M.S. Sheela SIFA SF Bay Area California Sept 15, 2013

[mahavishnu]

Smt MS Sheela - vocal
Sri Mysore V. Srikanth - violin
Sri (Sethalapathy) B. Sivaraman - mridangam

1. chalamEla jEsEvurA - varnam darbar tiruvathiyoor thyAgayya
2. sri sankara guruvaram - nAgaswaravali - mahA vaidyanAtha sivan
3. nAda tanum anisam - cittaranjani - Tyagaraja
4. nAradamuni vedalinaku - pantuvarALi -Tyagaraja (Adi tisra)
5. kAmAkshi pahimam - shiva kAmbhOji - JayachAmarAja WodeyAr
6. rAmA ninnE nammi nAnu - huseni - Tyagaraja
7. pAdamE tuNai paramasivA- valaji - PS
8. gOvardhana gireesam - hindOlam - MD
9. RTP shanmukhapriyA- -sadA ni pAdame kOriti Sama gana lolE- chatusra Triputa 2 Kalai (swaarams in bilahari, ranjani, sahAnA).
10. Ada hOdallE makkaLu Adikombavaru nOdamma (?)- khamas, hindolam - PD (tuned by Sri TK Govinda Rao)
10. nandatanayA govindA -Yamuna kalyani - PD (madhyamasruti)
11. rangabArO - Sindhi bhairavi - PD
12. ni nAma rUpamulaku - sowrAshtra - T

Smt Sheela gave a very solid and satisfying concert in Menlo Park, CA yesterday.

I have been following her music for over three decades now, although it has been five years since I heard her last. Her lalitha sahasranAmam LP used to play everyday in our house when I was growing up.

With such a strong voice and excellent training with Sri RK Srikantan, I had expected her career to reach greater heights than it has today. I think it is one of the Carnatic world's great losses that Smt Sheela is not as well known as she should be. That said, she is a very thorough and complete musician and it is always a pleasure to hear her performances. Yesterday was no different.

One of the highlights of the concert was her exceptional nAgaswarAvali; she packed a lot of energy into how she delivered the phrase chintayAmi after sri sankara guruvaram. Her delivery of pAdamE tuNai was very appropriate. I thought her tamizh diction was especially commendable.

She presented the sivakAmbhOji piece by WodeyAr. I have heard her perform this same piece in Cleveland some years ago, I have provided a link to my review from back then here (http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... 651#p75651). Owing to my previous acquaintance with the rAgam, it was nice to be able to recognize the unusual janyam of harikhAmbOji right away!

Another highlight was the superb rendition of rAmA ninnE in husEni. What a beautiful kriti! The song was dripping with the meandering waveforms and the breathtaking drags and drops that only husEni can provide.

The RTP was a grand affair followed by the three dAsara pAdagalu. (Sreeni/Lakshman-ji, I will probably need some help to make sure that the words I have transcribed are right. My kannada is non-existent).

Mysore Srikanth was uniformly excellent. He is one of the best accompanists on the scene today and he lifted the concert to a different plane altogether. His solid shruti suddham and blemishless bowing were a great asset to the concert stage. His manOdharma and returns on the swarams, neravals were amazing. :ymapplause: I think he and Smt Sheela enjoy a great rapport and it showed in their stage synergy and delivery.

B. Sivaraman (second son of the great Sethalapathy Balu avl) is a very talented and wonderful mridangist. I like his playing for several reasons. The first is that he is a true descendant of the Tanjore school. This school's characteristic strong power play was considerably modified by the Kerala rhythms that Palghat Mani Iyer incorporated into it. Sivaraman provided a glimpse into the other half of the school's playing technique, the one that has been kept alive through Sri TK Murthy.

The second reason why I like his playing is the great nadham that he gets out of a kappi instrument, even at high sruthis. His perfect combination of the use of the two heads of the mridangam provided stable and creative support. His tani was excellent, replete with original Tanjore Vaidyanatha Iyer kOrvais with the day's special being a delectable khanda nadai. The audience totally appreciated his explosive style of percussion.

Overall, a very satisfactory concert by Smt Sheela and team. I wish them the very best for the rest of their North American tour.

[gardabha_gana]

Thanks Mahavishnu. I am very happy that you are in the bay area - will look forward to your reviews. I think Sanjay is coming later this month.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Ramesh,

Thanks for the review! I have enjoyed Smt M S Sheela's music as you have, for a long time!

For someone who does not know kannaDa, you have done very well!
Just a minor correction here: "ADa hOdallE makkaLu ADikombavaru nODamma" (D instead of d in ADa, ADi and nODamma).

I have an album with the same husEni item and that recording also matches your description completely.

I hope it will be the same team performing here in Detroit on Sep 28th!

[Rsachi]

Mahavishnu
Great review. Great artiste.

[arasi]

Mahavishnu,
As gardhaba_gana says--am I glad you are now in CA, and are able to bring to us more of your excellent reviews!

