Sumithra Vasudev at Prashant's Home - Chembur - 24/10/2010

[arunsri]

Smt. Sumithra Vasudev and team performed at the residence of Dr. Prasad (our forumite Prashant's father) this evening. The concert was for a small audience of not more than 40 with the focus being on rare compositions.

Here is the set list

Smt. Sumithra Vasudev - Vocal
Sri. R.K. Shriram Kumar - Violin
Sri. K. Arun Prakash - Mridangam
Sri. Guruprasad - Ghatam

October 24, 2010 from 4:15 PM to 7:20 PM

1. hastivadanAya - navarOj - mishra chApu - muthuswAmy dIkshitar
2. sItApati - khamAs - Adi - thyAgarAja (R, N, S at prEmajUchi)
3. urugavEnDAmO - kIravANi - rUpakam - ambujam krishnA (R, N at urugavEnDAmO) - no swaras.
4. ennADu nI kripa - vAchaspati - Adi - paTnam subrahmaNya iyEr
5. shrI guruguhasya dAsOham - pUrvi - mishra chApu - muthuswAmy dIkshitar
6. sAmi ni entani - suraTi padavarnam - chaturashra rUpakam (2) - subbarAma dIkshitar (R)
7. dEvAdi dEva - sindhurAmakriyA - dEshAdi - thyAgarAja
8. kamalAmbikE - tODi - tishra Ekam (2) - muthuswAmy dIkshitar (R, N, S at sakala lOka nAyikE) + tani Avartanam
9. chEtah shrI bAlakrishnam - dwijAvanti - tishra Ekam (2) - muthuswAmy dIkshitar
10. siru viralgaL - viruttam in sAvEri, shaNmukhapriya, kApi and bAgEshri
11. konjum silambOliyum - bAgEshri - Adi
12. mangaLam

The level of committment was the same as yesterday - even more.... though she was to sing for about 2 hrs+, Sumithra presented a concert no different from what she would have given at a prestigious sabha anywhere. In fact, here it was even better. It is hard to tell which of the two concerts was better. I would rate the chamber one better simply because of the ambience. The effect was better than the sabha one.

The theme was rare compositions (less frequently heard ones) - so here you go said Sumithra and brought out gem after gem right from the word go.

How could dIkshitar compose kritis like hastivadanAya ? the gait of the kriti itself is like the gait of a royal elephant. I am reminded of a concert of narayan (our forumite) at the same venue a couple of years ago, where he started with this song, then went on to sing the varnam!!.

khamAs alapana sans the other nishadam was short and sweet ending in the panchamam, apt for the kriti start. A very nice neraval at prEmajUchi and swaras followed. Next was a grand alapana of kIravANi, unhurried and well chiselled.... What followed was a kriti set to tune by Smt. R. Vedavalli. The sahityam of the song is beautiful in simple Tamil, so much that even I could understand. Just as I was wondering where the neraval would be, Sumithra chose the best line - the pallavi line for N. What a neraval. She sang this neraval (and later the tODi alapana) like someone possessed!! Having created the melting effect with the magic of the words urugalAmO and rAma, she aptly eschewed swaras to let the feeling linger. The supporting artistes excelled in their role during the neraval and made it stand out!

One of Vedavalli mami's favorite kritis - ennADu nI was a brisk interlude before a rare MD piece in pUrvi. When one has sensitive accompaniment, and a violinist like RKSK, such kritis naturally should be showcased in a concert. The violinist was a shadow of the vocalist, as expected.

The major surprise came next, a grand stand suraTi alapana - while the debate was on what the kriti would be, Sumithra brought out (at Prashant's request) one of Subbarama Dikshitar's gems - a padavarnam in this raga in chaturashra rUpakam (2 kaLai). She sang it at a kAlapramANam that made us enjoy the nuances of the piece. The prayogas and swara combinations are beautiful and so is the sahityam. To be able to appreciate it well, one should listen to it several times more. The charanam line of the varnam -'nIrajAkshi...' is as beautiful/grand as a major kriti. After the chiTTa swaras, there was an anubandham passage which lead us back to the pallavi. Kudos to Sumithra for giving us an opportunity to peek into this majestic piece. It was sheer delight!

The rare sindhurAmakriya piece of thyAgarAja in the dEshadi tALa [wave followed by counts] came in as a filler before Todi which was given the pride of place. She built up the raga vinyAsa very very methodically, took her time, and concentrated until the panchamam for long. The patterns she wove/ the brigha passages that flashed in the upper shadjam region, were amazing. How could so much creativity be at one's command is something that amazes me.... answer to this came later in the evening, read below...Sitting a few feet from the artiste also enhanced my listening experience. The grand dhyAna navAvarna kriti of MD followed, with a beautiful neraval {By now, I have exhausted my vocabulary of words to indicate appreciation, so bear with me for the repeated use of similar words}. The slow swaras were soaked in raga bhava. There were several several one avartana swaras in second speed, which would have made her guru Vedavalli mami and nEdunuri garu [master weaver of one avartana swaras] proud. The tani was a very very nice affair. Lots of Khanda nadai (I hope I am right) in the second round of solo. Beautiful exhcanges in the koraippu stage, with subtle variations in each pattern. The korvai was 56 akshara count played thrice.

