Sydney Music Festival Jun 8th, Paramatta, Sydney

[HarishankarK]

Morning 10 am
Trichur Brothers
Violin H N Bhaskar
Mridangam Trichur R Mohan

Mathey Varnam Kamas HMB
Gajananayutham Vegavahini MD, fast speed peppy swaras with Hindustani touches
Amba Kamakshi Bhairavi SS
Sitamma Mayamma - Vasantha - Neraval at Dhara nija in two speeds and fast speed torrential swaras.
Nanoru Vilayattu - Navarasa Kannada PS

RTP Brindavana Saranga - Elaborate Alaap and Violin return. Lots of Hindustani touches sounded like Megh, Madhmadh Sarang etc etc in between
Tanam in Brindavana Saranga and Ghana raga panchamam also (Nattai, Gowlai, Arabi, Varali, Sri) woven seamlessly one after another.
Pallavi in Kanda Triputa, eduppu after 3 beats (announced) - Brindavana Saranga bhuloka vaikunta Sri Ranga, ragamalika swaras in Saranga, Varali, Behagm Sankarabaranam, Bilahari, Revati, Tani

Omana Tingal Kinaavo - Kurunji - Iraiyaman Thampi
Rama Neela Megha Shyama - Yaman Kalyan - Bhajan. I attended this concert to attend this nice bhajan and thankfully they sang it. This is a telugu movie song - the original is even better than the brothers version.
Ramachandraya Janaka - Bhadrachala Ramadas - Mangalam song - Sankarabaranam?? Sounded like a nottuswaram
Sloka (i forgot which sloka)
The brothers gave some lecture about their Namami Gange project and played that song. It sounded like AR Rehman's Vande Mataram.

They sing for the gallery so it is instantly appealing but once the concert is over nothing stays with you. Too much hindustani prayogas. Flashy and flamboyant music.

1 pm Smt Pantula Rama
R K Sriramkumar Violin
Mridangam - a young boy from chennai (artiste name forgot) - he was very good though

Her concert was marvellous. Full of purity and dignity. Effortless presentation and too too melodious without any gimmicks. Truly great this artiste.
After her concert was over i felt a lot of peace and calmness which went away in the next concert, unfortunately.

Giriraja suta tanaya - Bangala Tyagraja
Akhilandeshwari - Jujavanti - MD - swaras in two speeds - pure carnatic rendition without any hindustani prayogas. No confusion with Sahana anywhere.

SuddaDanyasi raga - Subrahmanyena - MD, Swaras
Idathu padam thooki - Kamas - PS - her tamil diction is good
RTP - Kalyani - Alap and tanam was very good - soothing rendition wihtout loud volume/shouting.
Ata tala pallavi - Ramanugrahapatra Tyagabrahma, Kamakshi palita Syama, Shanmugapta Muthukumara, Namastey. Pallavi was very good, neat, crisp trikalam and swaras in Kalyani . She mentioned before ragamalika swaras starting that she will sing ragas that are dealt only by each trinity - Chandrajothi, Chintamani and Kumudhakriya respectively. These three ragas did not come out clearly according to me. All three sounded similar.
Sindu Bairavi sketch - Madhurashtakam slokam first verse- Pasyathi disi disi - Astapadi - Jayadeva - Very nice - Again this was carnatic Sindu Bairavi - no Hindustani style
Jo Achchudananda - Navaroj - Very beautiful and transporting rendition of this song. Annamacharya.

She is too good. Her voice has MLV's power and Bombay Jayashree's melody - which is the ultimate combination. Was hoping to listen to her Pahadi Ehi Murare but she did not sing. This was one of my best concerts in this festival.


