Aruna Sairam and Mandolin Shrinivas

[bhagavathar2007]

Aruna Sairam and Mandolin Shrinivas
Strains of Harmony
NDTV Hindu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN3AjQw9-FU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mJd23sYEvE

[mankuthimma]

Never knew ....
Malkauns gets morphed into kharaharapriya in poetry " reading ' sessions . :envy:

[mankuthimma]

Strain 1
Definition: Race; stock; generation; descent; family.: Hereditary character, quality, or disposition. Rank; a sort.

And all the other definitions ....
NDTV has a sense of humor
Some filtering out the purities.... This. ]
Definition: To draw with force; to extend with great effort; to stretch; as, to strain a rope; to strain the shrouds of a ship; to strain the cords of a musical instrument.... To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as forces on a beam to bend it....To exert to the utmost; to ply vigorously.....To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in the matter of intent or meaning; as, to strain the law in order to convict an accused person.....To injure by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force; .To injure in the muscles or joints by causing to make too strong an effort; to harm by overexertion; to sprain; To squeeze; to press closely. To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.
To make violent efforts. A change of form or dimensions of a solid or liquid mass, produced by a stress.... A portion of music divided off by a double bar; a complete musical period or sentence; a movement, or any rounded subdivision of a movement. Any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, oration, book, etc.; theme; motive; manner; style; also, a course of action or conduct; an intense or violent exertion .... an effortful attempt to attain a goal (biology) a group of organisms within a species that differ in trivial ways from similar groups; "a new strain of microorganisms"(physics) deformation of a physical body under the action of applied forces injury to a muscle (often caused by overuse); results in swelling and pain ..(psychology) nervousness resulting from mental stress;: make tense and uneasy or nervous or anxious;alter the shape of (something) by stress; use to the utmost; exert vigorously or to full capacity;
And the last
Definition: test the limits of; "You are trying my patience!"

[mankuthimma]

A decade and a half ago , one of my close friends who was a Shishya to the PithaMaha was constantly advised -
You are not yet ready for Chennai audience .
And I had to circumvent that rule by hosting his concert in Kancheepuram.!!!!

Good . That the Grand Old Man did not live to see these days .The sight of tasteless audiences , lapping up such medocrity with such enthusiasm and glee.

[fduddy]

It would have been like atending a CIRCUS

[arunsri]

When did Hindolam become Kharaharapriya?

What is the idea of this effort? There needs to be a logic/idea between two musicians coming together. The idea of different musicians coming together was nicely exploited in the recent YACM series where there was method to the madness of bringing artistes together.

It was quite amusing to hear the anchor say "slience prevailed, the audience took its own time to come back to earth" - why dramatize things so much?

[fduddy]

Strains of Harmony

It should be 'Harmony Strained'

[ragam-talam]

Hold it just a minute...it says 'Strains of Heaven' in the video!
Gosh, if this is someone's idea of heaven, then I wonder how that other place would be like...!

(some people will do anything for money! sign of our times...)

[kssr]

I did not see anything seriously wrong from what I could see in the two clips. AS as usual lifts both her hands towards heaven (some may say it is un-lady like) and probably a bit uncomfortable in the seating ( gives the impression that there is a need to go to the bathroom). But in spite of the crude voice, sruti is perfect. US has tried to fill up for the difficulty of AS with regard to brigaas. The balance should have been more towards US, as he is a much more accomplished musician. He seems to have accepted the role of a pakkavadhyam, in place of violin which is extremely unfair. The full concert recording would have been interesting- if we of course have the capacity to stand AS for long periods of time. She would continue with her "circus" (as someone mentions) as long as there are large sections of rasikas who lap it up. There doesn't seem to be many admirers for her in this forum which is quite a surprise.

