Sangeetha Sivakumar, Urbana, 02 Nov 2011

[sreebeecane]

SPIC Macay Urbana presented Vidushi Sangeetha Sivakumar in concert on 02 Nov 2011 at the Illini Union.

Vocal: Vidushi Sangeetha Sivakumar
Violin: Kum. Akkarai Subhalakshmi
Mridangam: Melakkaveri K. Balaji

List:
varNam - karuNimpa - sahAna
manasa eTulo - malayamaarutham - (R,S)
rAmanAtham bhajEham - pantuvarALi - (R,N,S)
mAyamma - Ahiri
nenarunchinAnu - mALavi
nannu pAlimpa - mohanam - (R,N,S,T)
muraLidhara gOpala - maanD
chinnanchiru kiLiye - rAgamAlika
tillAna - mOhanakaLyaaNi
mangaLam - sauraashTra

Without sounding like SVK, this was a pathetic concert by Smt. Sangeetha Sivakumar. However, I think she can be excused for it as she seemed to have terrible throat problems. From the very beginning. Smt. Sangeetha Sivakumar never looked comfortable yesterday. As it turned out, she had a bad throat and kept on sipping hot water even in between the swarams during the charaNam of the sahAna varNam. So much so that, she had to request the organizers for a second serving of hot water during the concert.

The sahAna varNam was quite decent with the violinist taking the lead on most occasions as her voice was not helping her. She didn't present the second kAlam though which was quite disappointing. Towards the end of the varNam, she looked kinda comfortable. The aalapanai in malayamaarutham was quite decent and I must say the violinist of the day played a really nice alaapanai with a lot of bhAvam. There were quite a lot of apaswarams in the tArasthaayi as her voice was not helping her.

rAmanAtham bhajEham was presented well. The pantuvarALi alaapanai had a glimpse of poorvikalyANi in a phrase but then again, it could be the voice too :^) The composition was presented well and her manodharmam was pretty good during this. During the neraval and the swarams, it did look like her voice was co-operating and I was expecting something better towards the latter half of the concert. neraval at 'kAmita phala prada dEvam kOTi teertha prabhAvam' was quite good.

She presented mAyamma in Ahiri without the swarams or the Alapanai and I was expecting a short Alapanai before the kruti. A quick mALavi (unfortunately laced with apaswarams) during the charaNam portion made her ask for a second serving of something piping hot.

The Alapanai was a good effort considering how her throat was behaving. The neraval and swarams were quite pedestrian. There was no nirNaayam in the neraval and the swarams had almost no life in them. I occasionally heard nishAdam too and was wondering if it was hamsadhwani or mOhanam

The tukkaDas were rendered quite ok.

Honestly, the saving grace of the concert was the violinist. Played very impressive responses to the swarams of Smt. Sangeetha Sivakumar, perhaps overshadowing her. Her aalapanais were also very good and played with a lot of azhuttam and bhAvam.

Sri Balaji accompanied the artiste very well except for his accompaniment for Ahiri. However, at times I felt the microphone settings on mridangam was too loud. The thani was enjoyable and was quite long for a 2 hour concert - which is something I really liked. I am guessing Smt. Sangeetha Sivakumar wanted it that way.

Overall, it was quite disappointing. Not many concerts happen in the Midwest region in the US of A and I was very disappointed that a 1 hr drive wasn't worth it. I think it was just a "bad throat" day as Smt. Sangeetha Sivakumar is a very capable artiste with good manOdharmam.

[annamalai]

She presented mAyamma in Ahiri without the swarams or the Alapanai and I was expecting a short Alapanai before the kruti.

Since the review has so many high-faluting words, .... just wanted to mention, among the many, many times, Mayamma (Ahiri) or Adaya Sree Raghuveera (Ahiri) or Challare (Ahiri) have been rendered by stalwarts, sans alapana, or swaras.

