Vijay Siva@SKGS on Dec 30th,2010

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rajeshnat
Posts: 10121
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Vijay Siva@SKGS on Dec 30th,2010

Post by rajeshnat »

Vijay Siva@SKGS on Dec 30th,2010
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Vocal : Vijay Siva
Violin : Lalgudi VijayalAkshmi
Mrudangam : Trichy Sankaran
Kanjira: B Sundarkumar

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours and 30 Minutes/Thursday
Sabha/Slot : Sree krishna ghana sabhA/Evening 1

1.Late missed the first one

2. narasimha Agacha(?) - mOhanam - MD
3. sundari sadA nI pAdAra(R,S) - suddhadhanyAsi - KOvoor Veeraraaghava Sharma
6 mins alApana and 4 mins violin return
6 mins swaras

4A. slOkham "ganaharana mara siddha??" - bEgaDa -???
4B. kamAkshi nAtho vAda - bEgaDa - shyamaSastri

5A. nI pAdamulE gatiyani(R N S T) - bhairavi - paTnam
11 mins alApana and 8 mins violin return
neraval in "shrI pancanadIshvaruni rANi shrtajana" for 9 mins
8 mins swaras
5B. tani for 18 mins

6. nannu kanna talli nA bhAgyamA - sindhukannada - T
7. RTP in poorvikalyANi (not paNtuvarAli)
7 mins alApana , 4 mins tAnam
pallavi line was "parama pAvana rAmA pApa vimochana rAmA " for 10 mins
brief swaras for just 3 mins

8. suNdari eN sOppanathiL - kamAs - sankarasivam
9A.viruththam "innamum sollavO uN manam kaLLO" - kamAs + tOdi??? + neelAmbari - ???
9B.kAnamal veenilE kAlam KazhithOme - neelambari - MuttuthAndavar

10. thirrupugazh "poovil paritha" - madhyamAvati - AGN
11. svasti prajabhya paripala yantam (mangalam)

VijaySiva's concert has always a high classicism quotient and there is a lot of preperation that goes for his concert for him to present. He showcases his strength of covering a variety of composers with a fairly conscious choice of language spread (telugu,sanskrit and thamizh, usually vijay also touches kannada too but may be not this time).

I went late and I missed the first one , some one told me it was saveri (not sure). Certainly the pull was not to hear vijaysiva's but equally hear the ace mrudangist prof trichy sankaran sir. As I was settling in my seat, the mOhanam was getting unwinded perhaps he may have sung few swaras (not sure there)

SuddhadhanyAsi alApana was really good, possibly his voice thinned out more than his usual thinning out (perhaps the end of the season and the seasonitis has just set in), but definitely he made up well with a really exquisite rendition of suddadhanyAsi with a good dose of swaras. Lalgudi viji giving a really nice accompaniment support never robbing the vocalist zeal of measured and well oiled pADDantharam

A brief slOkham rolled out in bEgaDa and I again heard a rare krithi of bEgaDa , a shyamA sAstri number that kind of resembled at many places like a near swarajathi. The day's main was bhairavi (incidentally the first time I am hearing this rAgA as main in this season) and it was a very emotive bhairavi . Vijay takes time to build sangathi by sangathi and his pADDantara suddham was immaculate with the rAga and the patnam krithi .This patnam krithi is bit rare it gives a cocktail of all three trinities (patnam is a near clone to T , few sangathis are like SS and few like the neraval line is like MD), in short a very nice krithi to show how patnam assimilated musical ideas from the trinities , perhaps it is also a nice testimony of how vijay follows the pAddanthara suddham of DKJ-DKP.

It is a job of the musician to sing poorvikalyAni and not confuse any listeners with pAntuvarAli is perhaps a lesson and key takeaway to many musicians. I am a big fan of Vijaysiva , and I found his rAga alApana of poorvikalyAni as a clean one , not a doubt anywhere, the rAga alApana could have been bit longer it was more tailored where Lalgudi viji took an equal alApana share, the tAnam was non metered , O GOsh I felt Trichy Sankaran was not utilized :( , it would have been a dream "tom tom na tom " if sankaran Sir went with his controlled aggression. The pallavi line was an apt line and he sang a nice pallavi with a clean trikAlam , swaras were bit measured to the point of just being called as though it is just there (perhaps an effect of seasonitis there)

In tukkadas it was a thamizh dose and I liked almost everything , particularly this kAnamal veenilE a chidambaram temple tour krithi in nEELAmbari was haunting. IIRC few years back gurucharan sang this where I heard this for the first time, it is a real janaranjaka top 25 tukkada for sure, the emote and lyrics just blends with that soothing neelAmbari.

About Accompanist:
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Lalgudi Viji played more in line with Vijay's style , perhaps she may have showed a bit of assertion in mohanam which I did not hear , but suddhadhanyAsi, PK and bhairavi had her sAhitya anubhavam charm

Trichy Sankaran was really excellent .Semmu86 opines (were you there) that Sankaran Sir's play of 60's to 70's were all masterpieces . This may not be that far , he has a medlay of strokes with a really fast roll in right and a keep on touching and going tOppi , I liked his controlled aggression in his play for songs , every song touched me it had the real mrudu angam touch (How lucky to have him here , I only wish he plays more and more with other artists who dont have that bhakyam). BS sundarkumar played excellently in tani he really rolled so fast and completely synced with the speed of Sankaran sir in the second half of tani. Their tani was bit different , it was more a contrast to possibly with the krithi , perhaps if semmu86 was there he can add. The mike adjustment was really nice compared to the last concert that I attended here (mallAdi and UKS Sir).

