Accompanied by Akkarai subbhalakshmi - violin, J VaidyanAthan - mridangam and BS purushOttam - kanjirA
The concert was thematic concert titled "Semmangudi Centenary", with a great presenter Smt gowri ramnarayanan being the compere. The concert was part of shruthi's 25 years celebration. Just posting in the same context as gowri ramnArayan giving a brief speech on semmangudi and then TMK and his team rendering the krithi
#1 Gowri , certainly an eloquent speaker more gifted of her flair in sequencing both english and thamizh , started with an awesome introduction.Semmangudi's liking of rakti rAgas was touched upon and his dislike of vivadi rAgas was also stated .Of special interest that I liked semmangudi's sishyas experiences of semmangudi singing privately post concerts during the night after the main concert where she recollected navarOz and mAlavai was sung by semmangudi to his sishyas.She recollected how once SSI quizzed her on different madhyamams in shankArabharanam. She ended with semmangudi'early tutelage with nArayanaswami Iyer who taught ssi the awesome nArayanagowlai varnam. Krishna rendered the maguvArE nee Ne Kori - nArayanagowlai - veenai kuppaiyer and it was well rendered.
#2 Semmangudi's hero worship of ariyakudi was briefed by gowri with TMK powering with his little high decibel NinnE nera nAminAnuA (R N S) - pantuvarAli - T. Personally felt krishna was slightly loud here, he cut short his neraval and swarams a bit here.
#3 Semmangudi's tutelage with his uncle thirukodikaval krishna Iyer was briefed by gowri and she made a mention about the mAlavi krithi where GNB learnt cittaswaras from semmangudi . Krishna rendered nenaruncinAnu anniTiki - mAlavi -T in the usual jet speed that everybody dwelves , certainly this krithi was excessively loud
#4 Gowri touched upon how semmangudi's voice being too nasal was a roadblock in his early career , and his triumph of will . Particularly how SSI learned from mahArajapuram vishwanAtha Iyer was also touched briefly . Mention was made about ssi trademark krithi one mArubalkA and the other ksheenamai tirugA(R N S) - mukhAri -T was rendered beautifully by TMK. Particularly his voice and breadth control was top class and personally to me this was the best capsule of the concert
#5 Semmangudi's challenge with one sakAramA rao ??? of harikAmbOdhi vs kAmas was broached upon gowri. Krishna followed with yOchana -darbAr -T . To me it was just a good rendition.
#6 Semmangudi's association with musiri was spoken briefly by gowri . Musiri taught Semmangudi gAuravam and ganyam . TMK blasted in full power again with a expressive O rangasAyi (R N S T)- kAmbOdhi -T as main. To me his alApanai and neraval was excellent and there was quite a bit of manOdharma swara patterns in kAmbOdhi.
#7 Gowri touched upon subhalakshmi-sadAsivam association with Semmangudi with the ever famous line that subbulakshmi pAttu , sAdasivam seetu (sadashivam and ssi used to play cards). Gowri mentioned that krishna will sing viruththam , and out popped semmangudi's evergreen slOkha maulav gangA - mmgowlai + ?? + varAli + shurutti -appiah dikshitar, krishna was
definitely top class here .
#8 gowri talked about how semmangudi used to adore brindamma's music . KrishnA followed with a ok rendition of a padam thoppu se swamikki?? - sahanA -???
#9 To close the curtain gowri talked about semmangudi's patriotism .Krishna added that semmangudi mAmA sang this krithi in 1947 AIR rendition during indian independence . It was the famous jaytathi jayathi bhAratha mAtA - kamAs - mayuram vishwanatha sastri . His rendition was just good , and wrapped up with pavamAna and mangalam kOsalendra.
The accompanist JV in mridangam was very good , perhaps more strokes in the first half of mukhAri would have been lovely. The other two accompanist were just ok .I found akkarai bit goofing up in kAmbOdhi main play, BSP could have gelled better with JV.
