Salem Gayathri Venkatesan@VaniMahal on Aug 18th,2014

[rajeshnat]

Salem Dr Gayathri Venkatesan@VaniMahal on Aug 18th,2014
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Vocal : Salem Gayathri Venkatesan
Violin : V V Srinivasa Rao
Mrudangam : Melakaveri balaji
Ghatam : Chandrasekara sarma

Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow
Day/Duration : Monday/ ~ 2 hours
Occassion/COncert Type : Gokulashtami celebrations/Free
Crowd :80
Hall : Vanimahal Mini Hall - Obul Reddy Hall
Sabha : Sree thyaga brahma gana sabha

1.karunimpa - varnam - sahana - TT
2.gAnamoorthE (RS,S)-ganamoorthi -T
6 mins swaras

3. venugAna loluni - kedAragowlai - T
4. shree rajagopala (R,S) - sAveri - MD
6 mins alapana and 4 mins violin return
8 mins swaras

5. tunai purindarul - varamu - psivan
6A. RTP -poorvikalyani for 32 mins
pallavi line - krishnam mukundham bhagavantham Hridi bhajAmi brindAvanastham sukumAram
8 mins alapana and 5 mins violin return
6 mins taanam without mrudangam
pallavi and swaras for 7 mins each
6B. tani for 16 mins

7. pAhi pAhi jaganmohana krishnA - nAdanAmakriya - NT
8. taka dheem ta dheem .... ninaniyE dhinam yEngidum - thillana - madhuvanti - LGJ

9A. slokham sathyAta sathyam -bowli + ??? + rooopA nAma vidEthEna - madhyamAvati - ????
9B. pavamAna - sowrashtram- T

[rajeshnat]

For atleast 5 to 6 years , I wanted to hear this vidushi , the biggest pull to hear her was she being a disciple of Prof TRS.I was bit lucky to take off a bit early in work to hear this vidushi in vanimahal . Vanimahal in gokulashtami series is really fantastic - there can be more crowd but it looks there are only serious listeners - not much of mami and mamas to hear music for socialising sake . The sound adjustments, ambience, portrait backdrop of Lord Krishna and the right AC in vanimahal mini hall is top notch.

The first thing that I could notice of salem gayathri venkatesan is her strong voice . HEr throw was really nice and certainly one can also spot a kind of steadfastness in enunciation of telugu lyrics for few songs which is more in line with her illustrious guru TRS . She started with sahana - a caring raga that does give a massage like touch and I liked the way she started with a strong voice . The second half of her varna had a slight challenge for her as there was not that perfect blend of percussion .Certainly with sahana the concert could have started better .

The no #2 drop in ganamoorthi was really top notch. TRS mama like approach was completely omnipresent the alapana was sung with a right impetus, more to get a great start to sing with strong voice like TRS for the krithi pallavi. She really kept her music intense with her start ,few poruttams like gana moorthe and then krishna gana moorthE then sri krishna gana moorthE brought a twinkle to my senses - reminding of TRS . The swaras were really good ,almost singing in one go and not type casting with too much of violin return - brought in TRS to me .

The next filler in kedaragowlai - nothing wrong in how she sang - but i just felt bit more energy in the second half to give a really more questioning bhavam would have taked her kedaragowlai a notch above. The fast filler in varamu flag ship krithi was new to me , I have personally not heard a varamu as a fast filler - while her voice did start well well in high Gears but there was not much of a forward racy momentum in the second half - varamu was varA hmmmmmmm.

The main was a pallavi - Taking a higher octave cue start like her guru TRS she sang a lovely alapana in poorvikalyani . Taanam was well done and she could have gone bit more than that was the feel that I had . The pallavi line was excellent - I am not sure if she had tuned the phrase - as i walked out I overheard some one in the audience telling that this pallavi was last composed by Late TRS (I would love to know as to who composed this pallavi - TRs or gayathri venatesan). Certainly the pallavi had all the vishayam -. THe swaras were done quite well a little more dwelling would have been nice .

In the tukkadas the nadanamakriya rendition was really superb . A strong voice gave a right emote for narayana teerthar's classic composition. The thillana of Lalgudi was a madhuvanti thillana - I just love this raga . Her rendition was not a perfect madhuvanti ,a significant trespass into kalyana vasantham and also a minor touch of suddasarang was there. The last slokham was sung well but she was interested in closing the concert and not emoting with more sangathis. IT was sharp 08:30 pm pavamana rolled .

