Amrutha Venkatesh's Concert at Kapaaleeshwarar Koil

[Rasikapriya2013]

July 18, 2014.
Concert by Kum Amrutha Venkatesh with Sri M.Rajeev on the Violin , Sri S.J.Arjun Ganesh on the Mridangam and Sri Anirudh Athreya on the Kanjira

List of Songs

SharaNAgata vatsala ( varNam) - kadanakuthUhalam - Calcutta K S Krishnamurthy

Aadi Kondar andha Vedikkai kaana kan - Mayamalava gowlai - Muthu Thandavar

Maamava sadha janani - Kaanada - Swathi Thirunal

Aananda Natana Prakasam - Kedaram - Muthuswami Dikshithar

Ka va va Kanda va va - Varali - Paapanaasam Shivan

Kaana Kan Kodi Vendum Kapaaliyin Bhavani - Kamboji - Paapanaasam Shivan. This was the main for the evening.

Ayye metha kadinam - Raga maliga - Gopalakrishna Bharathi

Shyamale Meenakshi - Shankarabharanam base - nottuswaram - Muthuswami Dikshithar

Virutham from Thirumurugaatruppadai, "Anju Mugam thondril Aaru Mugam thondrum" - Kamas followed by
Senthil Valar Sevagane in the same ragam - Paapanaasam Shivan.

[Rasikapriya2013]

The ambience and vibration any day at a temple concert is a very special and divine experience.
Yesterday being the first Aadi Vellikkizhamai of the month, temple was swarming with Bhakthas to pay their namaskarams to Karpagambal and Kapaaleeshwarar.

Amrutha's Concert yesterday began promptly at 6.30 and it was an outstanding one.
Her song selection, the way she navigated through the stayis with ease and confidence, brilliance of her Manodharma and commitment to sticking to the traditional approach showcased her ability as a Veteran Musician.

She started with the dynamic, fast paced and colourful kathanakuthuhulam Varnam.

Muthu Thandavar's "Aadi kondar andha Vedikkai kaana Kan" and her her kalpana swaram at "Aara nava Mani Malagaigal aada" was rendered with such perfection bringing forth the description of Shiva and his Thandava giving us a vision of Kailasha with great wonder.
S.J. Arjun Ganesh's Mridhangam complimented the feel of the song so beautifully.

MAmava sadha Janani brought down the tempo a bit bringing us back to earth.

Ananda Natana prakasam was rendered in vilamba kaalam which brought out the meditative feel of Kedaram.

With a small Alapanai sketching Varali perfectly, she presented "Ka va va" with brisk swara patterns at "Pazhani malai uraiyum".

This was then followed by an elaborate Khamboji which formed the main for the evening.
Her musical proficiency, confidence and creativity in projecting this raga was phenomenal.
Her raga expansion was full of new and melodic patterns lingering in the upper registers as the raga rightly demands.
The most lovely song rich in lyrical context, "Kaana Kan Kodi Vendum Kapaaliyin Bhavani" was rendered admirably with a nice neraval at "Maanikkam Vairam mudhal", passionately building the swaras to a Crescendo.
A perfect camaraderie between the Artist and the Accompanist contributes to the success of a Concert. Yesterday's concert proved to be that.
M. Rajeev an young and intelligent violinist, played to the mood of the song with the right perspective.
S.J.Arjun Ganesh and Anirudh Athreyas thani was brilliant.

Post main she sang Gopalakrishna Bharathi's Ayye Metha kadinam, emoting beautifully and stressing on the lyrics at the right place.
She sings this in most of her concerts and is a joy to listen to her sing this again and again.

It was a treat to all kinds of rasikas present yesterday when she presented the light and head swaying nottuswaram of Dhikshitar's, "Shyamale Meenakshi".

A Virutham in Kamas followed by Paapanasam Shivan's "Senthil Valar Sevalane" rounded the concert beautifully.

The only minus I could feel was the poor and unbalanced sound system which was compensated by the Positive energy of both the Rasikas and the musicians in the Abode of the great KaPAli.

[kssr]

Thanks Rasikapriya 2013 for the detailed review. Maybe a bit away from the topic, I wanted to know where her guru Sri.Rama Varma normally resides. Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai or Bangalore.

[Rasikapriya2013]

Dear KSSR ji,
You are welcome, and I am surprised at your question.
This question is too personal and unfamiliar for me to answer.
So sorry, better to ask the subject of the conversation directly.

[Nick H]

The ambience and vibration any day at a temple concert is a very special and divine experience.

True, but what we gain in ambience we tend to loose in acoustics. I'd like to congratulate whoever was doing the sound for not pumping up the volume, which was kept at very discrete levels. The clarity of Amrutha's voice made it through both the acoustic restrictions and the necessarily multi-purpose nature of the gathering.

I used to regularly attend Amrutha's concerts, but have somehow not seen her for over a year. It was a great pleasure to do so again. Her voice is beautiful, and the concert was excellent.

EDIT...

The only minus I could feel was the poor and unbalanced sound system which was compensated by the Positive energy of both the Rasikas and the musicians in the Abode of the great KaPAli.

Oh, I only just noticed this part of your post. I wasn't disagreeing with you, but was genuinely glad that the cotton wool was not needed in my ears. I was ready to be deafened, and I wasn't. Perhaps the volume wasn't enough for everybody: perhaps they should have had one or more extra pairs of speakers.

