Twitter 2008/2009

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 18 Dec 2008, 15:06

Today I am taking a day off.

Tomorrow I have my friend Balu Raghuraman from London (well, Bangalore, originally!) playing a 10.00am program. and I have not seen him play (except accompanying London-student arangetrams) in Chennai before.

I will catch up with you all in the evening, aiming to be there by 5.30.

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 18 Dec 2008, 17:05

coolkarni saab, I arrived in Chennai an hour back.I will attend Toronto brother's kutcheri on friday. will be delighted to meet you and other forum members gobilalitha

sagars · Post by **sagars** » 18 Dec 2008, 18:47

Today's review in Dailythanthi by Harikesanallur Venkatraman (HV) covers the concert of CHinmaya sisters.
Which as per the review was of high quality. In all the reviews I have been reading since Monday he has beenusing superlatives. The concert covered were NItyashree, Unnikrishnan, Vijay Siva and Sowmya and also TVS.

In his review of chinmaya sisters HV says they are one of the few artists who dont refer to any text during the concert and praises them highly, as we have seen some of the senior artists also refering to bits of papar while singing.

In his concluding remark HV says" Chinmaya sisters named themselves so because they live in Chinmaya Nagar. Thank God they dont live in Kolaikaranpettai!!!.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 18 Dec 2008, 21:04

Speaking about extremes! Is there really place called that?

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 19 Dec 2008, 08:00

Jigyaasa · Post by **Jigyaasa** » 19 Dec 2008, 10:48

sagars wrote:In all the reviews I have been reading since Monday he has beenusing superlatives. The concert covered were NItyashree, Unnikrishnan, Vijay Siva and Sowmya and also TVS.

I'm not very comfortable with reading Tamizh cuz I've never learnt it in school... Jus picked it up with Dad's help... SO reading from the newspaper is a struggle... But these reviews are priceless

Quirky... I get a real kick out of reading stuff like "Ananda bhairavi rAgattai Ananda paravasattuDan pADinAr"... Hilarious at times... Though unintentionally of course!

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 22 Dec 2008, 00:49

I saw B Kannan again today --- and totally failed to see Rasikas members!

(I did see Ram, so just one member).

Tomorrow I am not getting up early. If I was I would most certainly go and see R Vedavalli.

Goodness, you should see me in the mornings (no, actually you shouldn't). No point in trying to keep tala, can't even think straight. Just close eyes and enjoy.

Tomorrow I will go and and see AS Murali sing at 2.00pm, NGS-mini. My friend Balu Raghuraman is accompanying him.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 22 Dec 2008, 14:40

i wanted to go to Vedavalli in the morning, but couldnt make it..

my schedule every evening is to go to Raga Sudha for the 6:15 pm concert. and on some days for the 4 pm one as well.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 22 Dec 2008, 17:02

TNK at Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha this evening and at MFAC tomorrow evening.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 22 Dec 2008, 23:38

Let me chip in after a while...major event tomorrow is Sanjay's concert at NGS....stuck in office until that although I may try to catch the lec dem...

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 23 Dec 2008, 00:23

TNK at MFAC tomorrow? That's tempting. Might even lay out another 500 to be a close-up VIP!!!

Had been planning to see Nithyasree. I saw Aruna Sairam a couple of days ago, and I am comparing notes with myself on how I feel about the more "popular" artists.

This afternoon: A S Murali at NGS mini. Excellent concert; first-rate. I'm disappointed, on my first hearing of him, to hear that he has left us and gone to live in London. Superb accompaniment from Balu Raghuraman on violin; I think his technique must be really good, because he produces such a good sound from the violin, which is a great foundation for all the rest of the musical creativity. I enjoyed the mridangist's play (sorry, I've forgotten his name) very much indeed, and AS (yes, brother) Krishnan played morsing superbly.

This evening: Bombay Jaysree at YGP. Another lovely concert. It is a long time since I have heard her, either in person or on recording and, like Balu's violin, she starts with the advantage of a really beautiful voice. There was lots of alapana --- even for many of the smaller pieces.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 23 Dec 2008, 01:22

Yeah I was very impressed with AS Murali too - deserves better than he gets from sabhas

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 23 Dec 2008, 16:03

Nick, may I expect to see you at MFAC this evening? Pink turban?!

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 23 Dec 2008, 16:57

Sorry, Bilahari, I'm taking the evening off

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 23 Dec 2008, 22:13

Only saw your post after coming home and feeling plenty thankful for not accosting the white man who conveniently came and sat in the front row, could put talam properly, and seemed so very taken by the music!

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 23 Dec 2008, 22:57

If he could put talam properly consistently --- it certainly wasn't me!

But you might have made a new friend, and maybe a new Rasikas member!

...This white guy was wearing a pink turban? That would be an absurd coincidence! Preposterous, even

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 23 Dec 2008, 23:22

Sanjay at NGS and a bit of the Malladis afterwards. Roamed around Abhiramapuram for an hour afterwards chanting Darbari and Charukeshi - the RTPs of the day....until the dogs sent me scurrying to my room...

