Cleveland reviews

fuddyduddy · Post by **fuddyduddy** » 27 Mar 2008, 21:31

yes, sowmya has an explanation for satre vilagi irum pillaai in this link below... its beautiful - the way she explains it and sings it..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKHrONIxGZk

Also, heard the youtubes of gurucharan... seemed just ok to me, nothing extraordinary with his music.. i dont mean to offend anyone, just my opinion!!

mri_fan · Post by **mri_fan** » 27 Mar 2008, 22:54

anyone review the morning concert on Wednesday? (Ramakanth sir?) and did Ramnad Raghavan really play?

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 27 Mar 2008, 23:10

Sadly, I did not catch Sri Ramakanth's concert. But Ramnad Raghavan was not present. Vellore Ramabadhran played instead .....

kadambam · Post by **kadambam** » 27 Mar 2008, 23:55

IMO, Manimaran is somewhat an underrated singer. I remember his "vazhi maraikidhu" 3-4 years back at Cleveland/Jaya MMU (i don't recollect exactly!!) but it was out of the world. Even Sanjay's or TMK's did not match that rendition.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 28 Mar 2008, 00:10

Kadambam, I agree. Manimaran has no shortage in the talent department.
But yesterday, like rangahome said, he was having some trouble finding his muse.... There were some terrific "pidis" but they were followed by below-average ones. He was also having some shruti problems. In fact, he never got a good handle on his upper shadjam.

That said, Manimaran is a very busy producer of concept-oriented TV programs. The concepts of margazhi maha ustavam and a lot of the Jaya TV carnatic programs are his creations/productions. He is also a very important figure in promoting tamizh isai. I wonder where such a busy person from the world of visual communications can even find time to practice his craft and perform at that level. Patently, I have a lot of respect for the man, his music and his service to the global music audience.

Maybe Rangahome already said this. Nagai Sriram was superb, yet again.

rupavati · Post by **rupavati** » 28 Mar 2008, 02:25

Girish (Brindamma's grandson) just now gave a terrific concert. In fact, he had already captured the imagination of the Cleveland audience last weekend during the dance recital for which his singing was out of the world. A much underrated and under appreciated musician, I'd say. As VV Sundaram said at the concluding remarks, there is only so far that genes can take you. It was clear from the performance that Girish has capitalized on his genes and put in lots of hard work on top of it to make him a top class musician. Oh, some of those podi brigas, ravai sangatis, anuswarams... just gave you the goosebumps. Topping off the delightful concert was Ososi (Mukhari padam) and Jaanaro (Khamas javali) which he brought out so exquisitely... absolutely moving performance, that would put any of today's popular stars to shame!

Girish, Ranjani Arun, Babu
Cleveland Aradhana, Thu March 27th, 2.30 pm

Intachalamu - Begada Varnam (R, S)
Mayatita - Mayamalavagaula
Amba Paradevate - Rudrapriya (S)
Venkatasaila - Hamirkalyani
Chinna Natena - Kalanidhi
Eti Janma - Varali (R, S)
Emi Neramu - Shankarabharanam (RNST)
Ososi - Mukhari padam
Jaanaro - Khamas javali

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 28 Mar 2008, 05:12

What a songlist! Straight out the Dhanammal school... I haven't heard a good Amba Paradevate since Viswa-sir passed on.
It is such a shame that I had to I miss this concert.

Rupavati, Have you been at the festival all along? Pity I didn't run into you earlier.

vijaykrish · Post by **vijaykrish** » 28 Mar 2008, 05:31

Can some one post an audio sample or you tube link of Girish's concert. Never heard before.

sankirnam · Post by **sankirnam** » 28 Mar 2008, 06:53

nice... I thought Girish was a vina player, but good to hear.

appu · Post by **appu** » 28 Mar 2008, 09:41

Ramakanth was accompanied by Vellore Ramabhadran on the mridangam and Vinod Venkataraman on the Kanjira. Word is that Vellore sir had a bout of low BP on Wednesday afternoon and was very ill. He however pulled through for the Thursday morning concert. I attended the concert. Ramakant started with a varnam ( I believe in Nattai) and his main piece was in Kalyani ragam. Although Sri Ramabhadran was under the weather, he performed exceptionally well. Both Ramabhadran and Vinod complemented Ramakhanth ably with melodic phrases throughout the concert. Jayshankar Balan accompanied very well throughout. I left on Thurasday morning and witnessed a very interesting episode at the airport in regards to our nadaswaram artists and the TSA. It is very late right now. I will post the story tomorrow.

