Gayathri Venkataraghavan at Parthasarathy Swami Sabha on 24/

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 24 Dec 2007, 23:14

Vocal: Gayathri Venkatraghavan
Violin: Charulatha Ramanujam
Mrudangam: Arun Prakash
Kanjira: Anirudh Athreya

Main Items (in order):
Ananda Natana - Kedaram (S)
Narada Muni - Panthuvarali (R,N,S)
Janani Ninnuvina - Reethigowla (R,S)
Upacharamu - Bhairavi (R,N,S,T)
R T P - Gowrimanohari

I'm afraid I didn't take a paper and pen with me, so I'm unable to provide the details for smaller items that punctuated the main pieces, and I left after the RTP.

This was my first experience listening to Gayathri V., and I was really impressed by her cultured voice, her manodharma capabilities, and the bhavam with which she renders every item. Her music is profound. Her neravals were especially vigorous (the Panthuvarali stood out), and her raga presentations were concise without being brief (especially in Bhairavi). Her entire Reethigowla presentation was excellent. Left with little time for a pallavi, she chose a rare(r) raga, which was appreciated (having listened to unsatisfying short pallavi's in Kharaharapriya and Shanmugapriya in Singapore in the last year). I could not identify the three ragas she sang swaras in after the pallavi. She sang the pallavi in three speeds.

Arun Prakash played well and with good clarity most of the time, and there was a lightning fast piece before the pallavi where he provided great accompaniment. He played with the violin most of the time, denying Anirudh (kanjira) opportunities to demonstrate his capabilities. The thani was a short, compact, and sedate affair.

My star of the day was Charulatha Ramanujam, who amazed me with her strong, fluid bowing (her smooth cut-bowing during neravals and thanam is especially noteworthy). Her gamakas are MSG-esque in their "cleanliness" and precision, and her raga presentations are really concise, bringing out the essence of the ragas in about half the time of the vocalist. What a treasure for Carnatic music!

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 25 Dec 2007, 03:29

thanks for that review, Bilahari.

Arun Prakash can sometimes be very lackadaisical in his accompaniment. Playing a rather sparse style, it isn't often that he bogarts the upavadhyam's opportunities in a concert. It must have been a very zesty day for him.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 25 Dec 2007, 09:28

Mahavishnu, I agree Arun Prakash's style is not very involved. For some songs (especially during kalpana swaras), he got a bit lazy. But he seemed rather insistent on cutting out the kanjira player, poor kid!

sbala · Post by **sbala** » 25 Dec 2007, 09:43

I've heard Arun Prakash accompany Neyveli Sir, he was completely involved in the proceedings. A lot depends on the main artiste and their preferences.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 25 Dec 2007, 17:07

Sbala, you've reminded me. I wanted to mention in my review that the vocalist almost expressly looked at the violinist throughout the performance, and didn't so much as turn towards the percussion artistes except for the thani. You're right in that the percussionists can only be as involved as the main artiste is/ wants them to be.

apasruthi · Post by **apasruthi** » 26 Dec 2007, 05:18

I'm not surprised at the percussionist's non-involvement in Gayathri Venkatraghavan's concert, as many times earlier it had happened with some other percussionists as well. Probably it has got to do with her very poor "taala / laya bodha", something she should do drastically to improve amonsgst many other things. I have personally seen a few times in her concerts, she slipping or going "bulb" (in the colloquial parlance) in taala and the mrudangist and the khanjira or ghatam players looking at each other with that "understanding / sarcastic grin"..

So no wonder if Arun prakash couldn't be in his groove, but poor Anirudh Athreya had to "suffer" also from this is quite sorry! He is a promising youngster...

Apasruthi

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 26 Dec 2007, 05:58

I have personally seen a few times in her concerts, she slipping or going "bulb" (in the colloquial parlance) in taala and the mrudangist and the khanjira or ghatam players looking at each other with that "understanding / sarcastic grin"..

Isn't that wildly speculative?

Anyways, I was referring to Arun Prakash's lazy style across the board, not just at this concert. And if you followed the discussion carefully, it was Arun Prakash that did not allow the upavadhyam to play enough, it had nothing to do with the vocalist. Please keep your criticisms to things that you have evidence for. They have more credibility that way ....

apasruthi · Post by **apasruthi** » 26 Dec 2007, 09:45

Mahavishnu:

I'm ofcourse referring to what is there in thread, not wild speculation, but how do you speculate that whatever I've written is based on your reference in the thread alone. So please do not be so self-centric. I was actually referring to Bilahari's comment that the vocalist was not attending to the percussionist except during thani. So please do not mix-up things and come to your own conclusions on what is credibility and what is not. My comments on Anirudh as to he had also to "suffer" (by way of him getting cut down by Arun) was in a lighter vein, and therefore was definitely a conscious "exaggeration".

My views and comments about the vocalist was based on atleast 5 concerts that I've attended of hers, and what I have seen over there, and so you can't term it as "speculative". If you have a right to comment about Arun prakash on an "across the board" basis, so do others have a right to express their opinions as well, I hope..

I don't intend to get into a rally with you, but thought I must clarify on what basis I made my comments, so that you don't get confused with my comments as a further remark on your comments alone...

Apasruthi

hindolam · Post by **hindolam** » 26 Dec 2007, 10:20

Dear Mr. Apashruthi,
Sadly you are totally "off key". Please show us where bilhari has written that "the vocalist was not attending to the percussionist except during thani. So please do not mix-up things and come to your own conclusions on what is credibility and what is not".