4pm Ranjani Gayathri
Violin H N Bhaskar
Mridangam - forgot - big time basher - During last song Gayathri had to make obvious gestures to him to pipe down - so much banging
Ghatam S V Ramani

Again they played to gallery. Music was peppy and flashy. Did not like that much. Too loud as well.
Gam Ganapathe - Hamsadvani - HMB - swaras - run of the mill
Nada Thanumanisham - Cittaranjani - Tyagarajar
Lathangi alap shared - Pirava varam tharum - PS - neraval swara at pallavi line. Really overdone. Sounded as though they sang just for claps.
Huseini - Eppadi mana tunindaro - Arunachala Kavi
Kamboji Alap by shared - Maragada vallim - MD - Swaras
Varanarada - Vijayasri - Tyagarajar
RTP - Arabi and Ananda Bhairavi - Alap and tanam shared by sisters and violin - did all gimmicks - Catusra jati triputa tala Khanda nadai - ARABIMANAM VAITH ADARIPAAR ENNAI Anandabhairavi unnai allaal, Trikalam done. Swaras in Natabhairavi, Salagabairavi, VasantaBairavi, SinduBairavi besides main two ragas with 'Ananda' word replaced respectively. Tsunami swaras, Tiresome exercise!
Kolli talayil vrittam - Shanmukapriya and hamsanandi and kapi - Sodanai Sumai - Kapi - PS Vrittam was good. Sang Pada Kamalam and Padaka malam correctly.
God knows who introduced this Abhang in carnatic music. They sang an Abhang in Raga Bairaagi (Revati) tuned by themselves - again overspeed, hindustani flashes etc etc. Tukaram. Instead if they had sung a tillana and a tiruppugazh it would have saved a bit. Abhang was sung on popular demand it seems. I dunno who in Sydney would like to hear Abhang.
RUN OF THE MILL - HOLLOW -Usually i don't feel like this in their concert but after hearing Pantula Rama felt all this mumbo-jumbo some singers employ is useless.

7pm 5 STARS CONCERT - BEST ONE OF THE FESTIVAL
Vijay Siva
R K Sriram kumar Violin
J Vaidyanatan - Mridangam
S V Ramani Ghatam

This concert was Awesome - Such pure music hearing after such a long time. Got reminded of R Vedavalli's 10 am Music Academy concert in December 2006 which i can never forget (it was the day of Tsunami also)

Sada bala rupapi sloka - Harikamboji
Rama nannu brovara - Harikamboji - Tyagarajar - Neraval Meppulakkai and swaras. Superb rendition. Started concert in top notch form.
Anandabhairavi alap - Marivere - Syama Sastri - swaras -Misra chapu Superb. Came back humming Sada Nammitti continuously - so haunting.
Arabhi alap - Was like nectar - So moving - Top class rendition of Oothukadu's Maragatha mani maya chela - The song got it's due. So many in audience were in tears. Neraval at Maanitha guna seela - Swaras. Arpudham!! Ranjani Gayathri had just sung these two ragas a while ago but Vijay Siva's rendition was of a totally different league.
Jambupathey - Yamunakalyani - MD - Blissful rendition - slow paced and full of peace. Surprise neraval at Sarva jeeva dayakara sambho. Very introspective and soothing neraval done unhurriedly.
Brova baarama - Bahudari Tyagarajar - filler but sung well
Todi alap - fantastic and pure classical style like Old masters - Kartikeya Gangeya - PS - Neraval swaras at Maal maruga sanmuka. He sang additional two charanas of this song as well including Ramadasa mudra. Even his Todi was melodious and all in the audience were enjoying. No anaavasiyams in swara - only emotional content.
Dasarendara Purandara dasarayya - Yadukula Kamboji - Purandara dasar?? - I don't think he sang the whole song. Only pallavi and anupallavi i think.
Pullai pirandaalum - vrittam - Begada and Jonpuri - Eppo Varuvaaro - slow paced very nice contemplative rendition - GKB. Vijay Siva transformed to Nandanaar himself.
Tiruppugazh - Nenjakanaikkam, ullasa nirakula - Ragamalika - Gambheera Nattai (??), Hindolam, Kanada, Mandu(brilliant), Madyamavati. He played the kinkini while singing this like bhajanai style to great effect.
Sloka - Swasti prajap.... sukino bavantu - Madyamavati.

