Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam at Fort High School,Ramsevamandali

[mridhangam]

Vijayalakshmi Subramaniam-Vocal
charulatha Ramanujam-Violin
Mannarkoil J Balaji-Mridhangam
Swamy-Khanjira

The concert was organised as part of Ram Seva mandali's annual Ram Navami Festival on the 3rd April 2010 from morning 10 am to 12.00 Noon.

The concert had the following items :

Mathe Malayadwaja – Daru Varnam – Kamas – Adi – Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar
Thulasidalamulache – Mayamalavagowlai – Rupakam - Thyagaraja - N , S
Adidano Ranga – Arabhi – Adi - Purandaradasa – R
Janani Ninnuvina – Reethigowlai – Misra Chapu – Subbaraya Shastry -R, S
Anandamrtakarshani – Amrithavarshini – Rupakam – M.Dikshitar
Koluvamaregada Kodandapani – Todi – Adi - Thyagaraja – R, N, S, T
Rama Govinda Hari – Purya – Kabir Bhajan
Thoogidale Rangana – Neelambari – Misra Chapu - Purandaradasa

All the songs were well rendered with accent on Bhava and also on patanthara. Mathe, Daru varnam started off well and she sang the Charanam in a slightly tough speed making it interesting in the beginning itself. Reethigowlai raga was replete with serenity and the atmosphere was still. The audience were thoroughly enjoying Vijayalakshmi's music. Koluvamaregatha in Thodi a masterpiece of Saint Thyagaraja was rendered with aplomb. She was at ease during thodi aalapana and also during neraval at "Tambura Chekoni" which started 1 1/2 beat before Samam. She did quite well in Niraval and her swaras and koraippu were rendered for the vishama eduppu.

Charulatha Ramanujam did a neat presentation of Reetigowla and thodi while myself and swamy played Tani for the Vishama Eduppu for the thodi kriti. Swamy needs a special mention for his tonal quality in his instrument and also for his varieties that he displayed during thani. During songs his accompaniment was unobstrusive and at the same time giving effects to support the mridangist and main artiste.

On the whole the concert was a commendable one. It is difficult to get self-motivated to sing in front of a meagre audience and it requires the herculean efforts of artistes like Vijayalakshmi to get motivated to such high levels and give a creative presentation.

The hospitality was a bit unsatisfactory with no one around to cater to the needs of the artistes on stage and quite a few times one of the very few present at the audience needed to go back stage to remind them about water supply, fan etc. That is why i said full credits to Vijayalakshmi for braving such obstacles and giving such a wonderful concert. I am not blaming the authorities here as such since they might have been busy with other things too with too many concerts to be co-ordinated, artistes arrival, pick up, deartures etc etc all these things need a massive man-effort and during such a himalayan task some shortfalls do come and may be on that day we had to face it. It was very hot and they could have switched on the Airconditioned system which i think they have recently installed eventhough it is partially open on the sides. (May be it is only for evening concerts when there will be more crowd and also the weather is congenial ... hahahah).

All said and done i thouroughly enjoyed the concert and of course a challenging thani at 58 for which the korvai was made from samam.

Mannarkoil J Balaji

[rajeshnat]

It is difficult to get self-motivated to sing in front of a meagre audience and it requires the herculean efforts of artistes like Vijayalakshmi to get motivated to such high levels and give a creative presentation.

IPL-Cricket is creating meager audience even for movies in multiplexes. IPL is testing every artists motivation.For the last 5 to 6 concerts that I am attending the audience turnout is not that great.

[vanamali]

As an aside, Yesterday after Sri Seshachary's concert (for which the audience turnout was okay, not great) was a jugalbandi of Dr Mysore Manjunath with Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. The audience turnout for this was almost a packed hall! Sri Bhatt thanked the audience for coming to the concert leaving behind 200+ TV channels and IPL matches. He also appealed to bigwigs (incl Vijay Mallya) that there should be a 24 hour channel for Indian classical music. He also went on to say that Animals have 3 channels for themselves, while there is none for Indian Music!!

