Sowmya@Music Academy, Dec 24th

gundakriya · Post by **gundakriya** » 25 Dec 2007, 10:23

Sowmya, Dr. Narmada, Neyveli Narayanan, Bhagyalakshmi?? (Morsing)
MA, Dec 24th, 4.15 pm

Sarasuda - Saveri varnam
Nadadina Mata - Janaranjani - T (R, N - 'talaku vachina', S)
Chandram Bhaja - Asaveri - MD
Parengum Parttalum - Kalyani - Ghanam Krishna Iyer (R sketch)
Ananda Natana Prakasam - Kedaram - MD (R sketch, S at 'kedaradi..')
Manasuloni - (Shuddha?) Hindolam (the one with the periya dhaivatam) - T
Palintsu Kamakshi - Madhyamavati - SS (R, N, S, T)
RTP - Sarasangi - Khanda Ata ('sarasAngikAdi naTanapate shivakAmavallipate sadA namaste...') - Ragamalika swarams in Sarasangi, Kanakangi, Latangi, Suvarnangi, Ratnangi & Shyamalangi !
Ugabhoga on Krishna in Sindhubhairavi, Yamunakalyani
Krishna Nee Begane - Yamunakalyani - Vyasaraya
Chidambaram Pogamal - Senjurutti - GKB

A well-proportioned, classical presentation as expected from Sowmya. Highlight was surely the Ata Tala RTP with the nice ragamalika. Good accompanists and well-balanced audio... overall an excellent concert.

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 25 Dec 2007, 11:26

Nice idea for rAgamAlikA... Had always wanted to hear it implemented...

kamavardhani · Post by **kamavardhani** » 27 Dec 2007, 09:15

Nice alapana of Janaranjani... a tricky raga to handle, that too without wandering into Purnachandrika. Neraval at 'talaku vachina' had a nice Musiri shade to it! And I believe Kedaram and the words for the pallavi were chosen for the occasion of 'Arudra Darsanam'.

sbala · Post by **sbala** » 27 Dec 2007, 09:25

Is there a relationship between the ragas sung in the pallavi? I was quite lost and would not have identified any of these ragas if she had not announced them.

kamavardhani · Post by **kamavardhani** » 27 Dec 2007, 09:32

Relationship? Not quite sure, except that the names rhyme and all are melakartas (Sarasangi - 27, Kanakangi - 1, Latangi - 63, Suvarnangi - 47, Ratnangi - 2 & Shyamalangi - 55). It was good that she intelligently interspersed the Shuddha Madhyama and the Prati Madhyama melas to give a contrast effect. Else, I for one, wouldn't have been able to differentiate between a Kanakangi and a Ratnangi that are next to each other on the mela scale.

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 27 Dec 2007, 11:15

Very nice pallavi line - kudos to Smt. Sowmya.

arunsri · Post by **arunsri** » 27 Dec 2007, 11:31

Super pallavi line, a very cerebral artiste !! Each concert of hers has something novel to offer.

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 28 Dec 2007, 12:34

Agree completely... Brilliant artiste... One look at each song list of hers displays a COLOSSAL repertoire... Lots of rare tamil kritis. And yes, delightful pallavi line indeed. An unfortunate miss...

grsastrigal · Post by **grsastrigal** » 28 Dec 2007, 13:16

Is Manasuloni in Raag "Varamu" ? Good selection of Ragaas. Excellant..

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 28 Dec 2007, 14:42

Yes sir... The same as that of Papanasam Sivan's composition, tuNaipurindaruL.

