Veena and Sitar Jugalbandhi - San Diego - 3rd Oct 2009

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 05 Oct 2009, 11:51

Jayanthi Kumaresh - Veena
Gaurav Mazumdar - Sitar
Jayachandra Rao - Mrudangam
Anubrata Chatterjee- Tabla

Duration: 2h 20min

Songlist:

01. kalAvati / vaLaji - Adi
02. RTP - chArukEsi - Adi (sama eDuppu)
03. vaishnava janathO - khamAj / harikAmbOji
04. bhairavi / sindhu bhairavi

The kalAvati/ vaLaji opening piece was interesting because I've never heard an exploration of this rAga in the jugalbandhi format. Jayanthi Kumaresh produced some really beautiful jArus in descending from the shadjam to panchamam, rishabam to panchamam, etc, in her alApanai passages. Both the sitarist and vainika shared the alapanai with rapid alternation as each one only played for a couple of minutes before handing the stage over to the other. I felt the fluency of the alapanai was significantly hindered by this rapid alternation since neither artiste took the opportunity to really sculpt a wholesome image of the raga in his/her style, and the alapanai was a rather stop-gap affair. The ensuing rendition of a composition that was not announced was average. The artistes should have at least announced the name of the piece they were playing (or did I miss it?) and perhaps have sung a few lines as sitarist Irshad Khan had done earlier this year.

ChArukEsi was a curious choice for RTP, since both styles appear to approach it similarly from what little I have heard. However, there are some subtle differences in ornamentation, as the artistes demonstrated. For instance, although both Hindusthani and Carnatic systems appear to emphasise the madhyamam in the raga, the Hindusthani system does not seem to place as much weight on the dhaivatham as CM does, as was evident from Gaurav Mazumdar's raga sketches where he rarely brought a phrase to an end with a strong, lingering dhaivatham. Nevertheless, he did play an aesthetic SRG... SRG... SRG... M,,,, GRS D,,,, with a strong emphasis on both the madhyamam and dhaivatham. Other than that, I found the sitarist's approach to the raga significantly scalar, working around all sorts of arohanam-avarohanam sequences, dattu and janta patterns, etc, with few discernible piDis. Jayanthi, on the other hand, did frequently use piDis, especially the all-important M,,,GRSD,,, , which did become stale after the tenth or eleventh time she used in a span of fifteen minutes. To her credit, she played some beautiful embellishments of the madhyamam, with gamaka structures like MPD,PMG to characterise the note. In this alapanai too the sitarist and vainika alternated quickly, and here too there was little fluency. Neither artiste managed to work up an appetite for the raga to pour out a steady stream of music, and there was also very little communication between the artistes in replying to each other's passages during the alapanai, with each one presenting isolated parts.

After a lacklustre 15-min alapanai, a thanam (jOd jhAla in HM?) continued. Jayanthi played some nice dattu sequences like PSPR PSPG PSPM,,,G, while the sitarist stuck to some simple janta patterns like SS RR GG, SSS RRR GGG. Jayanthi's thanam was certainly the standout moment of the evening, though even that lacked a certain energy or weight. Throughout the evening, it seemed as though Jayanthi was sacrificing gamakas in order to synchronise with the sitarist, which subtracted a lot of the fun from the jugalbandi by blurring the contrast between the styles. The pallavi was catchy and both artistes played some interesting phrases during the kalpanaswara segment (don't know the Hindusthani equivalent, if there is one - I apologise), with Jayanthi playing patterns like DSN PND MDP GPM. Jayanthi also used the tala strings on the veenai very effectively, especially while playing phrases like S,,,, R S,,,,G S,,,,M, etc. The sitarist played patterns like PDDN DNNS NSSR and employed couplets like GM - PD - DN - RS; MP DN NS GR.

Both elaborate pieces of the concert had a final kOrvai based on arohanam/avarohanam that sounded rather repetitive.

Jayachandra Rao had an advantage throughout the concert because the mic volume for the mrudangam was significantly greater than the volume for the tabla, and as a result only the mrudangam could be heard for the better part of the concert. Certainly, the mrudangam vidwan played with a lot of azhuttham and provided competent accompaniment. Anubrata Chatterjee would have good reason to feel aggrieved since he couldn't be heard half the time, but he exhibited some dazzlingly quick strokes during his portion of the thani avarthanam. I do agree with people in the mrudangam vs. tabla vidwan thread that the tabla probably makes a better first impression at least on non-CM-acclimatised listeners. The clarity of strokes of the tabla, at least in this concert, was much greater than that of the mrudangam. However, both the sitar and tabla seemed to have a "lighter" nAdam (i.e. less azhuttham) than the veenai and mrudangam. The volume for the veenai and mrudangam was also louder than for the sitar and tabla, and this may have affected my perception, but I really felt like the sitar and veenai were not very well matched in sound.

The thani avarthanam was energetic but became excessively loud during the final climax. After the thani, both artistes presented a lovely sketch of khamAj/ harikAmbOji, with the sitarist playing some very CM-khamAs-ish phrases with an emphasis on the madhyamam (quite a few MGMs too). The artistes also played some nice non-rhythmic sangathis of the pallavi of vaishnava janathO, in the manner KVN used to elaborate bEganE bAro prior to commencing the krithi rendition. The rendition of both vaishnava janathO and the sindhu bhairavi piece were really light and lacking in bhAvam.

It was a well-planned concert and a well-rehearsed concert, and that was obvious. However, there was absolutely no spontaneity, no moments of magic or inspiration, and importantly, very little tangible communication between the HM and CM artistes. Each would repeatedly take turns at presenting his/her music, completely unaffected by the other. Jayanthi Kumaresh certainly seems to have the ability to play extremely well, but her playing was unncessarily restrained last evening, despite a few moments where she impressed with her sense of aesthetics. I cannot pass judgment on the sitarist, knowing precious little about Hindusthani music, but I found his playing to be rather listless and unimaginative. It's a pity that my beloved chArukEsi had to suffer as a result.

