Anil Narasimha - San Diego - 21st Aug 2010

[bilahari]

Emerging Artistes Program
(Program initiated this year by the Indian Fine Arts Academy of San Diego to showcase upcoming talent; we had two nATya performances last week and two CM recitals this weekend.)

Anil Narasimha - Vocal
Ajay Narasimha - Violin
Raamkumar Balamurthy - Mrudangam

Duration: 2 h 40 min

Approximate Songlist:

01. inta calamu (varNam) (S @ charaNam) - bEgaDa - Adi
02. endarO mahAnabhAvulu - srI - Adi (2)
03. gnAnamOsakarAda (R, N @ paramAtmuDu jIvAtmuDu, S) - pUrvikalyANi - rUpakam
04. kOtinadulu dhanuSkODi (R, N @ pongucu SrI raghunAtuni, S) - tODi - Adi

05. hecharikkaga rA rA (R) - yadukulakAmbOji - khaNDa cApu
06. pAlincu kAmAkSi (R, N @ kAntamagu pEru ponditivi kAruNya mUrti, S, T) - madhyamAvati - Adi (2)
07. cinta dIcharA sItA ramaNA (?) - sowrASTRam (?) - Adi

08. rAgam tAnam pallavi - bhairavi - tiSra jhampa (eDuppu: samam +1)
pallavi: caturdasa bhuvanAdhi ISa ravikOTi sankASa (with trikAlam)
09. maruku koNDAdirA - khamAs - Adi
10a. Ongi ulakaLanda uttaman peyar pADi (viruttam) - yamunAkalyANi, nAdanAmakriya, kApi, sindhu bhairavi
10b. anRi ulakam (?) - sindhu bhairavi - Adi

11. kaliyuga dali - chenchuruTTi - Adi
12. tillAna (sAhityam: SrIkAra sugunAkara...)- kAnaDa - Adi
13. vangA kaDal - suruTTi - miSra cApu

Anil (graduate student at UCSD and a disciple of Hemmige Srivatsan) began his concert with a crisp bEgaDa varNam, following it up with endarO sung in a faster madhyama kAla, which was a treat. The concert had been titled 'Continuing Ariyakudi's Tradition' or something like that, and true to the ARI bANi, much of the concert was in a faster madhyama kAlam with short and sweet manOdharma portions. A brisk sketch of pUrvikalyANi was sung with a nice stop at the plain madhyamam, and gnAnamOsakarAda followed with a short neraval and kalpana swaras with nice jaNTa sequences. TODi ragam was also sung quickly, running up and down the octaves in a flash, with both Anil and his brother, Ajay, making good use of the tAra gAndhAram as an anchor. KOTinadulu was sung nicely and completed with a fine neraval and kalpanaswaras with some nice descending patterns ending with G, M, and D.

I have always found it difficult to appreciate ARI's faster singing, and was very relieved when the onslaught gave way to a serene, slower yadukulakAmbOji. Anil captured the raga's bhAvam very well with good use of the madhyamam, and this piece was definitely one of the highlights of the afternoon for me. MadhyamAvati was taken for the main (I thought he might go the ARI route and sing all the major ragas elaborately...), and the raga alApanai was very classical and thorough, covering most of the important phrases. The neraval in pAlincu kAmAkSi was noteworthy for an excellent transition between first and second speeds with the introduction of tAnam patterns in increasing speed, and Anil wove some of the lovely 'quivery' pallavi sangathis into the neraval (patterns like RM-RMP,MR, ; MP-MPN,PM, etc) appropriately. The swaras were standard.

Anil's bhairavi rAgam - done in two stages - was lovely, and some of the phrases around the tAra rishabam bore an uncanny resemblance to KVN's singing (especially around the RGMP,MGR phrases). Anil's tAra stAyi bhairavi rendition was a second highlight of the afternoon. The tAnam was short and concise, and Anil made good use of plain notes in phrases like DNS,, DNR,,, especially in the mandra stAyi. The pallavi was nicely executed with trikAlam, and the kalpanaswaras were taken from the mElkAla pallavi rendition.

Anil continued with a gorgeous tamizh viruttam, and his yamunAkalyANi and sindhu bhairavi were especially well conceived. The vilamba kAlam viruttam after all the madhyama kAla singing was a refreshing delight and the third highlight of the concert.

I was impressed by Anil's classicism on Saturday. He does not engage in all the Hindusthani excursions which seem to have become fashionable these days, and his adherence to the ARI/KVN bANi is commendable. His rAga Alapanais all stood testament to his solid grounding, with his ability to conceptualise a raga very clearly and communicate it with ease. It is this ability to capture the vast expanse of a raga in a narrow time frame that - to me - is a hallmark of the ARI/KVN tradition, and Anil is a worthy inheritor. His sense of layam is also very good, as shown by his ability to effortlessly navigate neravals. Anil also showed flashes of that X factor known as sowkhyam in his yadukulakAmbOji, bhairavi, and yamunAkalyANi.

