Sri Unnikrishnan Concert in Los Angeles on May 15 2010

[veeyens3]

Although The concert was held on May 15 h itself, I did not report about that till now for one I did not have the pleasure of staying for the full concert, two, I expected from the large audience present, a more knowledgable person than myself would be giving a detailed report. Now that a later concert in San Jose has been commented and a better person than myself has not commented on it, I shall pen few words on the hope that some information is better than no information.The team of Sarvashrin Unnikrishnan, Embar Kannan and Arjun Kumar was given a walm welcome by the organisers , who inspite of all the bio data of the artists being already available on the hundreds of flyers strewn about in the auditorium, spent a considerable time going through them again. The concert commenced with a Tamil Behag varnam and as the vocalist's PMI (pebble in mouth) syndrome, already mentioned in the review of Chicago concert, still persisted, I could not quite understand the lyric except to deduce that it was on Madurai Meenakshi based on the word "Angayarkanni" which somehow caught my attention. Then came a beautiufl Alapana of Kalyana Vasamtham and because of my familiarity with Sudoku I could identify the Krithi as Nadaloludai with the help of one word each from pallavi, anupallavi and charanam. Next followed a telugu song in Ananda Bairavi. Them came a beautiful rendering o Swathi Tirunal's Saraswathi Manohari song inSanskrit Mamava The main raga was tod,i elaborate alapana, polished rendering of koluvamaragada appended with apprpriate neraval swaraprasthara etc before I had to leave the auditorium with the happy and contended feeling of having heard some nice music by these talented artists I think I have taken sufficient care to dot my is and cross my ts, .Yet to be on the safe side I crave for your indulgence, a la the anticipatory bail sought by our corrupt politicians. Vachaka Dosha Kshantavya . Let me end this with thanks to HIM for keeping my hearing faculty in fairly good shape and a mangalasasanam May Sri Rama bless you ll in general and the artists in particular

[rshankar]

Tamil Behag varnam and as the vocalist's PMI (pebble in mouth) syndrome, already mentioned in the review of Chicago concert, still persisted, I could not quite understand the lyric except to deduce that it was on Madurai Meenakshi based on the word "Angayarkanni" which somehow caught my attention.

It must be a composition of his guru's. I have heard Smt. Sowmya sing it...

Then came a beautiufl Alapana of Kalyana Vasamtham and because of my familiarity with Sudoku I could identify the Krithi as Nadaloludai with the help of one word each from pallavi, anupallavi and charanam.

Priceless!

[mahakavi]

I remember reading it elsewhere as MIM (marbles in mouth) syndrome. Our veeyens3 recognized it as PIM (pebbles in mouth) syndrome. Is the difference between the two syndromes noticeable?

[cmlover]

What is in the lyrics aftter all! A behag or KV will sound as sweet with (pebbles or marbles) once your hearing is intact. The words will help only when we reach the lip-reading age

[1920veeyens]

The concept of PIM is very old especially in the villages of Tamil nadu where it is considered as a cure for stammering

[cmlover]

Demosthenes (ca 384 BC) the famous greek orator who was a stammerer used to practise speech by putting pebbles in his mouth. Maybe a trick he learned from us Tamilians!

[arasi]

veeyens,
Thank you for your review. Very perceptive. Keep doing those sudokus and crosswords--if my mind is as sharp as yours when I reach your age, I will consider myself blessed. We miss your daughter on the new forum. Where is she hiding? Ravi and others will agree with me.

[mahakavi]

Pebble is "kUzhAngal" in Thamizh.
Marble is "salavaikkal" (polished stone)
If kUzhAngal prevents stammering and salavaikkal (salavai also means washing) polishes, both of them in the mouth would do a tremendous job (tongue culture) for some of our musicians. The two stones will bring out brilliant and splendid expressions.

[1920veeyens]

Arasi , Thank you for your compliments. May be my daughter is busy about her son's wedding scheduled for june 24. May Sri Rama bless you

[kssr]

The ID veeyens gives him away in spite of different numerals preceding or following it. It is refreshingly good english. Thank you sir. The subtle humour (the british way) is slowly disappearing giving way to a crude HUMOR.
Sir,
I am sure that your i's and t's are alright but certainly you have left out some letters in a hurry. I am sure that your eyes are as sharp as your hearing and intellect. May kindly check out!! Looking forward to more of veeyens's.

[1920veeyens]

Knowing my weakness, I had already sought "anticipatory bail" To think that I had already excorcised the ghost of the high school english grammar teacher way ..... back!

[arasi]

Veeyens,
Thank you for the happy news! Of course, she is busy. Looking forward to her 'punar' Agamanam!

[sreecons]

Demosthenes (ca 384 BC) the famous greek orator who was a stammerer used to practise speech by putting pebbles in his mouth. Maybe a trick he learned from us Tamilians!

A scene from My Fair Lady comes to mind. . Prof Higgins fills up Eliza's mouth with marbles or pebbles and gets her to practise!

[mahakavi]

The rane in spane stais manely in the planes--right?

[cmlover]

In Hartford Hereford and ***** Hurricane Hardly Happen

[sreecons]

In Hartford Hereford and ***** Hurricane Hardly Happen

"In Hartford Hereford and Hampshire Hurricanes Hardly Ever Happen " I think!

Poor Eliza swallows one of the marbles(!) Brings huge smiles everytime I think of this scene. . . . .

[cmlover]

...and the Prof says 'Don't worry! I have plenty of them'
-a very humourous but telling episode on the travails of learning a 'scholarly' language...