Aishwarya Shrinivasan@SKGS(kamakOti hall) on Sept 03rd,2011

[rajeshnat]

Aishwarya Shrinivasan@SKGS(kamakOti hall) on Sept 03rd,2011
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Vocal : Aishwarya Shrinivasan
Violin : B Vittalrangan(disciple of A kanyakumAri)
Mrudangam : B Sivaraman
KanjirA : S.Harihara Sarma

Concert duration/Day : ~ 1 hour and 50 minutes/ Saturday
Occassion : GokulAkshtami Series
1A. Om namah pranavarthaya - yamunA kalyANi??? - ???
1B. "Varnam" ViribOni - bhairavi - pacchimiryam Adiappiah
2. vande vasudevam - Shree ragam - AC

3. vallabhA nAyakasya (R S) - bEgaDa - MD
5 mins alapana and 3 mins violin return
3 mins swaras
4. sadA sAranga nayanE - Ranjani - Yoganarasimham

5. sarasa sAma dhAna - kApinArayani - T
6A. pankaja lOchana (R N S T) - kalyANi - ST
8 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
neraval for 5 mins in "vRindA vaivantha kritha vivitha??"
3 mins swaras
6B. tani for 10 mins

Aishwarya carries forward a very illustrious musical legacy of smt MSS and Smt Radha vishwathan. Her concert was more sequenced with all famous numbers that smt mss with the support of Smt radhA sang , that enthralled then all the rasikas.

Her start was the famous dhyana slokham , she sang a brief alapana and sang this few verses and it was a nice tranquil start , the first musical halo of MSS was right there.viribOni varnam was sung quite well with nice quick turns with a very good support by B sivaraman. The immediate sequence of bhairavi varnam with shree ragam krithi did not give a contrast but she sang pretty well .

Her first alapana was begada and her presentation of vallabha was good in parts , her swaras were quite short nevertheless well done. The ranjani krithi contrast was nice and the tempo changed quite well in that number .The filler was kApi narayani and I thought she could have added a sprinkle of swaras there .

The best of her rendition was the kalyAni main , her alApana had the most kalpana (manodharma)exhibition with quite few brigas added a lot of charm to melakartha 65 .Some thing in me said that she may likely cover this famous krithi of ST as she exhausted MD and T before and alas it was pankaja lochana . Her diction was always very clean reminding bharat ratna smt mss who always presents with well ironed sangathis pregnant with equal dose of musical and lyrical expression.(though personally I like musical quotient bit sabotaging lyrical words).Swaras of kalyAni were not that expressive , in general swaras in this concert was bit low key.

[rajeshnat]

After a round of main and tani she had roughly 30 to 40 mins , there was a long tail of mss tukkadas , I enjoyed the hamsAnandi , and that lovely madhuvanti was really the best of tukkada.The long tail of tukkadas got a more bhajan-devotional feel to the concert . She could have expanded bit more the viruththam and certainly trimmed few tukkadas and taken that time to exhibit more manodharmam aspect in say the kalyani and/or begada especially in neraval and swaras.

7A.viruththam ThAzh Sadaiyum Neel Mudiyum - simm madhyamam?? - peyAlwar pAsuram
7B. enta maatramuna - brindAvani + mmgowlai - AC
8A. viruththam "cEdiyAya valvinai" - hamsAnandi - kulasekara azhwar pAsuram
8B. sreenivAsa tiruvenkata - hamsAnandi - psivan

9. madhuban tum kyOn - madhuvaNTi - surdas
10. jagadOdhAranA - hind kApi - PD
11. alivEni yEntu cheyvu- kurinji - ST

12. maitreem bhajatha - yamunA kalyAni + kApi - Chandrasekara maha swami
13. kurai Onrum Illai - rAgamAliga - Rajaji

THe violinist vittal rangan is the disciple of AK, his tone was not that melodious till he got into kalyANi , but he did a commendable job. B Sivaraman nadham just reminds of tanjore style of his guru Shri TK Murthy and his formations and tani was apt for the evening , the kanjira support was slightly bit high during songs nevertheless percussion clicked.