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 28 Mar 2008, 17:27

Are you sure it was Vinod Venkataraman on the Kanjira and not Karthik Venkataraman?

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 28 Mar 2008, 17:41

Lji, It was Aishwarya Venkataraman's father Vinod and not the young Karthik.

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 28 Mar 2008, 18:54

Thanks.

appu · Post by **appu** » 29 Mar 2008, 00:45

I am not much of a review person. I enjoy the music. I had the opportunity to witness 2 concerts which were memorable. Mahavishnu has reviewed all the main ones, so I have chosen to write about the late morning and afternoon slots. I do not know all the Kirtanams or ragams. I will do my best.

The first concert was on March 25th at 11:00 AM by Smt Rajeshwari Bhat. Vocal support was provided by her two daughters and a cute little 7 year old by name Srinidhi ( I think). Mridangam accompaniment was by Bala Shankar from Sydney and Mayuran Manogaran from Toronto. Smt Bhat had a resonant voice and absolute command of the laya. Her voice was very sweet. The two ragams that stood out for me was Bhairavi (Amba Kamakshi) and Kalyani ( Do not remember the Kirtanam)

She was flanked by her students who rendered the kritis and kalpana swarams with good control. Bala Shankars mridangam was resonant and his Arai Chapus were crisp. At the end of the concert VVS announced that Smt Bhat is the sister of Vidwan Vittal Ramamurthy. That explained a lot of things very clearly. I am hearing her for the first time and am extremely thrilled. About this time lunch was served. We had all stepped out. After picking up my lunch, I noticed a small sadas wher Sri Mannargudi Eashwaran, Sri Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan and other big names were quizzing the young artists. These girls specially the cute 8 yr old was able to switch ragams with amazing ease from Bhairavi to Porvi Kalyani to Shyama. Reminded me of VKV sir's post not too long ago about a 14 year old singer who did the same some yeras ago.

After lunch the 1 o'clock session was by Kum Aishwarya Venkataraman. I did not reach there at the beginning of the concert. She was accompanied by Shri Vellore Ramabhadran on the mridangam and Shri Vinod Venkataraman on the Kanjira. The 2 ragams that stood out for me were Panthuvarali (Siva Siva) and Shankarabharanam (Swara Raga Sudha)

VVS closing speech was pretty elaborate. He highlighted the artists long bowing techniques reminiscent of the TNK school. He also mentioned that at such a tender age she had developed a sowkyam to her playing and at the same time was able to keep the audience excited.

Although I started out by mentioning two concerts, there was one more that stood out in the afternoon slot. Smt Gayathri Venkataraghavan and her disciples presented select kritis. What stood out was the mridnagist, a young lady Rajna Swaminathan. Excellent control with superb nadham. One of the rasikas in this forum mentioned she is somebody who will shine. After listening to her accompany the vocalists I have no doubt about that. Keep up the good work, Smt Bhat, Kum Aishwarya and Kum Rajna.

Sorry if I wrote too much. I just had to let the world know what an aweswome experience I had. I even met my childhood teacher Brindavani who posts on this forum as Bhindi. This was the best for me.

Thank you organisers and artists.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 29 Mar 2008, 01:47

Thank you, Appu. You helped cover the left out concerts too. What about the airport incident when you left Cleveland?
Since it seems like it is a relay-race with the reviews, hope others continue the work until the festival comes to a finale.
Chennai concerts are taking a back seat, now that Cleveland reigns. And the Mecca has--how many reviewers!

appu · Post by **appu** » 29 Mar 2008, 09:14

Arasi,

So here is what happened at the airport. Our Nadaswaram vidwans and troupe arrive at the airport on morning of Thursday, and are detained by security personal for a miraid of reasons. Well informed sources at the Aradhana had the following to say.

4 reasons that flagged the TSA to detain them.