Few shortcomings:
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He is my top #2 artist for sure in the last 3 to 4 years, so VS fans spare me

1. A little more swaraprasthana magic , kind of more elaboration of swaras would have made a significantly high musical quotient to his already quality music.

2. Voice voice voice , bit thinning out is his style , but if he brings a more masculine touch in his voice , which I am seeing he has added over the years will bring more charm

The crowd was about 50% overall (that is about say 400 may be),Overall an excellent concert for 2 and half hours, vijay's quality was always there, coupled with TS's roll.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 31 Dec 2010, 15:52, edited 4 times in total.

ubari
Posts: 19
Joined: 05 Mar 2010, 19:42

Re: Vijay Siva@SKGS on Dec 30th,2010

Post by ubari »

Nice review . May i know ur TOP#1 artiste ? just curious

HarishankarK
Posts: 2217
Joined: 27 Oct 2007, 11:55

Re: Vijay Siva@SKGS on Dec 30th,2010

Post by HarishankarK »

Shri VS is reslly good and he has overcome his 'not having a good voice' a lot over the years.
Have read many of his reviews in this forum itself and most of them are highly recommending. But definitely VS needs no titles to recommend - his soulful and classicism speak for it ! 8)

semmu86
Posts: 960
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 09:39

Re: Vijay Siva@SKGS on Dec 30th,2010

Post by semmu86 »

rajeshnat wrote:It is a job of the musician to sing poorvikalyAni and not confuse any listeners with pAntuvarAli is perhaps a lesson and key takeaway to many musicians.
Exactly. It was a wonderful pOOrvikalyAni and that too for someone who will always get it wrong between pOOrvikalyAni and panthuvarALi 9 out of 10 times.....
rajeshnat wrote:Trichy Sankaran was really excellent .Semmu86 opines (were you there) that Sankaran Sir's play of 60's to 70's were all masterpieces . This may not be that far , he has a medlay of strokes with a really fast roll in right and a keep on touching and going tOppi , I liked his controlled aggression in his play for songs , every song touched me it had the real mrudu angam touch (How lucky to have him here , I only wish he plays more and more with other artists who dont have that bhakyam). BS sundarkumar played excellently in tani he really rolled so fast and completely synced with the speed of Sankaran sir in the second half of tani. Their tani was bit different , it was more a contrast to possibly with the krithi , perhaps if semmu86 was there he can add. The mike adjustment was really nice compared to the last concert that I attended here (mallAdi and UKS Sir).
Yes Rajesh i was indeed there.. Alas i missed you as i was sitting on the dias. It was fascinating accompaniment by Sankaran sir. Yeah, his concert did come a bit close to the good old days of the 60s and the 70s when Sankaran sir was at his best(But still am sure we just cannot get to listen to his old form again)...... Just goes to show how poor mike settings can make some artists sound like "MRUDANGAM BASHERS" (Referring to RKS's mudhrA's concert)..

The thani was not a contrast to the krithi i would say.... Sankaran sir present his thani in way contrast to how UKS sir woud have played his i would say.. UKS sir would play the niraval line for a couple of avarthanas for instance, to show that thani is an extension of the song and then take off from tere, but Sankaran sir generally prefers to take off directly... . That individuality in styles is what marks great artists....

Though Sankaran sir's playing has not changed much over the years (After listening to playing over the decades on tapes and almost 15 years of listening to him live), This was a fascinating thani which Sankaran sir played with all the standard "Pazhani school" kOrvais... Sunderkumar was excellent on the kanjira through out. Sankaran sir's playing is like KVN's kApi. You would have listened to KVN's kApi 100 times and 101st time you would still want more.. The same can be said here too...

mahavishnu
Posts: 3341
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 21:56

Re: Vijay Siva@SKGS on Dec 30th,2010

Post by mahavishnu »

ubari wrote:Nice review . May i know ur TOP#1 artiste ? just curious
My guess would be Suryaprakash (given Rajesh's general enchantment with the MMI school). Is that right, Rajesh?

I think Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi's accompaniment of VS, reminds me of some great concerts of DKJ/LGJ/TS that I heard at Krishna Gana Sabha in the 70s. Very memorable, each one of them. The Lalgudi bani's sahitya-oriented violin suits the DKJ school perfectly.

kunthalavarali
Posts: 426
Joined: 03 Mar 2010, 01:30

Re: Vijay Siva@SKGS on Dec 30th,2010

Post by kunthalavarali »

The first song was Kari kalabha mukham - Saveri - MD

semmu86
Posts: 960
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 09:39

Re: Vijay Siva@SKGS on Dec 30th,2010

Post by semmu86 »

I just loved the pallavi VS sang in this concert. "Thisra triputa thAlam - Misra naDai".. with an athEEtha eDuppu.. (athEEtha eDuppu is one where the composition/pallavi will start in the last few aksharAs in the previous avarthanam). It is quite difficult to explain it here, but let me try to do so..

The pallavi's eDuppu is 1-aksharam before samam (i.e, after 6 aksharas in the last beat of the previous avarthanam)

The structure goes like this...

pa,ra,ma,,,
pA,va,na,,,
rA,,mA,,
,,,,,,, (arudhi kArvai of 7 aksharas)
pA,,pa,va,vi
mO,,cha,na,
rA,,mA,,
(pallavi starts here in the remaining one aksharam after "mA")

It was masterfully executed by VS including trikAlam and Sankaran sir played a lovely little mOhrA and kOrvai for this thAlam.. Fascinating stuff

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