I had the good fortune of attending several musical performances of Dr. T.S. Sathyavathi, a renowned musician from Bangalore, and a direct disciple of Vidwan Sri. R. K. Srikantan. Dr. Satyavathi is a purist in traditional Carnatic music and her performance reflected her erudition and flawless rendering of various ragas. Accompanying Dr. Satyavathi are two equally talented stalwarts, Vidwan T.S.Krishnamurthy on the violin and Vidwan Anoor Anathakrishna Sharma on the mridangam. It is a privilege to attend the performances of such well accomplished and highly respected artists. In the coming weeks, Dr. Sathyavathi will be performing in several venues in the United States and I encourage every music lover to attend her concerts to enjoy some soulful music and experience the beauty and grandeur of various carnatic music compositions. Here's the schedule of their upcoming programs in the United States.
Weekend of May 28th, 2011 (Memorial Day Weekened) – New Jersey
June 3rd, 2011 (Washington D.C)
June 4th, 2011 (Birmingham, AL)
June 5th, 2011 (CAMAGA, Atlanta, GA)
June 11th, 2011 (Temple, TX)
June 12th, 2011 (Austin, TX)
June 18th, 2011 (Dallas, TX)
Outstanding performance by Dr. T.S.Sathyavathi
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ramakriya
- Posts: 1877
- Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 02:05
Re: Outstanding performance by Dr. T.S.Sathyavathi
I meant to post this a while ago - but better late than never!
Dr T.S. Sathyavathi gave a wonderful lec dem here in San Jose, during the SIFA Spring Festival last month. I would call this a report rather than review, though!
Rarely does one come across a scholar who is well versed in all aspects related to music: lakshya, lakshaNa and the associated lyrical aspects. And it was the fortune of the listeners at South India Fine Arts Spring Festival (SIFA) to see one such scholar- Dr T S Sathyavathi.
‘Aesthetics in Muttuswamy Dikshitar Compositions’ was the topic Vidushi T S Sathyavathi had chosen for her demonstration lecture at SIFA. She introduced aesthetics from the Indian perspective, as the essential aspect of art which elevates the listener from a lower stratum to a higher stratum. During her lec-dem, she illustrated this through various compositions of Muttuswamy dIkshita.
The first composition she chose for rendition was a kriti on Ganapati, very aptly – ‘pancha mAntanga mukha gaNapatiA’ in raaga Malahari. She illustrated how the instrumental case in the sahitya is used to connect various phrases in the charaNa, back to the pallavi enhancing the meaning. She also showed how various details of the deity on which the composition is composed is captured in the sahitya, leaving no doubt as to the identity of the kshetra. Through various phrases used in the composition, she illustrated how the raga develops as the composition progresses. She pointed out the subtle swarakshara usage in this composition.
She also alluded to the refrain of many musicians that it is very hard to take liberty with MD’s compositions. Although this is somewhat true, she showed how Muttuswamy Dikshita provides a great framework for any rAga he has composed in.The unambiguous clarity with which Muttuswamy Dikshita treats ragas in his compositions, in her opinion, forms the basis on which later day composers have built grand compositions. She sang some parts of his Saveri kriti, ‘kari kalabha mukham’, showing how the difference between Malahari & Saveri are shown right in the opening phrases of these two compositions.
She next took the sAma composition - ‘guruguhAya bhaktAnugrahAya’ drawing audience attention to the short rishabha and dhaivata, the widely oscillating madhyama in this raga - and indicated how the corpus of sancharas the composer has shown in this composition (and other compositions) could be used as a framework for a detailed elaboration of any ragas he has composed in. She pointed out how Muttuswamy Dikshita has woven a beautiful chitte swara for this composition that includes a beautiful asymmetry in symmetry, including different laya patterns.
The next raga under consideration was Brindavana Saranga. Vidushi Satyavathi sang ‘soundara rAjam Ashraye’ very beautifully describing interesting features of the sAhitya such as the Adi prAsa, antya prAsa, and interesting aspects like the caressing kaishiki nishada which is the hallmark of this delicate raga. She illustrated the differences in the treatment of nishada and rishabha in this rAga to other ragas such as Sri and Madhyamavati as well.
The last composition, the grand chaturdasha ragamalika – ‘srI vishwanatham bhajeham’ was indeed a treat to listen to. Vidushi Sathyavathi went into the details of each of the ragas in his gem of a composition showing how the sahtitya is woven to include the raga name for each raga in each segment (ragamudre), and how a modified phrase using the raga name is used as an adjective in the very next line enhancing the beauty of the sahitya, and how the key phrases of each raga are shown within a the short segment allocated to each raga.
