N.Vijayalakshmi@brhaddvani(thiruvanmiyur) on Sept 12th,2009

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 13 Sep 2009, 11:59

N.Vijayalakshmi@brhaddvani(thiruvanmiyur) on Sept 12th,2009
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Organized by brhaddvani trust in a house in thiruvanmiyur,This trust is started by karaikudi subramaniam (a vainikA himself)who is from the lineage of karraikudi sambasiva iyer .This trust is working and really making a strong fight to organize a dozen or two exclusive veena concerts to stop the decline in patronage of veena . This is the second of the series so you have 2 more years worth of veena concerts lined up. I felt shri karaikudi subramaniam has a very altruistic intent to popularize veena.His aim is very realistic (he just said he wants 50 rasikas per concert , we must have had only 25 or so during yesterday) and in his own words he said veena is a teacher of all teachers.

This vidushi Vijayalakshmi is an A graded AIR artist and she is been playing for atleast 2 or 3 decades, there was a passing mention that she is the disciple of vid kalpagam swaminathan, she having earlier learnt from both her mom and dad.The concert was just for 1 hours and 25 minutes, as the hosts had to allocate time for serving a sumptous dinner . From our internet community I, nick, semmu86, vganesh and ofcourse karanakartha

attended.

The concert was very balanced and the suppport of both the mridangist and ghatam artist was with the right proportion. Almost all numbers I liked it , though my pick was nAttai and the tAnam in kalyAni and the early varnam in that delightful slide of nAttaikurinji.

Having said that the choice of sAveri-kalyAni (submain-main) was a bit very sedate and gave me an excess benadryl syrup drowsiness. Possibly a more expressive main or submain would have been a better choice.

The tani avartanam was played beautifully and overall the percussionist balanced it well . The veena was fed to a good amplifier and incidentally from #3 onwards the veena azhuttham was heard despite two percussionists.

Accompanied by Tanjore Subramaniam(n) - mrudangam and G.ravichandran - ghatam.

1. varnam "dont know the varnam for sure may be it is chalamela" - nAttaikurinji
2. siddi viNayagam (RS,S) - shanmughapriya- MD
3. Sarasiruha Sanapriye (R ,S)- Nattai- Puliyur Duraisamy Iyer

4. kamAkshi - bhairavi -SS
5.shankari shamguru (R N S) - sAveri -SS
6. anupama guNAmbuthi - atAnA - T

7A. pankaja lOchana (R, tAnam,N, S, T) - kalyAni - ST
7B. tani
8. jagadOdhAranA - peelu(how different is peelu from hind kApi ?) - PD
9. niraimadhi "thirrupugazh" - hamsAnandi -AGN
10. pavamAna "mangalam" - sowrAshtram + madhyamavati

It was nice to see cool, nick, ganesh , and semmu86 who was playing mrudangam without mrudangam .Vainikas are always inside looking musicians , they are not flamboyant that is what shri kAraikudi subramaniam told at the end . I agree completely with that .

Overall a very good concert.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 13 Sep 2009, 12:53

A very nice concert indeed. That was Kottivakkam, not Thiruvanmiyur --- but you are only a couple of km out! (My home turf, walking distance to my house).

Happy to know that this family is that of karraikudi Krishnamurthy, London's senior mridangam vidwan. It was a pleasure to talk to Sri Subramanam and his brother and sister-in-law, whose hospitality we enjoyed in their beautiful house.

The percussionists deserve greater praise! Tanjore Subramaniam has that style of gentle sarvalaghu play that dances with the music but never intrudes, but always compliments. G Ravichandran followed TS as if they played together every day, adding ghatam accents in just the right places. GR's mridangam was also an object lesson in controlling the volume; many mridangists seem to only know 'loud' --- which is fine for stage, but overpowering in the chamber concert. The mixing board gives a chance to correct the balance, but where there is none, this is entirely in the hands (literally!) of the players. They got it exactly right.

I do not like violin accompaniment to veena --- there was none

The presentation of amplified veena with unamplified percussion worked very well, although the early pieces suffered a little from booming base. Adjustments were welcome! I reflected sadly that, despite my clamouring, over the years, for unamplified concerts, my poor hearing is simply not up to it any longer.

