K Gayathri@NGS (Mini)on Sept 02nd,2012

[rajeshnat]

K Gayathri@NGS (Mini)on Sept 02nd,2012
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Vocal : k Gayathri
Violin : Usha Rajagopal
Mrudangam : B Sivaraman
Ghatam : Chandrasekhara sharma

Concert duration/Day : 90 mins /Sunday
Concert Type : NOnNirvana (concert to follow)
Occassion : As part of Sadguru gnanananda sangeetha sammelan that is held every year

1. jaya jaya padmanabha(S) - manirangu - ST
2. shree sankara guruvaram - nagaswarali - Mahavaidyanathaiyer
3. kaNdu kaNdu enna(R) - sahAnA - PD
7 mins alapana

4. sadA sAranga nayanE - yoganarasimham
5A. pakkala nilapadi (R N S T) - kharaharapriyA - T
12 mins alapana and 7 mins violin return
neraval in manasuna dalaci mE maraciyunnArA for 4 mins
swaras for 4 mins
5B. tani for 7 mins

6. Thillana tOm tharana thirana ... rAyanthu nudidarE rakshamu??? - hamsAnandi -????(Lji help , by any chance is that by veena seshannA or mys sadashiva rao)

As part of yearly sammelan , artists are given 90 mins to present concerts . K gAyathri has a solid pattantara ,being a student of smt suguna purushottaman indeed has added lot of classical maturity in her presentation .Her voice has in general very high azhuttam.

But concerts in 90 mins , does create few problems for the artists . . ONe is the time management aspect of squeezing different numbers and at times very notable censoring of sangathis . To an extent K GAyathri was bit caught in this tangle.

Her start in jaya jaya did have a good connnection , the voice opened out but the team of supporting artist just could not gel that well . In the second nagaswarali with a quota of cittaswaras was just ok .Till then it appeared more of a case of not yet kalaikattufied concert .

From #3 with her sahana alapana it indeed caught up well , the alapana was well done and her rendition of rare PD krithi was well presented. The sadA saranga nayanE in ranjani was ok , bit more faster turns would have been better.

The pick of the concert was indeed her kharaharapriya . She indeed presented a lovely alapana zoning to excellence . Nice alap with good control in brigas indeed polished kharaharapriya . I would have preferred shorter return by the violinist , but it was not the case and that pressure did catch up with pakkala nilapadi as main. Neraval and swaras was well done , but certainly she had to cut lot of sangathis . She had few minutes after tani and I really liked that tillana in hamsanandi, I think the lyrics was in kannada language .

The violinist usha was just ok , her play picked up more from kharaharapriya. The percussion team gelled well within themselves but for the first half I felt it did not gel that well with the vocalist.Tani was brief and I liked the youngster chandrasekara sharma in ghatam .He was presenting more knotty variations. I would have preferred the vidushi if she had cut short atleast one number that too having decided to present kharaharapriya as main. Vidwan RajaRao Sir was the MC and really encouraged the artists.

Overall a good to very good concert.

[Lakshman]

The tillAnA is by Srimushnam Rajarao.

[Rsachi]

Rajeshnat, and Lakshman, that is really fast in review and kriti identification! Congrats.

About the concert plan, the lady seems to have done her best, mixing it up nicely.

About musicians priming up to deliver the needed punch from the start of a 90 min. concert, I remember AIR would allow artistes, even in live programs, a 15 min warm up before going on air/show. Maybe these organisers of double concerts at such venues need to provide a space (mini hall or green room) where artistes can privately warm up. That seems to be the only way out.