One thing that strikes with Aishwarya is she is able to bring a lot of emotive dose and her diction is her strength . She is young and shows a lot of determination to succeed with pleasing stage manners. I would have preferred a little less of tukkadas in this concert , but the assembled crowd enjoyed a lot.

Overall a good to very good concert for 1 hour and 50 mins.

[arasi]

Good to hear that your concert turned out to be 'good to very good 'on Rajesh's sometimes 'not so generous' scale
It's always good to hear about a fellow-member's concert, and you are one of the youngest members on Rasikas.org!
Yes, it's great to continue your great grandmother/grandmother's repertoire, but it will be nice to hear you sing a few other songs outside-of-the family's traditional list.
The choice of your viruttams is appealing.
Power to you, student, athlete and young musician(vocalist and vaiNikA!).

[gobilalitha]

WONDERFUL REVIEW.Gives a feeling of immense joy as if i was actually present May god bless her .May lord Rama bless her (veeyens3)

[mahavishnu]

Congratulations to Kum. Aishwarya on a successful performance. Nice to see sadA sAranga nayanE featured again!

B. Sivaraman is an excellent mridangist; he plays almost exactly like Sri TKM, even more so than his other shishyas like J Vaidyanathan or KV Prasad.

[Lakshman]

Congrats to Aishwarya and to her proud dad Cienu and grandmother. My best wishes for her continued success.

[gobilalitha]

post 6 sadasaranga nayane is rarely sung in performances, though it is a touching one made famous my MSS

[cienu]

Thank you so much to all for your kind wishes and for the rasikas who attended the concert. It was also wonderful to meet so many Rasika members. Rajesh, Nick (who had just recoved from a bout of flu), Semmu (who flew from Bangalore to make it midway to the concert), Sri Nageswaran (whom I did not expect to attend as his sugar levels were fluctuating) , Mrs Nageswaran, Ganeshkant, Sivaramakrishnan & Divyanand of Brihadwani. Prince Rama Varma too came in from "Pankaja Lochana". There was a lady rasika (who introduced herself as a member who preferred to be anonymous !). Amongst the audience, others who could be seen were Seetha Ravi & Kalki Rajendran, V. Ramanarayan and Gowri Ramnarayan, TVG of Sangeethapriya, Lakshmi Devnath , Sri Kalidas (direct disciple of the one and only Palani Subramania Pillai), Sunda Mami (disciple of Brindamma) and ofcourse my mother who had taken the pains to come from Bangalore

[rajeshnat]

Cienu,
Can you clarify the ragas of 1A. Om namah pranavarthaya - yamunA kalyANi??? - ??? and
7A.viruththam ThAzh Sadaiyum Neel Mudiyum - simm madhyamam?? - peyAlwar pAsuram

I also saw Vidushi k gayathri ,she was there till nearly the first half of the concert.

[rajeshnat]

and ofcourse my mother who had taken the pains to come from Bangalore

She was focused with her keen eyes and ears, paying attention to every nuance , I am sure she has a lot of feedback for Aishwarya Shrinivasan.

[cienu]

Cienu,
Can you clarify the ragas of 1A. Om namah pranavarthaya - yamunA kalyANi??? - ??? and
7A.viruththam ThAzh Sadaiyum Neel Mudiyum - simm madhyamam?? - peyAlwar pAsuram

Yes ,that is correct .

[srikant1987]

I've seen Vittal Rangan with Smt Neela Ramgopal back here, and found his responses amazing. Must be one of his firsts in Madras too?

Nick (who had just recoved from a bout of flu)

Oh, so it's around in Madras too, is it?

Some thing in me said that she may likely cover this famous krithi of ST as she exhausted MD and T before and alas it was pankaja lochana .

An SS number might've made things more complete? Since there's an alivEni too ...

