Saketaraman @ Gokulashtami celebrations, Bangalore - 12 Aug

[s_hari]

Sri Saketaraman - vocal
Vid M.Chandrasekharan - violin
Vid K.V.Prasad - Mridangam
Sri Amrit - Kanjira

I went @ 6pm for TNS concert, not sure of the reason, TNS didn't come, i was told by Jayan that Saketaraman is singing...(;-

1. Saveri varnam - adi - PSI (brief outline of raga)

He sang pallai, anu pallavi and chitta swaram in 2 kalam

2. Vatapi ganapathim - hamsadhwani - Adi - MD (biref outline, swara @ karambuja paasa

all the swara prastaram were in 1 avarthanam cycle, except the last one, which was very very long. Chandru Sir played very well while replying back swaras.

3. guruvayurappane - reetigowlai - adi - ambujam krishna (alapana)

alapana was rendered well, truly classical sangathis. He covered tara stayi and mandara styai sangathis very well. Chandru sir applauded and appreciated many places during alapana. Raga alapana was for about 9 minutes, but violin reply was for just 2 minutes.

4. Inta kanna ananda emi - bilahari - rupakam - thyagaraja (alapana, swara @ inta kanna)

Bilahari alapana was again well rendered. He explored the raga very well, sangathis were amazing. Chandru sir started his reply by playing swaras from kanukontini !!
Saketaraman sang chittaswarams for this song. The kala pramanam was little fast, compared to pace in which raga was sung. The kalapramanam was also went up high towards end of swaras. Chandru sir reply was too good again, with KV Prasad giving good support.

5. Bogindra sayinam - kuntalavarali - kanda chapu - ST

6. Sri krishnam bhaja manasa - todi - adi 2 kalai - MD (Ragam, neraval & swara @ shanka chakra)
Todi alapana was good in pieces and places. He started well in lower region between Sa & Pa, but soon enough went up the scale and sang tara stayi sangatis with in 1 minute from start, and came back to adhara shadjam, and went up again!!! Also was observed holding on to "pa" quite long, quite unncessarily. He was not developing the raga based one note at a time, but most of the sangathis were good. He improvised well also. He covered until tara stayi panchamam, and until mandara stayi panchamam. The raga alapana was for about 15 minutes, and violin reply for very crisp, and just for 5 minutes.

7. Srinivasa tiruvenkata - hamsanandi - adi - PS (Brief outline)

8. Krishna nee begane - yamuna kalyani - rupakam - vyasaraya (alapana in brief with violin reply). It was sung in madhyama sruti

9. Tillana - brindavana saranga - adi - Lalgudi G Jayaraman (brief alapana with violin reply)

Chandru Sir never overshadowed Saketharaman, and was always encouraging him. He provided perfect sruti support, and hardly played when he was singing. When one sangathi was ending, he repeated ending sangathis briefly and filled the gaps. He delibrately kept his replies short, so that focus remains on main artist.. A great example indeed...

Overall a good concert, but todi alapana was disappointing.

During speech after tani, Chandru sir appreciated saketaraman, and asked him to listen to msuic of stalwarts more and more...

-hari

[mahavishnu]

hari, thanks for that review.
saketaraman is very fortunate to have some seasoned accompanists.

[sappri]

How was the crowd ? Being a new venue, how was the response?

[braindrain]

Yesterday's crowd was average in number. May be because they knew TNS is not performing ( or was it the other way ?:) ). The hall and setting is a replica of Odukathur Mutt ( chairs at the sides and cross-legged seating in the middle). The approach is very bad and rain can make it worse. There is a place for parking not sure if it can take the crowd for a Sanjay Concert.

Better sound clarity and no echoing as it used to be at the Odukathur Mutt.

There are petty issues, like removing your shoes/ slippers etc, constant opening and closing of the main door. Otherwise it is ok. It can not match Gayana Samaja or Indiranagar Sangeetha Sabha Halls , may be I was expecting a world class concert venue.

[eppramod]

For the previous two days (Sudha Raghunathan & Nithyasree Mahadevan concerts) it was packed hall.
May be they are crowd pullers.
Also as mentioned approach to the venue is very bad.

They still conduct pooja/bhajana in the same venue, may be that is the reason why one has to remove slippers/shoes and which might have prevented them from making a world class venue

Another interesting aspect is that they have started providing snacks/dinner (parcel also) at the venue itself

[Vocalist]

For the previous two days (Sudha Raghunathan & Nithyasree Mahadevan concerts) it was packed hall.
May be they are crowd pullers.

Did you happen to have rough songlists of those concerts?