1. Tickets were purchased for there return a day before departure. Red flag
2. Tickets were purchased using vouchers/coupons Amother red flag.
3. Four malepersons traveling together with obscure namams and vibhothi and red lips from chewing tobacco and vatalai.
4. lastly a search of their hand luggage bought out bundles of Pogai allai.
5. Did not speak a word of English.

A good samaritan from the Aradhana committee finally managed to convince the TSA officials that these guys did not speak English and that he knew them and would like to escort them to the airplane. He was issued a dummy boarding pass and allowed to escort. One would think by now people would learn. and got rid of any suspicious packets and patrams. The vidwans were detained at the gate for a complete baggage check and out comes this cylindrical steel container with some white stuff. Of course for the Indian eye it is chunamb, For the American eye it is panic time. After all this tamasha and loosing all their valuable chewables our vidwans were allowed to board the flt. I am sure the TSA and the vidwans said GOODBYE

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 29 Mar 2008, 09:51

Quite a tale. They chewed them out, in essence! Well, all is well that ends well...

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 29 Mar 2008, 12:42

Considering how professional the organisers of the Cleveland festival are, I would like to believe that these nadaswaram artists must have brought all these questionable articles ( such as tobacco etc) in spite of being told what to do by the organisers. We in NZ try and advise the artists as much as possible about the local rules and regulations about this country ( extremely fragile horticultural environment) such as "don't bring tobacco, fruits, flowers etc etc". As organisers that is all we can possibly do. If the artists then defy these regulations, then, it is a problem for every body. I hope next time around these artists will be careful.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 29 Mar 2008, 18:01

Sam, I agree with you in total about the artistes following travel instructions esp about transporting things like chewing tobacco.

I don't want to start any controversies, I would prefer it if this thread stayed strictly about reviews of music at the Cleveland festival. But the implicit racism in the TSA needs to be underscored here as well...I have lived in these parts long enough to see how the post 9/11 paranoia has turned airport security into a nightmare. Everytime one walks through those hallowed gates, the way the TSA officers even yell out instructions sounds like a certain central European country in the late 1930s (to put it mildly). Yes, they have to do their job but I wish we were even half as civil as your fellow kiwis in handling a situation like this. Enough said.

Mostly, I am just sorry for what the Nadaswaram and thavil vidwans had to go through. I spent a long while talking with them and learning about how to do gumkis on the thavil from Sri Palanivel. They are just fascinating people. Meeting them was one of the highlights of my trip.

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 29 Mar 2008, 18:46

Vainika, Is there any chance of getting Kalpakam mami's songlist from her second concert in Cleveland?
I heard things about a terrific Pantuvarali varnam and a kalyani magnum opus with tanam.....

davalangi · Post by **davalangi** » 29 Mar 2008, 19:06

Mami mentioned that she played abhayAmba and endu dAginAdo in the second concert. She probably played the Ponniah Pillai varnam in Pantuvarali (the same one that the Toronto Brothers sang) - I am guessing so because she treated us to a vocal rendition of the same in her Comfort Inn room after her first concert last Sunday. I think she learnt that varnam along with the nATTai varnam (from the first concert) during her kalAkShetra days (either from Tiger himself or from TKRamaswamy Iyengar)

Ravi (rshankar) - could you please email me (with your phone number) when you get a chance? It is urgent

rupavati · Post by **rupavati** » 30 Mar 2008, 00:39

Carnatica Bros were outstanding yesterday. Accompanied by a double-mridangam combination of Ramabhadran & Easwaran, they over came an initial audio setup glitch to give a fantastic performance. Especially noteworthy was a Mohanam RTP with a ragamalika tanam for which there was percussion accompaniment.... brilliant. Jaysankar Balan did a creditable support job on violin.

