R.Vedavalli @ Naada Inbam, Chennai (16 Apr 2007)

ram · Post by **ram** » 17 Apr 2007, 00:00

Venue: Raga Sudha Hall, 85/2, Luz Avenue, Mylapore, Chennai

Date: 16 Apr 2007

Organizer: Naada Inbam (Sri SVK's birthday concert)

Vocal: Vid. R. Vedavalli

Vocal Support: Vid. Sumitra Vasudev

Vocal Support & Tambura: Vid. Sumathi Krishnan

Violin: Vid. Embar S. Kannan

Mrudangam: Vid. Manoj Siva

Ghatam: Vid. S. Karthick

List of songs:

1) nEra nammiti (varnam) - kAnaDA - kanDa aTa - rAmanAthapuram srInivAsa iyengAr (O)

2) chintayE mahAlinga mUrtim - paras - Adi - muthuswAmi dIkshitar (S)

3) nijamukha rAmA - kIravANi - Adi - rAmanAthapuram srInivAsa iyengAr (ANS)

4) charaNam charaNam - asAvEri - misra chApu - aruNAchala kavi

5) mAmava satatam raghunAtha - jaganmOhini - Adi - thyAgarAja

6) eTula brOtuvO - chakravAham - misra chApu - thyAgarAja (S)

7) rAgam tAnam pallavi - Adi (2 kaLai)

rAgam - shankarAbharaNam

tAnam - shankarAbharaNam, rItigowLa, srI & back to shankarAbharaNam

pallavi - shankarAbharaNam, wordings: "manda hAsa vadanA, harE krishnA"

8 ) kalyANOllAsa sImA (slOkam) - sAvEri, varALi, nIlAmbari, sindhubhairavi

9) dAsara nindisabEda - tilang - Adi - purandaradAsa

10) nI nAma rUpa mulaku (mangaLam) - saurAshTram - Adi - thyAgarAja

11) swasti prajAbhyah paripAlayantAm (slOkam) - madyamAvati

(Key: O=raga outline, A=raga alapana, N=neraval, S=kalpana swaram, T=taniavartanam)

Smt. R. Vedavalli presented an impressive concert in memory of Sri S.V. Krishnan on the occasion of his birthday. Sri Embar S. Kannan is one of my personal favorites when it comes to violin accompaniment and so is Sri S. Karthick when it comes to playing the ghatam. They teamed up with Sri Manoj Siva to provide some fantastic, soothing accompaniment that only served to beautify the concert even more. To describe it in Sri S. Karthick's own words, they were playing a defensive game (heard him tell this to someone outside the hall in response to her statement that his playing was like lightning and thunder).

The first alapana of the concert was of kIravANi and lasted for about 9 minutes. Every second of the alapana was enjoyable. I was sitting on the edge of my seat anticipating some very good and rare sancharams to come out and mami kept rewarding me from time to time. The portion I liked a lot was the one where mami sang a pattern to end in rishabham of the upper octave and immediately came to rishabham of the normal octave to begin another pattern. She did this a couple of times. There was an extended lower octave elaboration towards the end of the alapana which was also very enjoyable. The 6 minute alapana from Sri Embar S. Kannan in response was a gem as well.

I have been hearing rare compostions in every concert of mami's that I have attended till now. Today it was the turn of "charaNam charaNam" and "mAmava satatam raghunAtha". During the kalpanA swarams in "eTula brOtuvO", Sri Embar Kannan, in response to a 2nd kAlam set of swara patterns, played his turn punctuated by sets of lightning fast patterns. When her turn came, Vedavalli mami got inspired and sang a few patterns similar to what Sri Kannan played earning "sabhash"/"balE"s from the audience.

shankarAbharaNam was the main raga for the day. Mami elaborated it quite well despite a bad throat that seemed to be imposing constraints in addition to those imposed by her old age. It is amazing how veterans like mami manage to give a great concert even if they have a bad throat, without letting the audience get a feel of their throat problems. Sri Embar Kannan's shankarAbharaNam alapana was spot on and got applause from Vedavalli mami also. A ragamalika tanam came next followed by the pallavi in shankarAbharaNam. The pallavi was on Sri S.V. Krishnan (mami pointed to his framed photograph as she sang the pallavi line the first time). It was structured as follows (B=beat, 1 Avartanam of Adi tALam 2 kaLai = 16 beats) (starts 1.5B after samam): man (1B) da (1B) hA (1B) sa (2B) va (0.75B) da (0.75B) nA (+ gap = 3.5B) ha (0.5B) rE (2.5B) kri (1.5B) shnA (1.5B).

Taniavartanam comprised the chatusra and tisra naDais, a kuraippu first in tisra naDai and then in chatusra naDai which was finally followed by mOrA and kOrvai.

Source: http://ramsabode.wordpress.com/2007/04/ ... i16042007/

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 17 Apr 2007, 00:19

4) charaNam charaNam - asAvEri - misra chApu - aruNAchala kavi

I always have a problem here because of the tamil script. Is it caraNam caraNam or sharaNam sharaNam or caraNam sharaNam or sharaNam caraNam?

