Season Summary - 2011 - best of best

[rajeshnat]

Being sunday had time to do this, others can also join with their views. We Forgot this year
Here is a take representing the best of best concert in margazhi season 2011-2012 :
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The season of margazhi - 2011, was a definite hit for me . I was very lucky , did not get any seasonitis(vicks vapourub) related problems with any of the artists.Attended 18 concerts for 16 artists, from the period of Novemeber 3rd week,2011 (what they call as curtain raiser of margazhi)till Jan 08th,2012. Reviewed all 18 that I attended.

Best Varnam:
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Tiruvarur Girish@MFAC on Dec 24,2011 singing evari bOdhana - aabhOgi, nice and strong voice .

best #2 or #3 (non submain) :
--------------------------------
ThamarakkAd Govindan NambUthiri@rAgasudhA on Dec 24th,2011
3. vidulaku mrOkedA (N,S) - mAyAmAlavagowlai - T
neraval in "kamalA gauri vAgeeshwari" for 4 mins
swaras for 4 mins

best submain:
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BrindA manickavasagam@Sringeri Temple(RA Puram) on Jan 01st,2012
3. idisammayamu brOva rAdhA (R S) - nAtakapriyA - MV
7 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
swaras for 4 mins
NatakapriyA was lovely that too with kamalakiran vinjamuri violin support with L. Subramanyam , all youngsters really hitting that excellence
AND

Vijay Siva for IFAS@German Hall
03. visAlAkshIm visvEshIm - kasiramakriya - M Capu? - D (RNS@kAsi rAgnIm kapAlinIm)
6 mins alApana and 4 mins violin return
neraval for 5 mins and swaras for 7 mins


best no between submain and main- Slow Filler:
---------------------------------------------
May be this time I will segment as two .If you consider a slow filler with either Raga or Neraval

ThamarakkAd Govindan NambUthiri@rAgasudhA on Dec 24th,2011
7. E pApamu jEsiti (R) - atAnA - T
6 mins alapana and 3 mins violin return

best no between submain and main- Fast Filler:
---------------------------------------------
If you consider the fast filler with only swaras
Trichur Brothers@NGS(Mini) on May 09th,2011
4. teliyalEdu rAmA(S) - dhenukA
swaras for 6 mins

Best main number:
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SuryaprakAsh@kalArasanA(Rani Seethai Hall)on Dec 21st,2011
5A. Punniyam Oru kOTi (R N S T) - keeravAni - PT
18 mins alapana and 8 mins violin return
neraval in "aNNai kAmakshi pOLE aNbE vaDivAi vanDAR" for 13 mins
19 mins swaras

Main has to be MAIN. No questions about that . CM aesthetics lives on elaboration, and it was a wonderful keeravani with Nagai muralidharan it was controlled aggression and sustained melody rightful and correct mix.

Best Tani and Accompanist support:
---------------------------------
Srimushnam Raja Rao and EMS for
AVK Rajasimhan@BharatkalAchAr on Dec 03rd,2011
Overall everything was near perfect , the patterns of rao and EMS topping was just wonderful. They got going and they were unstoppable.

[rajeshnat]

Best single rAga RTP:
-----------------------
None Did not hear one at all, let us also include Two raga Pallavi which is more equivalent to single raga rtp.

A kanyAkumari@Swamy's hall on Jan 04th,2012

8. pallavi in two ragas - brindAvana sarangA and valaci
7 mins alapana and 7 mins for tanam
11 mins pallavi

Do not know the pallavi lines , but do know it was on Lord Muruga. The creative spark of AK in combinging brindavana saranga and Valaci was wonderful.

Best RTP with rAgamAliga pallavi
--------------------------------
SuryaprakAsh@Swamy's hall on Dec 31st,2011

6 . RTP in dwimadhyamA panchama vajra -suryashri in tisra triputa tAlam
Ragam in suryashri for 11 mins
tAnam for 7 mins both without and with mrudangam
Pallavi with trikAlam for 6 mins
pallavi line manda hAsa vadanA harE krishnA
swara rAgamaligA in suryashri , soorya and mohanakalyAni for 12 mins

Novel attempt,with high shruthi adherance especially when he sang the rare rAgA ,he walked tight rope avoiding panchamam in two ragas (suryashri and soorya) and then fell in a totally panchamam land of mohanakalyAni.