Vijay Siva sang so well - He came across like some Nada Yogi. Supreme Clarity and diction in all languages. DKJ maadriyey uyira koduththu paadinaar. I could imagine the amount of practise he must have to done to bring his voice (not his plus point at one time) to this position. He sang with a powerful full throated voice like Old Masters but still it was not loud or assaulting to the senses. Inspite of vilamba kala krithis concert never sagged for even a minute.

Thanks to Swaralaya team for organizing this festival.

[rajeshnat]

HarishankarK
Looks sydney is rocking . In two days so many back to back concerts. Wonderful.

[arasi]

HarishankarK,
We have to appreciate the Sydney organizers for managing to cater to rasikAs of different tastes. A mega festival in a short time.

HarishankarK,
Thanks for sharing your musical experience with us. You took care in giving equal time for all the performers. Your liking some performers more than others did not stop you from writing in detail about all the concerts.Your objectivity is seen in your writing

Mohan and Mohan
Were you there?

[MV]

HarishankarK Thanks for the review. I had to leave early and missed the last day. Arasi it is really a Festival. The whole Riverside Theatre area is like say Mylapore with all the pattu sarees and jibbas. Back to back concerts with chance to catch up with old and new friends is great. I am now back to the unreal world of Work

[HarishankarK]

And there are food stalls as well -Both South and North Indian cuisine.
It was a three day festival . I could not attend the first dayJune 6th concerts featuring Sangita Sivakumar, Unnikrishnan, Mysore brothers violin, Aruna Sairam.
Got to know Unni sang superb, open-mouth i/o usual clenched teeth singing. Incomplete list for Unni

Mukhari alap Endraikku Siva, Neelakanta Sivan
Charukeshi RTP on Murugan,cleverly including words Sydney Murugan
Enna Kavi padinalum Nilamani
Unni's concert was the best in first day it seems

[rajeshnat]

Harishankar
How are the tickets priced for these concerts- (for the entire package and each of the standalone concert).? Just curious how about the footfall for these concerts?

[HarishankarK]

Per day 4 concerts u can buy three days pass 100 unreserved, 140 reserved
Or
Two days 75 unreserved
Min need to buy two days

House full, all three days concert well attended.
Min crowd 300 to maximum 500 I shd think

[Rsachi]

When I lived in Sydney some years back, (very close to the Riverside Theatre), I attended a day.. I caught four concerts :Bhushani Kalyanaraman, Ganesh Kumaresh, Sudha Raghunathan and TMK. Remember the wonderful mridangam of Sri Mannargudi Easwaran, TMK's superb Purnachandrika tillana. I remember Sudha sang the same main raga (KHP?) as Bhushani.

The atmosphere is very celebratory. The people, a good proportion being of Srilankan/Malay Tamil descent, take the event as a big occasion.

[MV]

That young boy who played for Pantula Rama is none other than Anantha Krishnan-Abhishek Raghuram's cousin and grandson of Palghat Raghu. Don't doubt he played very well.

I think I heard the capacity of the theatre is nearly 800 and all 3days ran fairly full.

[arasi]

MV,
And you were there for the festival! Impressive

[MV]

Arasi, it is like 'Marghazhi Down Under' Nice break in the middle of the year

[rajeshnat]

Arasi, it is like 'Marghazhi Down Under' Nice break in the middle of the year

MV/HarishankarK,
It appears sydney in june is even more better than chennai - margazhi. We usually have small 60 or 90 minutes slot in between two big slots for upcoming musicians in chennai. At sydney 4 artists get any where from 2 to 3 hours during each day and In total 12 artists in three days is lovely . Also all the artists are all in * the best of their performing years* which is a special usp of sydney.

MV,
Hope one day auckland gets to do the same thing and become neighbors envy to sydney.

[MV]

MV,
Hope one day auckland gets to do the same thing and become neighbors envy to sydney.

Rajeshnat, delicious thought. But you know what, though we only do 2-3 concerts in NZ, they are 4 hour concerts, relaxed and seem more suited to us here. So, we'll just let Sydney have their 2.5 hour run