BAnu Kannan@SKGS on November 16th,2006

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 25 Nov 2006, 11:46

Time:6:30 pm to 8:50 pm
Accompanied by neela jayakumar -violin , jayakumar - mridangam and ghatam-ravichandran

1.varnam --??
2.vinaayakaa(S) - hamsadwani - Ev Ramakrishna Bhagavathar
3.Shree valli devasEnapathe - natabhairavi - PApanAsam sivan
4.brOva bhaaramaa (R,S)- bahudaari - ThyagarAja

5.murugaa murugaa - saavEri - Periaswamy tooran
6.vararAgalaya - senchukAmbOdhi - ThyagarAja
7.unnaiyallAl vErE gati enakkundO(R,N,S,T)- simmehendra madhyamam - KOteeswara Iyer

8.viruttam -"dharani thannil Aruvathu Arukodi theertham" - kedaragowlai + dhanyAsi+ shanmughapriya+ bhageshri + Brindavana sAranga - ilam kamban??
9.kaliyuga varadan kan kanda - brindaavana saaranga - Periasami Tooran
10.pazhani shanmugha velundu(folk song??) - senchuruTTi - annamalai reddiar???
11.thullumatha vetkai kanayAle - hamsAnandi - thirrupuggazh

I was not aware of Smt BAnu kannan till I saw the newspaper on that day. Missed almost the full varnam(I think it was in vasantha) as I was late. She partially reminds me of Smt Aruna Sairam in her slight kb sundarabal'ish voice and also little bit of face cut.

Her hamsadwani was good with a good round up of swaram . Shree valli was nice . An excellent bahudAri alapanai was perfect with a nice round of swaram that had firm grounding in manOdharmam. The sAveri is tough to listen atleast to me, if there is no interesting piDi at regular intervals. She lacked the same in muruga muruga and was quite poor. senchukAmbOdhi was ok,I have only seen all musicians using this vararAgalaya only to indicate that the next is main.Can't pass any musical judgement on this vararAgalaya .

An excellent simm madhyamam followed and after many many years I heard a main in this rAga,with me only having heard a rAma rAma gunasheema of ST and another of mysore vasudevacharya(I think ninne nammi??) . She embellished very well with a nice neraval for about 12 minutes in the lines kai mEl phalan aruL deivamE tuNai. Swarams were less and did not give an impression of that being main.

The best of the concert was her viruttam. I like 5 rAga viruttam then the usual 3 ending with a predictable behag,kApi or sindhubhairavi. Her rendition of dhanyAsi and shanmughapriya was just ok , rest (kedaragowlai + bhageshri + Brindavana sAranga ) were wonderful. Nice ending with a kaliyuga varadan , followed with a good folk of senchuruTTi. HamsAnandi was ok.

I talked with her and her husband briefly at the end of the concert as I wanted to know the composer of viruttam .She said ilam kamban (who is that, someone can throw light?).The conversation got long as amirthavarshini was in full swing outside . When I told them "I don't even know you till today morning". Her husband said that when I was in banking service , she had to travel with me and hence she is performing after many many years .She told me she is learning from Shri PSN who never ceases to amaze me . .Accompanist were all Average.

A inspirational musician taking to CM performance after a big break in a sabha with just 25 souls who were willing to pay Rs 25 with a slight deafening sound volume , only time would say the rest....

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 25 Nov 2006, 13:44

rajeshnat wrote:The best of the concert was her viruttam. I like 5 rAga viruttam then the usual 3 ending with a predictable behag,kApi or sindhubhairavi.

I disagree - I find such rAgAs are often the best part about a virutham. It's a pity dhanyAsi was just ok, because that's another designer virutham rAgA, as is sAveri, shanmugapriya etc. But then again, a traditional virutham should be rendered in such a way so that the first and last rAgA stand out from the rest. At least that was achieved.

Quite a lot of Tamil items, with a rare main, but no Dikshithar...

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 26 Nov 2006, 11:30

Vocalist wrote:But then again, a traditional virutham should be rendered in such a way so that the first and last rAgA stand out from the rest. At least that was achieved.

Every rAga stands out on its own. What is your thought process here??

meena · Post by **meena** » 26 Nov 2006, 12:43

10.pazhani shanmugha velundu(folk song??)

yes it is a folk song-kavadi chindhu

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 26 Nov 2006, 13:31

Let me rephrase (my mistake!)

Viruthams are traditionally rendered in such a way so that the first and last rAgA stand out from the rest. (At least that was achieved.) Each rAgA does stand out on its own, yes, but the first and last usually have a somewhat deeper effect on the listener, perhaps because of planning.

mishram · Post by **mishram** » 02 Dec 2006, 23:49

I have heard this person about 10-15 years back. She used to sing in AIR (I believe Madurai AIR). I am not sure about her vidwat - but she has a powerful voice (not sure about how well to rate her modulation!). She used to sing nagumomu with a lot of borrowed swarams from "Sringara velane deva"!! Had a lot of filmy touch to her music which makes me wonder about how strong her classical background is. Even in raga alaapanas, I did not find her depth fascinating.

meena · Post by **meena** » 03 Dec 2006, 00:00

banu kannan
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