Veenavaadhini Chamber Concert

[veenajj]

Dear All,

Hearty Tamil New Year Wishes to one and all. The next in our series of Veenavaadhini Chamber Concerts will be held on Sunday, May 9, 2010. It gives us great pleasure to invite you for a concert by two http://www.rasikas.org stars. The main concert will be preceded by a veena recital by one of our students. Details as follows:

4:30 -5:00 pm: Mini Veena Concert by Kum HR Meenakshi (Student of Veenavaadhini)
5:00 - 7:00 pm: Veena Concert by Sri L Ramakrishnan to the accompaniment of Sri Ramkumar

Venue: Apt #12 Shanti Enclave, 25 VK Iyer Road, Mandaveli, Chennai - 600028

All are welcome.

Regards,
Jeyaraaj and Jaysri

PS: Await announcement of summer workshop (vocal) on Navagraha Kritis of Nadajyoti Muthuswamy Dikshitar in the month of May to be conducted by us. Details will be posted soon.

[Nick H]

Thank you... Will certainly be there if I can.

[rshankar]

Best wishes, J and J!!

[arasi]

J&J,
All the best to you and to the students!

[cienu]

That is lovely Best wishes for the program.

[veenajj]

Thank u arasiji and rshankar for your wishes. Cienu, please do come if you are in Chennai. Nick, will be very happy again to have you present, and hope more from the rasikas fraternity make it to the programme and encourage the artists.

Jeyaraaj and Jaysri

PS: Details of upcoming workshop posted in a separate topic.

[rajeshnat]

Hope the concert is going well as I write this . Sorry for not making it , had to travel long hours till yesterday evening and the whole day today had to go around with few of my relatives who have visited me this week. Still have some errand at 8pm

[Rajani]

Both the performances went very well that day, Kalpagam Mami graced the entire evening, and some 3-4 forumites were there too.

Here is the songlist of Sri Ramakrishnan's recital:

1. Saveri varnam
2. Swetha Ganapatim - Ragachudamani - MD
3. Saraswathi namostute - Saraswathi - GNB ( R,N, S)
4. Bhavanuta- Mohanam - T
5. Hiranmayim Lakshmim - Lalita - MD (R)
6. Saroja-dala-netri - Sankarabharanm - SS (R,T,N,S, Tani)
7. Sarasamu(Javali) - Kapi
8. Patiki Harati - Surati - T

Both Sajeev (for Meenakshi) and Ram provided wonderful support on the Mridangam.

[arasi]

Thank you, Rajani!
Any pictures?
Nice to hear that Kalpagam Swaminathan graced the occasion and stayed till the end.

[cienu]

Dear J&J,
Unfortunately had to miss Meenakshi & Ramki's program as I was driving back to Bangalore on Sunday morning. Glad that the program went of well

[Nick H]

Both performances were thoroughly enjoyable.

Ramki's was, at first, plagued by some technical difficulty in getting the sound right. At last, someone found the magic touch on the controls, and everything was transformed. The main piece was really blissful.

The difference in Ram's playing from the first time that I saw him playing at Raga Sudha hall is amazing. Not only is it very, very good (which I suppose is to be expected of any of his teacher's students who are given leave to play on stage), but he is now completely at home on the concert stage.

It is always a pleasure to be at J & J's home for a concert (and some good conversation too!). I think that the performers must have felt them to be great source of encouragement and support. It was great to see.

[vainika]

Many thanks to Smt. Jaysri and Sri. Jeyaraaj for hosting under the banner of Veenavaadhini, and to the rasikas who stopped by. It was a nice opportunity for me as I haven't played a solo for nearly six years. Ram was amazing: it was great to perform with him!

[rajeshnat]

vainika
What did your guru (kalpagam mAmi)say about the concert.?

[rshankar]

I am sure it was lovely, based on the list for Ramki/Vainika's concert - J&J/Ramki - any chance of a recording?

[veenajj]

Thanks to the artists for making it a very enjoyable evening.

rshankar, unfortunately we did not record the concert. arasiji - apologies, no pictures either...if any of the forumites have taken pictures, please post here.

