pavithrA srinivAsan@SKGS(KamakOti hall) on Oct 24th,2010

[rajeshnat]

pavithrA srinivAsan@SKGS(KamakOti hall) on Oct 24th,2010
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Vocal : pavithrA SrinivAsan
Violin : Srividya RS Iyer
Mrudangam : K Parthasarathy
Ghatam : N Narasimhan

Concert duration : 2 hours

This concert was held in kamakOti hall , a small mini hall with one of the best ambience for sound and has lovely seats .I was not aware of this artist till I saw the newspaper on that day. THere were only about 20 to 30 rasikas and I spotted Dhananjay and his wife from kalakshetrA, so even before the curtains I thought this artist is connected with kalAkshetra

Incidentally as curtains came up, pavithra srinivasan gave a small introduction about herself. She is a bharathanatyam artist for the last two decades having learnt from Mrs Dhananjayan, and she surprised me by announcing the concert was her first one . In short it was maiden concert not just for me , but for all of us.

1. varnam "innum eN manam" - chArukEsi - LGJ
2. vinAyaka ninnu brOchutaku (S)- hamsadhwani - EV ramakrishna bhagavathar
swaras for 4 mins

3. pAhimAm shree rAja rAjeshwari (S)- nAttai - ShyamA sAstri
4 mins alApanai and 3 mins violin
4 mins swaras
4. ammaiyE appA OppiLLA maNiyE - mOhanam - thiruvAsagam?? (Lji help)

5. sabhApathikku - AbHOGI - GKB
6A. nIdu charaNa pankajamulE (R N S T)- kalyAni - Pallavi Gopala iyer
6 mins alApanai , 3 mins violin return
neraval in "O jagajjanani manOnmaNi OmkAra rUpiNi kalyANi" for 5 mins
9 mins swaras
6B. tani for 18 mins

7. kOluvai uNNAdE kOthandapAni - devagAndhAri - T
8. yAdava nee bA yadukula nandana - madhuvanti - PD

9. sevikka veNDum ayyA - ANdhOlika - MT
10.thillana "ni ri ni ri ga ma ga ri sA " -poorvi - Tirugokarnam Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar
11. mangalam kOsalendrAya - shuruTTi

She started with one of my favourite lalgudi varnams , chArukEsi really came out well though it had a bit of a loose dance flavour, in the sense the speed was suited to dance . The next hamsadhwani was bit of a dampener she tried to get few brisk sangathis but she did not get the right aesthetics , swaras were not that great

In nAttai , this particular krithi of SS is fairly tough as there are quite a lot of sangathis where you have to take quick turns and land with the right rhythmn , she missed few quick turns but overall this krithi was quite enjoyable , her swaras endin each time in sangeetharasikE just came out well.

The next in mOhanam was bit too slow , I think I have heard this more as a viruththam especially a phrase chikkEnapiDIthen is quite familiar . Does this mohanam have a pallavi , anupallavi and charanam structure of a krithi , it appeared as though it did not have one as it ended quite abruptly. The AbHOgi was bit too slow in general got a feel that there was bit excess emotive expresssion and gave a dance abhinaya feeling.

I was damn sure that the main will be in kalyAni, if I could say one of the BIg 5 rAgas that has the lowest entry barrier . IT was inded kalyANi, the kalyAni alApana was bit so so , not much patterns and this krithi is quite tough in general when compared to other krithis of kalyAni(felt taking this krithi was a bit of excesss vishaparitchai). Certainly the neraval was there for just neraval sake, with swaras she did some what OK

The devagAndhAri after kalyAni was good but I did like the PD krithi in madhuvaNti?? , though there was a touch of kalyAna vasantham (possibly she sang as a 2 raga rAgamaliga). AndhOlika krithi is a usual fast filler with firework swaras but her style was bit slow more suited to dance.THE MDR popularized thillana , came out ok.

The violinist (Srividya RS Iyer)played very well, but the mrudangist (parthasarathi) was the pick , though he was bit loud but did bring a lot of fireworks. Ghatam support was very good.

Few things I did not like:
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1. She did not refer her notes in AbHOgi, devagandhari and maduvanti , but she referring for the rest of the concert with a big file with sheets of paper just takes away the spontaneity that is needed for a typical concert.

2. "When one has to learn any new thing , it is better to unlearn lot of things" is a common adage . I am assuming for many many sangathis , the style of not adding brighas and taking a kalApramanam that suits dance performances is one thing that she has to unlearn. I am assuming this unlearning will be quite a task.

Overall a mediocre to good concert.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
All the same, it was her very first concert!
We have seen violinists becoming vocalists. So far, I haven't heard of
any dancer switching to (?) vocal music. Of course, dancers like Vyjayanthi can sing very well.

[rshankar]

So far, I haven't heard of any dancer switching to (?) vocal music.

I do not think she's switching to vocal music . But there are several dancers who can sing well. Smt. Balasaraswati was a sangIta kalAnidhi after all! In addition to Smt. Bali, Smt. Alarmel Valli was a long-time student of Smt. Mukta. Dr. Padma Subrahmaniam holds a masters in music from the Madras University, and I have heard her sing with her SIL, the late Smt. Shyamala Balakrishnan. Also, Kji's friend, Mumbai-based Smt. Vasumathi Badrinathan is another example of a dancer/singer. The best of the current lot is of course Nick's favorite, the incomparable Pt. Birju Maharaj who can sing, dance, and play the tabla with captivating ease.

[suma]

yes people switch between fields. last year my son accompanied a famous bharatnatyam singer who has a name for herself and travels internationally (from india to other countries) singing for bharatnatyam arangetrams. However, she wanted to also be good in having her own music vocal concerts and so her guru recommended her and she performed.