S kasturirangan@rAgasudha Hall on Nov 15th,2011

[rajeshnat]

S kasturirangan@rAgasudha Hall on Nov 15th,2011
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Vocal : S kasturirangan
Violin : mullaivAsal chandramouli
Mrudangam : Mridhangam
KanjirA : Nerkunam shankar

Concert duration/Day : 2 hour and 40 mins/Tuesday
Sabha/Hall : nAdAmrtA trust

...
1. evarani - devaamruthavarshini - T
2. appa rAma bhakthi (R,S) - paNtuvarAli - T
12 mins alapana ,6 mins violin return
8 mins swaras

3. ranganAyakam - nAyaki - MD
4. hEcharigA rArA(R) -yadhukula kAmbOdhi - T
6 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
5. brOvammA - maanji - SS

6. enta vEDukondu - saraswati manOhari - T
7. rAju vEdala (Raga sketch,S)- tOdi - T
swaras for 4 mins

The concert was advertised to start at 06:15 pm , came few mins late and I think the first krithi is the majestic sadguru's opener evarani. As I settled the banner tag line of the trust NAdamrtA said "An experience of pristine music". THere was pristineness from the time I settled in devaamruthavarshini as Kasturi has got a real strong antha kAlathu gambeeram throw in his voice .

THe next number was a wonderful alapana with a lot of akaaram orientation in a thunder roll paNtuvarAli. My mind raced to the only concert that I heard before of him , it was a year back in vanimahal where he sang this paNtuvarAli . The start of the alApana was a bit of confusion not with the other usual overlap of poorvikalyANi , but with a slight hindustani touch my mind slanted towards hamsAnandi/sOhini. As the akAARam rolled more and more , pAntuvarAli just came out of a bit early hamSAnandi cloud(may be it was my wrong latch there). THe krithi rendition was wonderful with the orderly trajectory of fast swaras in pAntuvarAli in a truly bullet train mode and loved that rendition.

He moved on to a vilambit and it was ranganAyaki , to me this concert's best number was this and he rendered beautifully with his booming voice giving a right solace to the godess ranganAyaki.

From here to an extent the concert took a bit downhill , after a long nAyaki and a pristine rendition, the alApana of YK kamBodhi was well done , the muse hecharigA retained the same muse of the previous near perfect nAyaki. The downhill went steep when he went from nAyaki--> yedukku antha kAMbodi---> mAAnji, definitely a difficult number BrovammA but it went more and more as a shri TNS exposition of songs .

The pep returned with the roll after three questionable vilambit and saraswati manohari boomed and had a bit premature death as he did not go with either swaras or a neraval. He hummed tODi and I thought it was main, but it was a rAgA sketch and he sang another krithi of T , raju vedala was nice . I thought he is bit closing tODi fast to make way for RTP.

[rajeshnat]

7A. eduTa nilicitE (R N S T) - shankarAbharanam - T
15 mins alapana , 8 mins violin return
8 mins neraval in "naa tharamA telisi"
10 mins swaras
7B. tani for 14 mins

8A. slokham "ambA mOhini devatA" - shree rAgam
8B. shree kamalAmbikE - shree rAgam - MD

From tODi to another TNS special shankarAbharanam alapana followed , with more melting crowd, there was another ThyagarAja krithi eDuta niliciTE.Incidentally for a wonderful shankarAbharanam alapana that he sang that also had a bedham to yamunAkalyAni??, he ended up bit with reduced energy in neraval ,the neraval did not give that great aesthetic effect. I wish he did not take tODI or three vilambits in a row , may be because of that a more rounded neraval in shankArabharanam was a casualty(I am assuming this is the only neraval even though I came bit late).Swaras were just good in bharanam and was a nice wrap up.

Incidentally my first concert also had the same eduta nilichite and appa rama bhakthi (certainly it was only a
coincidence ,certainly do not misunderstand as that he is repetitive, it is my wrong timing).TNS songlist continued with the TNS trademark slokham ambA mohini in shree ragam ending with shree kamaLAmbike shive and it was a wonderful rendition by kasturi , a really brilliant pristine rendition of shree raagam, very pristine as his nAyaki .

Mullaivasal's play was good , bit more nAdham would have given a little more pristineness . Our percussion forumites teamed up with mridhangam leading , and our kanjira person giving a good support, felt kanjirA could have been bit louder .Tani was quite good lending the sustaining bit of sedate charm of shankarAbharanam .

