rasikas.org meet-up

sbala · Post by **sbala** » 26 Dec 2007, 19:03

Welcome Mohan. I did attend the Mohana patterns lecdem a few years back. That program really served as my initiation into appreciating carnatic music. I think vainika accompanied SRJ during that lecdem. He should be able to provide more details.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 26 Dec 2007, 20:25

I will only be back home by 12.30 pm - so 1-4 pm would be fine.

Hmmmm.... I have to be at San Thome Cathedral at 4.30 only....

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 26 Dec 2007, 21:22

Has anyone posted the address?

vainika · Post by **vainika** » 26 Dec 2007, 22:34

Hi Mohan, I don't believe there is a recording of tolerable audio quality of Professor SRJ's Mohana patterns lecdem held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, unless someone else on this forum has one.

Nick, I would rather not to post my address on here, so please email me at guruguhaanjali(at)yahoo(dot)com and I'll send it across - the same goes for anyone else who might be interested in coming over.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 27 Dec 2007, 01:27

Very wise. I thought I'd seen the address on the forum, but had, of course, seen it in the emails.

Your recent e-mail received, along with directions, and I have replied.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 30 Dec 2007, 21:50

Thanks to host Vainika for a wonderful session with a lot of heated opinions exchanged but all in the right spirit. Lots of good music too - Vijay Krishnan from Hyd on Veena, Vasumathi Badrinath and Sundar (NSG's student) deserve a special mention besides Vainika himself. Uday's skills on the flute were also a revelation. Nick provided commendable percussion support although a mrudangist was sorely missed

I was just happy to yell away whenever I could spot a familiar phrase or sangathi. There was an interesting antakshari with ragas being taken up for alaapana on the note in which the previous one was ended. Left me clueless but it was interesting to watch nevertheless...

DO hope we can have more such sessions...hopefully with Coolji's support they can be meshed in with our ongoing series. Once again my thanks to our host, Vainika

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 30 Dec 2007, 22:24

Heated debates.... Details?

raga anthakshari sounds like fun. What are the rules? Go by syntax or semantics when the next raga is chosen?

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 30 Dec 2007, 22:52

It was 3 segment meetup. The first segment was bhairavi .Sundar gave a fanta fabulous start (you may not get such a start even in a CM concert). Sundar sang a ambA kAmAkshi swarajathi, Smt vasumathi sang a thamizh krithi in praise of thyagAraja/thiruvArur in bhairavi(Is composer papavinAsa mudaliar) . Vainika vijaykrishnan played the third bhairavi krithi ,pallavi gOpAla Iyer one (Tripurasundari???) .

The second was arattai kutchery .Least political line was one person stating "I think varAli is bit overhyped like ariyakudi":|.

The third was a grandmaster's carnatic anthAkshari,where each of the participant sings an alApanai(sundar) or plays in veena (vijaykrishan and ramakrishnan) or flute (uday). Each of them had to start an alApanai and end in any note other than sA , the next one continued from there. I was like vijay , clueless too...

vainikA,
Thanks, I enjoyed it a lot.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 30 Dec 2007, 22:55

And I missed it all--charming Vainika as a host too! You all truly would have had a 'listener' since I wouldn't have followed any of your discussions, heated or otherwise! Weren't Rajani or Anusha there? Or, was it all stag?
Since Rajesh took that photograph of us outside the Raga Sudha hall, to spot him and vainika, Rajani, Ignoramus and Govindan, you have to go to the J&J concert review where Vijay has posted his fab pics along with the beautiful music making couple, their viNAs, the spread at the MFA canteen which I missed--and a very bhAgavatar like, dhoti clad Vijay on the margin, in Srirangam....

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 31 Dec 2007, 01:40

It was a very pleasant afternoon.

Pretty tough, I have to admit, for me trying to give primary persussion support on morsing, with no-one to follow, especially as more than one piece was misra chapu, which usually silences me. I offered Kanjiras around, but no-one took me up on it.

Perhaps we can make sure we have percussion next time, and if we play a similar game, it could be done with swara rather than alapana --- then the percussionists can be included, and if given a fixed number of aksharas, I think there would be a group momentum built up.