Best viruththam:
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Vijay Siva for IFAS@German Hall

8A. Viruththam had lines
... mathanamAda iRu KAthil (nalinakAnti) + vidamani charanavinDangaL (hameer kalyAni) + bAla muttu guruVE (khamAs) --> I am assuming this could be thirruppugazh,some one can correct it if it is not.
AND

SuryaprakAsh@kalAkruthi on Dec 04th,2011
7A.viruththam pachai mAl pOL meni - mohanam - +
Ayar tham kozhundE - Jonpuri +
Achuvari perinum venDEn - Kedaragowlai +
aranga ma nagarulanen- sindhubhairavi

Best Slokham:
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Nothing worth rating great, few that i heard were too short

Best ugabhooga:
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Heard none

Best tukkada(non viruththam/slokham or non thillAnA)
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Being short song, it is quite a task to make up one's mind to say the best . Liked all of the below

ParassAla PonnammAl@rAgasudhA on Dec 26th,2011
8. kalakanTi katam hAram (Raga Sketch)- nIlAmbari - miSra cApu - ST

AND

Vijay Siva for IFAS@German Hall
9.ninnai sharaN aDaindEn - yamunAkalyANi.- mahakavi Bharatiyar

AND
Tiruvarur Girish@MFAC on Dec 24,2011
8. maharAju karammanE (jAvaLi)(R) - behAg - Dharmapuri SubbarAyar
3 mins alapana of behAg

AND
Trichur Brothers@NGS(Mini) on May 09th,2011
AAdum mayilAi koNda ayagan avan - tilang -??? (can some body tell the composer)

AND
KV Ramanujam@Vanimahal(Mini) on Nov 26th,2011
OWn Composition of KV Ramanujam(flute) in sumanesa ranjani

Best thillana:
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ParassAla PonnammAl@rAgasudhA on Dec 26th,2011
10.tillAna - dhanaSri - Adi - ST
and

ThamarakkAd Govindan NambUthiri@rAgasudhA on Dec 24th,2012
12. thillAnA "karuninchu nannu shree"- shuruTTi - MV

Concert of the season:
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SuryaprakAsh@Swamy's hall on Dec 31st,2011

Vocal : Suryaprakash
Violin : Murali kumar
Mrudangam : Tanjore Murugabhoopathi
KanjirA : Nerkunam Shankar

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours and 45 mins/Saturday
Every number hit the right spot especially inta sowkya (kApi main) and Skalyanaraman suryashri dwi raga Pallavi

[rajeshnat]

Non trivia - Canteen:
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I only had one dosa and one coffee in MFAC after attending Tiruvarur Girish concert enroute to thamarakkad. I guess between the dosa and coffee, if there is one thing that is best food - it is indeed coffee of mountbatten mani .

Misses of the season:
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# During the last 6 years or so , I wanted to hear erode anantharaman, hopefully will cover in 2012.

# TNS@MFAC bought the ticket but the concert did not start on time, instead went to swamy's hall to hear the best concert. Concert hopping works .

# Abhishek Raghuram , wanted to go to either NGS or PSS , could not go on time as it was difficult to beat the traffic.

Yougsters or Veterans whom I heard for the first time:
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Vocal:
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AVK Rajasimhan(musically sound ), RamakrishnaMurthy(mightily impressed youth), VR Dileep kumar(this musician is a really wonderful vidwan), Tiruvarur Girish(Great masculine sareeram) , Thamarakkad Govindan NambUthri(mightily impressive veteran.) and V Subramanyam (sishya of SSI)

Violin:
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Kamalakiran vinjamuri(WOW) and Murali kumar in violin, Anuthamma giving violin support to AK and Avaneeshwaram VInu.