Anil's chief challenge is shruti alignment. Especially in the faster madhyama kAla passages in rAga alApanais, Anil sometimes landed on an incorrect frequency between two notes. He also had trouble in the slower gamakas gliding up and down notes, where he would sometimes land in no man's land. Also, Anil's faster madhyama kAla raga Alapanais also sometimes lost the inherent layam. For instance, his bhairavi started off excessively quick and then suddenly slowed down with the subsequent phrases, which was rather jarring. He also sometimes speeds up excessively in the faster passages, leaving the audience (and the ragam) in a whirl. A third challenge is Anil's poor head posture in front of the microphone. He would often lower his head when singing in the mandra stAyi, and thus lose contact with the mic, producing half-audible, indecipherable lyrics. He should work at keeping his mouth aligned to the microphone at all times and at keeping his head relatively still.

Ajay Narasimha impressed on the violin. His raga responses were all very well neat and he, too, has an impressive ability to capture the essence of ragas in a short time. His bowing was quite good and I especially enjoyed his tAnam and second speed neraval returns, where he subtly bowed across two strings to give a very nice depth to the music. His bhairavi tAnam returns were top-class. His mandra stAyi accompaniment to the yamunAkalyANi viruttam was also commendable.

Raamkumar Balamurthy also accompanied beautifully. His playing had good clarity and he accompanied sensitively. I especially enjoyed his accompaniment to the charanams in endarO, and his anticipation of the patterns in all the neravals (especially in tODi) was very good and complemented the vocalist well. His thani was short and sedate.

On the whole, this was a good concert, and I look forward to listening to more of all the three artistes in the future.

[sridhar_ranga]

10b. anRi ulakam (?) - sindhu bhairavi - Adi

tiruppaavai, 'anRu ivvulagam aLandAi aDi pORRi' ?

[rajeshnat]

bilahari
The song list is really a fitting tribute to ariyakudi. The sowrAshtram poochi krithi is rare, looks like sandiego will become a sampradaya hub of US. By any chance are Anil and Ajay narasimha brothers. Thanks for your review.

[bilahari]

Sridhar, thanks for the correction.

Rajesh, they are brothers. Quite handy to have vocalist-violinist siblings!

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Bilahari,
Thanks for yet another fine review.
For some reason, I used to think that you are one of the brothers writing under the Bilahari handle! Now, I know better!

[bilahari]

Sreeni, my performing talent in music carries me as far as the armchair!

[rshankar]

Sreeni, my performing talent in music carries me as far as the armchair!

Sreeni, he is being modest!

[ksrimech]

07. cinta dIcharA sItA ramaNA (?) - sowrASTRam (?) - Adi

Is this the rAmanAthapuram SrInivAsa ayyangar kRti?

[semmu86]

Ah ! Typical KVN list. I have heard KVN singing " Ongi uLagaLandha" as a virutham in khamAs, dHanyAsi, kAnadA and behAg. Think its a commercial release with MC and Raghu sir. By the way vangakkadal used to be sung in rupaka chApu thalam only by ARI, KVN and others. Did he modify it in misra chapu and sing?

[Enna_Solven]

semmu86,

Yes, it is a commercial release: Collectors Choice - Live at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, 1982.

[arasi]

Bilahari,
I was busy during the month of August with my family. Did not have a chance to read your reviews and many other threads.
This is a classic Bilahari review. Many of us look forward to them and you know that! Hope you are going to write many reviews during the season.
I was very young when I heard AriyakkuDi sing on stage.Have heard just a few performances of KVN 's live music because I lived abroad (but went to every possible concert while he sang here or during my visits to India). I have heard Hemmige Srivartsan play the violin as a child. He is concentrating more on singing now, I hear. Listening to Anil would make it four generations of Ari's music for me!
Guess what! I was not far from where you are around the time of the concert. I was there for a family wedding. Thought about you too!
Best wishes to the Narasimha brothers (I guess they both are Srivatsan's students) and to the young mrudangist. CM is alive and well and has lots of hope for survival--with youngsters like these.

[1920veeyens]

Probably rasikas may not be aware that Sri Anil is an equally talentd self taught Slide guitarist with a wide repertoire to give full time concert

[bilahari]

Indeed, veeyens! He is certainly a talented musician.
Arvind, I don't remember the tala for vangAkaDal...I don't give tukkadas my full attention mostly
Sorry.

Arasi, amen to your last sentence! If Anil sings during the season in India, please do attend his concert. His adherence to the ARI and particularly KVN style of singing is admirable.