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 24 Dec 2008, 10:09

No, no, enough preposterousness! As a result of that thread, I find myself increasingly astute to how much attention TMK pays to lyrics when he sings! Before that I was just enjoying his music peacefully.

And I wasn't paying as much attention to the tala-putting white man as I was to MC who stayed for the whole concert and was nodding his head constantly with great appreciation and was full of soft aha's and besh's. It was as much a delight watching him appreciate the music as it was appreciating it myself.

Sowmya and NSG today at the Academy. Hope NSG will give me my annual dose of Keeravani that I've missed so far this season!

sagars · Post by **sagars** » 24 Dec 2008, 10:37

Nick where you there in Nityashree's concert at YGP yesterday

balsree · Post by **balsree** » 24 Dec 2008, 12:45

Nick,

Why dont you solve all the identification problems by putting up a photograph of yours right here. No more pink turbans and no more guessing

On a related note, why don't we have an option in forum's profile page to add a photograph ? Even if some people accidentally bump in a concert, we can identify.

Moderators/Admin : Kindly consider this

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 24 Dec 2008, 13:02

If you go thro last year's jam session / meetup (Lakshmanji) threads you will get links to photographs of the members (quite a few).

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 24 Dec 2008, 14:32

I'm here --->http://www.flickr.com/photos/nick-h/496 ... 210690520/

with Kanjira vidwan Somusundaran (I think that's how he spells it) at our house-warming puja.

balsree · Post by **balsree** » 24 Dec 2008, 15:21

Thanks Nick & Rajumds

I was able to see lot of forumites from the links .

Nice to see Vidwan Nick on the morsing.

nick H wrote:If he could put talam properly consistently --- it certainly wasn't me!

How can a vidwan say so !

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 24 Dec 2008, 20:04

All too easily and truthfully, I'm afraid.

More of a vidwasn't than a vidwas ---err, vidwan

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 25 Dec 2008, 00:01

More of a vidwasn't than a vidwas ---err, vidwan

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 25 Dec 2008, 01:09

Good one Nick!

As for tomorrow plan to catch on much needed sleep. Would probably attend RK Srikantan/Ravikiran at Carnatica...some talented youngsters in the afternoon, Sanjay at KGS, TNS at the Academy, BHaratanatyam Today at Kalakshetra...but also a huge backlog of reports to review! Will take a call tomorrow...

sagars · Post by **sagars** » 25 Dec 2008, 08:40

Plan for the day. Listen to TNS Krishna at KGS and stay on to listen to Sanjay. Then rush to Kamaraj Arrangam for Sudha Raghunathan.

Hope to see some Rasikamites.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 25 Dec 2008, 09:41

Hyderabad brothers in the afternoon at Parthasarathy sabha in what will unfortunately be my last concert for this season. Would have liked to stay on for Ranjani Gayathri at the same venue but am running behind on social visits and shopping.

venkat1926 · Post by **venkat1926** » 25 Dec 2008, 10:33

I am not an expert.

This season I thought about attending mostly upcoming artistes.
I attended concerts by Amritha Murali, Nisha rajagopalan and Savith Narasimhan.
All seemed to have good potential.
I intended going for Amrutha Venkatesh's concert. she had a good review.

Among seniors I attended Sanjay subramanian in NGS . His RTP in Darbari Kaanada ( or is it Kaanada) was thrilling. The alapana was majestic.

I intend attending Ranjani and Gayathri and also Bombay Jayashree

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 25 Dec 2008, 10:36

Will shoot for suryaprakAsh at NGS (mini)@ 2 PM, may head to TNS at academy@ 7pm . may shoot some artist in between .

shripathi_g · Post by **shripathi_g** » 25 Dec 2008, 11:04

"may shoot some artist in between" - I'll pray for that artist.

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 25 Dec 2008, 14:51

Sanjay @ KGS but may be arriving a bit late

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 25 Dec 2008, 20:32

Shripathi,

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 25 Dec 2008, 23:11

Today's fare included RK Srinkatan/Ravikiran at Bharath Kalachar and Manasi Prasad & Malavika Sarukkai at BGS and the promised bunch of reports to review! Except for the last item, they were all very enjoyable.

Tomorrow I will probably hang around at the Academy for the most part except maybe to listen to TVS for at NGS. There may also be a lunch with Gobilalitha, Kamalamba and family - please see rasikas meeting thread.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 25 Dec 2008, 23:18

I trust all our artists are still alive and well!

I started the day at Raga Sudha (first visit, this season, to my favourite hall) with M Chandrasekaran and G Barathu presenting padams and javalis in music and abhinaya.

After a pleasant lunch and afternoon with family we returned to Raga Sudha hall for a wonderful concert by R. Vedavalli.

RK Shiramkumar was playing wonderfully: I read of him accompanying Sudha R fantastically in a marathon concert too... I wonder how many hours he spent on stage today? Smt. V. 'sang' his praises, as she did also for her vocal support, who contributed some very special neraval and swaras.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 27 Dec 2008, 00:09

A long day today - 4 concerts non stop from 12 to 9.30. Excellent start by Prasanna and TNS Krishna. TVS consistent as usual. Hyd Bros started off great but a combination of Sundavinodini (RTP) and a ringing headache proved too much in the end!