Mrudangam:
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L. Subramanyam (disciple of Kalidas in mrudangam, we have to watch out for this youngster), nanjiL arun in mrudangam

Disappointment of the season:
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Actually there was one where I felt very bad, it was hearing KVRamanujam Flute concert in Vanimahal (mini), I guesss there were just 10 of us . As I walked back, if i am right the vanimahal- main hall was full , I think that day Bharath kalachar had its 25th anniversary celebrations where they awarded atleast 25 or 30 artists in the podium and the hall was nearly full.

I guess one feels two polarized views within two floors of vanimahal. One can say , the patronage needs heavy marketing , and artistic quality takes a second seat .Not a single soul walked up from ground to first floor. Talking about this review http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... am#p210189

[vasanthakokilam]

Rajesh: Thanks for the coverage. We often talk about attending the concerts of 'off the beaten path' artists and upcoming artists and you are one of the few who practices that very well. Thanks.

[mri_fan]

The name of the mridangam player you refer to is L. Subramanyam. He is on the left side of the screen in this nice thani.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGqEoUYo3ks

[rajeshnat]

The name of the mridangam player you refer to is L. Subramanyam. He is on the left side of the screen in this nice thani.

Tx , changed his name to subramanyam, a lucky name one can spell whatever way one wants but still excellence is assured.
Also added one more best submain song.

Others can add their season summary too!!!

[arasi]

Come on, Rajesh! While your name is safe when others spell it (no room for variations), some other names such as this fall prey to incorrect spelling in the hands of others. Agreed, it's confusing who spells his name which way, but for them to see their names in the way they don't spell it--in programs and banners must be somewhat irritating. Then again, performers put up with sound systems which are far from being satisfactory. So, this is no biggie in their 'those irritants' list

[sureshvv]

My Top Picks:

1. Abhishek at Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha - Inspired
2. Sangeetha Swaminathan at Narada Gana Sabha - Serene
3. Sanjay for Jaya TV - Monumental
4. Trichur Brothers at Music Academy - Stylish
5. Vijay Siva at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan - Mellow

[bilahari]

My favourite concerts (I attended >20) this season were [no order]:

Neyveli Santanagopalan - MA [concert of the season for me]
R. Ramani [vINa] - Naada Inbam
R. Vedavalli - Naada Inbam
Parassala Ponnammal - Naada Inbam
T.N. Krishnan Trio - Velachery

Some highlights of the season for me:

PP singing swAmi nAn undan aDimai at Kalakshetra
PP's nIlAmbari and tODi ragam at Naada Inbam
R. Vedavalli's shankarAbharaNa rAgam at Naada Inbam
R. Ramani's bhairavi
N. Ramani's Ananda bhairavi (great response from MC too)
TNK and Sriram's kharaharapriya at Triplicane
TNK's dEvagandAri at Velachery
R.K. Srikantan's Arabhi at MA
Suguna Varadachari's vazhi maraittirukkude at Naada Inbam
Ramakrishnan Murthy's bilahari at Naada Inbam
Amritha Murali's suruTTi RTP at MA
Vijay Siva's pUrNachandrika neraval at Kalarasana
NSG's nArAyaNagowLa at MA (THE season highlight for me)
NSG's madhyamAvati neraval at MA
NSG's kAnaDa pallavi at MA

Musicians I really feel bad about missing this season: MSG, Hyderabad Brothers, Neela Ramgopal, Kalyani Ganesan

[srikant1987]

Musicians I really feel bad about missing this season: MSG, Hyderabad Brothers, Neela Ramgopal, Kalyani Ganesan

With the second two, especially Smt Kalyani Ganesan, it's not your fault.

[mahesh3]

Since this thread is best of the best...for me:

Vocal: it is Abhishek Raghuram...and I actually liked his Shankarabharanam in Indian Fine Arts - one for EVER. Also, his Kalyani in Academy can never be forgotten. As a concert, it was his Tamizh Isai concert...Tiruvadi Saranam, Pann Iru Kann and Navasidhi Petralum were just mellow beauties of divinity. TNS also was the only other artist I can remember, after attending 45 odd concerts this season. Balamurali Krishna and TNS Krishna should be watched out for. Many young musicians (Prasanna Venkatraman, Amritha Murali, Bharat Sundar, Sandeep Narayan, Sriranjani, Ramakrishnan, Vidya Kalyanaraman) are worth encouraging, but voice culture remains a most alarming issue in carnatic music. If anything, the norms are deteriorating even considering the existing horrid standards, rather than improving. Also, many established musicians were disappointing in their performances - many seemed burned out by the relentless circuit carnatic music has become.


