Amruta Venkatesh for MFAC, 12-12-'2013

[sureshvv]

Accompanists
------------------

Padma Shankar
Arjun Ganesh

Song list
-----------

1. Navaragamalika varnam, Valachi vachi
2. Sri mahaganapathi ravathumam, Gowlai, Misra Chapu, Deekshitar, s@Ravi sahasra
3. Bahudari, Brova barama, adi, Thyagaraja
4. Hamsanadam, Pada Vendumey, Adi, MMDD
5. Saveri, Anjaneya Raghurama Dhuta, Adi, ST, ns @ janaka suthaa
6. Viruttam (Kann thirandu paraiya) bilahari, shanmugapriya, khamas
7. Jaalamey seivadhu azhagaguma, kamas, adi, mayuram viswanatha sastry
8. Rama nama payasakke, nand kalyan, purandaradasa
9. Tillana (mayakkumm murali), Dwijavanti, adi, MBK

[sureshvv]

Observations
-----------------

1. Varnam was sung in 2 speeds. In the slower speed some sangatis were stretched just a little to give a more complete flavor of raga. This type of ornamentation felt divine. Also helped slow starters like me, especially as it was a morning concert (9.30am).

2. Gowlai swaras covered all 3 sthayis from lower pa to upper pa. Gowlai sounds fantastic in lower ranges esp. with the violin accompaniment. Enunciation was exemplary as one could hear Phalachandra, something hardly heard irrespective of slot. The exquisite construction of the kriti was brought out in full, and one could not get enough of "Ma,tanga mukha".

3. Bahudari raga was sung loaded with glides, each one executed perfectly. This was carried into the kriti with the entire scale traversed through the single word "raghurama". The violin return had a brief sawaal-jawab session with the mrudangist and it was apparent that the whole team was getting in the groove.

4. Hamsanadam kriti was sung with great bhavam in the lyrics opening out beautifully (not sure what the tamil term for yati is) expressed in simple terms.

5. Saveri kriti was an eye opener and a fantastic neraval at janaka suthadhi vimochana lola. So glad she did not choose to sing the "heavy" Durusuga to gain a permanent slot with the slot allocators.

6. Jaalamey seivadhu, announced as a kriti of Mayuram Viswanatha Sastry set with alternate lines in tisram and chatusram, was both lilting and invigorating. Of course the clueless would term this a Lite piece.

7. My BP seems to be on the way up. Will stop here

[Rajagopalan_V]

//Jaalamey seivadhu, announced as a kriti of Mayuram Viswanatha Sastry // Have heard Sanjay sing this well - must be one of his Margazhi Maha Utsav concerts and may be a couple of other times too.

[Rasikapriya2013]

Ramanama Payasakee the beautiful purandaradasa krithi was sung in Nand Kalyan raga.
The Thillana was Sri Balamuralikrishna composition in Jujavanthi

[sureshvv]

Thank you. Corrected.

[pperumal]

Decided to get back to India for the season Chennai see you soon...
And when I am there, plan to catch Amruta in action too!!!

[rajeshnat]

Decided to get back to India for the season Chennai see you soon...
And when I am there, plan to catch Amruta in action too!!!

Your post in ma thread is having a lovely exchange of ideas from sureshvv and harimau . You have to catch amrutha venkatesh and really revalidate what you said in that post.

[sureshvv]

I had some questions on the violin accompaniment. A lot of it sounded like it was played on a base string. My questions:

1. Was this really the case or my perception?

2. Is there any particular reason for this (like sruti of the main artiste etc.) or just a choice of the violinist?

[harimau]

I had some questions on the violin accompaniment. A lot of it sounded like it was played on a base string. My questions:

1. Was this really the case or my perception?

2. Is there any particular reason for this (like sruti of the main artiste etc.) or just a choice of the violinist?

Doesn't matter at all.

You came here to praise Amrutha Venkatesh, not to bury Amrutha Venkatesh.*

So write whatever you want.^

PS. ^ You have already done that.

* That is a twist on Marc Antony's speech in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. I am reduced to explaining my literary references, for these are the times where proficiency in Java is valued more than a well-rounded education.