Just an idea --- and I hope there is a next time

(((OFFTOPIC... the wedding, for which I had to leave early, went off well, though it made for a long day, with the reception following the service, and then having another mini-party (the mothers have to welcome the couple at their house?) It's curious to see how modernised the Christian service has become since the last time I attended one, and how the entire thing is Indian-ised in details)))

vainika · Post by **vainika** » 31 Dec 2007, 06:43

It was an enjoyable afternoon and I look forward to having more sessions such as this.

- Preceding the segments that RajeshNat wrote about, we had Vijayakrishnan commence with the bEgaDa varNam inta chAlamu. When a quorum was reached there was a group rendition of sAmi ninnE, the varNam in shankarAbharaNam.

- Arasi: Rajani and Vasumathi Badrinath were the only ones who saved this from being an all stag event.

- Shruti was a difficult issue to negotiate in a group setting like this: a casualty was that Rajani did not participate in the antAkSharI, and we only had one solo vocal rendering, the beautiful bhairavI padam by Vasumathi Badrinath.

- I missed the bulk of the ataTTai kutcheri as I was trying to round up coffee mugs for the juice; but, judging by the peals of laughter emanating from the living room, I assumed the discussions were cordial.

- Nick, it dawned on me later that you must have felt excluded from much of the conversation that took place in Tamil - sorry about that!

- I'd requested Arun to demonstrate his notation software, and had even brought home an LCD projector for the purpose, but promptly forgot about this part of the session in the middle of all the music and discussion.

- After everyone else had left for Sanjay's concert or other engagements, Sundar and I had a post-event kEdAra session of AlApanA and kalpanA svaras, with my friend Aniruddhan (an accomplished Bharatanatyam performer and student of Smt. Chitra Visweswaran) dancing to Ananda naTana prakAsham.

- Thanks to all who showed up, brought along comestibles - nendranga chips, dhokla and bananas - and helped with doing the dishes.

- Hopefully by the next time we have a session like this, the plumbing repairs and re-tiling in my bathrooms will have been completed and I won't have to banish folks to what serves as my laundry room

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 31 Dec 2007, 08:39

I thoroughly enjoyed it too! The level of music was quite high - which meant bottom-feeders like me were only too happy to keep our mouths shut and ears open (except in the "kUTTattila gOvinda" moments like when we all sang the Sankarabharanam varnam - or I should say when some sang, and me tried to

). My participation level (predictably) was highest during araTTai session and the snacks session.

The antakshari was indeed very nice and obviously not for the faint hearted. The best I could do was to be able to identify the "relay swara" and also catch most of the ragas. There were some tough ones like sAmanta and kaikavasi, and also one naughty person did his sketch with 3 ragas done via sruthi-bedhams (almost all of us were clean bowled there). Now that should tell you the talent level there. Impromptu raga sketches off a preordained swara - and you have people doing it in rare ragas like sAmanta, kaikavasi!

I also liked prof. vijayakrishnan's short demo on his bANi (RRI and hence from veena Dhanammal) and what its primary unique characteristics are, and also about his research (linguistic concepts in music, especially cm) etc.

vainika - I also forgot about it although I also think time was short as I had to get back too.

Thanks for a wonderful evening - thanks to vainika, uday, prof vijayakrishnan, Smt. Vasumathi Badrinath, Sunder and Nick for entertaining us, and a special thanks to vainika for hosting it.

Coolji quipped that perhaps these sessions are better than concerts and it was hard to argue against it. So judging by all this, I am sure there will be more session (most of whom I would be missing of course

)

Arun

veenajj · Post by **veenajj** » 31 Dec 2007, 09:03

Dear All,

First off, a very big thank you to all the rasikas who attended our concert at Naada Inbam. It was nice to meet some members of the group for the first time, seniors like arasi madam and govindanji, and then arun, AsthAna reviewer vijay, and ram and others. Great to know also that you had a jolly good time getting together post concert. Thanks vainika for the video clip, and vijay for the pictures.

The year begins for us, like many musicians would want it to, with a concert on the 1st of the year at 9 AM at Indian Fine Arts Society (Balamandir German Hall). We hope some of you will be there tomorrow.

