Toronto Brothers 11/30/2013 Edmonton

[VRV]

As part of the Dikshithar day celebrations, the Edmonton community under the able guidance of guru Ashwin Iyer conducted an elaborate Dikshithar day celebration. With the temperature at -23, parents, music students and rasikas bared the super cold weather to be a part of the celebration. Students of various ages performed songs of the composers from 1:00 to 4:30 PM. The main concert began at 6:10 PM. As I accompanied the brothers on the mridangam, this is not a formal review, but more of an informational write up of the songs. The one thing I need to mention though is that the brothers have definitely mastered the art of transitioning from one voice to the next with absolute control. The transitions were smooth and very mellifluous.

Ashwin Iyer and Rohin Iyer (vocal)
Aishwarya Venkataraman (violin)
Vinod Venkataraman (mridangam)

Time: 6:10 to 8:15 PM
Venue: Hindu Temple in Edmonton

Song List as follows:

Chauka varnam - khamAs - entani delupudurA - R - rUpaka (subbarAma dikshitar)

shwEta ganapathim - rAgacUDAmaNi - tripuTa tAlA (3 mins swarm)

divAkara tanujam - yadukulakAmbhOji - Adi - R (vAra kriti)

rAmanAtham bhajEham - kASi rAmakrIyA - rUpaka –
8 minute Ragam, 3 min violin return. 10 mins neraval and swarams at Kumara guruguha mahitam

Sada Chale - bhopalam (Ragam and brisk swarms)

SrI subrahmaNyO mAm rakShatu - tODi - Adi – RNS
10 mins Ragam, 5 mins violin return. Neraval and swarams at sada yushprada followed by

Thani avartanam by yours truly (3 minutes)

Upon special request from me the brothers concluded their recital with
gAravamu ganna dorayani - rAgamalika - rUpaka - (subbarAma dikshitar)
Ragam: kalyani, todi, saveri, atana, neelambari, manirangu, mukhari, kambhoji, mohanam

A very pleasant evening and it was an absolute pleasure to be a part of the celebrations.

[rajeshnat]

VRV,
Nice to get a review of Aishu's maiden concert as an accompanist. Few subbarama dikshitar especially the ragamaliga is certainly very rare - I am assuming all of that was there because of they being sishyas of Shri SRJ. The frigidity of -24 degree celsius must have been a triple challenge for the violin strings, mrudangam nadham and most importantly the vocal chords of the toronto brothers when they were commuting to the hall - Ofcourse with that shiver no one in the audience would have talked [-( .

[vs_manjunath]

Nice selection of songs.Shwetha Ganapathim is a very rare song in RagaChudamani.Swaramsmust have been quite challenging!
Other items are quite interesting..the Thodi song also is not heard often...this song popularised by DKP/DKJ School.

[VRV]

Nice selection of songs.Shwetha Ganapathim is a very rare song in RagaChudamani.Swaramsmust have been quite challenging!
Other items are quite interesting..the Thodi song also is not heard often...this song popularised by DKP/DKJ School.

Manjunath,

Yes swarams for this song can be quite challenging. The Toronto brothers have a strong layam nirnayam and were able to dish out quite a few half avartanams. More over the kirtanam is in thisra Tripura talam making it more complicated. Ashwin and Rohin however made it seem very simple. Of course great padantharam

Vinod Venkataraman

[rshankar]

Lovely to hear of the concert, to hear that Ashwin and Rohin will be carrying on the tradition of spreading CM by teaching students, and to learn of Aishu's first public outing as an accompanying artist. If at all possible, I'd be interested in her opinions of these concerts where she accompanies - providing us with a ring-side view if you will, not unlike what our mRdangam artist-members (including VRV) do. VRV - does she have a blog where she posts her thoughts on these concerts - like what was new, what was something that came insticntively, what was something that was a challenge and how she handled it etc.?