[Rsachi]

SureshVV, as one who missed out on both Shakespeare and Java (the techie one, not the coffee ~o) ) let me give you my two pesotos:

The master of playing on the lower string while accompanying the female voice (=MSS) was VVS. Obviously it sounds grand and truly embellishes the music. That is not of course without its technical challenges as on the lower string to produce all the gamakas and also stick to the tala is not easy. Great violinists do it, especially to create the contrast to a high pitched voice.

[sureshvv]

@RSachi: Thank you for the clarification. Makes sense. Any particular recording of MSS/VVS to get a feel for it?

@harimau: I came here primarily to bury your BS. Everything else was incidental. Looks like I have succeeded

[Rsachi]

Sarojadalanetri
http://bit.ly/IWG0cN

[kssr]

* That is a twist on Marc Antony's speech in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. I am reduced to explaining my literary references, for these are the times where proficiency in Java is valued more than a well-rounded education.

Strange that there still exist people from the colonial influence, who feel that education is not well rounded without knowing quotes from Shakespeare. People like me, who are not scholars and my predecessors, who were scholars, would say,

கம்ப னென்றொரு மானிடன் வாழ்ந்ததும்,
காளி தாசன் கவிதைபு னைந்ததும்,
உம்பர் வானத்துக் கோளை மீனையும்
ஓர்ந்த ளந்ததோர் பாஸ்கரன் மாட்சியும்,
...................
...................

அன்ன யாவும் அறிந்திலர் பாரதத்
தாங்கி லம்பயில் பள்ளியுட் போகுநர்;
..........................

பேடிக் கல்வி பயின்றுழல் பித்தர்கள்;
என்ன கூறிமற் றெங்ஙன் உணர்த்துவேன்
இங்கி வர்க்கென துள்ளம் எரிவதே!

rues, Subramanya Bharathi. (I too am reduced to explain my reference)

[Rsachi]

See this! Photographic evidence of VVS' last string play with MSS

[Enna_Solven]

Strange that there still exist people from the colonial influence, who feel that education is not well rounded without knowing quotes from Shakespeare. People like me, who are not scholars and my predecessors, who were scholars, would say,

Well said kssr. I wanted to reply but waited to see if anyone else had the same reaction I did. Of late, only acid is left in harimau's acerbic comments, the wit is gone. His broad swipe at people living abroad calling them sheeple, his uncalled for personal attack on sureshvv in this thread are examples of this degeneration and is being tolerated by other people.

My grandfather was a Sanskrit pundit, my mother could speak it, I learned it but for two years during +2. I was also good in Thamizh but my children cannot even read it. They learn the blood-thirsty Macbeth. So, I guess their education is well rounded but my grandfather's was not.

This is kali kAlam, nobody will help you if you end up in the street after getting a degree in humanities. Java is the modern bread-winner, don't bash it. Disclaimer: I do not know Java.

Please read this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/world ... urope.html

[harimau]

Strange that there still exist people from the colonial influence, who feel that education is not well rounded without knowing quotes from Shakespeare. People like me, who are not scholars and my predecessors, who were scholars, would say,

கம்ப னென்றொரு மானிடன் வாழ்ந்ததும்,
காளி தாசன் கவிதைபு னைந்ததும்,
உம்பர் வானத்துக் கோளை மீனையும்
ஓர்ந்த ளந்ததோர் பாஸ்கரன் மாட்சியும்,
...................
...................

அன்ன யாவும் அறிந்திலர் பாரதத்
தாங்கி லம்பயில் பள்ளியுட் போகுநர்;
..........................

பேடிக் கல்வி பயின்றுழல் பித்தர்கள்;
என்ன கூறிமற் றெங்ஙன் உணர்த்துவேன்
இங்கி வர்க்கென துள்ளம் எரிவதே!

rues, Subramanya Bharathi. (I too am reduced to explain my reference)

You will need to translate that strange jilebi writing for me.