Sashikiran & Ganesh, J. Balan, V Ramabhadran & M Easwaran
Friday Mar 28th

(order may be slightly different, I'm writing from memory)
Sarasijanabha - Kambhoji Varnam
Rama Bhakti - Shuddhabangala (S)
Dalachinavaru - Dhanyasi
Tyagaraja Yoga - Anandabhairavi (R by Ganesh)
Idi Samayamura - Chhayanattai (S)
Ninnucheppa - Mandari
Narayana - Shuddhadhanyasi
Sivaperuman Kripai - Surutti (R)
RTP - Mohanam (Adi 2 kalai)
Kannan Varugindra Neram - Kavadichindu
One more song which I don't recall now

Amruthavarshini · Post by **Amruthavarshini** » 30 Mar 2008, 07:31

Any body to post about Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan's concert at Cleveland?Very eager to know what surprise is in store this year?

uday_shankar · Post by **uday_shankar** » 30 Mar 2008, 10:22

Suguna Varadachari gave one of the best concerts I've heard in Cleveland. Had me choking up. Too tired (and overwhelmed) to write about it now...will post the song list and review later, unless somebody else beats me to it

.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 30 Mar 2008, 11:26

Can somebody also make a detailed post of Shri manakkAl rangarAjan's concert at cleveland please!!!

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 30 Mar 2008, 17:46

Uday, Glad to see you are back in Cleveland.
Look forward to hearing about Suguna Varadachari's concert.

The Carnatica Bros songlist sounds very interesting. Chaya Nattai is heard so rarely in CM these days. It is a pity I had to miss that concert too.

ravi2006 · Post by **ravi2006** » 30 Mar 2008, 21:41

davalangi wrote:Mami mentioned that she played abhayAmba and endu dAginAdo in the second concert. She probably played the Ponniah Pillai varnam in Pantuvarali (the same one that the Toronto Brothers sang) - I am guessing so because she treated us to a vocal rendition of the same in her Comfort Inn room after her first concert last Sunday. I think she learnt that varnam along with the nATTai varnam (from the first concert) during her kalAkShetra days (either from Tiger himself or from TKRamaswamy Iyengar)

The other pieces included Brhaspate in athana (it being a Thursday), and a rare Dikshitar kriti in kamalamanohari - sankaram abhirami manoharam. After the kalyani main piece Mami played a catchy ragamalika starting with anandabhairavi, followed by Pranatartihara in senjurutti. I would venture to say that this concert was even better than Mami's first one. I had been disappointed at there being no tanam in the Sunday concert - but listening to her wonderful tanam in both kalyani and todi on Thursday more than compensated.

Sri Mannargudi Easwaran's playing was apt for this sort of music, with emphasis on teka-s and deep resonant gumki. I could quibble that the second veena was perhaps unnecessary, as mami was mostly playing the neraval and swaram rounds herself, and it was not perfectly tuned. But I would rate that a minor detraction from what was the finest veena concert I have yet heard.

appu · Post by **appu** » 30 Mar 2008, 22:42

Could some one tell how the seating with the double mridangam for Carnatica brothers was. Was Ramabhadran the first and Eashwaran the second. Did Eashwaran sir adjust well with Ramabhadran's sarva lagu style or was there more nadais and koruvais.

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 02 Apr 2008, 09:51

rajeshnat wrote:Can somebody also make a detailed post of Shri manakkAl rangarAjan's concert at cleveland please!!!

Excerpts from Manakkal concert at youtube -
Nagumomu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK6XxOCet2k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkP_G9MCPZw
Chetasri:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STS_cQQ-srI

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 02 Apr 2008, 19:52

ragam-talam wrote:
rajeshnat wrote:Can somebody also make a detailed post of Shri manakkAl rangarAjan's concert at cleveland please!!!
Excerpts from Manakkal concert at youtube -
Nagumomu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK6XxOCet2k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkP_G9MCPZw
Chetasri:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STS_cQQ-srI

Thanks ragam-talam

Can't get too much more detailed than that, huh rajeshnat?

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 02 Apr 2008, 20:03

Thanks very much! Can we ask for more?

shishya · Post by **shishya** » 03 Apr 2008, 01:16

Here is a video of Vidwan Sri R K Srikantan's concert at Cleveland 2008- Purvikalyani

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro_ro5h6WxQ

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 03 Apr 2008, 01:18

shishya, that is beautiful.,
Thank you very much!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 03 Apr 2008, 02:20

shishya,
Thanks for the master's voice!
Were you there when the CDs were released? Any report about Ashok Madhavan's compositions? I am sure those of us who gathered in Chennai in JAnuary to meet and honor Lakshaman would like to know.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 03 Apr 2008, 03:25

Thanks shiShya.
The accompaniment by Ravikiran is seamless and enhances the natural voice quality of RKS unlike violin which at times dominate and kill the melody. I think there should be more chitraveeNa accompaniments which is a natural for CM.