Tomorrow I will be lining up to try and get a ticket for TMK's Academy concert - if I fail I will head for Ega theatre which is screening Margazhi Ragam! 2 Amruthas - Murali and Venkatesh - provide interesting options for the afternoon besides Suryaprakash. Pantula Rama is performing at Tattvaloka and everyone with an ear for exciting new artistes should storm the venue at 5!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 27 Dec 2008, 10:57

An all sowkyam-laden, imaginative fare by vidyaarthi NSG all through the concert at Indian Fine Arts last evening. Couldn't spot any of you there.
Was very nice sitting with Ahiri (such a rasikA!)--listening to Sriranjini SG and Ranjani Hebbar. Saw S_Hari too there and ran into cmlloving too.She was very nice.
The day before, was very happy to see sbala and his pretty wife and was able to congratulate them in person on their union.
Met Uday and family at Srikantan-Ravikiran concert, but missed Ramki and Vijay. Ran into Vijay yesterday at the Academy. Pity, have to miss the jam session.
Sunday is impossible for me Ramki. Have a great time with music.

Nick, would like to get together over that cup of chai (coffee) in the new year. Please send me an E_mail. Hope Sushee can join us.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 27 Dec 2008, 11:22

Arasi; I have emailed you. If you do not receive it, please email me!

sagars · Post by **sagars** » 27 Dec 2008, 22:51

Could just attend Amrutha Murali and Chinmaya sisters for a short while. Had to complete some social visits and shopping lists of friends.

Had a satisfying season and a wonderful morning meeting at Mylapore temple. Thanks to Vijay again.

Disappointed not able to attend the jam season on
Sunday.

Leaving back home tomorrow noon and back to routine on Monday..

For Lucky forumotes staying in chennai have a wonderful season and a good jam session.

wish could have met more forumites.

Bye for now from Chennai.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 27 Dec 2008, 22:53

Relatively less hectic today thanks to a severe cold and the fact that I failed to get tickets for TMK. Brilliant concert by Malladi Suri Babu (Voleti's disciple and Malladi brothers' father) in the morning with Ramanathan. Caught a bit of Mohan's keyboard concert which I really enjoyed. Pantula Rama in the evening at her usual best featuring the Pallavi of the season so far. Met Ravi at Mohan's concert - he has played the good doctor today - my thanks to him! Caught up with Arasi&Krishnan, Rajesh over dinner at woodlands to gossip about music...

Look forward to the jam session tomorrow although that means I will probably have to miss K gayathri's concert whcih I had looked forward to attending. May catch the Krishna-BJ film in the morning. Ranjani and Gayathri in the evening - maybe TMK at IFAS although I shudder to think of the acoustics there!

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 28 Dec 2008, 00:04

No music today --- but every intention of getting out early enough for Rama Varma's performance, and then going on from there to the jam

Jam yesterday, Jam tomorrow, but never Jam today?

We'll see

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 28 Dec 2008, 07:33

Instead of having jam between two slices of bread why not have a slice of bread between two layers of jam?

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 28 Dec 2008, 08:49

My formula: Instead of having two slices of bread and jam, have one slice of bread with twice as much jam!

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 28 Dec 2008, 09:34

Punarvasu and Nick, the two of you don't get your blood glucose checked so often, do you!

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 28 Dec 2008, 11:14

Still not quite back on my feet. Will be there for the jam session but plans are quite uncertaini after that.

girish_a · Post by **girish_a** » 28 Dec 2008, 16:59

nick H wrote:All too easily and truthfully, I'm afraid.

More of a vidwasn't than a vidwas ---err, vidwan

Ha, ha, ha! Nick H, take heart, at least you seem to be a vid-want

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 28 Dec 2008, 21:23

Girish_a,

That counts for a lot!

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 28 Dec 2008, 22:44

It was a great day, beginning with Rama Varma giving a wonderfully gentle and unhurried concert. From there I ent to the Jam, which was great fun, and a great learning experience as they kept clobbering me with misra chapu

.

Still, I got my own back by getting Vainika to follow me the wrong way down a busy one-way street

.

(Sorry, I always forget about that one-way stretch)

Anyway, he realised that I shouldn't have taken that turn and went the other way, I escaped the one-way and followed lanes (more fun than main roads) to Raga Sudha hall.

There was a lady with a really wonderful voice singing when I arrived: must look up her name. Whilst (with respect to his offspring, who play wonderfully) I'd rather see him play alone, the trio gave us a wonderful concert.

Jam Today!

except in one respect: I never seemed to have time for a meal! So that blood sugar was sadly lacking until I got back home tonight.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 28 Dec 2008, 23:51

The day started off very badly so could not catch any afternoon concerts...by the end of the jam I was restored and went for TMK. Interesting concert to say the least! Tomorrow I will hopefully be able to get more concerts in starting with Amrutha Venkatesh and, if all goes well, Sanjay at 7...