Mridangam: Anand Anantha R. Krishnan, my favorite was his play for Unni @ the Academy and his breathtaking anticipation for SuddhaSaveri in NGS - his avarthanam response to Abhishek's furious nadai variations in taalam @ the end showed his capabilities.
Violinist: best was Varadu - Duo: I only heard Mysore Brothers.
Distinctive Voice: Palghat Ramprasad
Instrumental: Mandolin Srinivas - the one and ONLY.
Youngster: Maruti Prasad's concert - His selections and efforts dispayed his knowledge - I felt touched by his performance. He seemed to sing for love of music, not for claps.
Audience: As an audience, maybe the best I found was in Nanganallur sabha.
Auditorium: Academy remains the best auditorium for me - also Vani Mahal.
Coffee: Best in Narada Gana Sabha.

Overall, something needs to be done to systematically increase the audience in sabhas, and also quality control the number of festivals/sabhas sprouting across the city.

[nri]

Good summary by all contributors, but I’m disappointed about one aspect of this post. When dosa and coffee get rated, why don’t you guys rate the best reporter (online, newspaper, coverage elsewhere, twitter reporter and so on …) I have my several favorites to nominate, but still leave it to other forum members.

I’ve learnt much with the help of Lakshman, tvg (Sangeethapriya) and have been kept updated through several forumites. I owe you, all.

[annamalai]

bilahari,

I also heard - Santhanagopalan's Narayanagowla @ MA.
For Narayanagowla - perhaps, I am spoiled by Semmangudi's version of Sree Ramam - the twists and turns around - Kusalavatatam Seethopetam ... Sucharachapnim ... Sunrutabasham ... Semmangudi weaves magic Or MDR's haunting rendition of varnam - Maguvaninne - or Kadale Vadu - by Prof. S. Ramanathan .

In Santhanagopalan's MA concert, I liked - Kanmaniye Solladi (Mazhavai Chidambara bharathi krithi) rendered in the original tune - Kapi.

[VijayR]

I attended 35 concerts or so this season. Apart from 3 concerts that I did not like at all (shall remain anonymous), the others were all very enjoyable. Here are a few that were particularly memorable:

Top picks for vocal concert:
=================
(a) Sri. Abhishek Raghuram @ NGS (December 28th) - despite the audio problems
(b) Sri. Sanjay Subrahmanyan @ NGS (December 27th) - despite the audio problems
(c) Kum. Nisha Rajagopal @ NGS mini-hall (December 24th)
(d) Smt. Parassala Ponnammal @ Nada Inbam (December 26th)
(e) Sri. Ramakrishnan Murthy @ NGS mini-hall for Charsur Arts Foundation (December 18th)

Top picks for instrumental concert:
======================

(e) Smt. Jayanthi Kumaresh @ Mylapore Fine Arts (December 19th)
(f) Lalgudi siblings (Sri. GJR Krishnan and Smt. Vijayalakshmi) @ Mylapore Fine Arts (January 1st)

Top picks for other:
============

Violin artists who really stood out: Sri. S. Varadarajan, Sri. Embar Kannan, and Smt. Padma Shankar

Mridangam artists who really stood out: Sri. Patri Satish Kumar, Sri. Trivandrum V. Balaji, and Sri. Anand Ananthakrishnan

Ghatam artist who really stood out: Sri. Chandrasekara Sarma

Kanjira artist who really stood out: Sri. K. V. Gopalakrishnan

Best lec-dem: Prof. S. R. Janakiraman @ the Lec-Dem Mela (Arkay, December 11th)

Best acoustics: Raga Sudha, Music Academy

[VK RAMAN]

I like the overall view of various katcheries. Thanks Rajesh for taking the lead.