As mahavishnu has rightly said please provide specific cases of errors if you can. This foum is for analysis and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Sadly a few like you use this use it for a personal attack on any particular artist whom they dislike. Very unfortunate indeed.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 26 Dec 2007, 14:08

Thanks, Hindolam. Your comments are refreshing.

Aprashruti, your dislike for the artiste in question is quite obvious. This is seen in your posts "across the board".
Making statements like percussionists do not feel involved or enjoy playing for GV is not just incorrect but malicious. There are several posts in this very forum by noted percussionists themselves (such as Erode Sir) on how much they enjoyed playing for GV.

Like Hindolam said, please provide instances of error if you can and stay way from speculations like the "possible" facial expressions that you saw on the percussionists that "might" be indicative of ennui.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 26 Dec 2007, 16:01

Apasruthi, on this occasion, GV''s laya was strong and it really showed in her neravals and swara prastharas. As for the percussion, the problem is two-fold: While the vocalist rarely looked at the percussionists, the mrudangam artiste slouched over the mrudangam during raga alapanais, hands cupping his cheeks, wearing an immensely bored look on his face. I would venture to say that there wasn't much rapport between the mrudangam artiste and the vocalist during this concert, but I wouldn't make any generalisation on either's musical talent. This series of arguments merely demonstrates the importance of team cohesiveness in the production of quality music.

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 26 Dec 2007, 21:41

As a mridangist having accompanied GV on many occasions i can sincerely say that there is nothing wrong with GV's laya aspect as such. Actually members might be aware there might be slips on many sides including the percussionsts and which cannot be termed as bad laya or tala. There is a famous sloka in tamil as to how difficult is Tala :

Tendral vadivum Sivanaar thiruvadivum
Mandral vadivum Madan Vadivum
Kundraada veyunisai vadivum Veda vadivum Kaanil
Aaya Taalangal Kaanalam.

Learning or knowing about tala is so profoundly explained here in the above sloka in ancient Tamil. Some one will help in translating this also. Hence i think there might be a case of one-sidedness in some of the observations. But as far as i can say i have never found any discomfort while playing for GV and i have even tried with her difficult combinations even during song renditions which she actually acknowledged many times.

About the another aspect of getting the rapport it is very important on stage that the artistes are in tune with each other not only to the tambura but also mentally. that gives a very nice feeling on stage and also the concert will succeed to a greater extent. Actually ArunPrakash is a very good friend of mine and has very pleasant and pleasing manners on stage.

I can just say this for now that GV has nothing wrong with her Tala thus far on all the occasions i have accompanied her.

J.Balaji

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 26 Dec 2007, 21:47

Thank you, JB sir. Always appreciate your wisdom.
Hope your season is going well. Look forward to seeing another award for you this year at the sadas.

apasruthi · Post by **apasruthi** » 26 Dec 2007, 22:29

Much as I dislike to do this, let me still push myself to do this just to end this, if somewhere I started it, as I can see people here trying to mis-represent / mis-interpret my views and trying to take positions with the artists, and trying to bring in "expert comments" from other artists...

My views were simply a reflection on bilahari's comments about lack of rapport and possible explanation as to why it could be from the percussionist's side having heard atleast 5 concerts of GV myself.

Let me clarify here that I have nothing against GV as an artist, and in fact am quite an admirer of her wonderful voice culture and vidwat and above all her utmost modesty, the hallmarks of a good artist. I'm not saying this now to "balance" my views or to alter it in the wake of several comments, but to make it clear that I've no specific agenda about maligning anyone. However, in all earnestness from the concerts that I've attended of hers, I still find the taala bodha (laya consciousness) of hers is something that needs improvement. As an independent rasika, this is my view about her "gaayaki", and that's it, and I hope I have a right to hold my views till I experience something different in another concert to change it myself. I don't think I need to bring specific cases of errors that she had committed in her concerts in order to express my opinions about an artist, as some esteemed members have suggested here from a high moral ground, as I hope they understand that I don't stand trial here for holding on to my views about any particular artist.

I repeat that I bothered to respond here in this thread again, not because of anything else but to clarify that I have personally nothing against GV as it is brought out to be here, and I wish her all the best. From what little that I know of her, I'm sure if she happens to read this, she would understand my comments in a positive manne, and that's the only reason for me to respond again.

Apasruthi

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 28 Dec 2007, 01:03

mahavishnu wrote:There are several posts in this very forum by noted percussionists themselves (such as Erode Sir) on how much they enjoyed playing for GV.

Dear All,

Gayathri Venkatragavan is an eminent artiste who performs well with a great balance between bhAvam and layam.

I personally know how she looks at every artiste in stage, appreciates the embellishments that we provide and how she takes care of everybody, including thampura artistes.

I don't understand what is "laya bodha" and all.

Is it possible for all to know the details of rAgam, swarasthana, varjyam, which combination of swara gives shades of other ragas in sruthi bedham, sudhdha madhyamam - prathi madhyamam, vivaadhi, krithis, composers, meaning and every detail of a song and appreciate it?

Or is it possible for one to realise the nook and corners of layam?

I know Gayathri, right from the day she sang in spirit of youth series on the music academy.

Since, I have played and listened to her many times, I know suswara gayathri's capabilities of doing the thALam and appreciating the layam. I have played all gathis with ease at various points of commencements in her concerts.

erode nagaraj.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 28 Dec 2007, 02:12

thank you Erode sir. I think your message says it all.