Shashank@kalarasana on Dec 22nd 2009

[rajeshnat]

Shashank@kalarasana on Dec 22nd 2009
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Flute : Shashank
Violin : Mysore nAgaraj
Mrudangam : Neyveli Venkatesh
Got him : ghatam s karthik
Concert Duration : 2 hours and 45 minutes

Human voice which is God's instrument is the best instrument, hence vocal concerts is always one that I cherish the most . In man made instruments with divine blessing ,each of them have a place , to an extent how much each of the instrumentalists add their nAdham and how much of overlap is with vocal is always a sub conscious search within me.

Incidentally i have only listened to live concerts of Flute ramani and in the last few months I had a chance to attend a fairly unknown but a very classical artist by name KV Ramanujam. Shashank thanked all of us at 06:15 and said this was his 16 or 17th year of performance here , this was my first concert of him.There were pluses and there was minuses too in this concert

1. nEra nammiti "varnam" (Raga sketch)- kAnada - Poochi:
The sound was adjusted for a long time before the scheduled start and shashank started with a brief alApana in KAnadA , a rAga that is well suited for flute and he played with his medium sized flute . The alApana was for about 3 minutes dwelving in a contemplative tone and there was return from nagarAj in violin.When the varnam was played , it was good , but could have been better if there was a little less violin return , almost the entire song there was a continous play by the violinist it was difficult to hear the subtlelities of flute.

shashank asked the feedback , few suggested that the violin was bit loud and also continous (i was one of the few), shashank asked to reduce the volume of violin a bit(the bit could have been little more) and nAgaraj also to an extent did not play so continously from there onwards , so in a way early feedback always helps

2. shree pathE(R ,S) - nAgaswaravali - T :
The next number shashank was kind of experimenting a bit in rAga alApanai, the alApanai was played roughly for 9 minutes with a 2 minute violin return at the end of 4th minute. The alApanai was played unhurriedly throughout but it was difficult to zone in the rAga,I was not sure for the first full 3 or 4 minutes ,then the clouds in my head began to clear and I zoned in bahudARi or nAgaswaravali. To an extent nagarAj in violin tilted towards nAgaswaravali , but I was sure of the rAga only when the krithi shree pathE was played.

The krithi was played well but more blow in the flute would have helped, the swaras were lengthy and to an extent the last 4 minutes was a repetition of the first 6 minutes or so , the ten minute swaras had him changing flute for few times , at times I was finding it difficult to get the continuity. Overall not a very satisfying one

3. emi jEsithE (R S) - tOdi - T :
I have not heard in a live flute concert a tOdi number, I have to give it to shashank , he did a fine job here, there were three rounds of alApana with intermediate violin return all going for 13 minutes and the gamakams were bit flat but still it was well done and aesthethic. THe krithi could have had more blowing power from shashank but it was not the case , swaras were well done. Overall a very satisfying krithi, the pick of the day.

4. vara rAga laya- senchukAmbOdhi -T :
The fast number was just good with round of cittaswaras, more power in his blow would have helped at times the violinist was drowning a bit the flute nAdham.

5A. RTP - kharaharapriyA with 3 pallavi lines in three speeds:
This concert was a RTP kharaharapriya centric I would say. To an extent it was both a miss and hit. The alApana was roughly for 15 minutes in four rounds with violin returns for two or three rounds, to an extent the start was really superb but kind of faded out towards the end

tAnam was played well to start with and MSG style like return from nagarAj or cut bowing type was aesthetic , but I felt the tANam was discontinous in the sense , at times I felt shashank went back to too much of rAga alApanai and at times I was not sure if he is playing ragAm or tANam.The tAnam adulterated with rAga alapanai was for 12 minutes or so

Shashank was creative and he experimented little too much I would say in the pallavi line. He decided to take three pallavi lines in all three speeds to illustrate kharaharapriyA, the first was 32 beats and the percussion did not gel well . The swara ragamaliga started with kharaharapriya and there were four rAgas , the first I could not recognize, the second was valaci?? , the third was sindhubhairavi and the fourth kApi, I could not get that much classical sukham and rAga bhAvam in the play and I could see a package that could be called close to bit of fusion ,very very difficult to zero in on rAgas of his rAgamAliga, it was 'continental international package of kharaharapriya' not a 'south indian traditional carnatic package' .The pallavi before tani was for 55 full minutes

5B. tani :
Tani was for about 5 minutes , kind of not that great one, neyveli venkatesh and ghatam karthik were focussed little too much on speed and I guess the fusion continuation was there

6. javALi ??? - behAg :
The play was meditative but difficult to zero in the rAga

7. theerAtha vilayattu pillai (R) - rAgamALiga - bharathiyAr :
I am acclimitized to this song a lot ,as always the flautist take up this number , the alapana was brief and excellent and all the three rAgas sindhubhairavi, kamAs and ?? were quite well done

8.rAma mantrava japiso??(R) - jonpuri - PD :
There was a listener request in jonpuri , he played with a brief alapana and was quite good.

9. vandE mAtaram (R)- dEsh- bankim chandra chatterjee :
The Desh was played with the longest flute (is that bansai )and it was really superb for the first half , but towards the second half he changed the flute a very short one the dEsh fragrance got vapourized , did not like it that much

Violinst - nAgaraj:
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His play was sharp , but at many places there was an excess press and it gave few abrasive tone, I would have preferred him to play little more gently with a little less press or little away from mike , many a times the flute lost to violin . But on the plus side there was a lot of MSG like play where his returns were fast and gripping and was good

venkatesh and karthik:
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Both of them played well for most of the numbers , only in the pallavi they could not accomodate their play to suit the three speed pallavi lines of shashank. Venkatesh was slightly overbanging for few sangathis in kharaharapriya.

Overall i paid 100 Rs which is nice ,i paid to listen to shashank and also keeping with the team in mind. Like indian cricket team each of the individual stars could not gel that much well to present a well rounded team effort and a concert.

Shashank may have the spark but to me there was little too much experimentation , and his blowing power could have been more , at times he changing many flutes did not give that much continuity to my ears and gamaka suddham was lost a lot of times.

Overall a good to very good concert for 2 hours and 45 minutes.

[sridhar_ranga]

I was there until the Behag piece and I must have sat just in front of you Rajesh, since I heard the person behind say "he is playing too much" pointing to the violinist

Truth be told, I liked Mysore Nagaraj's playing every bit and kept looking forward to his returns. Overall the concert seemed an exercise in speed, though...even the 32 beat pallavi sounded too fast and the next pallavi round in khanDa chApu felt just right while the final round in 8 beats was way too fast. It was an enjoyable performance overall but at many times I did feel like sitting in a shatabdi express; the speedometer staying in red right from the word go in vara ragalaya and for the most part in a few other pieces.