I read current works of fiction in my native language of Malayalam but, what with an Englishman ruling India after 1947 (I am referring to Jawaharlal Nehru if you are wondering what I mean), I also had a decent education in English. Blame my colonial mentality on the man who went to school in England.

[harimau]

.... his uncalled for personal attack on sureshvv in this thread.....

On this thread, uncalled for personal attack on sureshvv?

Can you point it out.... I have exactly one post in this thread prior to this. Well, two if you count my reply to kssr.

Or, are you having difficulties in comprehension?

Perhaps you didn't have your morning cup of java (and this time I mean coffee)!

But maybe you are an astrologer so you could foresee what is coming.

Because there is the next post that you can read and comment on.

[harimau]

@harimau: I came here primarily to bury your BS. Everything else was incidental. Looks like I have succeeded

You suffer from a condition called premature self-congratulation!

On Dec 15th, the Tamil newspaper Dinamalar posted a review of this very same concert by one Arun Narasimhan..

It can be read at: http://epaper.dinamalar.com/PUBLICATION ... d64ee2.pdf

In a concert that was superlative from beginning to end for you (and I am happy for you for that -- I don't expect everybody to have caviar-and-champagne taste, and somebody has to eat vadakari dosa too), this reviewer says: neraval at the line Janaka suthadi sagged slightly but she made up for it in the swarams.

More tellingly, the reviewer concludes: she could direct her efforts at increasing the viruviruppu of the concert in places and during neraval, sing with greater azhuttham.

Yes, that mysterious, amorphous charge hurled against Amrutha Venkatesh by reviewers: lack of azhuttham. I wonder what people have got against Carnatic Music Lite.

Guess you are the one who got buried in his own BS.

PS.

Doctor: How did you manage to get your arm in that horrible twisted position?

sureshvv: I was trying to pat myself on the back.

[harimau]

Your post in ma thread is having a lovely exchange of ideas from sureshvv and harimau . You have to catch amrutha venkatesh and really revalidate what you said in that post.

At least the reviewer for Dinamalar seems to have validated what pperumal said in his post.

I ventured in where pperumal didn't want to go but then I had truth as my armor and unbiased evaluation as my sword.

Here I am paraphrasing Sri Thyagaraja who has said:

rōmāñcamane ghana kañcukamu
rāma bhaktuḍane mudra biḷḷayu
rāma nāmamane vara khaḍgamivi

[braindrain]

morning cup of java (and this time I mean coffee)!

Kopi_Luwak from Java, for a change ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

[rajeshnat]

When I read the review of dinamalar that harimau put as an link, the review for the concert was overwhelmingly positive for vidushi amrutha venkatesh. I applaud both harimau and sureshvv to take turns to present two opinions which are making us more notice about the more pluses and few minuses of vidushi amrutha venkatesh. Tx to dinamalar writer arun narasimhan.

[kssr]

This is a rough translation of Subramanya Bharathi for the benefit of "nendrangai- coconut oil chips" of our august forum (hairimau s) :

"That a man named Kamban lived
That kalidasa composed poems
That the planets and stars of the high skies
were measured by the great Bhaskara
.......................................
.......................................

are unknown to the Indians
who enter the English teaching schools
........................................

the madmen who learn the shallow education
What else can I say to enlighten (them)
My heart burns, for these people"

[sureshvv]

Doctor: How did you manage to get your arm in that horrible twisted position.

After being knocked out flat, I commend your efforts to get back on your feet, even if somewhat groggily. Am listening to concert now. Will put you out of your misery soon

[sureshvv]

More tellingly, the reviewer concludes: she could direct her efforts at increasing the viruviruppu of the concert in places and during neraval, sing with greater azhuttham.

It is one thing to say that the neraval of one kriti can be sung with greater azhuttham.
It is a totally different thing to say that the music lacks azhuttham.

You are misrepresenting the reviewer.

I believe that this lack of azhuttham perceived by the reviewer is primarily because this is not a commonly heard kriti and the lyric does not ring all the buttons that a "safe" kriti would.

I wonder what people have got against Carnatic Music Lite.

Channeling the spirit of Goebbels, you insist on repeating this baseless accusation.