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 29 Dec 2007, 13:38

I've been breaking my head over the meaning of the first part of the pallavi line... 'sarasAngikAdi naTanapate...'? could someone pls explain... or @nivedita, assuming ur proximity to Sowmya m'am and that u read this post, could u pls find out the meaning of the line? It'd be a real favour...

ramarama · Post by **ramarama** » 29 Dec 2007, 14:22

Some of Smt Sowmya's ragamalika raga combos (a whole bunch of priya's for example) or this one (the angi combo) leave me quite puzzled - what is the intended effect? What is the achieved effect? Are these particularly interesting ragas to juxtapose against each other in the context of the original raga of the pallavi? Or for the bhava of the original line (to the extent that evoking bhava is even an objective for these artistes for the pallavi rendition). So many other pallavi exotica (double or triple quadruple raga, combining the pallavis of four popular ganesha songs into one pallavi in those four ragas, etc.) of other artistes too are similarly puzzling and veer dangerously onto circus-like routines - and routinely, these efforts are praised as testament to the great intellect/scholarliness of the artiste - really? This is intellectual? To find ragas with similar names and string them together? It would be far more pleasing intellectually and emotionally if the contrast of the ragas (other than just separating the madhyama use) or the sequencing of them in the context of the original pallavi raga or sahitya or something were a bit more meaningful, musically, yes? But perhaps that was also achieved as a by-product of this particular combo that this fabulously talented (and I say that sincerely) artiste presented this time in her pallavi? Can someone who attended comment on that?

Imagine a pallavi line that had ambiguous interpretations and could evoke four different ideas about what the poet is saying - and each of four different ragas could convey that particular mood better with the emphasis perhaps on a different word (or even pronunciation or split) each time - wah! now that would be an intellectually pleasing pallavi rendition, would it not? Where you started with one raga at length, and the ragamalika ragas and the ending line of each twisted the meaning of the original line? Regardless of whether or not the raga names had some homophonic qualities?

HarishankarK · Post by **HarishankarK** » 29 Dec 2007, 15:18

Sowmya perhaps is the most thoughtful of all carnatic singers today. Her bhava and azhuththam is amazing.

kamavardhani · Post by **kamavardhani** » 29 Dec 2007, 15:33

My take on the pallavi line (I could be mistaken, apologies if so..)

'sarasAngikAdiyuta naTanapate' could be interpreted as the one who dances with graceful limbs (hand / leg) movements (sarasa = graceful, anga = limbs).
naTanapate = Lord of dance
shivakAmavallipate = self explanatory

A nice way of describing Chidambara Natarajamoorthy on the day of Arudra Darsanam.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 29 Dec 2007, 16:11

Other thoughts about the pallavi line:
sarasAngiyoDADiya naDanapatE (one who danced with sarasAngi)
sarasAngikkena ADiya (sarasAngikkenRADiya).

The sanskrit version seems to say it best, kamavardhani.
Then again, we are talking about the pallavi line and the old refrain, as we all know is--anything goes. We have the vegetable vendor's cry about kattarikkAi (brinjal, eggplant) to vouch for it

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 29 Dec 2007, 19:59

YES!!! the pallavi line was posted wrongly by gundakriyA... It makes perfect sense if it's sarasAngikAdiyutanaTanapatE. Although a little contrived... Wouldn't sarasAngayutanaTanapatE have sufficed? Guess the tALa would've been a problem then...
@ramarama, I'd like to clarify... Is what you're trying to convey something as (relatively) simple as what Sri.N.Vijay Siva sang at the Music Academy this season? The pallavi was AnandanaTabhairavIsha jagadIsha parama. He sang AnandabhairavI and BhairavI in the rAgamAlikA and accordingly sang AnandabhairavIsha and BhairavIsha... Guess what you're referring to is much more complicated than that...

ramarama · Post by **ramarama** » 29 Dec 2007, 20:16

J, well even that is a teeny bit better than just stringing a bunch of ragas with similar names together. And yes, what i was hoping for (again, only as a contrast to priya-malika or bhairavi-malika or kalyani-malika or kauns-malika or angi-malika - not as a requirement for every pallavi singer) was something a lot more sophisticated than that where the each new raga's mood was meshed into the pallavi with a subtle change of emphasis or pronunciation of specific syllables or words so that at the end of each swara passage in a new raga evoking a new mood, you got the pallavi line again now evoking that new mood. I can only try this in english.

venkatpv · Post by **venkatpv** » 29 Dec 2007, 20:17

ramarama,
I dont think such a pallavi exists... unfortunately. But i can see where you are coming from.