(I shall be back there on, I think, Monday, for Sumithra's concert)

[harekrishna94]

Is there some hidden connect between the raga Kamboji and the Kapaleeshwarar temple? I ask because the 'main piece' in all three concerts so far has been in the raga Kamboji (tiruvaDi sharaNam - SP Ramh, kANa kaN koDi vEnDum - Amrutha Venkatesh and Adum deivam nI aruLvai - Amritha Murali)

[Lakshman]

The only thing common in these three songs is that they all are about the manifestations of Shiva. kANa kaN kOTi is on Kapalishvara and the other two are on Nataraja.

[rshankar]

Is there some hidden connect between the raga Kamboji and the Kapaleeshwarar temple? I ask because the 'main piece' in all three concerts so far has been in the raga Kamboji (tiruvaDi sharaNam - SP Ramh, kANa kaN koDi vEnDum - Amrutha Venkatesh and Adum deivam nI aruLvai - Amritha Murali)

A tongue-in-cheek response could be: "kayilai nAthar or mayilai nAthar is said to have been captivated by the rAgam kAmbhOji played by rAvaNa...., and these artists were just following in his footsteps"!

[mahavishnu]

Ravi, interestingly someone just forwarded me a picture of "rAvaNan" from the Mylai kapAli temple. He is said to come out only on special occasions.

[Rsachi]

I would give anything to get a copy if this concert audio. Not only does it have so many of my favourites, the Kambhoji promises to have been wonderful.

Didn't know Ravana played Kambhoji. Any reference anywhere?

[rshankar]

Wow! Ramesh, that's a majestic rAvaNa! Thank you for sharing.

[vasanthakokilam]

Didn't know Ravana played Kambhoji. Any reference anywhere?

My reference is from the tamil movie sampUrNa rAmAyaNam. I don't know what their source is.

Here is the movie link. That Q&A sequence starts around 2:08:36 with the CSJ song sequence after a couple of minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp0Fi_7Y4cU#t=7716
The final one is the kambhoji reference as an answer to the question what raga Ravana used that fascinated Shiva.

(audio link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WmKLV7loAk )

[braindrain]

My reference is from the tamil movie sampUrNa rAmAyaNam. I don't know what their source is.

Heard a similar story .. that he cut his veins and used them as strings and played music to appease Siva, during his 'tapas' and kAmbOji apparently originated there.

PS : I remember seeing this part of the manOdharma in a Kathakali performance in the story 'rAvaNOtbhavam'. Of course, he wouldn't refer to kAmbOji there.

[Rasikapriya2013]

A nice and informative article from Hindu on Khamboji; the opening para reflects why musicians choose to sing this as their main piece for a concert. I wish I could get a copy of this concert too!

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp ... 172359.ece

[Rsachi]

I can visualise a great screaming headline'
Ten headed Lankan King wrings out Gutwrenching Kambhoji to appease
Mystical Lord with Matted Locks atop Mountain

[rajeshnat]

Is there some hidden connect between the raga Kamboji and the Kapaleeshwarar temple? I ask because the 'main piece' in all three concerts so far has been in the raga Kamboji (tiruvaDi sharaNam - SP Ramh, kANa kaN koDi vEnDum - Amrutha Venkatesh and Adum deivam nI aruLvai - Amritha Murali)

add a 4th one few months back brinda manickavasagam sang a tiruvaDai sharaNam. Around the end of main perhaps when tani got over amrutha venkatesh was wrapping up with manikkam neraval there would have been a round of presiding diety karpagambal in the same neraval line visually too.. So kind of both visual and aural touch .

[rshankar]

The mythical story is that once, during his perambulations, rAvaNa finds mount kailAS in his way - instead of walking around it, he decides to move it aside - as an expression of his ego, and pride in his superhuman strength. As he tries to move it, he creates seismic waves across the earth, causing people to run helter-skelter in fright. Siva, who was enjoying some moments of anyOnya with pArvati is disturbed, and understanding the cause of the upheaval, decides to teach rAvaNa a lesson, and presses gently down on the tip of the mount with his toe - this was enough to crush rAvaNa underneath. Coming to his senses, rAvaNa propitiates Siva by making a vINa from his femur, with strips of his intestines as strings, and plays divine music...captivated by the music, Siva not only forgives him, but grants him the boon of seeming immortality (that he, rAvaNa could not be killed at the hands of a god or demon).

[kssr]

braindrain:

It is not cutting the vein. It is kudal- intestine which Ravana pulled out to make the string of his veena. Better manodharmam in my story??

[Rasikapriya2013]

the Kambhoji promises to have been wonderful.

A link to "Kaana Kan Kodi vendum in Kambhoji" by Amrutha Venkatesh

http://youtu.be/p4ooimsktmA

http://youtu.be/KDX9ZZSt1GQ

http://youtu.be/3gkewR6Gais

http://youtu.be/wITAsBrcH6Y

[Rsachi]

Rasikapriya,
It's very sweet of you to share the video.
I like the way you focus the camera on Arjun Ganesh's diamond ear stud at the point she says, manikya-vaira.....

[Rasikapriya2013]

Yes it is indeed thoughtful to have focused on the ear stud to emphasise the meaning further.
It was her Guru who was taking the video that day
Hope you enjoyed listening to her Khamboji too !

[Rsachi]

Ok!
This is like playing 20 questions. It's now clear that you aren't Amrutha or her guru..just joking.

Yes I liked the Kambhoji, but I wish she sings a bit more full throated in the upper regions. By thinning her voice by kind of compressing her vocal chords, she appears to throttle it a bit.

I haven't heard everything yet.