SugunA purushottaman@MFAC(pallavi DarbAr) on Aug 04th,2011

[rajeshnat]

SugunA purushottaman@MFAC(pallavi DarbAr) on Aug 04th,2011
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Vocal : SugunA purushottaman
Violin : MullaivAsal chandramouli
Mrudangam : Neyveli narayanan

Concert Day : Thursday
Occassion : Exclusive Pallavi Concert - Pallavi on sadguru thyagarAjA
Sponsors : Carnatica

I attended only the second half of the pallavi.Smt Suguna Purush had a pallavi on sadguru thyagaraja

The pallavi lines was "ThyagarAjarE uNNakkuinai evarE lOkamE eNNAlumE pAduvEN uN keertanamE". THe pallavi line was a nice
affirmation that all vidwans and vidushis would follow for sure. The raga she chosed was T's creation kharaharapriyA

Few Impressions:
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Sound was excessively loud especially mullaivAsal could have been heard in the moola vAsal(corner) of Vivekananda college . Smt
Sugunas voice was very shaky and her ideas just did not translate that well to my ears. There was a ragamaliga swaras in saramati
and bhupAlam???

Some one else can write more on this concert.

[mahavishnu]

I heard a recording of this also. Clearly it was not Suguna mami's day. But the "amaippu" of the pallavi was brilliant. She is a scholar of great standing. Neyveli Narayanan sounded excellent.

MFAC is not my favorite venue to say the least. Too hot in the summer, too many mosquitoes in the winter and the acoustics are terrible to boot. Despite this, I have heard some wonderful concerts there, especially memorable are Lalgudi's concerts on new year's day with Trichy Sankaran.

On a different note , but related to pallavi specialists...

Did Sri TRS give a pallavi concert in Chennai recently with Kanyakumari on the violin? If this is true and If anyone was fortunate to attend this rare event, could you pl post a few words about the concert?

[uday_shankar]

Sound was excessively loud

Actually I ran out to the pharmacy in the nearby Isabel Hospital and bought a roll of cotton wool. That was when I ran into you outside the auditorium . Cotton wool is indispensible for any Chennai concert experience. Even more than Tyagaraja perhaps, Chennai rasikas must thank "Panju" Bhagavathar for showing us the path towards musical bliss .

[rshankar]

pinju kAdugaLai kAkka panju bhAgavatar tEvai! (You need cotton to protect tender ears)- at Uday!

[rajeshnat]

Actually I ran out to the pharmacy in the nearby Isabel Hospital and bought a roll of cotton wool. That was when I ran into you outside the auditorium . Cotton wool is indispensible for any Chennai concert experience. Even more than Tyagaraja perhaps, Chennai rasikas must thank "Panju" Bhagavathar for showing us the path towards musical bliss .

Uday
When you showed me the cotton when we just crossed , I thought then you are referring to my post of the recent pavamana for ears that I had posted. In retrospect ,I should have taken a part of panju. While you were "Panju" bhagavathar rasikas parampara , I became a "damAra" bhagavathar rasikas paramparA.

[rajeshnat]

Did Sri TRS give a pallavi concert in Chennai recently with Kanyakumari on the violin? If this is true and If anyone was fortunate to attend this rare event, could you pl post a few words about the concert?

I did not know that at all, when you say recently how recent is that? May be if there had been one that could have been a lecdem. Let me wait along with you for further comments on this.

[CRama]

The concert of Vidushi Suguna Purushothaman was not as bad as Rajesh has reported. Probably the excess amplification has spoilt his mood .

She presented the pallavi in Tisra triputa thalam Misra gathi. Eduppu after 4 aksharams. Raga chosen was Kharaharapriya. She presented the raga in the conventional two stages. Overall it took 25 minutes. Her voice was of course frail because of age. But it could effectively convey the music which was of high standard. During the neraval, she presented the pallavi as Avadhana pallavi- using two different thalas in two hands- of which she is famous for. But I did not know what was the other thala used. Again ragamalika swaras were entirely different from normally what you hear. She sang Bhowli, Saramathi, Balahamsa, Kokilavarali and Garudadhwani. After ragamalika swarams she presented the pallavi in some other thalams also, which I could not understand.

Some anecdotes. Before the concert, there were tributes to Vidwan Chengalpattu Ranganathan who passed away recently and in whose memory the festival was dedicated. About him she said- avar kolkayil chengal pol urudiyaanavar. Anal manam pattu pol mriduvaanathu. As ever, her speech was laced with humour. Once her Guru Thinniyam Venkatarama Iyer took her to DKP house. SP sang some pallavi before DKP and she could not get the trikalam right. She requested for some water and the Guru reprimanded. You are not singing properly and you want water also? SP replied. Avaathu theertham saappittalaavathu paatu sariya varuma parkiren.

She also mentioned that Chengaplattu Ranganthan Sir was honoured in Cleveland recently and she rendered this pallavi there and he appreciated her very much. So in memory of him, she sang the same pallavi.

I was happy to see lot of musicians and music students in the audience- Th hall was almost full.