Sankari Krishnan, IFAA, San Diego- May 14 2011: Song List

[Sindhuja]

Violin: Anuradha Sridhar
Mridangam: Ramkumar Balamurthi

1. Pada Varnam (Devar Muni) - Shanmugapriya - Adi - LGJ
2. Aingaram illamal - Kedaram - Adi (swaram)
3. Sogasujooda - Kannadagowla - Rupakam - Thyagaraja
4. Yarendru Raghavanai - Yadukula Kambodhi - Adi (2) (ragam)
5. Seshachala - Varali - Rupakam (ragam, neraval, swaram)
6. Durgadevi - Navarasakannada - Adi
7. Ramakathasudha - Madhyamavati - Adi(2) (ragam, neraval, swaram)
8. Smarane onde - Malayamarutham - Adi
9. RTP - Kalyani (with brief grahabhedam to Mohanam) - Khanda jathi jampa thalam, khanda nadai; no ragamalika swarams
Pallavi: Guha va, Muruga va, Shanmuga va Gurupara Kumara
10. Ennathavam seidhanai - Kapi- Adi
11. Mrigadayaradha Madhavam - Behag - Adi
12. Narayana - Shuddha Dhanyasi - Khanda Chapu
13. Azhagudeivamaga vandhu - Kavadi Chindu - Adi
14. Thillana - Mishra Shivaranjani
15. Mangalam

Though one could see her vidwat through, I think this was not one of her best days. I've never heard her before and was disappointed that my first concert of hers wasn't very satisfying. There was a persistent issue with shruthi, especially in the lower range and some parts like the yadukula kambodhi alapanai were quite ordinary. And throughout, it was strange that she never "niruththified" ("concluded") any song: she would just stop in the same avarthanam the pallavi words ended and not extend it into an akaram/ alap for a couple more avarthanams. But that said, the Varali piece was very good overall- the alapani was very enjoyable; and so was the RTP. The thalam was quite complex to handle and but for a couple of lapses, she did great. It was curious how she sounded strikingly similar to Bombay Jayashree, especially in the tukkadas when she was singing songs I've heard BJ sing (Narayana, Mrigadayaradha etc) The star of the evening for me was Anuradha Sridhar - her Madhyamavati alapanai was fabulous (paraphrasing what a lot of people there were saying- that raga is almost "owned" by the Lalgudi family).
(Curiously, she seems to have repeated quite a few pieces from this concert: http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... i+krishnan concert- found it when I searched her name here.)

[ganeshkant]

I don't know; but do you have to do grahabEdam to get mOhanam from kalyAni ? I think probably she might have just sung kalyAni eliminating M & N.

[Sindhuja]

It was with ri murchana in Kalyani with sa and pa varjya- so essentially, it was sung as a janyam of Harikambodhi. Incidentally, I was just reading a similar comment here: http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=16453

[bilahari]

Sankari Krishnan has sung in SD some years back (SankarAbharaNam was main, IIRC). Her shruti alignment was off then, too.

[rshankar]

Correct me if I am wrong, but don't Smt. Sankari Krishnan and Smt. BJ share the same guru, i.e., Sri LGJ? That might be the reason for SK to sound like BJ...

[bilahari]

I believe you're right, Ravi.

[uscasdrs]

A different opinion.

I have not seen too many concerts where there is no pisiral whatsoever. I tend to focus on the classicism of the overall concert and the level of difficulty the musician undertakes (the uzhaippu and the quality) rather than a few 1 or 2 second lapses here and there.

I have not seen too many musicians in the recent past even attempt a pallavi as difficult as the one Smt. Sankari undertook that day. It was set to Kanda jathi jampa in kanda gathi and started after 1/5th of the beat - very aesthetically pleasing from a rhythm perspective and very ably accompanied by Sri. Raamkumar with evident enthusiasm. My Guru always told me when I was learning pallavis that the main focus of the pallavi needs to be to push the limits of what one can achieve from a rhythm perspective; it is amazing how the ragamalika style of this has taken over now and the rhythm has been pushed to the wayside.

I was very pleased with the overall technical quality, melody, and rhythmic aspects of the concert. The swaram singing and the patterns explored were excellent. I actually liked her Yadhukula kambodhi ragam a lot. I really liked how the meaning of the words were aligned with the bhavam aspect of the singing. Overall, it was an excellent concert.

[Sindhuja]

@uscadrs: Agree with all the points may be except Yadukula Kambodhi- I actually liked even that, just that I felt it could've been a bit more interesting. I particularly liked the RTP, especially for the complexity in the thalam and eduppu.

[uscasdrs]

@Sindhuja, thanks for your reply. May be your review just came across to me as being negative and that is not what you meant it to be. Let us all agree to start with the positive aspects of any concert and then mention what was not good At a personal level, as someone who has performed many concerts in Chennai and doesn't do it any more, I understand the difficulty of concert singing. Reaching the level of Smt. Sankari technically is not very easy to do. I think we should acknowledge that. Not only is she very talented but you could really see her hard work too. I am sure you understand what I mean.

[srikant1987]

Thank you, uscasdrs, Sindhuja and bilahari. I now want to listen to Sankari Krishnan myself.

[uscasdrs]

Pandit Sri. Ravishankar and his wife Smt. Sukanya came to the concert, listened to the entire three hours and were all praise. That should speak volumes for the quality of the concert.

[_cm_rasika]

@uscasdrs: Have a question: How come you were bashing an earlier concert by Ganesh Kumaresh, even when Pandit Ravishankar seemed to thoroughly enjoy it? Does his reaction count when it suits you? Also, sruthi matha layam pitha and any musician (carnatic, western, film,..) would agree that losing sruthi is just plain bad. It might be that Sankari was not well, but given your pure purist perspective that would not even give an inch to Ganesh and Kumaresh, I am appalled at the way you justify a sruthi lapse! Being a purist myself from the Lalgudi school, its better to not sing rather to sing with a suspect sruthi dharma. One is to have a prejudice and it is indeed welcome. But to mask it as something else, in your case strongly suggesting that GK did not adhere to carnatic music principles, is really deplorable to say the least. Glad that this forum gave me an insight to get to understand how San Diego Indian music scene works. Pity the fans.

By the way, please do not teach the kids under your tutelage that it is OK to have sruthi lapse. They would rather kill the sahityam in sruthi than to sing it well in abaswaram.

[uscasdrs]

The only reason I mentioned Sri. Ravishankar attending is that while both G-K & TMK concert reviews that Sindhuja wrote seemed to highlight and make a big fuss about their presence, it did not even mention them staying in the audience and enjoying Smt. Sankari's concert. My comment was in the context of how it could have been a bad concert (with no sruthi alignement) if they stayed till the end and listened to the whole concert and appreciated the concert. With G-K, I had a hard time relating to it as Carnatic music. That was not just me, but quite a few folks I know. There were similar comments about their concerts in LA etc. as well. I would not have had any problem with G-K concert if it had been announced as an experiment or fusion or jazz. That was my point repeatedly.

In vocal music, a little bit of pisiral here and there when one is singing for 3 hours happens. I was commenting about how I tend to judge concerts based on the overall classicism. I am quite amused that you have taken it to comment on what I should and should not teach kids. Can we please avoid personal comments? If you are a theevra G-K rasika, so be it. You can give your opinion and I can give mine on concerts (and remember, on Smt. Sankari's concert, I was simply giving my opinion). You have no right to talk about how I should be teaching my students. That is strictly between me and my students. The comment about SD music scene, my teaching etc. is in not in good taste. Let us refrain from that. Thank you!