Vidushi Sathyavathi concluded with saying that Muttuswamy Dikshita used both his heart and art in his compositions. With her scholarly presentation, the listeners at SIFA could very well appreciate that. She was very ably assisted by Vidwan T S Krishnamurthy on the violin and Vidwan Shriram Brahmanandam on the Mrdanga.
-Ramakriya
Dr T.S. Sathyavathi gave a wonderful lec dem here in San Jose, during the SIFA Spring Festival last month. I would call this a report rather than review, though!
Rarely does one come across a scholar who is well versed in all aspects related to music: lakshya, lakshaNa and the associated lyrical aspects. And it was the fortune of the listeners at South India Fine Arts Spring Festival (SIFA) to see one such scholar- Dr T S Sathyavathi.
‘Aesthetics in Muttuswamy Dikshitar Compositions’ was the topic Vidushi T S Sathyavathi had chosen for her demonstration lecture at SIFA. She introduced aesthetics from the Indian perspective, as the essential aspect of art which elevates the listener from a lower stratum to a higher stratum. During her lec-dem, she illustrated this through various compositions of Muttuswamy dIkshita.
The first composition she chose for rendition was a kriti on Ganapati, very aptly – ‘pancha mAntanga mukha gaNapatiA’ in raaga Malahari. She illustrated how the instrumental case in the sahitya is used to connect various phrases in the charaNa, back to the pallavi enhancing the meaning. She also showed how various details of the deity on which the composition is composed is captured in the sahitya, leaving no doubt as to the identity of the kshetra. Through various phrases used in the composition, she illustrated how the raga develops as the composition progresses. She pointed out the subtle swarakshara usage in this composition.
She also alluded to the refrain of many musicians that it is very hard to take liberty with MD’s compositions. Although this is somewhat true, she showed how Muttuswamy Dikshita provides a great framework for any rAga he has composed in.The unambiguous clarity with which Muttuswamy Dikshita treats ragas in his compositions, in her opinion, forms the basis on which later day composers have built grand compositions. She sang some parts of his Saveri kriti, ‘kari kalabha mukham’, showing how the difference between Malahari & Saveri are shown right in the opening phrases of these two compositions.
She next took the sAma composition - ‘guruguhAya bhaktAnugrahAya’ drawing audience attention to the short rishabha and dhaivata, the widely oscillating madhyama in this raga - and indicated how the corpus of sancharas the composer has shown in this composition (and other compositions) could be used as a framework for a detailed elaboration of any ragas he has composed in. She pointed out how Muttuswamy Dikshita has woven a beautiful chitte swara for this composition that includes a beautiful asymmetry in symmetry, including different laya patterns.
The next raga under consideration was Brindavana Saranga. Vidushi Satyavathi sang ‘soundara rAjam Ashraye’ very beautifully describing interesting features of the sAhitya such as the Adi prAsa, antya prAsa, and interesting aspects like the caressing kaishiki nishada which is the hallmark of this delicate raga. She illustrated the differences in the treatment of nishada and rishabha in this rAga to other ragas such as Sri and Madhyamavati as well.
The last composition, the grand chaturdasha ragamalika – ‘srI vishwanatham bhajeham’ was indeed a treat to listen to. Vidushi Sathyavathi went into the details of each of the ragas in his gem of a composition showing how the sahtitya is woven to include the raga name for each raga in each segment (ragamudre), and how a modified phrase using the raga name is used as an adjective in the very next line enhancing the beauty of the sahitya, and how the key phrases of each raga are shown within a the short segment allocated to each raga.
Vidushi Sathyavathi concluded with saying that Muttuswamy Dikshita used both his heart and art in his compositions. With her scholarly presentation, the listeners at SIFA could very well appreciate that. She was very ably assisted by Vidwan T S Krishnamurthy on the violin and Vidwan Shriram Brahmanandam on the Mrdanga.
-Ramakriya
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sarvalaghu
- Posts: 3
- Joined: 30 May 2011, 00:27
Re: Outstanding performance by Dr. T.S.Sathyavathi
A concert review has, of late, been a statement of the items within the concert and what and how these were executed. I wish to capture the impressions and emotions that went into Smt. T. S. Sathyavathi's concert at Sundararanga, Murray Hill, NJ, on Sat, May 28, 2011, with T. S. Krishnamurthy on the violin and Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma on the mridangam.
Earlier this year, Sri V. V. Sundaram made a statement at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana about the distinction between intuitive musicians, the example being Sri Vellore G. Ramabhadran, and calculative musicians, the example being the likes of Sri T. N. Seshagopalan. It is rare and, indeed, wonderful to encounter a musician who has the balanced blend of intuition and calculation. Smt. Sathyavathi is such an artist. Mastery is the ability to make that which is complex appear simple and easily understood. Smt. Sathyavathi expressed her mastery with a flow of manodharma, a flow that contained subtlety and complexity but flowed so smoothly that it appeared as though there was no effort behind it, but effort there indeed was.