Can't agree with you more on Sheela. A solid singer, impeccable delivery, voice quality, vast repertoire...

Her tamizh is very good, She stayed for some years in Chennai as a young musician and her guru then was...I forget Sreeni might know.

Her confidence and stage presence are also to be commended.

Mysore Srikanth plays extremely well! I'm very glad he played for Sumitra Nitin in the third volume of Arasi CD.

[vasanthakokilam]

I think it is one of the Carnatic world's great losses that Smt Sheela is not as well known as she should be.

Well said. I feel that way every time I listen to her recordings ( her kAru vElpulu-kalyANi has been in my recent rotation. Interestingly that is from a Music Academy concert from years back broadcast by AIR).
Is her U.S. tour schedule available on line? I want to listen to her live, even if it means going out of my way a bit.

[mahavishnu]

Thanks all. I am really looking forward to the upcoming concerts here.
G_G: Sanjay, Vijay Siva, Bombay Jayashri, Abhishek and Ravikiran (with Trichy Sankaran) to come in the next few weeks! :ymparty:

VK: Re: Smt Sheela. I know from conversations with the artistes that she has concerts planned in all the major venues in the US & Toronto. Unfortunately, her website does not provide dates. I am sure there is one in Chicago.

Sreeni: Thanks for the /d/ /D/ distinction.
I believe that the same accompanists will be traveling with her through the NA tour. You will definitely enjoy the event in Detroit.

Arasi: Glad to hear of the release of the third CD. Look forward to getting my hands on it soon!

[MV]

Mahavishnu, Thanks for the review. I have also liked what I have heard of MS Sheela and often wondered like you as to why she didn't scale greater heights. The accompanists were solid for this concert too. I hope there is going to be a recording/cd become available. The strangest thing is I was just talking about Rama Ninne in Huseni last weekend with a friend. Maybe its time to learn it!

[sridhar]

here is one more venue where she is scheduled to sing
M. S. Sheela (Vocal)
Mysore Srikanth (Violin)
B. Sivaraman (Mridangam)
Where:
Sri Krishna Vrindavana
215 My St.
Edison, NJ 08830
When:
Saturday, October 5th , 2013 3:30 PM
Admission:
Donations welcome;
$50 will get you a CD of the concert

[Lakshman]

She is singing in Buffalo on Friday the 4th of October at the University of Buffalo Screening room.

[arvind.brahmakal]

M S Sheela's presentation is aesthetic and profound.....she deserves much more from every organiser / rasika than what she has got so far ! Best wishes to her ...

[vasanthakokilam]

Mahavishnu: Thanks, let me look for some announcements here for her concert.

A bit of out of topic observation. I searched for M.S. Sheela concert in my area in Google. Much to my surprise, I found out that she had sung here last year. It was organized by the kannaDa kUttA. I am not in their mailing list but I am in a few others related to CM but I just did not know. Somehow, these organizations do not (want to?) cross publicize concerts across these org boundaries.

[mahavishnu]

VK: I totally understand. With growing CM communities in most major metro areas in N. America, there has a been a parallel growth in these community-centric organizations.
The trouble is that their efforts sometimes go uncoordinated and they end up duplicating work for themselves. It is puzzling that they would not want to cross-list concerts. I don't see any advantages to that model.

That said, I am very happy with the availability of multiple cultural organizations here in the SF bay area. I think it is great to live in a city with many sabhas! But it is hard to keep track of events and one needs to be much more selective about which ones to attend.

[manisubramaniyan]

Bay area being a technology hub, we have facebook! there is a facebook group called "Bay Area Carnatic Music Lovers" (and "Bay Area Indian Music Lovers") pages in which all the local organizations and events gets posted by local rasikas and groups! If you follow that you will get most of the information. I can't guarantee that it will cover every event in the bay area but it does cover most south bay and east bay events!
And belated welcome to the area, Mahavishnu and Gadolinium!

[vasanthakokilam]

>"Bay area being a technology hub, we have facebook!"

Funny

I know what you mean. It is good to have a well followed FB account where you can post such things. With mobile notifications once an event is posted, it is a great way to keep people informed. ( though sometimes it can get quite excessive )

[mahavishnu]

Mani: thanks for your message. I will look for those updates.

>"Bay area being a technology hub, we have facebook!"

Funny

As a matter of fact, Smt Sheela's concert was just about a mile away from the Facebook headquarters @ 1 Hacker way in Menlo Park.

[arasi]

Funnier!
Hacker Way??

[Rsachi]

Whilst I do much envy the connectedness of the hacker drive denizens, I want to jump back to Ms Sheela. Arvind's words are well chosen and bespeak a high sensitivity. I tip my hat.
I think Bangalore rasikas could do with a good FB group. We could call it Bangalore Rasikas. Arvind, Gardhaba-gana, and other Blr rasikas, what do you think!?
PS there is a fine concert of Ms Sheela at Parvathi blog.

[Rsachi]

I have managed to combine the bray of a donkey with the din of a DHABA O:-)