Here is wishing you all a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR, and many more jam sessions and get-togethers... and not to forget, many many more memorable concert-listening experiences!!

Regards,
Jeyaraaj and Jaysri

srinivasasarma · Post by **srinivasasarma** » 31 Dec 2007, 11:22

Iwish all of you a prosperous New Year !

Though i wanted to meet all of you sometime, I could not because of the cataract surgeries I had recently; Ishould have eye drops
from time to time. I thought in vain that someone of you would visit me during yr stay in Mds - probably you were fully engaged !

Rgds/sarma (guruvayoorappa)
ps: The contribution of Coolji is remarkable and it is a pity we miss him in this group.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 31 Dec 2007, 11:32

well it was an eye-opening session for me. esp the anthakshari part. totally ego-shattering it was...

i enjoyed the whole afti. thanks to vainika

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 31 Dec 2007, 12:50

A memorable musical year all!

J&J,
After hearing you both in Nada Inbam, I have been telling folks that they have to listen to you. I am still savoring the strains of.your melodious strings.
Have a great year!
Another thing: please drop that 'madam'. As a rasikA, I am the one who is supposed to be respectful to those who gift me with good music...

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 31 Dec 2007, 13:13

- Nick, it dawned on me later that you must have felt excluded from much of the conversation that took place in Tamil - sorry about that!

It happens, and is something I have been living with among my London Tamil friends and my Japanese colleagues of ten years --- so don't feel bad about it. It is my problem that I am a duffer at languages, and make very slow progress in this area in my adopted country. The country cannot be changed to fit in with me!

Anyway, my increasing deafness is just as much a barrier to communication as the language issue. and next year I'll check back in with the ENT man, get my hearing aid (which I forgot) retuned as, at the moment, it does enhance concerts by giving me back the treble, but is not so good on conversation.

Thanks for the thought anyway.

But, next time, don't leave me to be sole percussionist!

But I don't mind making a fool of myself among friends (and I think everyone should think like that about these kind of sessions) so, it was a challenge although I often failed to measure up, and great fun.

Seriously: I could do this sort of stuff every week!

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 31 Dec 2007, 18:31

Hi,

I was able to upload the pictures from the 2nd rasikas.org meet (Dec 25th). You can view them on flickr by following the link below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14466974@N ... 3592911525

Arun

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 31 Dec 2007, 19:40

Great pictures, Arun! I missed the gathering because of family concerts, two in a row, and as I arrived at Gnanambika famished, i ran into some of you and was asked to join you as you made your way to MA. I said I had just come from there, and seeing hunger written on my face, you asked me to head to the canteen immediately!
Arun,
Two music buffs (bugs), after attending a concert at Nada Inbam, go their own way to attend their own favorites elsewhere...

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 31 Dec 2007, 22:15

Thanks Arun!
WOW! What a fine gathering and what fine spontaneous program. I guess that is the way CM Rasikas spend their time up there where we will be going ultimately

I wish you guys had recorded the event and u/led for our benefit

Perhaps we should all plan for Dec 2008 to have mega gathering of us all (DV) and make it a regular event thereafter!
Happy New Year to one and all!

sridevi · Post by **sridevi** » 31 Dec 2007, 22:32

I have been reading this thread all along wishing I was there all the time....Looking at the pictures, my heart aches to come back to bangalore.
Like CML said, may be next year we can have a mega event.... and I will be able to attend a few season concerts ( a first time season visit to chennai for me ) and meet all of you fine folks.

