gAyathri VenkatarAghavan@VaniMahal on July 24th,2011

[rajeshnat]

gAyathri VenkatarAghavan@VaniMahal on July 24th,2011
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Vocal : gAyathri VenkatarAghavan
Vocal Support : Aparna Kumar

Violin : Padma Shankar
Mrudangam : Neyveli Narayanan
KanjirA : BS PurushOttaman

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours and 20 minutes / Sunday
Occassion : In memory of Smt D . Pattammal (Smt PattammAl dandapani)
Hall : Vani Mahal
Sponsors : thejus

1A. mini slokham -"vignarAja kripA sindhO" - sahAnA
1B. karunimpa - sahAnA - thiruvottiyur thyagayya
2. rAga ratna mAlikacE (N S) - reetigowlai - T
neraval in "bhAgavatOttamulu gUDi pADE kIrtanamulaTa" for 3 mins
swaras for 4 mins

3. kamalA thirumugathiL kasturi tilakamum (R N S) - sAveri - D PattammAl
5 mins alap and 4 mins violin return
4 mins neraval in "kaadiL kuNdalamAda kaatril kuzhal??"
5 mins swaras

4.bhOgeendra sAyinam - kuntalavarAli - ST
5. neeyE tunai jagadEEshwari (R S) - jyothiswaroopini - D pattammAl

6A. sarOja dala nEtri (R N S T)- shankarAbharanam - SS
8 mins each for both alapana and violin
neraval in saamagaana vinodini gunadaama shyaamakrishNanutE for 9 mins
8 mins swaras
6B. 18 mins tani

When this concert was advertised in The Hindu that it would be in memory of D Pattammal concert, I was not sure if it was exclusive or not . It turned out to be a regular concert with three numbers dedicated to D.Pattammal. GV started with a nice slokham and proceeded with the famous sahana varnam and it was definitely a good start . Reetigowlai raga has an immense sowkhyam and GV did start very well with a nice sowkhyam , but as she traced to the neraval I could not spot much of varying patterns , her swaras were measured but definitely good.

She continued with sAveri , Here she took a rare number in memory of SMT D . PattammAl . THe krithi was just good did miss a bit of charge , incidentally this sAveri number was a thamizh adaptation of jayadeva ashtapadi composed by D . PattammAl . bhoGeendra sAyinam in kuntalavarAli was well presented . I dont recollect hearing her sing a vivadi melakartha and when jyothiswaroopini came up with an alApana ,many heads scratched around me , her alApana was well done and the krithi was well presented and her swaras were measured and well done.

With an early sahanA ,sAveri as a submain and to be continued with ShankarAbharanam as a main may not particularly be the best choice atleast to me as there was quite a touch of excessive sedateness. Her alApana was mostly measured taking cliche turns, the krithi was rendered well with very good diction and I heard a neraval where her style was slightly cutting loose where she was taking a bit of quick turns which was to an extent was not found before in the concert . Swaras were quite good and there was a percussion blend to backup for every sangathi. I would have preferred more expansive swaras in shankarabharanam . The tani was different but could have been shorter .

[rajeshnat]

7A. viruththam "soolam piDitha" - sindhubhairavi + kaalan thanakku oRu kaalum - kApi - AGN thirrupugazh
7B. kunjari vaLLi manavAlA - kApi - D pattammal
8. mAthA parAshakthi - rAgamAliga(ranjani + kalyAni?? + sindhubhairavi + madhyamAvati) - mahakavi bharathiyAr
9. pavamAna

The days best was certainly the ArunagirinAthar viruththam in ragas sindubhairavi and kApi and was very aesthetic . The kApi viruththam unfolded with the D PattamAl's kApi composition , there was really profound classicism in her rendition and and appeared as a wonderful composition on Lord Muruga. THe last number was the mahakavi number in 4 ragas and her rendition was really good with nice diction. Also for the first time , I was hearing a vocal support for GV, aparna kumar sang well and has a nice voice.

Accompanist Support:
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The support was very good , while padma shankar kind of aligned almost completely with the style of GV though her alapana return for main was bit long. Both tHe percussionists played very well , tani was certainly long considering GV wrapped up in 2 hours and 20 minutes. But there was some fast strokes of narayanan that I enjoyed especially in the second half of tani.

Vani Mahal speaker setup:
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Vanimahal has a great hall but its speaker placement could be far better than what it is as of today. Some where in the center it is very loud , but if you go bit forward it is bit muted . In this concert , I would have preferred a little higher volume of GV and a bit reduced volume for both percussionist. For atleast till first half I could not hear GV's voice that clearly as it was drowned a bit by percussionist slightly higher volume.

Few points about Smt GayAthri Venkataraghavan:
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GV's asset is her alignment of shruthi and her voice has quite a lot of emotive aesthetics (especially the 2 raga viruththam followed by KApi krithi). But at the same time her patterns are mostly well rehearsed , she in particular is bit over cautious in taking quick turns and with that the impromptu spontaneity is not so well felt by me. I wish she brings that touch of impromptuness also in her future concerts.

She could have gone bit more than 2 hours and 20 mins , considering it is a big hall and the concert was held on a weekday.Overall a very good concert for 2 hours and 20 mins.

[mahesh3]

Why does smt. GV need vocal support?