akkarai sisters@Vani Mahal on March 05th,2015
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Vocal: akkarai subhalakshmi and sornalatha
Violin :Ranjani Ramakrishnan
Mrudangam : R Sankaranarayanan
Kanjira : BS Sundarkumar
Concert Type : Nirvana - no concert to follow
Day/Duration : Thursday/ 2 hours and 15 minutes
Crowd : 120 , 70 % hall was full
Hall : Obul Reddy Hall
Occassion : Thamizh Isai vizha
1. lalgudi varnam in ??
2. Hamsadhwani krithi with swaras ???
......
3. parAtparA paramEshwara (R) - vAchaspathi - psivan
6 mins alapana and 3 mins violin return
4.kEtta varam tharuvAn ayyan - ghana pancha ratna ragas Nattai to shreeragam - susheendram sp sivasubramaniam(akkarai sister grandfather)
5A. kArthikeya kangeya (R , N ,S ,T) - todi - psivan
14 mins alaplana and 6 mins violin return
5 mins neraval in mAl maruga shamugha
14 mins swaras
5B. tani for 14 mins
6. kannanai kAnbeduppO (R) - hamsAnandi + nAttaikurinji +suddhadhanyasi? +abhogi - composer unknown
2 mins alapana in hamsAnandi
7. manadirkku ugandadhu(R) - sindhubhairavi- Tanjore sankara iyer
2 mins alapana in sindhubhairavi
8. karpagamE - madhyamavathi - psivan
akkarai sisters@Vani Mahal on March 05th,2015
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rajeshnat
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akkarai sisters@Vani Mahal on March 05th,2015
Last edited by rajeshnat on 06 Mar 2015, 07:46, edited 1 time in total.
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rajeshnat
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Re: akkarai sisters@Vani Mahal on March 05th,2015
Chennai in the last two days resembles a bit of chennai that i knew say from 2002 to 2010. There are choices for me to select concerts . Today a concert in padmanabhaswamy temple in adayar, a mylapore festival , nayaki in kottorpuram and also in vanimahal . Most importantly artists are not used as pawn to promote carnatic music to masses and in that process they donot get a 30 to 45 minute slot .
Akkarai sisters especially subhalakshmi is surely a prodigy of extraordinary merit . I have only heard the akka thangai in violin and this is the first time I am hearing them as sisters in vocal . There were many pluses and few minuses
Pluses of vocal -Akkarai sisters
---------------------------------
1. A traditional carnatic concert approach is very much there with the sisters . I have noticed few siblings especially established take a route of possibly going an abhang/bhajan or presenting as a fusion like concert . They indeed carve out extra crowd but i prefer this kind despite a possible loss of audience. The sisters indeed sang with a complete focus on antha kalathu sampradayam- not just choice of ragas but also the way they built sangathis - todi alapana by the elder was one lovely example taking cues from GNB .
2. Voice throw is very good for both. The elder indeed takes more charge but the younger also has lovely azhuttam especially in madhyama kalam
3. The energy level was high even till the end of tukkadas and this being thamizh isai concert they perhaps showed me that their diction is also noteworthy.
4. I personally think akkarai take a bit of few contemporary musician approach where for almost every krithi there is a brief alapana that too even for tukkada . Even for the big 15 minute ghana pancha ratna krithi of their grand dad the sister sang an alapana in nattai to start with
Minuses of Vocal - Ikkarai sisters:
-----------------------------------
1. The voices for both in mel kalam has not reached a level of appreciable aural comfort in my ears . While subhalakshmi voice is bit excessively thinning in higher octaves, for the younger there is bit of excessive crack . I am assuming sornalatha being an adolescent this is just a passing phase.
2. If we compare the sisters to say ranjani gayathri (who are one of the finest female duos)for both akkarais they should attempt to soar bit more like gayathri , but each of them are singing with more power in middle octaves than say ranjani.