[ganeshkant]

A short Alapanai is always possible.May be a short sketch in case if Alapanai will sound out of place.But I wonder how long Alapanai is possible in Ahiri.Normally artists sing the kriti ( sombaina or mAyamma or clubbed together)with breaks to make it sound like a Alapanai.Yet I always like when some one sings that.

[rajeshnat]

manasa eTulo - malayamaarutham - (R,S)
rAmanAtham bhajEham - pantuvarALi - (R,N,S)
mAyamma - Ahiri
nenarunchinAnu - mALavi
...
She presented mAyamma in Ahiri without the swarams or the Alapanai and I was expecting a short Alapanai before the kruti.

She presented two alapanas before and to present a third successive alapana in Ahiri would not be the best of choice. Just my take here. And as annamalai has said I have heard mostly mAyammA sans alapana or swaras.

[Ramaprasad]

Dear Sreebeecane,

With due respect to your rights to freedom of expression, I want to draw your attention to the fact that we are all here together on this forum because of our shared love for music. In that context, don’t you think that the discussions, under this section on Kutcheries, should focus mostly on music, concerts and how well (or badly) the kritis were rendered according to the rasika reporting?

Please tell me what musical value is served by calling attention to how many times and when Ms. Sangeetha Sivakumar drank water during the performance. You have made the point right in the beginning that she had some throat problems that evening (yes, musicians are human too and do get affected by the same common afflictions like the rest of us), and there was no need to repeat it. Her music was under review and not her throat problems. Let us leave it to her doctors.

Talking of imbibing hot water during the concert, I have not read (my limitation) anywhere that a good concert should not exceed more than a certain number of hot water sips. Nor have I heard that water should only be imbibed at certain points in the concert and it is a no no especially during kalpana swaras.

You were disappointed that there was no alapana before the Ahiri kriti was sung. You even mention that it was contrary to your expectations. May I politely point out that your expectations as to what kritis you want to hear don’t determine the quality of a concert? Further, as we are all aware, concerts are planned and executed by the team on stage and we, as rasikas, go there to enjoy the manodharma music of the artists of that concert. It is not our concert. Good or bad concert is your right to call.

With due apologies to Coleridge, let me conclude that a willing suspension of pre-conceptions and expectations of particular kritis or variations is conducive to good concert enjoyment.

[arasi]

Ramaprasad,
Well-said!
Coleridge at the end of your post says it in no uncertain words!
tabla rasa, a clean slate of a mind as we enter a concert hall is a healthy thing--for rasikAs and the performers. In that state, the music we hear is more enjoyable.

If we find that a singer has a bad throat day, we can sympathize and perhaps be a little tolerant about the slips.

[PUNARVASU]

Yes arasi,
A clean 'slate', the mind be
A clean 'state' it is in
No expectations, no guessing
Enjoy what is sung, savour what is given
A bad throat day if it is
Be tolerant of the slips and the 'sips'.

[arasi]

There are no slips in your keen observations, Punarvasu, you young thing! I see you are in a very poetic mood at the moment. Keep it up!
Are you going to come to Chennai for the season?

[Ramaprasad]

Thank you, Arasi and Punarvasu. Your words have set the minimum standard for both the rasika and the performer.
Now, let us get back to music.

[sureshvv]

In sreebeecane's defense, most reviews here are actually more like reports in the sense that they try to take us rasikas virtually to the concert hall and give us the full experience. In that light, I don't think reporting on the number of sips is exactly wrong. As a sympathetic rasika, it actually helped me by providing a justification for the other shortcomings of the concert.

[annamalai]

I don't think reporting on the number of sips is exactly wrong. ... a justification for the other shortcomings of the concert.

It may be possible to report the number of times a Sangeetha Rathnakara did snuff (dhoomapatra dhooli) during a concert ! Nuff said on the review ...

As a nostalgia, there is a GNB / LGJ / PR concert, and it is possible to infer that GNB had a liberal dose of snuff (based on the reaction on the audio) and the net result of the snuff is a brilliant Surati alapana and rendition of Paramukhamelara ...