Overall just hearing kasturi for the second time, few extended remark on him. There was pristineness in his lovely sareeram and voice , at times "nearly equal" to 1980-TNS , there is also "sweetness" in his voice which sometimes I do not get it from mahavidwan TNS , so in short as a sishya there is pluses and minuses with his guru jAmbhavan and super extraordinary shri TNS.

But what makes me feel bit uncomfortable is that his rendition is almost like TNS which is Ok but when he takes a combination of only Shri TNS popularized songs , makes me wonder on what he brings into the carnatic mEdai over and above the rigdiity of Shri TNS songlist and his near alike rendition .

In short there is "An experience of pristine music and also little excessive rigidity in following guru".Hope to
hear more and more of this musician who is generally sidelined in sabhas,thank god I had some time at my disposal to hear his gambeera gAnam on a week day. Overall a very good concert.

[mahavishnu]

Rajesh, thanks for your review.

I feel the same way as you about the music of Sri Kasturirangan. You may recall, we had this discussion about Sri TNS's students and the "imitation" bAni (the sincerest form of flattery) in an earlier thread.

He is no doubt very talented and I do enjoy his performances.

Just to clarify, how did he get to Yamuna Kalyani doing a graha bedham from Sankarabharanam?

[arasi]

Rajesh,
The nAyaki kruti is about nAyakan--ranganAyaki samEtan, ranganAthan, nArAyaNan

[sureshvv]

Incidentally my first concert also had the same eduta nilichite and appa rama bhakthi (certainly it was only a
coincidence ,certainly do not misunderstand as that he is repetitive, it is my wrong timing)

Think you are being very charitable here. Had I attended this one, I would have been miffed at the repetition - coincidence
or otherwise.

[ganeshkant]

Kasturi is talented no doubt in spite of his imitation.My aim of pointing it (imitation) out was it robs the artist of their originality and in a way I feel it is also a sign of meek submissiveness say a form of slavery.

But YK,nAyaki and mAnji in line and a main sankaRabharanam after a detailed YK( looks like sub main) definitely shows the artist in a poor light as for concert format and thinking is concerned.

[srikant1987]

But YK,nAyaki and mAnji in line and a main sankaRabharanam after a detailed YK( looks like sub main) definitely shows the artist in a poor light as for concert format and thinking is concerned.

Yes, a well-thought-out concert could feature a "detailed" nAsikAbhUShaNi, jayantashrI, kApi and a "main" siMhEndramadhyamam or something like that.

I hope the mods don't delete this until I do that myself. =)

[ganeshkant]

Srikant.interesting.Where did you listen this concert and who was the artist ?

[sureshvv]

Yes, a well-thought-out concert could feature a "detailed" nAsikAbhUShaNi, jayantashrI, kApi and a "main" siMhEndramadhyamam or something like that.

I hope the mods don't delete this until I do that myself. =)

No danger of that! Your sarcasm is too abstruse!

[mridhangam]

The first kriti kasturirangan sang was ankArakamAshrayAmyaham in surati as it was a tuesday.

mannArkOil j bAlAji

[vasanthakokilam]

hey, hey wait a second . Mods are too dense or autocratic? pick one please

[arasi]

VK,
You better watch out with such an offering of adjectives Before someone picks brash for b, curmudgeon for c, egotistical for e and so on
You guys are none of the above, by the way...

[rshankar]

hey, hey wait a second . Mods are too dense or autocratic? pick one please

Since you asked, how about 'densely autocratic'! I am only kidding, and indulging in word- jugglery. You know I agree with Arasi!

[vasanthakokilam]

Yes, all in good fun.

[CRama]

Yes. He is very much a copy of his master. A month back I listened to his concert in Madras AIR. I did not hear the announcement at the beginning. I was enjoying the concert thinking it is TNS. Really he sang very well. Only when I heard the annlouncement in the middle of the concert, I got to know it is not master- but his disciple. All said and done, nothing wrong if somebody sings like his Guru. He sings well.

[sureshvv]

Before someone picks brash for b, curmudgeon for c, egotistical for e and so on

Arasi... I am sure the "someone" being referred to here is not me... Just wanted to let the others know too :-/

[arasi]

sureshvv,
It was aimed at the 'monitors' in pure jest--not at any of us rasikas, the privileged lot who can get away with some innocent fooling around.
I should act my age, I know, still--I can't help it
Anyway, the monitor in question did not mind either Ravi's or my poking fun at him!

[sureshvv]

arasi... it was just my non-guilty conscience working overtime Please continue the banter - at not my expense!