[radha bhaskar]

I have been a witness to some of the gretaest jugalbandis of US with pandit jasraj where he really proved his excellence. I stll vividly remember that one at Music Academy years back organised by Durga, daughter of Jasrajji.Here in the NDTV prog. I was rather pained to see him not even playing second fiddle! What was his role in this so called heavenly concept is a million dollar question. He seemed to be passively sitting on stage and watching all the Tamasha and not contributing anything. In fact, I was so upset about this that I even sent an SMS to him expressing my anguish. This was not to hurt his feelings but to let him know that we hold him in a high pedestal and it was a dissappointment to see him adorn such a role. Sometimes, when people keep praising an artist for all that he does - good and bad, it becomes difficult to assess one's own level. US is capable of giving real excellent stuff but here.......... Also, it is a pity that our audience come to a concert with preconceived notions. As in this case, the elite crowd was there and they were the kind of people who feel that just because they are there attending the programme, it has to be good. We seldom distance ourselves from the programme and view a concert for what it is worth ! The way Karnatic rasikas are lapping up all kinds of stuff in the name of star value and "doing something different" I don't know where we are heading to. We are actually battling to preserve our musical values amidst such mediocre crowd pulling stuff!

[fduddy]

Next Jugalbandi will be with Piano, Drums and Thavil

[mankuthimma]

to some of the greatest jugalbandis of US

yes.moments like these ....
http://www.mediafire.com/?i59sfsfttqy3b8m

[rajeshnat]

I do not have access to view the youtube link, but I did see the NDTV Hindu concert in the Television.
1.For The first number, I remember that compere was announcing entarO mahunu bA , she could have atleast stopped with entarO or better said entarO mahanubAvulu , the mahanu bA was butchered , for few sangathis the mandoLin man stroked .

2. The next was few lines in lalitA was just ok , though I waited for hiranmayeem but it was not telecast at all.

3. The next was announced as kharaharapriyA , but she sang savalE sundara in malkauns , certainly atleast this one is passable .

4. There was kAtanakutoohalam number , mandOlin srinivas who was in slumber ,woke up and just played few sangathis or swara patterns of his famous raghuvamsasudhA.

5. The last was announced chinnanchiru kiliyE , I dont think that was telecast at all. Any way I moved to another channel.

Overall CM was reduced to light , no very light , no no very very light :devil: , but marketed ,no very marketed fluff. :^)

[fduddy]

The only good aspect in the malkauns that I could appreciate was the gentle strokes of the lovely mandolin sound for a few seconds (some where in the middle and towards the end). Otherwise she was just screaming her lungs off trying to sing in Hindustani style.

[namrutha.srini]

I so liked Radha Ji's honest comment. My pranams to her.

So the next scape goat is Shankar Mahadevan ?:P

[arunsri]

Yesterday - 28th Sept, there was a dance programme on Kalaingar TV at 5:30 PM, I forget the first name, but the last name of the lady was 'Marimuthu'. In her 'orchestra' she had DRUMS as an instrument. Agreed each artiste wants to do something different in the name of creativity, artistic freedom and all the blah blah ... but drums is a bit too much. Of course, the audience in a so called elite place like chennai lapped it all up. I am sorry to say - chennai audience is not as "discerning" or knowledgeable as they are made out to be.

I am sorry to say - it is the banal taste of rasikas (who have very little knowledge of music or dance) that is the cause of decline of our arts - there will be 20 people for a Rama Ravi concert and 2000 for Aruna's concert. These are the ones who "make" an artiste great.. Each artiste who is popular is NOT necessarily a "vidushi" or a "vidwan". He or she is just POPULAR by audience standards, that's all. Our mentality being a "herd" one - (as most of us just follow the current trend or fashion), we also go to such "concert" and make the so-called popular artiste more popular. Popularity is of course gauged by the gate collection, so the bar comes lower and lower.

Two/Three Thyagaraja Ardhanas ago in Tiruvaiyyaru - there was Sivamani playing drums in a Ganesh Kumaresh concert, so if decay can creep in a solemn occasion like the Aradhana, it can surely set in any Sabha.

[VK RAMAN]

So arunsri - what is the solution?

[namrutha.srini]

Nothing just sit down and raise voice against such musicians.. If there inner feelings prick they will work hard to give quality music .. And Yes with talam:P that day chakkani raja song was perfect example - how one musician can sing without thalam ..

[ragam-talam]

Meeting of minds indeed!

"A pulsating Rajasthani folk number ‘Banna Re' saw the audience clapping along with the rhythm. Aruna's ‘Maadu Meikkum Kanna' was shared by the singers as doting Yashoda and mischievous Krishna."

"The stage was stylishly done up. The most fascinating aspect of this programme was its dynamic diversity all through; well, Aruna and Shankar simply rocked!"

Bale!