Wishing all of you a very happy, joyous music-filled 2008

Sridevi

kamalamba · Post by **kamalamba** » 01 Jan 2008, 14:00

Thanks Arun for posting the pictures. Indeed, the gathering was very nice.
I returned back home after some 24 concerts.
I am sure some of you are still attending concerts. It will be really nice to know who among the younger / up and coming cohort are doing well.
Any views based on your (and other members') experiences would be welcome
I did attend some of the rising artistes. I found Smitha Madhav and SP Ramh (he is not that junior though; wonder why he does not have as many concerts) very good amongst the ones I attended. There was this kid(!) Pratap / Pradeep / Pravin Kumar at NGS who was very good as well. Also, there was an exceptional Pallavi concert by Nisha Rajagopal (in Ranjani at Karpagambal Nagar, Chennai Fine arts)
Subhashini Ramachandran, Deepkia, and Delhi Muthukumar were good, but not exceptional.
cheers

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 01 Jan 2008, 15:27

Kamalamba,
Missed meeting you. Of the above mentioned performers, I listened to Nisha Rajagopal (very pleasant) and Muthukumar (good, but had a very serious face and would not smile even once during the concert).

kamalamba · Post by **kamalamba** » 01 Jan 2008, 16:32

Arasi
You might have forgotten. We met at NGS (with Vaggeyaka and Jayaraman), I think before or after Raji Gopalakrishnan's concert).
Kamalamba

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 01 Jan 2008, 17:06

Apologies, kamalamba! Those NGS meetings were very brief, some of us arriving, others leaving, heading to gnanambika, and rushing to concerts. Your 'gender bending' name is another reason! Yes, there were many whom Ramaraj introduced to me after RG's concert, all in a matter of minutes--and blame it on my aging brain cells or pangs of hunger

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 01 Jan 2008, 17:32

arasi, the gender bending name kamalamba of my son mohan balasubramanian is because he is a very staunCh devotee of mahan m,dikshithar . . pl see my post about the performance of sankaran mahadevan of nashville USA at IISC, Bangalore in vidwans and vidhushakis program at 6.30 pmin satish dhawan auditorium pl make it convenient to attend along with other forumites ,he is a disciple of prof TRS and Jayalakshmi Santhanam . balasubramanian (gobilalitha)

Ramaprasad · Post by **Ramaprasad** » 02 Jan 2008, 00:42

Hello Fellow Rasikas,

The pics posted by Arunk look great. But for the sake of those of us who could not be there (sigh!!), will someone post an index of names of the persons there. We can all then associate a face with some of the names here. I am relatively new here and not a frequent participator in the dialogue here and so don't know many of you. Thanks and Happy New Year to all of you. Your discussions have added a lot to my intelectual stimulation and knowledge of music .
Ramaprasad

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 02 Jan 2008, 00:50

Pics from the jam session as well as misc pictures from the Season (flickr does not allow creation of sets anymore

)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12389180@N05/

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 02 Jan 2008, 01:09

You missed me.

Now we're all going to have to go back again so you can get a pic of me.

And I'll have to put on all that wedding finery again!

meena · Post by **meena** » 02 Jan 2008, 04:43

Smt vasumathi sang a thamizh krithi in praise of thyagAraja/thiruvArur in bhairavi(Is composer papavinAsa mudaliar)

Mukhattai kattiye deham muzhuvadum kanamal

Vainika vijaykrishnan played the third bhairavi krithi ,pallavi gOpAla Iyer one (Tripurasundari???) .

rajesh, it is Maha tripura sundari manonmani madhura.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 02 Jan 2008, 05:30

vijay wrote:Pics from the jam session as well as misc pictures from the Season (flickr does not allow creation of sets anymore )

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12389180@N05/

Vijay - thanks for the photos. And special thanks for the pics of kapAlISwara temple...one of my favorite places as a child...I remember when the paved walkway was filled with sand!

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 02 Jan 2008, 07:58

Ramaprasad wrote:The pics posted by Arunk look great. But for the sake of those of us who could not be there (sigh!!), will someone post an index of names of the persons there.

Thanks. I actually have already added it as part of the "description" for each photo. If you are viewing as a flickr slideshow, a big letter "i" (in dim shading) shows up in the middle of the photo. If you click on it, the description should be displayed which shows who is who.

Arun

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 02 Jan 2008, 08:02

Thanks Vijay!
Nice to see coolkarni in the Rasika crowd

Missing Nick of course! Whare is vainika, your host?

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 02 Jan 2008, 09:32

I was thinking of asking if the early morning bhajan tradition is still continueing. Vijay, it looks like you attended one. Please provide a write-up. Thanks.

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 02 Jan 2008, 09:42

Missing Nick of course! Whare is vainika, your host?