TM Krishna@sivagAmi petachi auditorium on Oct 18th,2008
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rajeshnat
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Few misses by KrishnA
While KrishnA is certainly a top class torch bearer of semmangudi , his breadth control was excellent throughout . But few shortcomings were
1. Semmangudi would generally have a good spread of all three trinities . How come MD ,SS and ST were missed completely , and why was there such a heavy doze of thyagarAja (may be SVK must have been elated there), I certainly missed the impeccable sequencing of semmangudi mAmas concert planning.
2. Also pantuvarALi, mAlavi,mukhAri ,darbAr all high power need not have been again powered by kAmbOdhi, perhaps calmerbodhi( known better as shankarAbharanam) would have been a great choice , certainly there was lot of aggression in his musical sequence that took a sowkhyam hit.
Gowri's narration had misses too
Last year the same gowri gave a sparkling talk and was more well researched when she and vijayashiva teamed upto present DKP's pookuzhil pattammAl . Certainly with she not even mentioning once about Swathi tirunAl and semmangudi being the earliest sangeetha kalAnidhi etc were big misses. To an extent her content was not comprehensive of semmangudi.
Overall a very good concert, that had an excellent ksheenamai in mukhAri.
While KrishnA is certainly a top class torch bearer of semmangudi , his breadth control was excellent throughout . But few shortcomings were
1. Semmangudi would generally have a good spread of all three trinities . How come MD ,SS and ST were missed completely , and why was there such a heavy doze of thyagarAja (may be SVK must have been elated there), I certainly missed the impeccable sequencing of semmangudi mAmas concert planning.
2. Also pantuvarALi, mAlavi,mukhAri ,darbAr all high power need not have been again powered by kAmbOdhi, perhaps calmerbodhi( known better as shankarAbharanam) would have been a great choice , certainly there was lot of aggression in his musical sequence that took a sowkhyam hit.
Gowri's narration had misses too
Last year the same gowri gave a sparkling talk and was more well researched when she and vijayashiva teamed upto present DKP's pookuzhil pattammAl . Certainly with she not even mentioning once about Swathi tirunAl and semmangudi being the earliest sangeetha kalAnidhi etc were big misses. To an extent her content was not comprehensive of semmangudi.
Overall a very good concert, that had an excellent ksheenamai in mukhAri.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 19 Oct 2008, 21:08, edited 1 time in total.
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srikant1987
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srikant1987
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Well, calmerbodhi isn't _that_ similar to kambodhi! 
Last edited by srikant1987 on 20 Oct 2008, 14:59, edited 1 time in total.
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grsastrigal
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I also attended and nice to read rajeshnat's review. Iam just brining some more points from the speech. I tried to avoid repetition and tried to do some justice in my translation.
1) Discussing how did he get the profound knowledge on music SSI answered
"During his early days I listened to many Nadhaswaram Vidwans playing. Early morning the sound of Nadhaswaram carried by the cool breeze and some mesmerizing sangathis (music-choir) in nadhaswaram were the real delight to hear and it was the root for my good music.
Differentiating between scale ragas and Rakthi ragas, he said "singing scale ragas is like operating a mosquito". Criticizing viviadhi Ragas, he said "when you have an opportunity to go to temple and pray to God, why do you want to invoke the blessings of Devil ?"
"I did not invent anything new. I listened to my previous Jambavans. I simply follow. Iam a rasika more than the singer"
1) Discussing how did he get the profound knowledge on music SSI answered
"During his early days I listened to many Nadhaswaram Vidwans playing. Early morning the sound of Nadhaswaram carried by the cool breeze and some mesmerizing sangathis (music-choir) in nadhaswaram were the real delight to hear and it was the root for my good music.
Differentiating between scale ragas and Rakthi ragas, he said "singing scale ragas is like operating a mosquito". Criticizing viviadhi Ragas, he said "when you have an opportunity to go to temple and pray to God, why do you want to invoke the blessings of Devil ?"
"I did not invent anything new. I listened to my previous Jambavans. I simply follow. Iam a rasika more than the singer"
Last edited by grsastrigal on 20 Oct 2008, 19:28, edited 1 time in total.