My gem of the evening was the tanum (the only one) for the main piece. It was just perfect. Veena is just so perfect for tanum: I wish that, in future programs, we might have more than one!

Speeches were appropriate, and only made before the start and after the finish of the music; there was no interruption of the flow of the concert. Sr S. spoke (at least during his beginning address) in English, but I'm afraid that only a few of his words made it through my hearing. Similarly, I was not able to make out what Smt Vijayalakshmi said when she spoke.

The dinner was delicious

The next concert in this series is on 24 October. Unfortunately I think I have an engagement that day, but I really look forward to the subsequent programs.

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 13 Sep 2009, 13:02

Does this Karaikudi parampara have to do with Shyama Sastri's family?

semmu86 · Post by **semmu86** » 13 Sep 2009, 16:12

wonderful concert , wonderful pongal-vadai , wonderful house , wonderful hosts... in short , a wonderful evening ... enjoyed each and every moment of that..

Arvind..

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 13 Sep 2009, 16:37

nick H wrote: Happy to know that this family is that of karraikudi Krishnamurthy, London's senior mridangam vidwan. It was a pleasure to talk to Sri Subramanam and his brother and sister-in-law, whose hospitality we enjoyed in their beautiful house.

Nick do you know how is Karaikudi Krishnamurthy related to Karaikudi Subramaniam? I thought they are just from the same home town only.

johnlovescm · Post by **johnlovescm** » 13 Sep 2009, 16:53

nick H wrote: I do not like violin accompaniment to veena --- there was none

If you listen to the Emani - MSG - UKS concert or the Mysore Doraisamy Iyengar - Lalgudi, you would perhaps change your opinion. Especially the Emani - MSG concert will make you dance to their music. Some of the finest music by the finest of the artists.

sbala · Post by **sbala** » 13 Sep 2009, 21:28

Bad miss. Hope to make it to subsequent concerts.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 13 Sep 2009, 23:11

mohan wrote:
nick H wrote: Happy to know that this family is that of karraikudi Krishnamurthy, London's senior mridangam vidwan. It was a pleasure to talk to Sri Subramanam and his brother and sister-in-law, whose hospitality we enjoyed in their beautiful house.
Nick do you know how is Karaikudi Krishnamurthy related to Karaikudi Subramaniam? I thought they are just from the same home town only.

KS told me they were cousins.

Johnlovescm... I don't automatically dislike a veena concert because violin is there, I just often wish that it wasn't! There are always going to be exceptions to likes and dislikes of this sort, for instance, as a rule, I dislike 'fusion', but still, I've seen one or two wonderful fusion performances. I can't imagine that I would not enjoy the music that you mention, with such a one as MSG playing!

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 13 Sep 2009, 23:23

I had to miss this, coz i had to attend a concert of one of her gurus, Smt Kalpakam Swaminathan.
hope to make it from next time

vganesh · Post by **vganesh** » 14 Sep 2009, 09:54

Wonderful concert. I landed there at @5.45 PM itself. Had a long chat with the hosts also. Nice wonderful concert. Shankari Samguru was the best piece I liked that day. It flowed very smooth. I also did not here what the artist was telling.
I have a cliping of a small Veena which was displayed by Mr.K.S. he said it was 250 years old. Will try to upload.

bala747 · Post by **bala747** » 14 Sep 2009, 10:41

I agree with nick that I don't like violins accompanying veenas. I'll take it further. I don't like to hear violins accompany any other instrument, with the possible exception of the flute and that too, only to fill in the gaps. The veena is an instrument that can stand on its own merits and its sound clashes with the sound produced by the violin and often it does not sound all that great. The veena naadham is unique and must be heard by itself with minimal accompaniment (I am aware of exceptions, and even in the Emani - MSG concerts I rather hear them separately than together).

Of great concern to me is that nowadays I am seeing ridiculous combinations where the violin has to play 'second fiddle' literally to instruments with far less scope or range, including mandolins, guitars, saxophones (dear lord!), keyboards, and the next "prodigy" who happens to pick up any random instrument and play "Raghuvamsa Sudha" in it. It is an insult to this great instrument which has such an illustrious history in carnatic music. Let's hope there isn't some "whistle" prodigy with a violin accompaniment!

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 14 Sep 2009, 10:46

Yes indeed, the violin and violinists become a joke in such concerts.