Vainika can be seen tuning the veena.

Nick, I have taken a few snaps but they have to de digitised and posted.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 02 Jan 2008, 10:41

("Sets" seems to still be there in Flickr --- but I have a feeling that that might be why I took the paid 'pro' membership.)

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 02 Jan 2008, 10:52

And, click on the 'All Sizes' on the top left to get higher resolution versions of the photos.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 02 Jan 2008, 11:44

Nick, sorry I did take a few photos of you but my long lens simply refused to focus at such a close distance! I thought I had uploaded at least one so I am surprised to note that I haven't...will do so immediately for the benefit of rasikas!

VK - yes I indeed attended the bhajana. I will try and send in a write-up.

Yeah sets is only for paid membership...think there is no option but to get one

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 02 Jan 2008, 11:48

Added now along with a couple of other photos including that of Dr. Vijay Krishnan

jananee · Post by **jananee** » 02 Jan 2008, 21:07

It is back to routine after a lovely month in Chennai..lovely meeting with some of the rasikas..sbala, uday, arasi and spotting some others...will be in touch thru thh forums once again..A very Happy New Year to all of you!

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 02 Jan 2008, 21:38

The bhairavi's of the jam session on 30th Dec

http://rapidshare.com/files/80397312/Jam.WAV

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 02 Jan 2008, 21:43

Thanks Vijay
That pic of Uday concentrating does entitle him the 'Mali' title you bestowed on hiim! It is a sight to watch Nick-picking

Tell us some more (or let him tell) about vijay krishnan. Any relative of yours!

Yes raju! I did miss vainika tuning. But then he mentioned going on a hunt of coffee mugs which is why he is missed in the crowd. For future meets there should be adequate number of mugs to start with to mug all the Rasikas

Did anybody attend ninja's wedding and our maestro's cutcheri?

Ramaprasad · Post by **Ramaprasad** » 03 Jan 2008, 08:43

Thank you, Arun. And also thanks, Vijay.

Ramaprasad

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 03 Jan 2008, 09:09

rajumds wrote:The bhairavi's of the jam session on 30th Dec

http://rapidshare.com/files/80397312/Jam.WAV

Thanks for sharing! Everyone sounded great, particularly the vINa

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 03 Jan 2008, 11:08

CML, wish I had such accomplished (musically and otherwise) relatives...From his brief introdcution, he is a prof of linguistics based in Hyderabad who has recently come out with a book on CM as a language....he is also an accomplished Vainika belonging to the Dhanammal school which he is very keen to preserve

ramakriya · Post by **ramakriya** » 03 Jan 2008, 12:31

meena wrote:
Smt vasumathi sang a thamizh krithi in praise of thyagAraja/thiruvArur in bhairavi(Is composer papavinAsa mudaliar)
Mukhattai kattiye deham muzhuvadum kanamal

Vainika vijaykrishnan played the third bhairavi krithi ,pallavi gOpAla Iyer one (Tripurasundari???) .
rajesh, it is Maha tripura sundari manonmani madhura.

Nice recording ..and pictures too.. I got to see more of the Rasika crowd

The opening of this song was so much like the navaratri kriti janani mAmava mEyE - Isn't it?

-Ramakriya

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 03 Jan 2008, 14:36

Nice work everyone, playing the Bhairavi swarajathi. Nick, good work with the moorsing.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 03 Jan 2008, 16:52

Thanks for that.

I guess the vote is that I should start practising again?

...And learn how to play stuff other than Adi Talam samum edeppu [blush]

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 03 Jan 2008, 22:29

Thanks for the audio. Nick is quite good! Congratulations, you havee come a long way! One of these days you will make it to the MA!

How come there is no synchrony in the tala? Looks like each one keeping his/her own time

Vijay
You are a one man talented Family. Don't worry. Is the book sold at Chennai? How is it priced

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 04 Jan 2008, 00:37

High praise, and thank you, cmlover.

I am not one for false modesty, and can honestly say that I was very much better when I was playing regularly in London, both in memory of the lessons and in technique. But even then, did not measure up to what is required on Chennai's stages.