thursday/ 2 hours and 20 mins - 06:20 to 08:40 PM
Hall : Arkays Hall, Luz
Special Mention : Single Microphone concert
Sabha: aanmajothi , conducted by Saraswathi Vidyalaya school trust, Vadapalani with Madhuradhwani

I was late by 5 plus minutes may be I did not miss any song
Perhaps he started like his 4th generation guru Semmangudi with Sri DakshinamoorthE
.....
1. Sri DakshinamoorthE - Sankarabharanam - MD

2. balakrishnan pAdamalar (R,S) - Dhanyasi - Psivan
4 mins alapana with 2 mins violin return
swaras for 2 mins

3. Deva deva Jagadeeshwara (R,S) - poorvikalyani - ST
10 mins alapana with 5 mins violin return
swaras for 7 mins

4. Shree Guruvara yEhi PAhi - gAnamurthi - Kamalesha Vittala ????
5. Palukavemi Naa Daivama (R,S)- Poornachandrika - T
Forgot to note the timing

6A. kaligiyunTe (R, taanam,N, S,T) - keeravani - T
15 mins alapana and 7 mins violin return
6 mins taanam
5 mins neraval in bhAguga shri raghu raini padamula
14 mins swaras
6B. tani for 6 mins

7A. ugabhooga - haalidarE ennudaya - behAg - had a purandara mudhra
7B. kannAra kandEna - Behag - PD

08. oruthi maghanai - behag - Andal Pasuram
09. chidambaranai digambaranai gangAdharanai - sindhubhairavi - Madurai GS Mani
10. pavamaana - sowrashtram + kalitivara sethu bandhu - madhyamavati

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

Re: Abilash Giriprasad@Aanmajothi(Arkays Hall) on Aug 18th,2022

Post by rajeshnat »

After roughly 19 years of listening and writing review , perhaps more than Covid,the lack of sabhas not functioning that well to have concerts is hitting my drive to hear concert. For atleast few decades , just will read the paper and go to a concert near workplace , near home or even go so much far to say Pozhichalur . Madras which is celebrating Madras Day(Aug 22)is not that impressive in count of concerts. My theory is we put way too many concerts in internet and we are suffering lack of patronage

Anyways there is NaadaInbam and Madhuradhwani which keeps the flame still on. I am wondering what is happening to sabhas like NGS -MIni or SKGS etc which had farily high count of NOn Decemeber season concerts
,
A day back i wanted to hear Visalakshi Nityanand(she is fabulous and I have never heard her in a live concert) but i missed due to work.Thank God I went to hear the time was put as 06 15 PM , atleast i am not fedup of nowadays concerts where they break as two 90 mins concert.Certainly in my humble opinion AbHilash is way too deep and he stays extremely connnected to the era of SSI-GNB-MMI typecast of musicians . But in this concert possibly there was not that much support from both the pakkavadhyams especially the mrudangam was not in line with the drive and speed of Abhilash.

As i entered five minutes late , ABhilash was just starting on the masterpiece Dikshitar krithi Sri DakshinamoorthE.He sang very well and it was a good warmup . Dhanyasi flowed very well ,disappointment was only with his limited round of swarakalpana.His submain Poorvikalyani was lovely, he takes a bit of MDR there , nice anchoring on keezh kaalam . The entire submain showed the majesty of Semmangudi blessing him thru PSN and AS Murali.

the next two was bit too short , Ganamurthi ragam i recognized,the kannada language krithi was new to me . The krithi had a kamalesha mudra and hence I am assuming the composer. Thyagaraja krithi came in with Poornachandrika and he sang with me having a very limited excellence impression. The main keeravani was very well done , he singing taaanam was madhyamakaala fantasy . The flagship krithi of KaligiyunTe came with flying color , Abhilash is strong in layam and his cuts in swaras were well done , bit hoarseness in voice was there.

Ugabhooga in behag with a followup krithi of Purandaradasar was well done . I did not like that much his repetition of second behag with the andal pasuram.THe last sindhu bhairavi was a great choice perhaps the senior most living musician of today Madurai GS Mani must have been elated too.

Violinist could have shown bit more expression as a shadow of vocalist. THe mrudangist Trichur Narendran had a great tonal quality but his play was not like a shadow of Abhilash vocal patterns, mrudangam was slow and not in line with vocalist voice for significant .There were pockets of layam excellence during submain and main , but Abhilash could have had a more richer layam support.

May be Abhilash could have also dropped one number say between poornchandrika or GAnamurthi ,Excesss krithis did sabotage his creative quotient of swaras and definitely neraval was too measured . There were moments of extremely high creativity in poorvikalyani and Keeravani that i enjoyed the most.

Overall a very good concert for 2 hours and 20 mins.

shankarank
Posts: 4043
Joined: 15 Jun 2009, 07:16

Re: Abilash Giriprasad@Aanmajothi(Arkays Hall) on Aug 18th,2022

Post by shankarank »

The mikeless concert , which has morphed into a single mike one, is not a suitable sound arrangement anymore. With Mridangam being heard like something from a well ( kinATRilirundu ezhumbum Sabdam).

Mikeless ellam uccasthaayiyil vay kizhiya piLiriya kaalam. ippo edukku adellam.

Lets focus on doing good balanced Mike system!

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

Re: Abilash Giriprasad@Aanmajothi(Arkays Hall) on Aug 18th,2022

Post by rajeshnat »

ShankaranK , some pros and Cons on what you stated
Pros
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1. Many a times mrudangam and upapakkavadhyam in many cases and violin. in few cases are jacked up a lot

2. I am personally ok with little higher volume as long as the relative volume of vocalist is kept little higher

The single microphone setup ensures 1 and 2 happens

Cons:
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3. Some times there are pockets where you dont hear the right balance . May be you felt more in streaming , but i did not feel that way. At times violin is a casualty of not having microphone

What is the best solution:
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I am putting this as Arkay Ramakrishnan will see it

4. INstead of single microphone , go for 2 mic, where apart from vocalist. also have. a microphone for violin. No microphone for percussion

5. Go for antha kalathu microphone which has a longer arc of reception, today mic is short arc of reception

For 4 and 5, look at the visual. Ariyakudi and Lalgudi have , but UKS/Vikku (mrudangam/ghatam) does not have. Check below image

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... egUIARCsAQ

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