Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,2012

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rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,2012

Post by rajeshnat »

Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,2012
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Vocal : Bangalore Shankar
Violin : V V Srinivasa Rao
Mrudangam : Mrudangam Easwaran

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours /Thursday
Concert Type : Nirvana (prime evening concert , no concert to follow)
Sabha/Hall : ambalam - musical and dance school of TV Ramprasadh and his wife

1. lambOdaram avalambE (N S) - kAmbOdhi - MV
2. dasaratha nandana (R S) -mAyAmAlavagowlai - MV
3. Brovavamma - mAnji - SS

4. satatamu niNNE - shivakAmbOdhi - BK PadmanAbhA rao
5. marivErEdikkEvaru - latAngi - patnam

6A. (sow)mitri bhAgyamE - R N S T - kharaharapriyA - T
7 mins each for alApana and violin return
neraval in "bAguga vinta rAgamula nAlApamu" for 5 mins
swaras for 7 mins
6B. tani for 8 mins

It is quite a long journey when coolkarni started with a series of concerts in 2007 with TV Ramprasadh being the first singer , then morphed into rasayana and now we must have crossed atleast 30+ concerts. Bangalore Shankar is singing for us for the third time , one in sowmya's flat and the other in shyam's house and this was the third . Third it was, and I only arrived from third number because of working day traffic. Missed the KAmbOdhi and definitely the second rare dasaratha nandana in serene mAyAmalavagowlai is a bad miss.

As I entered the faceless mAnji was shaping beautifully in vilambit and he gave me an excellent start . The next two was a bit of dampener , the first in a rare shivakAmBodhi composed by the sishyA of VasudevacharyA was giving a bit light feel , the next latangi was breezy but without any quick dazzling swaras it was not the best of finish.

The main was kharaharapriyA , his alApana was not that detailed , and he taking up a rare (sow)mitri bhAgyame was a great choice.Neraval was settling beautifully he could have gone bit more , swaras were precise and well done. I remember last time he presented a superb srinivasa tava charanam and it was not that satisfying this time.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 09 Jan 2012, 13:11, edited 1 time in total.

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by rajeshnat »

7. manavE mantrAlayA - suddasArang - padmacharan(AV krishnamAchAr)
8A . sudhAm brahma vichAra - revati + hindOlam
+ veena pushtaka - bEgaDa
+ suddhAm brahma vichAra - kalyAni
8B. shringA puradeeshwari - kalyAni - padmacharan

9. nI padamulanE nammitinammA??????- natabhairavi - padmacharan
10.manava nilisuvudu balu kashta - nAttaikurinji - PD

11. harE venkata shaila vallabha - mOhanam - shreepadarAjA???
12. rAmA nammava ninnE mamavE?? - manirangu - kanakadAsA

13. sayEE nAm bhajE sowkhya - jOnpuri - MVS
14. gAyati vaNamAli - mishra kannada - SB

15A. briefslokham "dhyaname krithi yati" - sindubhairavi - ??
15B. tamburi Meetidava - sindubhairavi - PD
16. nee nAma roopamulaku

Bangalore shankar in general is a bit unconventional musician and to an extent barring his general mould of his manaseega KVN , I would put him in the league that he is more of his own paddhantara musician . He has learnt for 20 + years with his second guru Smt vallabham kalyAnasundaram who is the sister of Mayuram vishwanatha Sastri . I think his gurukulavasam with Smt vallabham had brought in him a bit of multifacetedness .

He has tuned quite a lot of padmacharan compositions , he started with the significantly most known manavE mantrAlaya , he sings only in suddasArang whereas the maharajapurams santhanam and his sons sing this song as ragamAliga suddasArang and bhAgeshwari. Both have great muse .

His tukkadas had a bit of significant unconventionality . IIRC, I dont think I have ever heard a natabhairavi as a tukkada and one generally also does not sing nAttaikurinji (which generallly stands more for its sparkling flagship RTP), I like his nAttaikurinji a bit more than most ragas he handles , there is more charm in his open throated singing. (I told him post concert next time go for nAttaikurinji pallavi Sir)

The tukkada in manirangu was well done , i did not think it was manirangu after thinking it was not madhyamAvati ;) . The ragamaliga slokham ending with kalyani was well done , but I heard the same in his last presentation, both times it was indeed well presented.

In Other tukkadas the mohanam, jonpuri and mishrakannada were not that inspiring as the above mentioned , I just felt in general he had an overdose of tukkadas in this concert and gave a bit of more devotional concert flavour.He could have curtailed at least few tukkadas and may be sung more before tani for any of the songs.

V V SrinivAsa Rao's kharaharapriyA was the most aurally presented play , his alapana was bit longish, since I was late and with the tail of long tukkadas , there was bit minimal usage of violin. For my late ears it was almost a vocal-mrudangam concert .

Mridangist Mannargudi Easwaran was a testimony for his astuteness, he studied the hall , he studied the audience and gave that right support without an iota of overbanging . There was intelligence and there was omnipotent sowkhyam in his play.

Apart from cool , I could spot mohan and Arun fighting with their HTC and iPhone devices :devil: :P .RajuMds was also present . Cool's family with his wife and son kedar were enjoying .It was a small crowd of attendees from rasikas team, but I am glad cool is still continuing his mission . Tx to shri and Smt TVRP for being a great host , the sound system is really superb it rivals a well set ragasudhA.