Who is AC?

[gardabha_gana]

cienu sir - congrats to Kum. Aishwarya and rest of the family. When will Bangaloreans get to listen to a concert of hers? Reminds me of the Pankaja Lochana sung at the rasikas meet at your house. Please do let us know of any vocal(and veena) concerts in Bangalore!

[ganeshkant]

Aishwarya's rendition of the Bhairavi varnam in the slow and fast speeds was very good.

Equally good was the rendition of Panakaja lochana.

She has a good voice.If she concentrates more on her manodharmam aspects like ragam,niraval and swaram singing her performance will look much better overall.

[rajeshnat]

Who is AC?

AC is annamachArya

[fduddy]

Nick - in the pattabiram Pandit's concert review you had written 'The context was an opening post that was nothing short of poetic hyperbole"

Where does the above stand in your scheme of things
I have nothing against this artist and I have huge respect for Smt. MSS and her family and therefore the subject artist will also be of top notch quality without any doubt.

What I want to say is each one has a way of expressing his/her liking towards an artists. Pattabiram Pandit also is one of the great artists today and being KVN's disciple he should be of good repute. Undermining the artist is not good and more than that justifying the statement. Best is to avoid being negative and be careful enough in what is being written.

I leave it at that and do not want to debate any further...

Cienu - I again reiterate I am unhappy about the negative comments being posted by certain members in another thread and took the opportunity to reiterate the fact here. I wish Aishwarya the BEST and hope to listen to her concert soon.

SORRY FOR THE DIGRESSION

[fduddy]

..... Her diction was always very clean reminding bharat ratna smt mss who always presents with well ironed sangathis pregnant with equal dose of musical and lyrical expression.......

You perhaps meant poignant !!

Swaras of kalyAni were not that expressive .. (perhaps bias to the raga !!!!)

[Nick H]

One can be metaphorically pregnant. Even the men .

The flu was dengue, but all is well now. Mossies one, nick nil.

It was good to see Aishwarya sing again. I felt her demeanour was a little serious, but perhaps a solo concert at such a prestigious sabha was the cause for this. The concert was well attended too. It was lovely to see so many rasikas friends there, especially Sri Nageswaran, though my pleasure in seeing him was coloured by the sadness of the loss of his friend.

[bilahari]

Great to hear the concert was a success. Thanks for the report, Rajesh!

Will we get to see/hear any clips?

[rajeshnat]

You perhaps meant poignant !!

I meant only pregnant as they say in pregnant utterance( fairly full or complete ). This kalyAni was definitely not poignant or for that matter can any kalyani be poignant? .

[vasanthakokilam]

Congratulations Aishwarya!

[VK RAMAN]

Congrats Aishwarya!

[cacm]

I am VERY HAPPY Aishwarya is performing more in public. Having known MSS for a long time & seen her at close quarters I FEEL Aishwarya is the true inheritor of the MSS mantle and I PRAY& WISH her not only all success but to be the true inheritor of one of the greatest souls apart from a great musician MSS was.We certainly need & cannot let the one of a kind legacy not be continued. VKV

[arasi]

Amen to that.

[S.NAGESWARAN]

I am undergoing a course of insulin treatment for my diabetic condition for the first time.

After the insulin treatment, I have been feeling drowsiness and in bed for almost 12 hours during the day. I have mentioned this to Sri Cienu .

However, I was eager to attend the concert of Miss Aishwarya along with my wife.

The Pankaja Lochana Krithi in Kalyani sung by Miss Aishwarya at the Bangalore Rasikas meet in Cienu’s residence is still ringing in my ears. My wife also used to tell the same very frequently.

At the KGS concert on 03.09.2011, I and my wife enjoyed the Pankaja lochana krithi again with an elaborate raga alapana, krithi, neraval and swaras for the song.

Sri Prabhu, the secretary of the KGS mentioned that MS AMMA used to sing this krithi frequently and also mentioned that we have to listen to the Kamala Manohari krithi “Kanchadalaya’ usually sung by MS AMMA.

