V Shankaranarayanan - Singapore - 19th Mar 2011

[bilahari]

V. Shankaranarayanan - Vocal
K. Sivaraman - Violin
T. Ramanan - Mrudangam
V. Devarajan - Morsing

Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society Festival
Duration: ~2h

Approximate Songlist:

01. karikalaba mukham (R, N @ nIladIra kumAram, S) - sAvEri - rUpakam - MD
02. kaNNanE en kaNavan (sketch, S @ pallavi) - kalyANi - Adi - Sudananda Bharathi
03. rAga sudhA rasa (R, S @ pallavi, T) - anDOlika - Adi - T
04. marugElara O rAghava - jayantasri - Adi - T
05. brOCEvArevarurA - khamAs - Adi - MV
06a. UrilE kANiyillai, uRavu maTRoruvar illai (vruttam) - darbAri kAnaDa, hamsAnandi
06b. kaNNanai kANbadeppO - rAgamAliga - Adi - Subramania Bharathi

VS began his concert, advertised with the theme of krithis popularised by GNB, with a lovely MD krithi in sAvEri. The neraval at nIladIra kumAram was sung in two speeds and I particularly loved his sudden descent into the madhya stAyi after dwelling on the upper octave for a bit, and his madhya stAyi neraval was full of bhAvam. The kalpanaswaras that followed featured nice patterns ending consecutively in the tAra rishabam, shadjam, madhya dhaivatam, and panchamam. The opening sAvEri felt very complete to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. VS spoke a bit about how GNB innovated the use of the DGR phrase in sAvEri, with the long glide from D to G.

With a brief introduction of how GNB also popularised Sudananda Bharathi's krithis, VS launched into kaNNanE en kanavan. The krithi is certainly not the typical, heavy kalyANi a la nidhi chAla or EtAvunara and I found it rather refreshing. I was particularly taken by VS's kalpanaswaras after the song, where he mostly eschewed S and P in keeping with the spirit of the pallavi, and some of the janTa and daTTu patterns sung this way and with plain notes were very attractive. After the kalyANi, VS demonstrated GNB's use of dhaivatam-centric phrases in kalyANi when emphasising the nishAdam was the norm.

VS then obliged forumite csuresh's request and sang anDOlika. VS's anDOlika was exquisite. His alapanai was uniquely structured with shorter MMI-esque phrases initially building into longer, more intricate phrases. VS's use of jArus was particularly outstanding during the alapanai, where those beautiful NDM,,, and PS,NDM,,, descents towards the madhyamam bring out all the beauty of anDOlika. VS's stops at the mandra nishAdam and his use of the nishAdam in general was evocative throughout the anDOlika. Of course, he sang T's rAga sudhA rasa, and sang it beautifully. The kalpanaswaras were detailed, and I loved all his kIzh kAla swaras, where he once again brought out the beauty of the nishAdam with N-ending patterns like NRMN,, and NRSRN,,,. There was also a lovely, elongated tAra R leading to the N. Tara R formed the fulcrum of the culminating sequence of swaras, providing a fitting and intense conclusion to an imaginative and bhAva-laden exploration of this rare raga.

VS hurriedly converted the submain anDOlika into the main, since he only had twenty or so minutes left of his allotted time. The marugElara that came after the brief thani was sung nicely and I enjoyed it, but I felt like a bit more variation in the kAlapramANam of selected songs might have been desirable, and I think a fast item like vara rAgalaya might have fit well in place of marugElara. BrOchEvArevarura followed, and VS really seemed to dissolve himself in khamAs. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece.

VS sang a lovely vruttam in darbAri and hamsAnandi, and I was quite moved by it. The concert came to an end with the beautiful ragamaliga of Bharatiyar (I think).

I thought VS sang beautifully last evening. His voice was not in the best shape and he did struggle occasionally with shruti, but I thought his manOdharma and sense of aesthetics really carried the show. From the beautiful sAvEri neraval to the kalyANi swaras to the entire anDOlika to the concluding vruttam, I was impressed by how VS brought out his creativity and yet moved with his music. I last heard him one and a half years ago, and he has come far since. I also really enjoyed his informative anecdotes about GNB's creativity.

That said, he needs to be careful about (a) singing the opening lines of a raga alapanai unambiguously and with perfect shruti shuddam (the first impression of a rAga is very important in setting the mood for what is to come, and he struggled a bit in the opening of alapanais last night), (b) uttering the correct swaras when singing mEl kAla swaras (the swaras and swarasthanas were sometimes different last evening), and (c) varying kAlapramANam throughout the concert, judiciously mixing vilamba kAlam, madhyama kAlam, and durita kAlam.