[arasi]

Balaji,
Vijayalakshmi S has to be commended and all of you, accompanists too. I am glad you spoke up about the absence of any of the organizers in the hall--let alone their hospitality! I have seen this happen once in a while in Chennai during the season too. Yes, they are all overworked, there was going to be a huge crowd puller of a concert in the evening, but that's no excuse. When it is a big festival like this, surely, there are enough volunteers out of whom some are there specifically to look after the needs of artistes--at least one at every concert. However grand one may think the arrangements are for a wedding, if there are not enough people to welcome the guests, it is not worth all the efforts that went into it. It is hard, I don't deny, to organize such a long festival without small glitches but if you invite artistes, you are supposed to take care of their needs too.
Bless Viswa Mohan Bhatt! I hope Mallaiya is listening. I think he will do well as a patron of the ancient art of CM. He runs a very good airlines company among others, anyway! And how many concerts can be supported for the money he spends on a single party, and how much of culture he would be supporting in that case!

What is vishama eDuppu? Is it in the 'laya for dummies' category so that people like me can understand it?

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Balaji sir,
Thanks for the report!
Pleasantly surprised to see ADidanO ranga in the song list - it is not that commonly heard!
Any chance we can hear the audio?

[kssr]

With regard to hospitality to artists and other arrangements to be made during the concerts, my experience is that the organisers really are short of volunteers. There are many organisations conducting top class concerts free of charge. The organisers (mostly senior citizens) run around for every small thing including collecting funds which do not come easily.

Rasikas like us should try to make it a point to arrive at the venue 15-20 minutes in advance and try to offer "shram daan" to the organisers wherever possible. Moving chairs, putting up banners, arranging for water/beverages and at times idli/dosa to the artists on time, sorting out vehicle parking issues, power supply problems, mike system problems, late arrival/non arrival of impotant artists .... endless demands/issues.

Rama seva mandali situation may be different as they can hire any number of volunteers with their financial strength. Such old organisations may end up with other difficulties like boredom, lack of enthusiasm, commitment and ownership of the task and so on.

[mohan]

This reminds when I played during the season in Chennai for an afternoon concert. I arrived 15-20 minutes before the start time and had to search around looking for the hall lights, powerpoints, etc since there was no organiser present.

[mridhangam]

Arasi ji

There are two types of Eduppu. 1 is Sama Eduppu another is Vishama Eduppu. Sama eduppu is song and tala start together. Vishama eduppu is of two types : one is Atheetha Eduppu and another is Anagatha eduppu. Atheetha means song starts before the Starting point of the Tala. Anagatha means Song starts after the Starting point of the Tala.

Mohan

can u tell me which sabha ? so that we know whether it is already notorious or one or few times. Every artiste knows abt a few sabhas in the city to be notorious for poor artiste welcome. that is the reason i asked you.

J.Balaji

[kssr]

can u tell me which sabha ?

I suggest that we leave out a detailed discussion on artists' behaviour, audience behaviour and organiser's behaviour to some other forum. There are admirable examples as well as abominable ones with regard to the behaviour of all the above three participants in kutcheris.

There are bound to be countless stories- not always pleasant ones. I have myself been a vicim who has suffered due to misbehaviour of each of the three parties on different occasions. Let us remember the good ones and move on keeping in mind, the high cultural standard, we the CM lovers, represent

[rshankar]

This reminds when I played during the season in Chennai for an afternoon concert. I arrived 15-20 minutes before the start time and had to search around looking for the hall lights, powerpoints, etc since there was no organiser present.

I remember that!!

[arasi]

Thanks for the lesson, Balaji! Yes, I am familiar with the other two expressions but their being called vishama eDuppu was new to me. Not simple (samam) but with a twist (vishamam)? Musicians have coined their own musical expresions over the years, no doubt.

[girish_a]

I didn't know about Atheetha eduppu. Thanks for explaining. Some questions:

1. Could you give some examples of songs in Atheetha eduppu?
2. Does this not violate the laws of taala? Is it legal to have a part of the song outside the bounds of taala?

Thanks!

[keerthi]

Not simple (samam) but with a twist (vishamam)? Musicians have coined their own musical expresions over the years, no doubt.

samam in sanskRt is even, and ViSamam is odd (or uneven)

Since the atIta/anAgata eduppu-s or grahas do not correspond to the begin of the song, they are called what they are..

I didn't know about Atheetha eduppu. Thanks for explaining. Some questions:

1. Could you give some examples of songs in Atheetha eduppu?
2. Does this not violate the laws of taala? Is it legal to have a part of the song outside the bounds of taala?

Thanks!