[PUNARVASU]

Nice to know that the rAgamAlikA, 'gAravamu' was rendered by the Toronto brothers. I remember learning it from my guru Shri P.K.Rajagopala iyer. I suppose Shri SRJ taught this to the brothers. Wish I could hear it somewhere. A very rare song.

[knrh05]

https://soundcloud.com/search?q=garavamu

[PUNARVASU]

knrh05, thank you so much. Now I have to recollect the words. I will listen to it and see if I am remembering the words.

[knrh05]

You may be able to find the lyrics in the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini. There were pdfs uploaded on the web (guruguha.org?)

Such a beautiful song!

[vasanthakokilam]

Here is some information about this song in the context of 'Bhaskara Setupathi of Ramanathapuram:
http://guruguha.org/blog/2009/12/royal- ... athapuram/
(scroll down for NAVARAGAMALIKA -’gAravamuganna doraiyani’ )

[Ashwin]

Dear friends, thank you all for the nice comments, and thank you to Vinod Uncle for posting the list of items. Rohin and I were fortunate to have Vinod Uncle's accompaniment for three concerts in the last 4 weeks - two 12-hour kalyAnOtsavams for the TTD in Edmonton and Calgary, followed by this thematic presentation of dIkShitar kRti-s for our second annual Edmonton dIkShitar ArAdhanA. We are fortunate to have his friendship and ever-readiness to support our endeavours. A word about Aishu - it is truly a different experience to be on stage with an instrumentalist trained by your own vocal Guru! Aishu's accompaniment was remarkably sensitive and felt more like one of our classes together at the feet of SRJ Mama. And we did not make it easy on Aishu - choosing kRti-s that we had learned over a decade ago, but which she was forced to learn in the span of just weeks. In fact, I learned on stage that Aishu had spent the better part of 12 hours studying the elaborate navarAgamAlikA, gAravamu ganna doraiyani, the night before our concert - but she played it effortlessly. As you have all noted, Aishu has a tremendously bright future, and I look forward to more such opportunities to perform with her. All in all, a great experience.

Ashwin

[Lakshman]

Ashwin & Rohin: Wish I was there to attend all your concerts. Wish you both all the best in your music careers.

[vs_manjunath]

Here is some information about this song in the context of 'Bhaskara Setupathi of Ramanathapuram:
http://guruguha.org/blog/2009/12/royal- ... athapuram/
(scroll down for NAVARAGAMALIKA -’gAravamuganna doraiyani’ )

ThX for this link.
Has this ragamalika listed in SSP ?

[appu]

Dear friends, thank you all for the nice comments, and thank you to Vinod Uncle for posting the list of items. Rohin and I were fortunate to have Vinod Uncle's accompaniment for three concerts in the last 4 weeks - two 12-hour kalyAnOtsavams for the TTD in Edmonton and Calgary, followed by this thematic presentation of dIkShitar kRti-s for our second annual Edmonton dIkShitar ArAdhanA. We are fortunate to have his friendship and ever-readiness to support our endeavours. A word about Aishu - it is truly a different experience to be on stage with an instrumentalist trained by your own vocal Guru! Aishu's accompaniment was remarkably sensitive and felt more like one of our classes together at the feet of SRJ Mama. And we did not make it easy on Aishu - choosing kRti-s that we had learned over a decade ago, but which she was forced to learn in the span of just weeks. In fact, I learned on stage that Aishu had spent the better part of 12 hours studying the elaborate navarAgamAlikA, gAravamu ganna doraiyani, the night before our concert - but she played it effortlessly. As you have all noted, Aishu has a tremendously bright future, and I look forward to more such opportunities to perform with her. All in all, a great experience.

Ashwin

Ashwin,

What kind words about your accompanist. That shows character. Albeit the fact that this was Aishu's first accompanying kutcheri. In regards to Vinod, he seems to want to help all the young generation artists. I am very happy for your close association with the professor. He has a lot to teach and impart. Absorb it like a sponge.