Aishwarya Vidya Ragunath@Ragasudha hall on June 22nd ,2012

[rajeshnat]

Aishwarya Vidya Ragunath@Ragasudha hall on June 22nd ,2012
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Vocal : Aishwarya Vidya Ragunath
Violin : Bindu Shenoy
Mrudangam : mulankadakam PB Ramjay
Kanjira : Neethul Aravind

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours and 15 mins /Friday
Concert Type : Nirvana (prime evening concert , no concert to follow)
Sabha/Hall :Sumanasa Foundation - Utsaha

1. sarasijAksha ninne kOri (varnam) - nAyaki - Rudarapatnam venkataramayya
2. abhimAna mennaDu(RS,S) - bEgaDa - patnam
swaras for 4 mins
3. Neelayadakshi - pharas - SS

4. paridAnammichittE(R N S) - bilahari - paTnam
8 mins alApanai and 4 mins violin return
5 mins neraval in "rokkamicchutakunE mukkaNTi celikAnu"
4 mins swaras
5.chinna nAtana - kalAnidhi - T

6A. paradEvatA (R N S) - dhanyAsi - MD
11 mins alapana and 5 mins violin return
7 mins neraval in "kalA mAlinI kAtyAyanI kanja lOcanI bhava pASa mOcanI"
9 mins swaras
6B.tani for 12 mins

After a long hiatus had a chance to hear a concert . Wanted to choose between this concert and the other tadepalli , skipped the tedapalli as there was a speech and inaugration there.

While I am aware of the vocalist after few reviews here , not heard any of the other accompanist who are all based out of kerala . Hearing this Aishwarya for the first time , she started with a brief and rare varnam in nAyaki , the impression was more itched with her rich and really powerful sareeram. Good 2nd speed in marubAri or whatever in nAyaki was well done.

She continued with a brief alapana and launched into a heavy raga bEgaDa and was well presented , swaras just did not have that great rhythmmic turns but overall presented well. The next number in paras was well presented , she in general appeared to excel more in mid and lower octaves and the leisurely shyama sastri krithi really bought in a lot of classicism

The submain was bilahari ,I enjoyed more her alapana than the krithi, her voice though opens quite well in mid to higher octaves but it is still bit constrained , the neraval in bilahari in that favoured line rokkamichutakuNE could have been more well presented , just did not turn out that good. Swaras were just ok in bilahari . THe filler in kalanidhi just passed little more faster tempo could have been better.

The main was in dhanyAsi,and certainly the best pick in the concert. Dhanyasi alapana did not have a trace of the big sibling tOdi and I enjoyed it . I have heard this paradEvatA only once when vijaysiva sang . This is the first time I am hearing it elaborated as a main. Singing in madhyamakAla with longer cycles generally appears her forte and MD krithi with neraval was quite exquisite with her classical drive . She did try few mel kala neraval and swaras, but it was not that adequate to create a bit lasting impression.

[rajeshnat]

7. vani poNdu - kAnadA - thanjavur chinniah
8. atheeyoga?????? - kAmbOdhi ??? - kshetragna padam????

9A. slokham - sayankAle - poorvikalyani +
kailokhya shashangam?? - Anandabhairavi +
sevim - sahAnA +
navarasa bhavitha - shanmughapriya
9B. kannanai pani manamE - shanmughapriya - psivan
10. marubAri - khamAs - dharmapuri Subbarayer

11A. mariyAda teliyekaNE - shuruTTi - patnam
11B. mangalam kOsalEndrAya - shuruTTi

I was thinking with she finishing dhanyasi as a main she would be heading for a pallavi in some ghana ragam. Alas that was not the case . There were two javalis and one padam . Like the kamAs javali as it provided a bit more change in tempo , the earlier kAnadA was also well presented . The padam was super stretched , I could not get even one line though it had so much of kAmbOdhi gamakam ( --> atukulla athana stretched KAmbOdhi <-- , though it was not yadhukula kAmbOdhi ).

The best presented tukkada was the slokham sAyankAlE , each of the ragas was presented leisurely and I enjoyed with the end in kannanai pani manamE . Shurutti was just ok and she bit wagged little more the shurutti to end with mangalam kosalendraya

All the accompanist are from kerala . The violinist played well , her bilahari alapana could have been better with a bit more press but she indeed peaked well as the concert progressed . For me out of the four the mridangist was really wonderful. Mulankadakam PB Ramjay played with a right anticipation and really had a pleasant nadham throughout , he certainly pepped the concert . The kanjirA artist was bit more restrained than the usually bit restrained kanjira artist in a concert . Tani was good .

I am hearing all 4 artists for the first time and it was a nice experience .Aishwarya Ragunath true to her name has indeed a lot of vidya (intellectual) centric approach in her music . In my opinion the approach in this concert was bit hyper in the intellectual and paddhantara presentation. While she impressed in that head first presentation, I felt a little more focus in presenting compositions with good change in tempo , bit faster swirls in neravals and swaras, a little more briskness would add a lot of charm to her presentation.

I did spot TMK, RKSK and few more junior artists as they were the organizers of this concert.
Overall a very good concert for 2 hours and 15 mins.

[rupavathi]

The next Sowmya?!

[srikant1987]

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[Lakshman]

item 8 is vadaraka pOpOvE by Kshetragna. Anupallavi starts with adiyokka.