Vid. Gayathri VenkataRaghavan RSM, Bengaluru 11th April 2011

[gardabha_gana]

Std. Disclaimer: Writing the songlist as our ace reviewer squims is out of action today. I reserve the right to be wrong about the ragams and more so the talams (attempting it the first time - i am tala shoonyam)

Vid. Gayathri Venkataraghavan
Vid. BU GaneshPrasad
Vid. Cheluvaraj
Vid. Sukanya Ramgopal

1. VignaRaja Krupa Sindho - Slokam
Jnana nanda mayam - Slokam
Tulasi Dala - MMG - Rupakam - Tyagaraja (Sketch, N, S)
Neraval @ Sarasiruha punnaga
2. Rangapura vihara - Brindavana Saranga (Sketch) - Rupakam - Dikshitar
3. Sharanu Sakalodhara - Saranga - Khanda Chapu - Purandaradasa (Sketch, S)
4. Vara Ragalaya - ChenchuKamboji - Adi - Tyagaraja
5. Upacharamu - Bhairavi - Adi - Tyagaraja (R, N, S, T)
Neraval @ Kapata Nataka Suthradari
6. RTP - Sanmukhapriya
Pallavi composed by her guru: Sri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama Hare SitaRama
Talam: Khanda Jathi Triputa
Swarams in : Bilahari, Varamu (as told to me by the vidushi in case you are surprised i know such ragams)
7. UdiVonri.... Ara Amuthe - Punnagavarali, Nadanamakriya, Sindubhairavi, Adi - Periya Azhwar (?)
8. Bhavayami - Yamuna Kalyani - KhandaChapu - Annamacharya
9. Saramaina - Javali - Behag - Rupakam - Swati
10. Prahlada - Saurashtram - Mangalam Kousalendraya - Madhyamavati

Good concert. will write the details tomorrow

[squims]

Looks like a swell song list! I'm a bit surprised by the Bhairavi main being followed by Shanmukhapriya. But I wouldn't have minded, I love both raagams.
I choose the most inopportune timings to fall sick!

Writing the songlist as our ace reviewer squims is out of action today. I reserve the right to be wrong about the ragams and more so the talams (attempting it the first time - i am tala shoonyam)

Ace reviewer? Hehe more like 'dedicated documenter' .
Anyway, taalam is a weak spot with me too actually. It takes a lot of effort to comprehend some of the stuff.

[srikant1987]

taalam is a weak spot with me too actually. It takes a lot of effort to comprehend some of the stuff.

I must humbly but vehemently disagree! At least you do comprehend the stuff! :$ In fact, you always seemed to be a mridangam student to me!

Swarams in varamu must have been good! I like the raga.

manasulOnu marmamulu is said to have been composed in varamu, but incredibly, it got converted to hindOLam! |(

[gardabha_gana]

Moderator - or someone with Uber powers - can you combine srikant1987's topic and this one - it is the same subject posted around the same time.

[squims]

I must humbly but vehemently disagree! At least you do comprehend the stuff! :$ In fact, you always seemed to be a mridangam student to me!

Haha, that's surprising! But maybe that's because of my love for nadai bedham and korvais?

Swarams in varamu must have been good! I like the raga.

I've never heard the raagam. Could you please give the details of the raagam? Not able to find it on the net!

EDIT: OK, from what I found out, it is also called Shuddha Hindolam, and it's scale is: S G2 M1 D2 N2 S S N2 D2 M1 G2 S
So it only differs from Hindolam in the D?

[ganeshkant]

Squims,

Yes.The diff.is only D between Hindolam and Varamu.So Varamu is a janyam of khpriya while Hindolam is Todi/Natabhairavi.

I think Varamu is called Bageshree kauns in HM.

[gardabha_gana]

Yeah ---- It sounded like hindolam but NOT hindolam or chandrakauns. I cannot figure out the scales etc yet - and I asked BUG/GV who mentioned that it was varamu. I have heard of varamu before - and now i know how different it is.

[gardabha_gana]

This is the first time I am listening to Vid. GV live. The previous concert ended only at 6:45 PM and by the time she started it was close to 7 PM She started with two slokas on Lords Ganesha and Hayagreeva - then she started with Tualsi bilva - surprising me a bit. I prefer varnams (especially uncommon ones like Sanjay) - or invocatory songs. Neraval was at Sarasiruha Punnaga followed by swarams. I was a little concerned that it may be in the format of another popular musician! Her voice traversed the octaves nicely - and she seemed to be enjoying her singing. This was followed by Rangapura vihaara. A very nice saranga dasara pada followed. I liked the fact there were raga sketches for the songs but not so happy that there were no elaborations. Over this time there were chits galore - she said she liked the requests and was wondering if she will skip the pallavi to fill in the songs. I used my very powerful vocal chords (as my handle indicates) to shout "Pallavi Pallavi")! After the filler vararaagalaya, she started on a very nice bhairavi. This was a double delight for me - after another excellent bhairavi by Sowmya. Well - I am prepared to hear bhairavi every day of the week Her treatment of bhairavi was very different from Sowmya. Midway through the alapana she developed voice strains (wonder if it is the weather in bangalore - everyone seems to get it) - where BUG responded brilliantly. I had a chat with BUG during the Sowmya concert - and came to know that he is a disciple of VVS! Very very nice response on the violin. GV continued with the alapana after that. Upacharamu was nice and neraval @ Kapata Nataka was superb.
After a brisk tani, a rather short and very nice alapana of Sanmukhapriya followed. Nice to see a good shuddha madhyama/prati madhyama ragas for main/submain. BUG again was excellent in his responses to the RTP. She sang a pallavi composed by her guru that was apt for the season. Nice swarams in bilahari was followed by a "SGMDNS" that sounded hindolamish - but not hindolam. I got to know that it was varamu after the concert This was followed by a pasuram by periya azhwar in ragamalika (have heard a splendid rendition by Vijay Siva @ Kalarasana last season) Our fellow rasika badari requested Bhavayami. Another requested javali followed ending with the mangalam. GV said she had to catch a train - and hope she made it.

Overall, I enjoyed the concert especially the latter half - and thank her for choosing to sing an RTP over a song medley. I wish she had started with a varnam (my bias) and a sub-submain in the early part of the concert.

[Ranganayaki]

Thank you for your account of your evening with GV in post #8. Together with #1, it's a great review and I enjoyed reading you. Loved the moment of humor, it made for an interesting picture to imagine you startling your poor neighbors.

[HarishankarK]

I wish she had started with a varnam (my bias) and a sub-submain in the early part of the concert.[/quote]
It is very common for artistes to skip the varnam / invocatory song when the concert starts later than the scheduled time. Also hers being the second concert she could have assumed that the former artiste would have taken care of the invocation part !

[HarishankarK]

I wish she had started with a varnam (my bias) and a sub-submain in the early part of the concert.[/quote]
It is very common for artistes to skip the varnam / invocatory song when the concert starts later than the scheduled time. Also hers being the second concert she could have assumed that the former artiste would have taken care of the invocation part !