Kiranavali Vidyashankar at MITHAS, Boston (Sept 28th)

[arvindt]

Kiranavali Vidyashankar: Vocal, KVS Vinay: Violin, Mahalingam Santhanakrishnan: Mridangam

Chalamela - Nattaikurunji - Rangaswamy Nattuvanar (R)
Sarasiruhasana Priye - Nattai - Puliyur Doraiswamy Iyer (S)
Ini Oru Kanam - Sriranjani - Papanasam Sivan
Kaa Vaa Vaa - Varali - Papanasam Sivan (AS)
Amba Neelambari - Neelambari - Ponniah Pillai
Kamalamba Samrakshatu Mam - Ananda Bhairavi - Muthuswamy Dikshitar
Enduku Peddala - Shankarabharanam - Thyagaraja (ANST: Neraval at "Veda Shastra")
Entha Nerchina - Suddha Dhanyasi - Thyagaraja
RTP - Chakravaham ("Vina Pustaka Dharinim Ashraye")
Ragamalika Swarams in Dharmavati, Bhairavi, Saveri, Saraswati, Kapi, Revathi
Saramaina - Behag - Swati Tirunal?
Ranjani Mala - Ranjani, Sriranjani, Megharanjani, Janaranjani - Thanjavur Shankara Iyer
Rama Rama Pranasakhi - Bhairavi - Kshetragna
Thillana - Sindhu Bhairavi - Oothukkadu Venkatasubbiar
Hastivadanaya - Navaroj - Muthuswami Dikshitar
Mangalam

Smt. Kiranavali (Chitravina Ravikiran's sister) gave a wonderful concert at Boston with soukhyam-laden
music, living up to her doubly illustrious lineage as granddaughter of Gottuvadyam Narayana Iyengar
and as a direct disciple of Brindamma and Muktamma.

The concert started with a brisk rendition of the Nattaikurunji Pada Varnam, followed by the Nattai kriti
which was rendered with a nice round of kalpana swarams. This was followed by a very quick presentation
of Sriranjani and a more extensive Varali. Papanasam Sivam's "Kaa Vaa Vaa" was rendered nicely with
rhythmic intricacies (I know very little about tala so will not comment further). Ponniah Pillai's rare composition
in Neelambari (was this inspired by his guru's masterpiece in Neelambari; certainly seemed like it!) was
rendered movingly.

The grand Kamalamba Navavarna kriti in Ananda Bhairavi was the first a flurry of masterpieces in the second
half. Enduku Peddala was taken up for main with an extensive alapana of Shankarabharanam (a raga I'm listening
to in a live concert after a very long time, and was very relieved to hear a grand composition in!). The neraval
was short but good, and the swarams were wonderful and full of sowkhyam, being rendered at a slower pace.
Vinay also came up with some nice responses and the interplay b/w voice and violin was very good here. It was
good to drink in Shankarabharanam rendered to everyone's heart's content, and a nice thani by Santhanakrishnan
rounded it to perfection.

Kiranavali quizzed the audience to ask if they wanted a Pallavi, and the audience's collective response was
roughly like "What kind of question is that? Of course we want a pallavi"? She began Chakravaham, which
was rendered well but somehow didn't have as much of a sparkle (maybe it was just paling slightly in
comparison to Shankarabharanam). The pallavi was, rather fitingly, a tribute to Dikshitar's masterpiece in
the closely allied raga Vegavahini. Vinay played some nice creative Chakravaham prayogas on the violin.

The real treasure of pieces started coming in after the RTP. The Behag javali was followed by Kshetragna's
immortal masterpiece in Bhairavi, immortalized particularly by Brindamma's rendition: it was good to have
her disciple render this piece with all its nuances. A quick OVK thillana and we thought the concert was done,
but then came the last amazing surprise: Dikshitar's brilliant Navaroj kriti, Hastivadanaya, beautifully
rendered with soukhyam. The charanam with the raga mudra cleverly hidden was out of the world!

To conclude, a nice long (3 1/2 hours) classical treat after quite a while (at least in Boston).

[jukebox]

Arvindt has succintly conveyed my sentiments about this concert. I did go with great expectations as I was favorably impressed by Kiranavali's commitment to value-based music a few years ago at the Wesleyan University. What I liked best was that she seemed totally relaxed and this mood seeped through to the listeners. It was exactly what the doctor ordered on a Friday evening at the end of a busy week! Due care was given to the rendition of each kriti or manodharma section and everything was well proportioned for a 4-hour concert. The great sampling of her repertoire was pretty amazing to me for the sheer variety in composers and the depth of the compositions (have to thank all those who sent in their requests and to Kiranavali for choosing what she did).

I personally thought that the concert acquired a whole new grandeur from Kavava onwards. I especially savored every moment of Varali, Amba Neelambari, Kamalamba, Shankarabharanam, the RTP, the Behag Javali (sung at a lovely pace), the lilting Tillana and Hastivadanaya. I felt that Kiranavali was completely in her element handling these core ragas and could bring out their classical flavour in every swaram. I certainly think we need to hear a lot more of her than we do now.

<RTP - Chakravaham ("Vina Pustaka Dharinim Ashraye")
Ragamalika Swarams in Dharmavati, Bhairavi, Saveri, Saraswati, Kapi, Revathi>

Arvindt, IIRC, the full words for the Pallavi were "vInapustaka dhArinIm vEgavAhinIm AshrayE". The vocalist and violinist sang different ragams during the ragamalika swarams section. Kiranavali announced that she had gotten a request to sing Dikshitar's Vegavahini kriti, but instead used those words for the Pallavi as Chakravakam was one of requests she got for the Pallavi.

Rama

[sramaswamy]

I think the link to this article was already posted. But the article so well written and so beautiful to read that I cannot resist posting it again

http://ragavani.org/AR_TheProdigyMaker_070708.aspx

It speaks about how they were trained by their father.