Sangeetha Swaminathan@MusicAcademy on Dec 25th,2014

[rajeshnat]

Sangeetha Swaminathan@MusicAcademy on Dec 25th,2014
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Vocal : Sangeetha Swaminathan
Violin : Akkarai Sornalatha
Mrudangam : Kumbakonam Swaminathan
Kanjira : Udipi Srikanth???

Concert Type : Non Nirvana - concert to follow
Day/Duration : Sunday/ 2 hours
Concert Type/Crowd : Free concert - ~ 550(peak strength) in ground floor ,first floor may have been empty
Sabha / Hall : Music Academy /TTK Hall

01. missed the varnam - some one next to me told it was mmg , not sure.
02. pAlimpa(S) - Arabi - T

03A. endukO nee manasu (R N S T) - kalyani - T
10 mins alapana and 9 mins violin return
neraval in raga rahita shree rAmA for 8 mins
swaras for 11 mins
03B. tani for 12 mins

04. marivere gati - malavi ?? - GNB
05. RTP in vasantha bhairavi for 26 mins
9 mins alapana
7 mins taanam
pallavi and swaras for 10 mins
gAna lOla gOpAla brindAvana vEnu is the pallavi line
swaras in vasantha bhairavi + kedaragowlai+ mohanam + brindavana sanranga

06. saramaina - behag - ST
07. thillana enda vELiyum kanda vELaiyE - sindhubhairavi - S kalyanaraman

I went late missed the first varnam and I just settled some time midway when she was rendering Arabi. I have personally heard her sing kalyani as a main the same krithi endukO , nevertheless her firm unfluctuating voice and melliflous aura was right there for me to enjoy her classicism . THe kalyani alapana was dwelled more in the madhyama kAlam and few swirls in upper register was not that clean. Her rendition of krithi was superb particularly the neraval where she pleaded with sree rAma she indeed painted a right muse of divinity in krithi and possibly even got the near perfect T muse.

The filler I think was in malavi, it is her grand paramaguru GNB composition ,tricky raga but I always find it difficult to latch its raga swaroopam. The best was indeed her pallavi in vasantha bhairavi . There are few occassions I have heard her vasantha bhairavi one in a live concert where she sang nee daya rada and one long back when London based rasikas posted a review with the link. Her voice with shruthi adherence was so meditative in vasantha bhairavi , it was just the right latch to enjoy the raga . I always have noticed that she has a touch of her paramaguru sibling s kalyanaraman and that indeed was the case for her vasantha bhairavi. Her taanam had a distinct usage of tom tom and may be it was bit short but certainly very enjoyable .THe pallavi line was going with the flow of her muse that she built , swaras were measured with all the ragamaliga ragas having the same priority and there was a touch of MLV like ending like say mohana krishna highlighting the ragam mohanam. THe last fillers were all enjoyable but nothing that grand , behag was classically rendered and the last thillana in sindhubhairavi was a good finish to show case her parama guru bhakthi to her near equivalent paramaguru Tanjore S kalyanaraman

Akkarai Sornalatha play was bit more pronounced on the emotive side , kind of inline with the sangathis that sangeetha delivered considering that kalyani and vasantha bhairavi were the two main ragas . Her proportion in kalyani return was way too long . Kumbakonam swaminathan had nice toppi usage and was a rolling sarvalaghu which pepped the concert - a little more pronounced right bit more forceful taps would have been better. The kanjira artist udupi Srikanth?? gave able support and in the tani his demonstration was limited unlike mrudangist who was on a roll.

If the alapana violin in kalyani was bit shortened and if that time had gone to either the taanam or ragam of vasantha bhairavi the concert would have been a notch higher. Sangeetha Swaminathans asset is her ability to latch with a very strong voice and have a sustained sowkhyam and pitch - certainly a great star in the making. Some one wrote some time back that she has moved from US to mumbai that creates a great possibility for us to hear more this sudha sishya .

Overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 hours.

[sridhar_ranga]

A very good concert indeed which I got to listen to in part. Took me a while to figure out the taaLam of the RTP. I understood it as chatusra jaati jhampa taaLam with a naDai variation: the laghu was in 2 KaLai while the anudhrutam and dhrutam were in khanDa naDai (one regular beat and two short beats). So were there 31 aksharams in all? Rajesh / others who attended please add your comments.

[sureshvv]

Laghu in tisram i thought

[pattamaa]

Yes, it is chatusra jhampa and laghu in tisram, and anudhrutam and dhrutam in khanda Nadai... Quite a challenge....