It was a fair concert and I dreaded having to give that forced standing ovation at the end. But several rasikas thought it was excellent, so perhaps I was not in the right frame of mind to appreciate the concert.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 05 Oct 2009, 12:27

bilahari wrote: Duration: 2h 20min
....
It's a pity that my beloved chArukEsi had to suffer as a result.

bilahari,
chArukEsi is a Singapore rAgA , that being your home town rAgA ,you may have felt more let down than an average rasikA there. Was there a rAgamAligA in RTP, kind of hard to believe with only 4 numbers for 2 hours and 20 mins, that too vaishnavo jaNathO is usually a tiny tail and the last 2 is post tani tukkada. Did you have daylight savings time adjustment ,where the clock was adjusted an hour forward from 1 hr 20 to 2 hr 20 min(just kidding)

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 05 Oct 2009, 14:14

bilahari wrote:
" Jayanthi Kumaresh produced some really beautiful jArus in descending from the shadjam to panchamam, rishabam to panchamam, etc, in her alApanai passages."
rishabham to panchamam? In valaji?
Can you elaborate?

s_hari · Post by **s_hari** » 05 Oct 2009, 14:31

Punarvasu wrote: rishabham to panchamam? In valaji?

Good catch. Or did Jayanti play malayamarutam?

-hari

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 05 Oct 2009, 15:29

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 05 Oct 2009, 16:17

bilahari, as usual a very good, in-depth review. You have taken a lot of effort to note down every nuance/ pidis etc to provide us with a good feed back.Keep it up.
Yes in jugalbandis both the systems suffer and CM suffers more. JK is a very good vainika and I really like her playing. As srinivasrgvn wrote, jugalbandis do not bring out the best in the artist's concerned; there is some sort of a restraint/ compromise and I always feel it is more for the CM artist; wonder whether it is because of the nature of JB or whether it is a 'self-restraint, compromise' by the CM artist.
That is why I am not too keen on them

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 05 Oct 2009, 19:41

Some years ago, the same duo played in Indianapolis, and it was a beautifully spontaneous affair, with none of this alternate stop-and-go that bilahari reports. Having hosted a fully carnatic concert of Smt. Jayanti earlier, I personally did not feel a lack of freshness the day she played with Sri Gaurav Majumdar in Indianapolis. This might have been an off day for them!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 05 Oct 2009, 19:45

Bilahari,
Your reviews are a treat to read. You know your stuff! You are not a mere rasikA. Your intuitive sense and your responses too are conveyed in your reviews admirably. Sorry, I sound like someone admiring the frame more than the painting

I have not heard either of the artistes in a live concert. I was not there at this concert either. So, I do not want to say anything about the performance.
In general, I think that a north south jugalbandi is not that easy to pull off. To a smaller extent, I feel the same about brothers, sisters concerts (vocal, in particular). It is not at all easy to sing with abandon--being conscious at all times that it is a joint performance. Flights of fancy have to be timed. Yet, once in a while when it all works, it is magic.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 06 Oct 2009, 08:32

Punarvasu, thanks for pointing out my error! I must have latched on to the wrong swara, since the artistes announced the raga as valaji. I usually guess swaras by identifying the constituent swaras in familiar piDis in ragas, and then placing other swaras in relation to those. In this case, since I couldn't hear the shruti box clearly and am not very familiar with the raga (at least the way it was presented), I must've deciphered the swaras incorrectly. Sorry!

Rajesh, the concert had lots of pauses where the artistes wanted the sound system changed, were retuning their instruments (all the time), etc. The valaji had ragam and swaras and lasted about 25 minutes. The whole RTP lasted about 50 minutes and then thani about 20-25 min. The tukkadas were about 15-20 minutes in total. There was no ragamaliga (I thought it might've been nice, given the chArukEsi wasn't taking off).

Srinivas, why do you say valaji is not suitable for jugals? I have been wondering: what sort of ragas ARE suitable for jugalbandis? The kharaharapriya/ kAfi that Ravikiran and Irshad Khan essayed was nice because the scale of the raga is similar in both systems but the ornamentation and approach is very different. That is the kind of contrast I enjoy. Even kalyANi-yaman - however overdone - offers the same kind of contrast. ChArukEsi - I didn't think so.

Punarvasu, I too have found that CM artistes tend to compromise a bit more in jugals. I wonder why. Is it because CM has much more gamaka and that in an effort to better "harmonise" (for lack of a better word) the music, the CM artiste decides to sacrifice CM classicism a bit? I don't know.

Ravi, it was either an off day for them or an off day for me (in terms of being able to appreciate the music). The chances are probably about 50-50. I welcome other San Diego rasikas to share their impressions... The few I spoke to either thought the concert was excellent or not that great.

Arasi, yes- it must be difficult to plan and execute a jugalbandi!

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 14 Oct 2009, 06:59

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 14 Oct 2009, 07:14

Srinivas, this concert was held in Nashville, as the video indicates. But this kalAvati piece is the same (and also the same piece featured in the CD they were selling outside) - they must REALLY love this raga.

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 14 Oct 2009, 16:14

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 14 Oct 2009, 19:05

The Podhighai kIravANi is nice! But I couldn't find the pallavi part of it...

srinivasrgvn · Post by **srinivasrgvn** » 14 Oct 2009, 21:53

Here are parts 1,2 and 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzRxO8n3WRE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBlF2tsG0yk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVZG_Nz- ... re=related

They contain the entire rAgam thAnam pallavi.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 16 Oct 2009, 11:43

Thanks, Srinivas!