[Ranganayaki]

I agree completely with Suresh (though the first sentence is not clear, I can guess what he meant to say), and I am surprised at the negative comment about the review. I think Sreebeecane was being sympathetic and rather generous, considering his disappointment at the concert. I liked the review. Just as there are no rules about how many sips of water to drink, there are no rules about mentioning them in a review either.

Also posting #2 mentions "high-faluting words". There isn't a single one in the review.

Saying that Arasi's comment sets the minimum standards is a tad unfair , I don't think Sreebeecane's review is so bad it falls below minimum standards.

Sreebeecane, I hope you will continue to write.

[annamalai]

Also posting #2 mentions "high-faluting words". There isn't a single one in the review.

disagree. For a start the opening phrase is "without sounding like SVK .... " But, Ahiri and hot water sips spilled the beans ...
SVK has credentials. He has written a book on Thyagaraja krithis and its meanings.

if the reviewer does not like the concert, that is fine. Many great performers have been pilloried for rendition of Parvatha Rajakumari (Sree ranjani), ...

Some one can parse anya swaras in ragas, it should be evident about R, N, S of Ahiri and Mayamma.
Then if that is the norm, I should look forward to R, N, S, T for Sindhu Mandhari - Kanrunichutaku ...

[Ranganayaki]

Sorry, Annamalai, your response is completely incomprehensible to me.


..... Aah.. you seem to have edited it as I was racking my brains over it in the editor. Makes a little more sense now. But not enough for me to respond.

I wouldn't have said the SVK part either..

But I'm leaving this here.

[srikant1987]

The review is indeed rather sour. However, sreebeecane does finally say it must have just been a bad-throat day, and also that Sangeetha is a very capable artiste with a good manOdharmam.

Like Ranganayaki says, it can be extremely disappointing to get a less than satisfying concert when you need to commute over an hour to reach a rare CM event. Nonetheless, one can usually find, to mention in a review, a few good things in all concerts -- especially those by "very capable artistes with good manOdharmam" -- with the help of which the reviews can be made sweeter. One can also desist from writing about a concert, though that is difficult when there are so few concerts one gets to attend in the first place.

[bilahari]

Like Ranganayaki, I found nothing "high falutin" about the original review.

For those of us who don't have regular access to good music, the occasional off day of a performer does hit us hard. It is not easy to set aside expectations, especially when it is precisely the great reviews of a certain artiste on this website that set and raise these very expectations. So an honest review like this only brings us down to earth a little and reminds us to not harbour impractical hopes about a concert.

I, too, thought the references to repeated water drinking were just meant to illustrate just how poorly Smt Sivakumar's health was that evening.

[arasi]

Bilahari,


I still haven't managed to catch Sangeetha Sivakumar's live concert and therefore have no voice (isn't that what this review is about?).

Srikant,
There is another side to what you say about the effort we put into going to a concert and if the artiste does not deliver (according to our expectations), in our feeling as if we are let down.
What I'm trying to say is: let's imagine we live in a place where concerts are a rarity. It's more like this: the audience lap it up like parched ground saoking up water. In such an instance, any music sounds sweet. Live concerts, as opposed to recorded music we hear, have a way of determining our level of being charitable or not about the artistes!

Ranganayaki,
I agree with you in that there should be honesty in a review. All I'm saying is that harsh criticism should be balanced with the mention of the good features one finds in the music. I remember a review where it was stated that the vocalist had trouble with the voice from the very start (which I assumed meant, he/she had trouble throughout the concert). Which wasn't the case, as I finished reading the review. It was full of praises for the singer--no problems about a balance in criticism and praises there. Yet, it set me up to expect that the performer had to deal with a difficult throat throughout the concert!
Open-mindedness helps, at least for me. Each concert is a fresh experience. We have name tags for the performers, as we have for rAgams, tAlams and composers. It's essential in a way, but personally (isn't that so for all of us?), it's the music we hear that counts in the end...

Annamalai,
Didn't know that an unhealthy snorted stuff had such a beautiful sounding name in Sanskrit!