Bangalore S Shankar @ Essae music foundation

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 24 Nov 2008, 07:46

Vid Bangalore S Shankar - vocal
Vid Mysore Nagaraj - violin
Vid N Vasudeva - Mridangam
Date - 23 Nov 2008
Venue - Essae Music foundation, Bangalore

1. Gananatha - varnam - gowlai - adi - mayuram vishwanatha sastry (outline)
2. Pariyachakama - vanaspathi - rupakam - thyagaraja
3. kamakshi (swarajathi) - yadukulakambhodi - mishra chapu - shyama sastri (brief alapana)
4. pahi jagajanani - hamsanandi - adi - swathi tirunaal (alapana, neraval & Swaram at nirupama sundari)
5. palukavademira - devamanohari - adi - mysore vasudevacharya
6. sri venkatesam bhajami - kalyana vasantam - rupakam - MD (raga alapana, neraval & swara @ chandra pushkarani teera)
7. elavatara - mukhari - adi - thyagaraja (alapana, neraval @ yogula)
8. sri kantimatim - hemavathi - adi - MD (alapana, neraval, swaram @ sri kantimatim, tani avarthanam)
9. sayinam bharaje - jounpuri - kanda chapu
10. ragi tandira - ? - rupakam - purandara dasa
11. gayati vanamali madhuram - durga - sadasiva brahmendra
12. tillana - kapi
13. slokam - mangalam kosalendraya - dwijavanti, ? , revathi, mani rangu

A grand concert! Each of the pieces were sung perfectly. Alapana were very impressive, ably supported by Nagaraj. I am hearing Sri Shankar for first time, he has a rich voice. Personally, i enjoyed kalyana vasantham and mukhari alapanas. Thanks to essae music foundation for organizing this concert in Bangalore

-hari

bhaktha · Post by **bhaktha** » 24 Nov 2008, 08:09

I think the kalyanavasantham kriti is not a composition of Dikshitar, though very often attributed to him. Can somebody confirm?

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 24 Nov 2008, 10:07

A solid performance by Shankar. Classical rendering. Yes, the kalyANavasantam and mukhAri stood out. ElAvatAra was a pleasure to hear after many years. The vanaspati, kalyANA vasantam and hEmavati krutis were reminiscent of MaharAjapuram Santhanam. yadukula khAmbOji, one of my favorite ragAs unfolded itself emotively, though briefly. pAhi jagajjanani was appealing, Shankar working in some hindustAni piDis.
Nagaraj's playing was not only supportive but added nuances to the singing. The mrudangam playing was pleasing.

The venue and the graceful hosts--Srividya and Prakash (and their family) were something remarkable. I suspect more rasikAs came than they hosts expected, but they managed it all very well. The terrace was filled up too, and when the rains came, they strove painstakingly to seat the audience in doors. We could not stay for dinner, but the aroma of the food filled the basement as we exited.
It was great to meet some of the Forum folks there. s_hari, his son Easwar (ten years old?), Vijay of Bangalore, his mother, Vijayan of the Bangalore blog and another member that Hari introduced to me whose name I cannot recall now. The performing member of RasikAs, G.Ravikiran arrived midway (would have been working, I guess). Of course, he is a host and colleague of Srividya Prakash at World Space Radio.
With all the graciousness on the part of the hosts, what intrigued me was the side show of the guests lining up for answering nature's call. Children and elders are excused, of course. Granted, it was a rainy day, but the 'lining up' for the facility made the Music Academy exits seem a mere trickle. It was quite a distraction for the listeners. Considering it was a private residence, this seemed even more of a nuisance...

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 24 Nov 2008, 12:03

sorry, double entry.

eppramod · Post by **eppramod** » 24 Nov 2008, 12:22

>>>It was great to meet some of the Forum folks there. s_hari, his son Easwar (ten years old?), Vijay of Bangalore, his >>>mother, Vijayan of the Bangalore blog and another member that Hari introduced to me whose name I cannot recall now.

Arasi Madam,
If you are mentioning about the guy whom you met along with Jayan (our 'braindran',Bangalore blog fame) then it was me, Pramod

.
It was indeed great to meet you.

keerthi · Post by **keerthi** » 24 Nov 2008, 16:29

Sree-venkatesham in Kalyanavasantha is by Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar. It is supposd to be his last composition. J.C.Wodeyar has frequently used thwe word guruguha in his songs, referring to both siva and shanmukha; in different contexts.
I believe OothukaaduVenkata subba Kavi has also used the word guruguha, in allusion to Kumaraswami.

essae_prakash · Post by **essae_prakash** » 24 Nov 2008, 17:38

Hari, Arasi Madam, Jayan, Vijay, Pramod - and all the others who we could not talk to yesterday, thanks so much for attending the concert.

We had an audience of around 125, which is quite good and more or less what we had been hoping for. Arasi Madam, it was probably because of the rain that you felt we had more of an audience than expected. The garden outside can easily seat 50 people - more perhaps. However, it has rained for almost every concert, and each time, we are very cheerfully optimistic that it will either finish pouring before we start, or not start till the concert is over

.

We do look forward to hosting you all again in February. Will keep you posted on that concert.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 24 Nov 2008, 18:04

Prakash,
Looking forward to your February concert. Hope we are in town then.

Pramod.
I got your name, but wasn't sure (or Prashant? I wondered).

Jayan,
I did not realize that you were braindrain! Of course, I know you by that name and when I met you, I did not know your alter ego was Jayan (or, is it the other way round?).
There was yet another Vijay (apart from our reputed reviewer, now mumbaikar who frequents Bangalore) I met along with his mother who said he was a member of RasikAs too.
I suppose Gobilalitha could not make it...

kmrasika · Post by **kmrasika** » 25 Nov 2008, 11:42

Nice to read Bangalore S Sankar's concert review. Must have been a real gAnamazhai for rasikas that attended. Whose composition is the jOnpuri piece?

Sreeni Rajarao · Post by **Sreeni Rajarao** » 26 Nov 2008, 18:10

arasi wrote:The mrudangam playing was pleasing.

I was happy to read comments on Vasudeva's mrudanga playing.

When I first read that Vasudeva was going to play the mrudanga, I was hoping to see some comments from the reviewers.

Back in the mid-1970s itself, Vasudeva, as a teenager was a student of great promise, training under Vidwan A RajaChar who used to live and teach in the famous kAranji AanjanEya temple in Basavanagudi. I have heard that Vasudeva has also trained under Ella Venkateshwara Rao in the later years.

Over the years, Vasudeva has evloved into an eminent vidwan, but prefers to shy away from limelight. As a person, he has still remained the same soft spoken and simple living Vasudeva that he was as a teenager.