Srinivasa Rao violin play was a mixed bag . THere is quite a bit of intrusion during alapana and his nadham was not very consistent . The percussion team was really nice - the style of melakaveri balaji is predominantly sarvalaghu and he went with the flow . The young chandrasekara sharma did play with exceptional clarity especially in the tani - the sound of his ghatam had the right nadham.

Vidushi gayathri venkatesan should pay bit more attention in singing more elaborate neraval , swaras and I felt she can cut bit more loose . Perhaps the constraint of singing all songs on Lord krishna did indeed put a brake on her expansion . Her strong voice is quite an asset and there is indeed a TRS spark (ganamurthi rendition of krithi and swaras). When sangathis are moving form madhyama kalam to tara sthayi the voice is not proportionately appealing , perhaps she has to work on that.

Overall a very good concert for 2 hours.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
Good that you got off early from work. Otherwise, we do not often get to hear about artistes like her, and find out how they sound. I had heard her name, but did not know she was TRS's student.

All through the review, I see how TRS occupied your mind as you sat there listening to his student. How much rasikAs miss him, not only with his music but with his unfailing presence in many concerts...

[mahavishnu]

Thanks Rajesh. For your diligent review, as usual.

9B. pavamAna - shenjuruTTi- T

? I imagine this is in error. If not, I am infinitely curious about this piece.

[sridhar_ranga]

A very good concert it was, with a perfect Srijayanti song list of Krishna songs. Even the tillana sahityam was on Krishna. Greedy me, I was expecting Mangalam too to be on lord Krishna ...does anyone know if there is any ?

Personally I was hoping to hear a pasuram or two on Kannan - hopefully will have my wish fulfilled in other concerts this Gokulashtami season.

Vidushi gayathri venkatesan should pay bit more attention in singing more elaborate neraval , swaras and I felt she can cut bit more loose

...will throw in another line item: a bit more of care with the Sanskrit words ....in the Sri Rajagopala kriti, it would feel nice to hear "shritajana pAla" and "haridrAnadi tIra" instead of "bAla" and "dIra"

[rajeshnat]

Thanks Rajesh. For your diligent review, as usual.

9B. pavamAna - shenjuruTTi- T

? I imagine this is in error. If not, I am infinitely curious about this piece.

My error,corrected the raga name as sowrashtram , Tx mahavishnu.

[braindrain]

. Greedy me, I was expecting Mangalam too to be on lord Krishna ...does anyone know if there is any ?
"

"vijaya gopala tE mangaLam" .. counts ?

'mAdhava bhavatu tE' - heard TNS sings this one of 'Vijayagopala'

[Sreeni Rajarao]

[quote="sridhar_ranga"].... Even the tillana sahityam was on Krishna. Greedy me, I was expecting Mangalam too to be on lord Krishna ...does anyone know if there is any ?/quote]

Yes! There is more than one Purandara Dasa song
One example:
mannAru kRSHnage mangaLa, jagava pAlisidoDeyage mangaLa,
dEvaki dEvi tanayage mangaLa, dEva timmappage mangaLa, ..........

I have heard this in vasanta (I have shared a clipping also before - it is probably on Archive.org also). And then, I have heard Vid M S Sheela sing this in madyamAvati, if my memory serves me right.

[rshankar]

...will throw in another line item: a bit more of care with the Sanskrit words ....in the Sri Rajagopala kriti, it would feel nice to hear "shritajana pAla" and "haridrAnadi tIra" instead of "bAla" and "dIra"

Nice to see others join me on this bandwagon...
In another thread, I learned that noted Indian anthropologist, Dr. MN Srinivas (the uncle of one of my very good friends) is credited with coining the term 'sanskRtization' - the meaning is irrelevant to this discussion, but I think pronunciation slips of the kind that Sridhar is pointing out should be called 'tamizhization'!

[sridhar_ranga]

Thank you Braindrain and Sreeni Rajarao sir. I hope I get to hear those songs soon.

Ravi, didn't know you wear a sociologist's hat too - socio-linguisticist(!) if I may coin a new word for that