3. This crib is in general applicable to almost all the sibling duos , possibly one sibling can be one exception. The sisters when it comes to neraval come out too rehearsed and cliched . For the finest todi krithi of karthikeya kangeya they could have demonstrated much much more neraval in maal maruga guha. Swaras also need bit more better pronounication which I am assuming has got to do with their voice thinning at times and at times swaras sounded bit cliched .
4. They can control their volume at times I hear too loud sangathis - kind of bombay sisters effect is there . They should watch for bit more sowkhyam.
Few words about accompanist:
---------------------------
Ranjani Ramakrishnan played well and her proportion sense of return was perfect .Ranjani was kind of very un akkarish in violin proportion return and that was elegant. For few todi sangathis there was a slight screech, I wish ranjani was bit senior akkarish.
The volume was high for sankaranarayanan's mrudangam but his magical roll in intense sarvalaghu was wonderful. Sundar kumar is one of the best kanjira artist of this era - his rolls have lightning speed of touch and go in songs and in tani he makes me wonder who is the pakkavadyam ? Percussion team was top notch.
All said Akkarai sisters are indeed going to make a mark in vocal. Personally if I have a drive to hear duos on any day- I would certainly not miss hearing these sisters performing vocal- I wish that day they sing a rtp . I missed the first two numbers and at the end of concert the power went off . Some one who sat in front of me talked with me and recognized me . He told me the first two numbers which I forgot the full details. I want him to add his opinion .
Overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 hours and 15 minutes
Akkarai sisters especially subhalakshmi is surely a prodigy of extraordinary merit . I have only heard the akka thangai in violin and this is the first time I am hearing them as sisters in vocal . There were many pluses and few minuses
Pluses of vocal -Akkarai sisters
---------------------------------
1. A traditional carnatic concert approach is very much there with the sisters . I have noticed few siblings especially established take a route of possibly going an abhang/bhajan or presenting as a fusion like concert . They indeed carve out extra crowd but i prefer this kind despite a possible loss of audience. The sisters indeed sang with a complete focus on antha kalathu sampradayam- not just choice of ragas but also the way they built sangathis - todi alapana by the elder was one lovely example taking cues from GNB .
2. Voice throw is very good for both. The elder indeed takes more charge but the younger also has lovely azhuttam especially in madhyama kalam
3. The energy level was high even till the end of tukkadas and this being thamizh isai concert they perhaps showed me that their diction is also noteworthy.
4. I personally think akkarai take a bit of few contemporary musician approach where for almost every krithi there is a brief alapana that too even for tukkada . Even for the big 15 minute ghana pancha ratna krithi of their grand dad the sister sang an alapana in nattai to start with
Minuses of Vocal - Ikkarai sisters:
-----------------------------------
1. The voices for both in mel kalam has not reached a level of appreciable aural comfort in my ears . While subhalakshmi voice is bit excessively thinning in higher octaves, for the younger there is bit of excessive crack . I am assuming sornalatha being an adolescent this is just a passing phase.
2. If we compare the sisters to say ranjani gayathri (who are one of the finest female duos)for both akkarais they should attempt to soar bit more like gayathri , but each of them are singing with more power in middle octaves than say ranjani.
3. This crib is in general applicable to almost all the sibling duos , possibly one sibling can be one exception. The sisters when it comes to neraval come out too rehearsed and cliched . For the finest todi krithi of karthikeya kangeya they could have demonstrated much much more neraval in maal maruga guha. Swaras also need bit more better pronounication which I am assuming has got to do with their voice thinning at times and at times swaras sounded bit cliched .
4. They can control their volume at times I hear too loud sangathis - kind of bombay sisters effect is there . They should watch for bit more sowkhyam.
Few words about accompanist:
---------------------------
Ranjani Ramakrishnan played well and her proportion sense of return was perfect .Ranjani was kind of very un akkarish in violin proportion return and that was elegant. For few todi sangathis there was a slight screech, I wish ranjani was bit senior akkarish.
The volume was high for sankaranarayanan's mrudangam but his magical roll in intense sarvalaghu was wonderful. Sundar kumar is one of the best kanjira artist of this era - his rolls have lightning speed of touch and go in songs and in tani he makes me wonder who is the pakkavadyam ? Percussion team was top notch.