I was wholly unimpressed by VS's accompanists. Sri Sivaraman's violin did not seem to be tuned correctly, for one. Second, his responses throughout the evening did not match VS's singing and he seemed to be in lala land. His anDOlika alapanai was scalar and repetitive and unfortunately long; it was hard to stomach. He didn't even try to bring out those lovely glides VS sang. I have heard him accompany Sudha with such aplomb - I have no idea what happened last evening. The percussionists were largely unobtrusive, though they didn't add to the music in any way with their playing. All in all, the accompanists were a let-down.

I also wish the organisers had allowed a musician of VS's caliber the liberty of performing for three hours or so. It is difficult to plan and execute a two hour concert sandwiched between other concerts and with speeches at either end. The house full audience, however, rewarded VS with a great deal of applause and few people left midway.

Accompanists notwithstanding, it was a beautiful concert by VS and I look forward to many more from this fast-rising musician. An anDOlika to savour for some time to come.

Some photos here: https://picasaweb.google.com/1094254284 ... directlink

It was also nice catching up with jananee and csuresh from the forum on either side of the concert, in addition to VS and his wife, Vanitha.

[rajeshnat]

bilahari
Kannanai kAnbedappo as per karnatik.com composer is unknown.
http://www.karnatik.com/c2427.shtml
May be Lji can add more.

Talking about kAlapramAnam , possibly the early sAveri and kalyani back to back may have gotten you into a bit of feel , of that not great start. Nevertheless usually this kannaNE eN kanavan is a tukkada , right now it is promoted up. I personally like this number ,even though the rAga is not a favourite, as GNB's kalyAni is very very different

[rshankar]

Bilahari, lovely to read a review from you!
If I had to pick a kalyANi that typified Sri GNB for me, it would be vAsudEvayani - starting at the lovely upper octave (mElirundu kizhe vara kalyANi)....not kaNNanE yen kaNavan.

[csuresh]

Infact i was happy there is no"vAsudEvayani"(because we hear this very often )and glad to hear a new number"Kannane En Kanavan".The short "kalyAni" alapana shnkar gave had lot of GNB pidis.
SIFAS shoud have planned 3 hour slot for shankar.
Infact from sifas they announced they r happy with the full house turn out for this concert.Next time we request SIFAS to organise a special 3 hour concert from shankar.

[srikant1987]

early sAveri and kalyani back to back may have gotten you into a bit of feel , of that not great start.

Hmm, not necessarily, but yes, this concert's list is a little top-heavy. While I love AndOLika, I don't like hyping it up as a common main or RTP.

this rare raga.

No more! |(

[Murali]

Thanks for that review Bilahari. I missed this concert due to travel. The feedback I got about the concert was very positive. I was told the opening piece, Kalyani, Andolika & the concluding viruttam were highlights of the concert.

Shankar Narayanan's concerts in Singapore always attract a huge gathering. Saturday 6:15 pm is a prime slot during festival time. Maybe they could have left it open rather than an alumni dance at 8:30 pm.

Rajeshnat, from Bilahari's review and feedback from here, I gather that the start with MD krithi followed by that Kalyani piece took off very well. I think the point that Bilahari is trying to make is that a judicious mix of kalapramanams in krithis would have been better. That's probably because GNB mostly sings in madhyamakalam.

[mahavishnu]

bilahari, thanks for your review.
The pAsuram reads UrilEn kAniyillai (referring to his "state"lessness, as opposed to no kANi in the city).

Isn't VS a resident of Singapore?

[csuresh]

Mahavishnuji,
Shankar works for a multinational bank in singapore.Now a days he is more in india.You can refer to his website for details of his concerts at different places.www.vshankar.com is his website.
Regards.
C.Suresh

[bilahari]

Rajesh, I enjoyed the sAvEri-kalyANi opening items a lot! No complaints.

And Ravi, yes - GNB and vAsudEvayani are synonymous, but I liked the different feel of the SB composition.

[srikant1987]

VS's stops at the mandra nishAdam and his use of the nishAdam in general was evocative throughout the anDOlika.

In fact, rAga sudhA rasa doesn't have a ni-stop! I think GNB introduced that with his varNam and manOdharma explorations.

[arasi]

Bilahari,
Very happy to read your review as always--well almost always I'm as happy as I was when I spent some time with you at concerts this season.
Shankar is shaping up very well. I like listening to him. He has a sweet wife too and I'm happy he sang a Suddhananda Bharati song. Yes, you said it--the diffeernt feel of an SB song...
Is AndOlikA a popular rAgam of 2011? TMK's main in Bengaluru, BJ taking it up for RTP recently.
KaNNanaik kANbadeppO? is not bhArati's but I've this strange feeling that it's by one of my relatives. Lakshman, is it by any chance Trivandrum Aiyya's?

Mahavishnu,
Yes, UrilEn kAnNiyillai. Didn't we discuss the difference in meaning some time ago?

Rajesh,
How are you doing? You would of course agree that Shankar deserves to be given more than two hours to sing.

[ramarama]

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