Overall for whatever I attended it was a good to very good concert, i wish i caught the first 2 nos too.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 07 Jan 2012, 13:51, edited 5 times in total.

Sreeni Rajarao
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Joined: 04 Feb 2010, 08:19

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by Sreeni Rajarao »

Rajesh,

Thank you for the review! I was waiting for this one.

Sri. Shankar had mentioned that A V KrishnamAchar was his mentor.

Could you please clarify who the composers are for items 13 and 14. I could not decode the acronyms.

I hope to hear audio of this concert.

Thanks to rasAyana team for continuing with the series!

rshankar
Posts: 13754
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 22:26

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by rshankar »

Rajesh - thanks for the review. Seems to have been a lovely concert - the previous recordings of his concerts were very blissful. By the way, my intro to this lovely singer was when Kji uploaded his 'SRngapurAdhISvari' and, in my mind, it is Sri Shankar's signature tune!

Sri Krishnamachar should be 'padmacharan' and not padmAcharan.

#9 would be better if written as 'nI padamulanE nammitinammA' (nammitini+ammA)

Sreeni,
MVS= mAyUram Sri Vishvanatha Sastry, Smt. Vallabham's brother.
SB= Sri Sadasiva Brahmendra

varsha
Posts: 1978
Joined: 24 Aug 2011, 15:06

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by varsha »

10. manavani (R) - nAttaikurinji - PD
should be
manava nilisuvudu balu kashta - nAttaikurinji - PD

mohan
Posts: 2806
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 16:52

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by mohan »

I attended this concert, the first of many that Rasayana hopes to host at Ambalam in Besant Nagar. Enjoyed the first half of the concert which included rarely heard items from Vasudevachari. The main alapana was succinct, so too the neraval and swaram. There were about 45 mins of lighter items in a 2 hour concert. I would have preferred if he would have taken up another main piece in this time. Mridangam accompaniment was superb!

arunk
Posts: 3424
Joined: 07 Feb 2010, 21:41

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by arunk »

I enjoyed both parts of the concert. The kambhoji krithi was excellent. I also liked the natakuranji and manirangu - both ragas I adore. Per my (cough, cough - shameless self-promotion) KrithiBook app, there is a muttiah bhagavatar composition in natabhairavi that has the same starting words)

Rajesh - I don't know about mohan and his HTC, but as vk, Ravi and millions of users can attest, iPhone users NEVER have to fight with their phones ;-)

Arun

bilahari
Posts: 2631
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 09:02

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by bilahari »

Thank you for the review, Rajesh.

Am I the only one here with absolutely no interest whatsoever in smart phones?

srikant1987
Posts: 2246
Joined: 10 Jun 2007, 12:23

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by srikant1987 »

No.

arunk
Posts: 3424
Joined: 07 Feb 2010, 21:41

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by arunk »

No you aren't the only one - particularly in this cross-section of community ;-) - we arent exactly on the progressive side of the curve here.

Although they can certainly be, they are not really a "toy" anymore. Plenty of business and corporate uses for them - as well as for personal uses (essential as well as entertainment).

If you think mobile phones are a waste (or a luxury you dont really need - which many people did many years ago), you would think smart-phones are a waste.

If you think mobile phones are essential but smart-phones are a luxury you dont really need, then you may not have been in a position to see all their potential uses.

Arun

Enna_Solven
Posts: 827
Joined: 18 Jan 2008, 02:45

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by Enna_Solven »

Smart phones can make their owners un-smart. At work, I have to make a left turn from the access road into the garage. Fellow desi on his smart phone was standing pat in the middle of the garage entrance completely engrossed in his smarter-phone. I waited patiently at about ten paces from him as there was no traffic behind me on the access road. My car didn't make too much noise to alert him. He came to his senses after about 20 seconds. |(

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by rajeshnat »

Arunk
I talked little bit more with Vidwan on . 8B. shringA puradeeshwari - kalyAni - padmacharan

He said one cannot strictly say it is yamunAkalyAni or kalyAni.His explanation is it can fit both? I jokingly told him can I put as "illayaraja kalyAni", there are lots of illayaraja's numbers where one cannot make up if it is Yamuna KalyAni vs KalyAni ;)

Also forgot to mention Abhaswaram Ramji , one more artist Udupi ??? and Coolkarni garlanded the three artists.

vasanthakokilam
Posts: 10956
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 00:01

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by vasanthakokilam »

Glad to hear the concert went well. Thanks Rajeshnat for the review. I am a fan of Bangalore Shankar's Natta Kurinji ( and dhanyasi too ). Thanks Coolkarni, rajumds and the Rasayana team for organizing the concert.

fduddy
Posts: 243
Joined: 07 Jun 2010, 18:16

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by fduddy »

Nice song list. The most attractive part of the music of Bangalore sankar is his unhurried style. No gimmicks. It is the sublime effect that stays in mind for a long time.
First kriti should be lambodara avalambe in kambhoji ??

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by rajeshnat »

fduddy wrote: First kriti should be lambodara avalambe in kambhoji ??
Corrected in the first post,it is lambOdaram avalambE right

fduddy
Posts: 243
Joined: 07 Jun 2010, 18:16

Re: Bangalore Shankar@ambalam (rasayanA series) on Jan 05th,

Post by fduddy »

That is correct

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