Adding to Rajani's post, here is Meenakshi's songlist:

1. Vanajaksha - Mandari Varnam
2. Brovavamma - Neelambari - SS
3. Saileshwaram - Sumadyuti - MD
4. Thavadasoham - Punnagavarali - ST

It was Meenakshi's maiden veena performance and she was blessed to have Kalpakam Mami witness it. Our pranams to Mami and it was wonderful to have her grace the event. Thanks to Ramakrishnan for bringing her, and for playing a wonderful concert. Sajeev and Ram gave excellent support.

This event was part of our Tribute to Trinity.

Jeyaraaj and Jaysri

[vainika]

Kum. HR Meenakshi played with elan. Highlights included her outstanding nIlAmbari AlApanA, and all improvisational aspects associated with shailEshvaram. Hope to see her perform on the concert stage more often.

[veenajj]

Pasting below email received from rasika sivaramakrishnan

Dear Jairajs,
Given below are a some of my observations on LR's concert at ur place on 9th May.
Will you be able to post my comments in rasikas.org in the relevant thread? I am unable to log on due to some technical snag.
Thanks.
Sivaramakrishnan.

*****


L Ramakrishnan - VEENA

R Ramkumar -Mridanga


Chamber concert at Veenavaadhini (sponsored by the Vainika dampathi Jairaj -Jaisree), Chennai, 9 May 2010.

List of kriti-s
1) sarasUDa (varnam) – sAvEri – Adi – kothavAsal venkaTrAma iyer
2) shvEta gaNapatim – rAgacUDAmaNi – tisra tripuTa – muthusvAmi dIkSitar
3) sarasvati namOstutE – sarasvati – rUpakam – g.n. bAlasubramaNiam
4) bhavanuta – mOhanam – Adi – tyAgarAja
5) hiraNmayIm – lalitA – rUpakam – muthusvAmi dIkSitar
6) sarOja daLa nEtrI – shankarAbharaNam – Adi – shyAma sAstri
7) sarasamu – kApi – Adi – rAmanAthapuram srInivAsa iyengAr
8 ) patiki hArati rE – suraTi – Adi – tyAgarAja

*****


It is but a fact that only those with a high degree of commitment to classical music would retain their passion for Veena. L Ramakrishnan (presently a disciple of Smt Kalpagam Swaminathan who graced the occasion) fitted the bill perfect when he gave a quality chamber concert at Veenavaadhini. Trinity's compositions was the main theme.


As a person who has been at the 'playing side' as well as the 'receiving side' in Veena
recitals, I can very well appreciate the 'travails' of a Vainika. Perfect Sruti alignment of the instrument and ensuring an aesthetic acoustics are indeed obvious challenges the artist has to tackle before he begins the concert.

Another hidden challenge (known only to the player) is 'calibrating himself' to the 'melam status' of the Veena wherein subtle adjustments need to be made throughout the playing to overcome any micro-tone differences in the swarasthaana-s. Perhaps this is one important reason why many vainika-s try the electronic veena-s. Puritans say that the bani of the player 'goes mute' in 'electronic cutcheri-s'.

Ramakrishnan did use the traditional Veena and tackled the challenges quite well.

But by the time he settled down, the varnam was over (The varnam is a casualty even in vocal concerts and is invariably a mike-test item!).

Svetaganapatim in Ragachudamani was perhaps being heard for the first time by most in the audience including me. (But whether the scale is a choodamani of a raga seems to be debatable).LR rendered this samashticharana piece commendably well. Saraswati served the twin purpose of addressing the Veena goddess as well as remembering the composer whose centenary is being observed this year.

Bhavanuta came as refreshing piece in a contrasting scale. Lalita was thoughtfully placed before Sankarabharanam. Aalaapana with taana in Ghanaraaga panchakam was presented briefly. A few additional taana avartanams in the main raga could have been attempted by LR.

The outstanding thing about LR's rendering of saraojadalanetri was the Niraval segment. In Veena kutcheri-s listeners may not be often able to distinguish between Niraval and swaraprastaara. Ramakrishnan's grasp of the underlying features and fingering techniques stood out. Swaraprastaara with a neat korvai completed the kriti.

The concluding items in Kaapi and Surati were sober and communicative.

Ramakrishnan's Kaalapramaana was very good. A collar-mike could perhaps help the vainika to take the vocal rendering to the audience better.

Ramkumar, the young mridangist played enthusiastically.





-S.SIVARAMAKRISHNAN
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