All said Akkarai sisters are indeed going to make a mark in vocal. Personally if I have a drive to hear duos on any day- I would certainly not miss hearing these sisters performing vocal- I wish that day they sing a rtp . I missed the first two numbers and at the end of concert the power went off . Some one who sat in front of me talked with me and recognized me . He told me the first two numbers which I forgot the full details. I want him to add his opinion .
Overall a very good to excellent concert for 2 hours and 15 minutes
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arasi
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Re: akkarai sisters@Vani Mahal on March 05th,2015
Rajesh,
kaNNanaik kANbadeppO? rAgamAlikA: the last two rAgAs are udaya chandrika and AbhOgi? Not Sivan's. I have an inkling it is Ayya of Trivandrum's composition--rap on the knuckle for not being sure
kaNNanaik kANbadeppO? rAgamAlikA: the last two rAgAs are udaya chandrika and AbhOgi? Not Sivan's. I have an inkling it is Ayya of Trivandrum's composition--rap on the knuckle for not being sure
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rajeshnat
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- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: akkarai sisters@Vani Mahal on March 05th,2015
actually the composer is unknown. i made an error of attributing to psivan. let us wait for ljiarasi wrote:Rajesh,
kaNNanaik kANbadeppO? rAgamAlikA: the last two rAgAs are udaya chandrika and AbhOgi? Not Sivan's. I have an inkling it is Ayya of Trivandrum's composition--rap on the knuckle for not being sure
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arasi
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- Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30
Re: akkarai sisters@Vani Mahal on March 05th,2015
Rajesh and Lakshman,
I am pretty sure now, since I found a YouTube clip of M. Jhanani singing it. She's Ananthalakshmi Sadagopan's student who also sang the invocation at both of Sumitra Nitin's CD releases of the Arasi songs! Mami would have taught her that. When I go back home, I can ascertain because in one of my old notebooks, on asking AS, I wrote down the songs which Aiyya mama of Trivandrum had composed (Maduraimini's and my mothers' (sisters) cousin).
That is, if Lakshman dosn't know already...
I am pretty sure now, since I found a YouTube clip of M. Jhanani singing it. She's Ananthalakshmi Sadagopan's student who also sang the invocation at both of Sumitra Nitin's CD releases of the Arasi songs! Mami would have taught her that. When I go back home, I can ascertain because in one of my old notebooks, on asking AS, I wrote down the songs which Aiyya mama of Trivandrum had composed (Maduraimini's and my mothers' (sisters) cousin).
That is, if Lakshman dosn't know already...
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rajeshnat
- Posts: 10123
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04
Re: akkarai sisters@Vani Mahal on March 05th,2015
Arasiarasi wrote:Rajesh and Lakshman,
I am pretty sure now, since I found a YouTube clip of M. Jhanani singing it. She's Ananthalakshmi Sadagopan's student who also sang the invocation at both of Sumitra Nitin's CD releases of the Arasi songs! Mami would have taught her that. When I go back home, I can ascertain because in one of my old notebooks, on asking AS, I wrote down the songs which Aiyya mama of Trivandrum had composed (Maduraimini's and my mothers' (sisters) cousin).
That is, if Lakshman dosn't know already...
Can you or your cousin squeeze your memory to let us know the full name of aiyya mama. I am sure he has a name.
.This number is a gnb number and with GNB being a principal of trivandrum college - there is a chance that Ananthalakshmi sadagopan could have picked up from aiyaa mama after hearing the way GNB sang it. Lji has stated in karnatik.com that the composer is unknown ?
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arasi
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- Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30
Re: akkarai sisters@Vani Mahal on March 05th,2015
AiyyAvaiyyangAr has long been around as a regular name. His family had migrated to Trivandrum generations ago, and that's the name everyone knew him by. I am sure he would have been Venkatesa sarman or something like that which I don't think anyone called him by. For all practical purposes, he was Aiyya. kaNNan mugam thOnRuthaDi is my favorite among his songs.