Perhaps in her next concert at the KGS during the December music festival, I would be happy to listen to this krithi.

All the Rasikas who have attended the concert were able to enjoy the bhava filled, sedate music of Miss Aiswarya.

My best wishes to Miss Aishwarya Srinivasan.

S.NAGESWARAN.
05.09.2011.

[cienu]

Thanks once again to all for your kind wishes.
Kindly find below a picture of the concert in progress.

[rshankar]

Congratulations to Aishwarya! No surprise at all that it was a wonderful concert, given her lineage and guru! Cienu I bet you and Geetha understand perfectly the phrase 'mecci unai UrAr pugarzndAl mEni silirkudaDi'! Best wishes for continued success.

[raghavt]

Hi All,

Am little late to read the review... as usual tied up with the office stuff. Congrats to Aishwarya, but this is only a beginning... there is much more to come. I read many of our members remembering the kalyAni she sang the other day during the rasikAs meet. Yes, those two pieces were excellent, I still hear those from youtube @least a couple of times in a week. Especially, the Veena... Veena was superb... no two thoughts about it (koi do rai nahi hai).

She has got amazing musical temperament... and if this is continued to be properly channelised (as it is being done now)... its just a matter of time, she is going to be the number one.

Cienu Sir, When can we all expect a concert in Bangalore?

Please bear my spelling and typos...

Thanks ~ raghav.

[advaitam]

Aishwarya is a very promising young singer and has scope to rise as a good musician in her own right. Her kriti renditions are quite good, the sangatis having been carefully and meticulously rehearsed in the great tradition of Smt MS and Smt Radha. She has now entered the "big league" and has to concentrate on expanding her manodharma capabilities. I would advise her to listen to more concerts of old time legends and titans, as also attending more concerts by current musicians to keep abreast of the developments in the kutcheri scene today. Her voice is her greatest asset which she must hone to greater perfection. Her laya sense is quite commendable. The tishram section she executed in Viriboni was very crisply done. Infact when she started the varnam, I felt it was a tad bit fast, and she may struggle in the tishram and second speeds; but she pulled it off wit aplomb. She put the tala in a neat and unfazed manner for all the "podi chollus" that B.Sivaraman was playing in the TKM tradition. I felt the Begada lacked in raga bhava, but then experience and rigorous practice should set right that minor fault. I agree with Arasi in that she must now veer away from the traditional song set of her great-grandmother and sing other songs, and enrich her concert repertoire. I will definitely follow her growth with great interest in the coming years. May she be blessed by Sadguru Tyagaraja Swami always.

@ Rajesh - The dhyana shlokam is an excerpt from Adi Shankaracharya's "Sri Dakshinamurti Stotram". Also the Kanjira artiste was S.Harihara Sarma, not S.Swaminathan. I felt he was too loud and am surprised why nobody told the mic person to reduce his volume.

[rajeshnat]

@ Rajesh - Also the Kanjira artiste was S.Harihara Sarma, not S.Swaminathan.

Advaitam
Thanks for the correction.

Mods
Can you edit the first post with S.Harihara Sarma . I lost my 3 day window period for editing.

[cienu]

Great to hear the concert was a success. Thanks for the report, Rajesh!
Will we get to see/hear any clips?

Please find below a youtube link for the Annamacharya Kriti - Enta Maatramuna.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0O184eh6s

[nirvanaa.]

Thank you for link Ceinu saar. Look forward for subsequent uploads as well.

Notwithstanding the fact that Aishwarya is now blossoming into a kutcheri musician, it calls for an appreciation as far as her sruthi shuddham is concerned. The lyrics of the song offer great meaning and henceforth a bliss to note that the singer has great commitment to develop sahitya shuddham (which indeed is notable in the original LP record). The scope for improvement is perhaps endless.

Loads of wishes to Aishwarya on her journey to good music.