Smt. Suguna Varadachari at Shanmukhananda, Mumbai - June 9,

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 10 Jun 2007, 09:30

Smt. Suguna Varadachari - Vocal
Sri V.L. Sudarashan - Violin
Mannarkoil Sri J. Balaji - Mridangam
Sri B.S. Purushottaman - Kanjira
Kum Rupa Mahadevan - Vocal Support
Sri Raghu - Tambura

Shanmukhananda Fine Arts Society, Mumbai, 09 June 2007

1. vanajAkshirO [varNam] - kalyANi - adi

2. ninnE bhajana - nATa - adi

3. sItApati - kamAs - adi [N at 'prEma jUCi nApai', S]

4. viruttam 'oru daram sharavaNabhavA enDru shollavar' + Cittam irangAdadEnayyA - sahAnA - misra CApu

5. dharma samvardhani - madhyamAvati - rUpaka - [R]

6. Candra shEkharam - mArga hindOLam

7. AnjanEya raghurAma dUta - sAvEri - adi [2] [R, N at 'janaka sutAdi vimOCana lOLA, S, T]

8. kaNDEn kaNDEn - vasantA - adi

9. rAgam.tAnam.pallavi - shaNmukhapriyA - chaturAsra aTa [khaNDa gati] - eduppu 9 aksharams after samam

Pallavi line: 'pannirukkaiyanE enaiyALum ArumuganE mukkaNNan umaiyInDra maganE'

pann - 2; i - 2; ru - 4; kai - 2; ya - 1; nE - 6
e - 1; nai - 2; yA - 2; Lum - 2; A - 2; ru - 2; mu - 1; ga - 2; nE - 9
muk - 2; kaN - 2; Nan - 3; u - 1; mai - 1; yIn - 2; Dra - 2; ma - 2; ga - 2; nE - 3

Swaras at 'pannirukkaiyanE', 'ArumuganE' and 'umaiyInDramaganE'

10. tiruppugazh - sindhubhairavi [madhyamasruti] - khaNDa CApu

11. tillAnA - gambhIravANi - adi

12. nI nAma rUpamulaku [mangaLam] - saurAshTram - adi

Smt. Suguna Varadachari presented a weighty and classical concert featuring a beautiful selection of compositions. I am hearing her music for the first time. As a disciple of Sangita Kalanidhis Sri Musiri Subramania Iyer and Tiger Sri Varadachariar, as well as Calcutta Sri Krishnamurthy, she has impeccable musical credentials, and her style reflects that. It's delivered with precision, ornamented with beautiful gamakas and devoid of any unnecessary frills both in precision and delivery. Some of the sangatis she sang especially in the nATa and sAvEri krithis featured some very difficult gamaka embellishments delivered nonchalantly, the result of what must definitely have been many decades of hard work and practice.

Highlights:

- The pATAntaram of sItApatE was interesting - a little different from what is normally heard and featured quite a few 'MGS' prayOgAs. kAkaLi nishAdam was eschewed.

- The viruttam before the sahAnA piece was beautifully rendered.

- The 2nd speed niraval for the sAvEri suite was full of pep, and the swaras that followed were also excellent with beautiful combinations. Smt. Varadachari sang swarams ending at panCamam, dhaivatam and the tAra shaDjam and the kuraippu was done to the dhaivatam. A beautiful sense of proportion was the hallmark of the sAvEri presentation. A sedate rAgam, lovely krithi rendition, just enough niraval and swaras. Beautiful.

- The pallavi was very well executed despite an abbreviated tAnam perhaps due to time constraints. The AlApanA of shaNmukhapriyA featured nice use of varjya prayOgAs. The accompanying artistes provided great support especially during the trikAlam and swara kuraippu.

Sri VL Sudarshan whom I am hearing also for the first time did a nice job. His madhyamAvati AlApanA was very melodious. He also executed the trikAlam of the pallavi competently. Sri B.S. Purushottam was his usual consistent and supportive self - the nAdam from his kanjirA is just amazing and he knows just where to add embellishments to the mridangam artiste's playing. No wonder he's so popular on the concert circuit.

Last but definitely not least, it was a joy to meet and listen to our very own Sri Balaji. His generosity and patience in teaching us all about laya and accompaniment-related aspects is one of the unique hallmarks of this forum, and it was just awesome to meet him and speak with him briefly. His playing was marked by deep knowledge of music, awesome azhuttam, crisp and precise fingering and a beautiful, resounding thoppi. He led the tani suite beautifully with a nice chaturasram passage and a more extensive tisram interlude. Sri Balaji and Sri Purushottaman played some very nice combinations during the kuraippu capped of with a simple and elegant kOrvai which I am sure Balaji Sir will post here. As an amateur singer myself, I can safely testify that Sri Balaji must be a joy to sing with.

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 10 Jun 2007, 11:01

It was nice to meet Prashant and he was totally enjoying the concert as Smt Suguna Varadachari gave an impeccable rendition marked with pAtAntara shuddham. Her voice is moulded with deep resonant sounds and her raga essyas are marked with phrases from the Nabhi as one can easily find from the purity of the notes. Shruti Shuddham and Laya expositions coupled with excellent choice of kritis marked this veterans concert. Me and Purushotaman really enjoyed the on stage experience in the Massive Shanmukhananda Hall. I played a Mohara and Korvai for the Pallavi in chatusra Ata tala in Khanda Nadai. I split the Mohara for 6 counts each and finished the Mohara in two tala cycles. Played a korvai from Samam to the eduppu as the Eduppu of the Pallavi was 18 (in third speed to take 3 * 6 ) counts after samam. I devised a korvai in such a way that the korvai will start in Samam and after the first cycle go 6 counts after samam and then 12 counts after samam and then 18 counts after samam to coincide with the Pallavi Starting point. As i dont have the recording i shall play it and upload as soon as possible.

Thanks to Prashant Again for the wonderful words and a wonderful review.
J.Balaji

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 10 Jun 2007, 19:58

Makes me want to listen to her the coming season.

Prashanth,
One doesn't have to be a percussion player to appreciate our resident mrudangist Balaji. He is an asset to the forum.
Nice to know you had a great time meeting him and listening to him. When enthusiast meets the expert...

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 10 Jun 2007, 22:38

arasi: I think you would definitely enjoy Smt. Varadachari's music. It was a very nice experience for me to hear her music for the 1st time.

Definitely agree with you on Balaji Sir. We are privileged to have him here.

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 11 Jun 2007, 22:20

The Mohara and Korvai i played for the Pallavi is uploaded as audio file in the following location :-

http://rapidshare.com/files/36541168/Ch ... Korvai.mp3

The korvai starts in the Samam and ends up after 9 Aksharas to coincide with the start of the Pallavi.
Enjoy
J.Balaji

vigneshbal · Post by **vigneshbal** » 26 Jun 2007, 12:20

Sir is this the talam meter from radel? How useful is it?

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 26 Jun 2007, 17:21

Member vignesh
I have not used Radel's tala meter.
I am using a digital metronome of seiko bought in US in 1995 and i generally take one sample and loop it using an Audio software which is a multi track recording software. One track will have tala and another track will have sruti. then i will play on the third track the Mohara and Korvai. though i have seen the unit from Radel i dont know much about it. If u are looking for just sample files on which you can loop it later then you can download the samples from the following site : http://www.angelfire.com/mb/mridhangam and under that click on Sample loop of talas and there you can find sample of talas which you can use it to loop using an audio software.

J.Balaji