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grsastrigal
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I forgot to mention about the concert. It is as usual action-packed. Whenever he sings ragas and Neraval, he threw both the hands, went far from mike in between two Tamburas and during Malavi Neraval, came very close thereby creating decibel mis-match.
He was ecstasic. He truly enjoys his music. I felt he definitely takes the audience a step ahead in the listening pleasure. Such a command over the rendering of Ragas. His Mukhari and Kambodhi are such wonders. He rendered R N S in PV, Mukhari and Kambodhi.
I heard his last concert in MA where he sang Kambodhi (Mari Mari). Here is the next.
He was bit emotional during his "Moulam" especially Varali (It was Anandha bhairavi, next to MM Gowla). (I could see Sangeetha sivakumar, sitting next to me was also in tears). Brinda's padam in Sahana was very slow and I wonder why he took it at the end, making the audience restless.
J Vaidyanathan's (DKJ's son and Vijay siva's BIL, I heard) mridangam was as good as his one line beard connected to his moustache. His MKT Bhgavathar style's hair is another wonder (Sorry Kannama).
Akkarai had to work hard to play violin for person like TMK. Her Pantuvarali and Mukhari lacked substance. She managed overall.
He was ecstasic. He truly enjoys his music. I felt he definitely takes the audience a step ahead in the listening pleasure. Such a command over the rendering of Ragas. His Mukhari and Kambodhi are such wonders. He rendered R N S in PV, Mukhari and Kambodhi.
I heard his last concert in MA where he sang Kambodhi (Mari Mari). Here is the next.
He was bit emotional during his "Moulam" especially Varali (It was Anandha bhairavi, next to MM Gowla). (I could see Sangeetha sivakumar, sitting next to me was also in tears). Brinda's padam in Sahana was very slow and I wonder why he took it at the end, making the audience restless.
J Vaidyanathan's (DKJ's son and Vijay siva's BIL, I heard) mridangam was as good as his one line beard connected to his moustache. His MKT Bhgavathar style's hair is another wonder (Sorry Kannama).
Akkarai had to work hard to play violin for person like TMK. Her Pantuvarali and Mukhari lacked substance. She managed overall.
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rajeshnat
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grs,grsastrigal wrote: Brinda's padam in Sahana was very slow and I wonder why he took it at the end, making the audience restless.
I was restless not just because of that dragging padam , but I felt there was no padam (padam in thamizh means warmth)as I was inside the kelvinator
refrigerator!!! Only great anecdotes of semmangudi kept me considerably warm .Thanks for your great post.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 20 Oct 2008, 21:25, edited 1 time in total.
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rbharath
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the piece number 8 should be moratOpu.. the pallavi of which is meragAdu rammannavE.
i attended this concert.
it was good.
The varNam was rendered outstandingly. I thoroughly enjoyed his rendition. The pantuvarALi affair was his usual stuff and the mALavi was quite quick, both being good.
I was totally moved by the mukhAri. The grandeur with which he rendered the AlApanai, neraval and svarams, i was sureshot expecting it to be the main and a pallavi to follow.
Taking up 'O rangasAyI' was a total dissappointment for me in that regard. The kAmbhOji AlAapanai was however, handled very well. It was very good.
I had to leave during the main kriti.
sad that i missed the rAgamAlikA and sahAnA padam..
Akkarai Subhalakshmi was good overall. J Vaidhyanathan and BS Purushottaman were good as well.
i attended this concert.
it was good.
The varNam was rendered outstandingly. I thoroughly enjoyed his rendition. The pantuvarALi affair was his usual stuff and the mALavi was quite quick, both being good.
I was totally moved by the mukhAri. The grandeur with which he rendered the AlApanai, neraval and svarams, i was sureshot expecting it to be the main and a pallavi to follow.
Taking up 'O rangasAyI' was a total dissappointment for me in that regard. The kAmbhOji AlAapanai was however, handled very well. It was very good.
I had to leave during the main kriti.
sad that i missed the rAgamAlikA and sahAnA padam..
Akkarai Subhalakshmi was good overall. J Vaidhyanathan and BS Purushottaman were good as well.