The selection was very erudite and full of rare compositions. She began the evening with a varnam in Nayaki set to khanda jaathi triputa talam. The invocation to Ganesha was in Muthuswamy Dhikshitar's Maha Ganapathi in Todi, rupaka talam, with quite elaborate kalpana swarams. After a rare Thyagaraja krithi Nenarunchara in Simhavahini, Sarasangi janyam, and Kanakadasa's compsition in the Ghana raga panchakam, Smt. Sathyavathi elaborated Saraswathi and sang a pasuram from the prabandam that she herself had tuned to rupaka talam. The tuning preserved the chandas of the composition and lent support to the meaning of the words. Following Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar's composition on Chamundeswari in Poornachandrika, Smt. Sathyavathi took Shyama Shastry's first composition, Janani Natajana Paripalani in Saveri, adi talam, as the main piece of the concert. Saveri seems to be Shyama Shastry's favourite ragam with popular compositions such as Durusuga and Shankari Shankuru in it, but the masterpiece Janani is hardly ever heard. Neraval and swara prastharam were very balanced. Smt. Sathyavathi mixed fives, sixes and sevens during her korappu that the mridangist anticipated well and the violinist returned in his turn. The tani avarthana was very crisp and to the point. Overall, the kala pramanam was maintained very well. Smt. Sathyavathi completed the concert with Jayadeva's Ashtapadi in Hameerkalyani, Narayana Theertha's Tarangam in ragamalika and Mysore Vasudevachary's Tillana in Kanada set to trishra jaathi rupaka talam.
Erudition and scholarship need not be dry and boring. Perhaps because of the close chamber music setting, the audience interacted well with the artists....
Earlier this year, Sri V. V. Sundaram made a statement at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana about the distinction between intuitive musicians, the example being Sri Vellore G. Ramabhadran, and calculative musicians, the example being the likes of Sri T. N. Seshagopalan. It is rare and, indeed, wonderful to encounter a musician who has the balanced blend of intuition and calculation. Smt. Sathyavathi is such an artist. Mastery is the ability to make that which is complex appear simple and easily understood. Smt. Sathyavathi expressed her mastery with a flow of manodharma, a flow that contained subtlety and complexity but flowed so smoothly that it appeared as though there was no effort behind it, but effort there indeed was.
The selection was very erudite and full of rare compositions. She began the evening with a varnam in Nayaki set to khanda jaathi triputa talam. The invocation to Ganesha was in Muthuswamy Dhikshitar's Maha Ganapathi in Todi, rupaka talam, with quite elaborate kalpana swarams. After a rare Thyagaraja krithi Nenarunchara in Simhavahini, Sarasangi janyam, and Kanakadasa's compsition in the Ghana raga panchakam, Smt. Sathyavathi elaborated Saraswathi and sang a pasuram from the prabandam that she herself had tuned to rupaka talam. The tuning preserved the chandas of the composition and lent support to the meaning of the words. Following Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar's composition on Chamundeswari in Poornachandrika, Smt. Sathyavathi took Shyama Shastry's first composition, Janani Natajana Paripalani in Saveri, adi talam, as the main piece of the concert. Saveri seems to be Shyama Shastry's favourite ragam with popular compositions such as Durusuga and Shankari Shankuru in it, but the masterpiece Janani is hardly ever heard. Neraval and swara prastharam were very balanced. Smt. Sathyavathi mixed fives, sixes and sevens during her korappu that the mridangist anticipated well and the violinist returned in his turn. The tani avarthana was very crisp and to the point. Overall, the kala pramanam was maintained very well. Smt. Sathyavathi completed the concert with Jayadeva's Ashtapadi in Hameerkalyani, Narayana Theertha's Tarangam in ragamalika and Mysore Vasudevachary's Tillana in Kanada set to trishra jaathi rupaka talam.
Erudition and scholarship need not be dry and boring. Perhaps because of the close chamber music setting, the audience interacted well with the artists....
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Sreeni Rajarao
- Posts: 1288
- Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 08:19
Re: Outstanding performance by Dr. T.S.Sathyavathi
Sarvalaghu,
Thank you for capturing the proceedings and writing with such clarity!
It must have been a treat. It is noteworthy there were so many rare compositions.
By the way, do you know which composition of Kanaka Dasa was performed?
Thank you for capturing the proceedings and writing with such clarity!
It must have been a treat. It is noteworthy there were so many rare compositions.
By the way, do you know which composition of Kanaka Dasa was performed?