1. ChEde buddhimanurA in aTANa - tyagarAja;
Also Kamalapadamalar in Harikambhoji, Papanasam sivan, (with kama swaraksaram beginning at the previous druta)

These are examples where the pallavi is of the atIta kind.

1.5There are more examples of atIta in anupallavi - gIr-vAna in the AP of kSINamai tiruga [mukhari] ali- venulella in vEnugAnaloluni [KEdAragauLa]

I am sure there are examples of several atIta passages in the beginning of / in course of the caranam of extant krti-s. [vi-citra manimaya in mAmava pattAbhirAma in maNirang]

2. it isn't a violation, and the apparent problem can be overcome by marking a silent tAla Avartam and then picking up the eduppu (if pallavi is atIta).

I suspect that many krtis which are now sung at a ta-ki-ta eduppu must have all been atIta (and can be sung comfortably in that fashion) and that for some reason, musicians favoured the AnAgata takita eduppu version.

[rshankar]

The pallavi of SivakAmasundari (jaganmOhini) of GKB also starts before the tALam...

[sivapriya]

Yes Arasi : Thanks for asking for the clarification of the term " Vishama'.

Know about Atheetha eduppu and Anaaghata eduppu, but didn't know till now that these are termed as " Vishama".

Should check for details of this term in books. Also I have a doubt. why the "H" after the "S" in the word?

It could be " vi-sama" eduppu, as in the opposite of "sama" . Vi is a word also use to signify the meaning of 'opposite of something'.

The "H" for one makes a little "mischief" of the term !!!

Sivapriya.

[mridhangam]

Sivapriya

have you noticed my ID ? it too has "h" in its name .. actually as per transliteration is should be mridangam only but i have added "h". Generally for students of mridangam their guru's emphasize on the fact of "Azutham" so symbolically i have added the "h" for the word mridangam to include the azutham as part of everyday living in my life, eventhough in transliteration it is wrong.

For emphasis sake we find some expressions that is all ... for the exact transliterations our sanskrit expert rasikas can help us.

Actually the Vishama is just a loose transliteration in English not conforming to norms .. but in urgency expressions are more important than grammar ....

Mannarkoil J Balaji

[sivapriya]

Balaji,

The ' mischief ' bit of it is just in a lighter vein , as intended by both Arasi and myself !!

We are but raising rhetorics , so that further clarity on the subject emerges. Healthy discussions and debates lead to a lot of positive energy around a subject.

As for the word 'vi' as suggested by me, i got one further opinion from some knowledgeable person that, " vi- sama " could mean 'visesha - sama '.

We could then take that atheetha and anaagata eduppus are "visesha" edupppus, as compared to the routine 'sama' eduppu.

Howzzaat?

SPK.

[keerthi]

Balaji,

We are but raising rhetorics , so that further clarity on the subject emerges. Healthy discussions and debates lead to a lot of positive energy around a subject.

As for the word 'vi' as suggested by me, i got one further opinion from some knowledgeable person that, " vi- sama " could mean 'visesha - sama '.

We could then take that atheetha and anaagata eduppus are "visesha" edupppus, as compared to the routine 'sama' eduppu.


SPK.

sivapriya,

As you have probably pointed out elsewhere; the meaning of vi- in the sense of opposite is invoked here. See also vi-kAra opposite of AkAra [deformed vs well-formed or just form]; and vi-koca opposite of san-kOca [expansion, opposite of withdrawal; in the cosmic sense] vi-patthi vs sam-patthi

The dictionary gives the following meanings for viSama
uneven,
-rugged, rough, unequal,
-irregular, dissimilar, different, inconstant, odd, not even (in numbers &c.),
- that which cannot be equally divided
(as a living sheep among three or four persons),
- hard to traverse, difficult, inconvenient,painful, dangerous, adverse, vexatious, disagreeable,
terrible, bad, wicked hard to be understood, unsuitable,wrong ; unfair, dishonest, partial,rough, coarse, rude, cross, odd, unusual, unequalled, a kind of measure(in music),
; unevenness, uneven or rough ground or place.

It is often a case that words in SanskRt which begin with the sibilant sa, and in a compound get converted to the retroflex Sa.. i can't think of any other examples right now.


The list of meanings should satisfactorily tell us why the uneven (before or after beat graha is called viSama).

It also tells us why contrary behaviour/ mischief is called viSamam/ veSamam.


The use of vi- as indicating specialised(vishESam) is suitable in compounds like vi-gnAnam, but not here..