When one thought the concert was winding down after 2 hrs 40 mins, Sumithra took up a slow chEtashrI for presentation. The sensitive accompaniment by the percussion bench enhanced the effect of the rendition. While coming to the venue, I was discussing with my wife that even chEtah shrI is become rare these days. i think Sumithra read our minds. A rAgamAlika viruttam soaked in raga bhava and sAhitya bhAva lead to the concluding bAgEshri piece before the traditional mangalam.

After the concert, Smt. Vedavalli was asked to say a few words. Mami had the best words for her disciple, She recalled how Sumithra was brought to her at the age of 8 by her mother and she sang kamalAmba navavarna kriti that she had picked up at her home, before mami. Mami took her under her fold and there was no looking back. Sumithra used to be at mami's place right after school until 11:00 pm on most days, on occasions would sing until 1 or 1:30 at night. She virtually grew up at mami's place. Such was her committment, that she took up subjects like needle work in Std 11 and 12, so that maximum focus would be on Sanskrit and Music. Mami said - she wishes all her students well and all should succeed, but for sumithra, she said - i have a special prayer and blessings because she has given her last 20 years for music. [This explains her manodharma and boundless creativity in her concert on both days. The investment has happened over the last 20 years, the fruits are being reaped by her now.] Mami also thanked RKSK, ArunPrakash and Guruprasad for accompanying Sumithra (a comparitively junior artiste) thereby encouraging her. A visibly moved Sumitha fell at mami's feet after her speech. What more can a student ask for from a Guru. Whether Sumithra becomes popular or not, whether she gets awards/accolades or not, one thing is sure - she has her Guru's blessings to the fullest extent. All other things pale in comparison to this.

Sumithra's neraval is of the highest order. The way she melted the audience in the line 'urugavEnDAmO rAma rAma rAma' was amazing. Even for those who do not know the meaning, I am sure it would have touched the heart. Such was the effect! The neraval in the tODi piece also was of high order. Looking at both concerts (yesterday and today), it is quite obvious that she revels in raga alapana and neraval - two aspects of manodharma sangeetham which are more difficult to execute well. Not to mean that her swaras are less or any such, they are beautiful and come with a lot of power and punch. Apt to say that Sumithra also focusses equally on R and N and not just swaras.

All in all, two days of great music which I am sure will be hard to surpass for the next few months. Thank you Prashant and family once again for this feast, Thank You Mami for giving to the world such a wonderful student, thankyou Sumithra for the wonderful music on both days.

[Nick H]

Wow... what great days for you: thank you for writing them up for us.

[thenpaanan]

Smt. Sumithra Vasudev and team performed at the residence of Dr. Prasad (our forumite Prashant's father) this evening. The concert was for a small audience of not more than 40 with the focus being on rare compositions.

Here is the set list

Smt. Sumithra Vasudev - Vocal
Sri. R.K. Shriram Kumar - Violin
Sri. K. Arun Prakash - Mridangam
Sri. Guruprasad - Ghatam

October 24, 2010 from 4:15 PM to 7:20 PM

[...]

Thanks for the detailed report. The compositions are certainly very very intriguing, I have not heard very many of them.

Was there a recording that can be made available on the Internet?

-Then Paanan

[narayan]

arunsri, soaked in good music this entire weekend! Thanks for sharing this experience with the rest of us. I could catch some part of it, and fortunately you could catch all of it. Best wishes to you, and in the same spirit, to the artistes, too.

[ganeshkant]

Arunsri,

Good comments.Sumitra indeed has a lot of merits to write about.

When I listened to her first in a small hall with very min.facilities in Dombivili(w) in 2001,I knew that she is extremely talented and will be in the list of artists offering quality music.What I liked in your report is that she has her guru's blessings above any award or reward.It is a saddening factor that artists of merit are not given enough platforms.

[rbharath]

m happy to see the surutti varnam in the list

a typical list for a musician from vedavalli mami school..
m sure, it must have been awesome

[rshankar]

An interview with the artist

[ragam-talam]

An interview with the artist

Thank you, rshankar. Very nice interview.

I especially liked the 'Beauty of Sanskrit' section:
"I have a long list of favourite composers but if you were to ask me to pick just one, it would be Muthuswamy Dikshitar. His music, kritis…they are magical to me. I am a postgraduate in Sanskrit and just adore the language. In fact, I read Sanskrit books as a hobby. The lyrics in Sanskrit that Dikshitar has used in his compositions move me. And I guess it reflects when I sing his songs."

Aha! What an artiste! I hope we get to listen to more of her music.