The closest I can think of is a pallavi by TRS in Natakuranji... with ragamalika swarams in Kambhoji, Hindolam, Amruthavarshini and Saramathi. Although the ragamalika doesnt convey "different" meanings, the ragas selected are all very different melodic entities, but all of them are ragas in which MGS is an important prayoga. After he sings the final raga (Saramathi), he reverses the order and conjures up a classic... the reverse order is not random, but complementary phrases in different ragas!

DNSRGMGS (Saramathi)
SGMPNSNP (Amruthavarshini)
PDSRGMGS (Kambhoji)
GMDNSNDM (HIndolam)
DNSRGMGS (Nattakuranji) and joining back to the original pallavi!

in the entire pallavi, this last poruttham lasts all of 10 seconds (or less). but a very satisfying pallavi.

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 29 Dec 2007, 20:22

Ingenious!!!

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 29 Dec 2007, 23:28

TRS is known for his poruttams but this is really clever.

As for Sowmya's Pallavi, I was telling sBala about this - nothing great about bunching a similar sounding set of ragas - but nothing particularly wrong either. A bunch of ragamalika swaras had to be sung (I am not a great fan of ragamalikas in Pallavi to begin with but it is a minor issue) and chosing similar sounding ragas that can be woven into the pallavi is not a bad idea...but certainly no intellectual achievement. How she handled the Pallavi should be the true test - and knowing the artiste's calibre, I am sure Sowmya she would have cracked it with ease. She is not only cerebral but one with a high sense of aesthetics.

I would prefer multi-raga Pallavis if at all, in ragas that are melodically related such as the TRS one above. I wonder if someone has tried a Sruthi Bedha Pallavi!

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 30 Dec 2007, 00:52

That was quite an ingenious arrangement by TRS. I have got to listen to it to get the full aesthetics that is synergized out of the piece parts.

ramarama, I think you are making a valid point but I hope you will agree with me that all those aspects are highly subjective. There have been many raga malika pallavis without a common name theme and detecting aesthetic relationships/contrasts in those pallavis is upto the listener. Who knows what the artist intended ( unless it is a Lec-Dem where that is all spelt out clearly ).

It is in our cultural sensibilities to have a liking for such such patterns even if their underlying melody may not have anything to do with each other. Unrelated to this topic but why do people in general love swaraksharas? It fascinates and caputres the imagination of the listeners and performers and so composers and performers indulge in them.

There is one aspect of raga names that have direct melodic significance. It is the first two letters of mela names since they go to determine the melakartha number ( after reversal ) which has a direct mapping to the swaras and hence the mapping of names to melody, rasa and aesthetics. So someone can come up with a ragamalika pallavi playing with the beginning part of the name or somehow weave the beginning part of the name to the sahitya. Now the potential for aesthetics ( contrast/consonance/dissonance etc. ) is essentially the whole gamut. Sowmya is probably one of the most qualified for this, since she has all the theoretical, practical and aesthetic background to pull this off. ( but then outside of a lec-dem, how many people will catch on to such things and appreciate? )

ramarama · Post by **ramarama** » 30 Dec 2007, 16:28

Vijayji - nothing wrong, yes - but then there is nothing wrong with doing pretty much anything anyway you want to, I guess, as long as you are singing in laya and sruti. This forum is about aesthetics too, yes? and yes, it's subjective very often - as to what sounds good to one's ears - I can't stand more than about fifteen minutes of many artistes glorified on this forum - so having heard this talented artiste sung other such strings of similar sounding raga names in pallavi ragamalikas, i just wondered if any of the "honourable" critics of this "erudite forum" had some unique insight into the musical meaning of that juxtaposition. Well, perhaps some day it will be a little clearer.

If you're going to do a ragamalika just because it is de rigeur these days, and then are just looking for distinctive ways of doing that, and this is the best that you can do, then it's just plain silly with little musical meaning - and it's sillier when an artiste does that a few times, and these sorts of trials are all made out soon to be some sort of great testament to the intellectual depth of the artiste.