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 03 Apr 2008, 03:34

What a melodious rendering of Chetasri! I wish the instruments did not are overtake the melody so we could hear the vocal better.

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 03 Apr 2008, 03:40

Arasi wrote:

Any report about Ashok Madhavan's compositions?

If you are refering to the lyrics I have all of his songs with notations.

shishya · Post by **shishya** » 03 Apr 2008, 05:43

Arasi,

I wasn't there when the CDs were released.

All, here is the last of what I could capture on video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf9qul76xKo

rupavati · Post by **rupavati** » 05 Apr 2008, 21:28

appu wrote:Could some one tell how the seating with the double mridangam for Carnatica brothers was. Was Ramabhadran the first and Eashwaran the second..

Your query is best answered by one of the pics uploaded by Carnatica's Ramanathan at http://www.carnatica.net

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 05 Apr 2008, 21:56

Sustaining Sampradaya - Cleveland
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Oj-UvD6bs

Dr Krishnamurthy · Post by **Dr Krishnamurthy** » 07 Apr 2008, 08:43

I posted the following in another thread and was not sure if I shouldn't have done so here. Pardon the duplicacy.
Dr Krishnamurthy
We had quite a few enquiries from friends and musicians as to why my mridangist son, Rohan Krishnamurthy, did not participate in the Cleveland Aradhana this year considering that he has been a regular performer there with leading artists for the past ten years without a break. Couple of them even asked us if we have picked up a â€œfightâ€

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 07 Apr 2008, 19:57

Since a new thread has been started to dicuss Rohan's participation at Cleveland the discussions on that issue may continue there.
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?pid=77097#p77097
Please use this thread to post only general reviews and pertinent discussions. Thank you for your cooperations!

Always_Evolving · Post by **Always_Evolving** » 07 Apr 2008, 20:36

cmlover wrote:Since a new thread has been started to dicuss Rohan's participation at Cleveland the discussions on that issue may continue there.
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?pid=77097#p77097
Please use this thread to post only general reviews and pertinent discussions. Thank you for your cooperations!

cmlover sir: the point is about 85% of the post about Rohan had nothing to do with Cleveland at all. So I am mystified that you didn't remove Dr. Krishnamurthy's post but only the replies. Please!

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 07 Apr 2008, 20:49

I left it here for a redirect and did not want to edit it though it is a repeat. It does have relevance to the Cleveland Aradhana. Let us leave it at that..

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 08 Apr 2008, 06:21

I would very much like to have a review of the perormance of Ashwin andRohin at Cleveland being their first venture atCL, will anybody post? thanks gobilalitha

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 08 Apr 2008, 06:40

Gobilalitha-sir, a review of the Iyer bros has already been posted on this thread several days ago....

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 08 Apr 2008, 06:41

GBL
just check #44 where mahavishnu has posted a brief review...

Sam Swaminathan · Post by **Sam Swaminathan** » 09 Apr 2008, 06:33

According to the Cleveland Aaradhana Schedule, the last concert for this year was supposed to be that of Sri TNS...a review of this concert is conspicous by its absence....any reason why?

thanks

Sam

carnaticcrazen · Post by **carnaticcrazen** » 09 Apr 2008, 19:21

I LOVED the concerts in Cleveland this year! R.K. Srikantan Mama was amazing. I didn't expect to hear such a beautiful voice from an elderly man. The Sarvalaghu Swarakalpana of R.K Srikantan Mama and the well-fit patterns of his son blended to have a great effect. Both of their raga alapanas-including Bhairavi, and the swaras for Tanayunibrova were fantastic. Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi Aunty and Krishnan Uncle were absolutely PHENOMENAL also. This year, besides the competition, concerts made Cleveland an extremely enjoyable experience personally for me!

vainika · Post by **vainika** » 10 Apr 2008, 22:30

<snip>