A thoughtful artiste puts some thought into pretty much every item they sing in the context that they are singing in - how the items mesh with each other, how the concert begins, how the mood of the items ebbs and flows, with a nice blend of tempo, ragas from across the spectrum, languages, composers, talas, etc. taking into account the particular audience in front of them, who the accompanists are, whether there is a kanjira or a ghatam that day, etc. Some artistes do all of that instinctively, some plan a bit more in advance.

That TRV pallavi sounds pretty fascinating. And even a few seconds when the whole thing sort of comes together makes it a worthwhile pallavi. Like the last page of a murder mystery where you realize the whole story was written by the murderer in first person.

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 30 Dec 2007, 18:55

Sorry i have not been posting frequently, i have not had internet access for the past few weeks..

For those who attended this concert, i was sitting on the stage behind my guru, i think i was wearing a blue shirt that day.

I was anxious to see how the pallavi would turn out, and it went wonderfully! Brilliant job by all the artists involved.

The morsing artiste was Bhagyadalakshmi Krishna, she is from Bangalore, this was her first concert at music academy! She did a very nice job.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 30 Dec 2007, 21:12

Rama Avargale...my point was that whether or not similar sounding ragas were sung as ragamalikas is a non-issue for me. You could call it gimmicky or a nice fit with the pallavi lyrics depending on your PoV but either way a relatively inconsequential issue. However, if 2 ragas that should not be sung one after the other are so ordered, then I would grant your point. It does help to give the sequencing a little thought though.

In any case, I tend to get distracted/lose focus when raga malika swaras are brought in except very occasionally when, say, a TNS (your favourite artiste!) launches into a 15 minute Kapi swara session, sometimes almost making it the main raga!

As for aesthetics, I think we all agree that it is subjective. I greatly admire Sowmya's music and can't find any explanation for "why". I certainly have no pretense of a superior aesthetic sense dictating my preference.

Sankirnam too bad I missed out on the concert...would have loved to put a face to the name! Would also have been nice if you could have joined us for the jam session today...

ramarama · Post by **ramarama** » 31 Dec 2007, 00:14

Heh! So coincidental - i said there are some artistes whom i can't listen to for more than fifteen minutes, and then Vijaygaru talks of 15 minutes of kaapi alapanai from my top artiste.

Incidentally, I wonder when it became de rigeur to do ragamalika swaras for pallavi singing? Are there some artistes who just stick to one raga for the whole RTP effort?

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 31 Dec 2007, 09:14

Ramarama, the RTP in Shubhapanthuvarali Sanjay sang at YGP this week was purely in one raga (except a half minute foray into Punnagavarali). It was really crisp. Nowadays, even if artistes only sing a pallavi for 20-25 minutes, they sacrifice swaras in the main raga for numerous ragamaliga swaras. I'm not a fan of this development at all.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 31 Dec 2007, 15:58

As Bilahari says RTPs are limited to 20-25 minutes these days so one does find a few RTPs in which there are no ragamalikas but rare is the artiste who presents a full-fledged RTP without it. I remember an OST concert which had a 1 hour bhairavi RTP without ragamalikas or kalpana swaras.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 31 Dec 2007, 15:59

Sorry make that tani instead of kalpana swaras above

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 01 Jan 2008, 17:42

ramarama,

I have heard a MMI RTP (lathangi ) and he sings three to four ragamaliga swarams only. He seems to complete the swarama with a sindhubairavi for which he was very famous. Nowadays It is very rare to miss the ragamalika swarams. I have seen people getting in to ragamalika thanam as well (If I remember it was Sanjay). TNS in one of his dwajawanthi RTP dwelt in to hindustani based ragamalika swarams. I think people do some theme here for a innovation.

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 02 Jan 2008, 13:29

Nithyasree sang 25 rAgAs in the rAgamAlikA for her kApi RTP at the Academy this yr... So effectively that'd be RTP-kApi(70%), others(30%)...

saravanan · Post by **saravanan** » 02 Jan 2008, 13:58

Wow!! 25 ragas?Missed Nityashree at Academy.Big loss I guess.