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 17 Apr 2007, 02:04

Lakshman:
If I were to write it, it will be "saraNam saraNam enRAnE". In Thamizh we do not begin a word with "ch" or "c" sound unless the previous word (if there is one) ends with a suffix letter "c"

Examples: sandiran udayam (moon rise)
mAlaic candiran (evening moon)

saraNam aDaindAn (he surrendered)
iRaivanaic caraNam aDai (surrender unto God)

The Thamizh letter "sa" is the same as "ca". You pronounce it according to the context as mentioned above in the examples.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 17 Apr 2007, 08:58

Yes, I am keen on my grammar lessons (Don't I need them?). Thanks sub for enlightening me. When it comes to diacritical writing too, I am all ears. However, since it hasn't been standardized yet (arunk, I am not forgetting the time and effort you are putting into it), I have my doubts at times. Yes, I am using the S now where I used s. I had this problem while writing down all the songs on my CD diacritically. Is it my ignorance, whim or aesthetic judgement in the following example? (there were moments of hesitation on my part several other times too).
Forgetting the grammar for a moment, sub, how would you deal with the first line (first words) of the following song?
'Solla Solla iniththiDumE amudan nAmam' or 'chollach cholla'? While singing it, it definitely sounds better as 'chollach cholla' to me. The song is in vAchaspathi and if poetic license is there, I prefer chollach cholla. At least in this particular juncture, it works for me...

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 17 Apr 2007, 15:09

Smt. Vedavalli gave a very classical concert which was a fitting tribute to the late SVK on his birthday. She remarked that she has sung on most of his birthdays and would present some of his favourite compositions in the concert.

I enjoyed it a lot. A Pallavi was an added bonus. I had been feeling the absence of pallavis in concerts i attend, for a few months now!

http://me-and-music.blogspot.com/2007/0 ... inbam.html

mahesh_narayan · Post by **mahesh_narayan** » 17 Apr 2007, 21:31

I have never heard the Kiravani kriti. Does anyone have a version for upload? Like all Puci Iyengar kritis, I am sure this one must be grand.

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 17 Apr 2007, 21:52

Here are the lyrics:
nijamuga rAma. rAgA: kIravANi. Adi tALA.

P: nijamuga rAma nI pAdamula nitya nammina nnau brOvumu
A: aja rudranuta Anandakara adyanta rahita abhayakara
C: asurEsuni kariStamu jEsi amarAdulanu AdarincalEdA
vasudalO nIdu vara bhaktalaku varamiccu shrInivAsa nAtO vAdA

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 17 Apr 2007, 22:20

My first visit to that hall since its patron's death, and I felt a sadness that seemed to come from the building itself. I think that there was plenty of emotion present.

(anyone who wants to say that that was just a figment of my imagination is welcome to do so; they may well be right)

It is not unusual that I take some time to really respond to a performance, and that is no reflection on the performance. My enjoyment turned to involvement at about 7.15pm.

I have so rarely managed to see this great lady sing since being amazed by her performance in London some years ago.

She dedicated, with a gesture, her Pallavi to SVK. I had to wait until the end of the concert to ask Ram to inform me of its meaning.

ram · Post by **ram** » 17 Apr 2007, 23:40

Nick,

It was a pleasure getting to attend at least one concert with you before you leave Mylapore. Hope to get more such opportunities even after you move to your new house.

Ram

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 18 Apr 2007, 00:23

Thanks, Ram.

I walked home with the impression that a considerable number of the audience were related to you!

It was nice to meet your family members..

And I'm really not going very far, plus will have a car, so...

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 18 Apr 2007, 21:37

Lakshman wrote:
4) charaNam charaNam - asAvEri - misra chApu - aruNAchala kavi
I always have a problem here because of the tamil script. Is it caraNam caraNam or sharaNam sharaNam or caraNam sharaNam or sharaNam caraNam?

Lji,
I have the same problem: it is complicated further by the fact that in tamizh, unlike hindi and sanskrit, the words caraN (feet) and sharaN (refuge) can't be differentiated...and that leads to yet another layer of confusion: Smt. MSS renders this particular composition as: sharaNam sharaNam enrAnE...and not the sibilant s (as in snake) or the 'c' (as in church) sound...making it 'offer me refuge'/'offer me refuge' said (vibhISaN)....it could conceivably be 'caraNam sharaNam enrAnE' - 'I seek refuge at your feet' said (vibhISaN)....If the rules were followed strictly, it would have to be saraNam (a sound/pronunciation that sounds very awful to me)....

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 18 Apr 2007, 21:56

Ravi,
You see my problem now. Added to it all, I am not very happy either when thAmizh is pronouncd in a sanskritized way (in dha, gha and so on). MSS did that here and there. Once in a while, it sounds as bad as when folks do NOT pronounce dhAs ghAs and such in other languages (of course, she was meticulous about it)!

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 18 Apr 2007, 22:07

I'd rather take a 'mukham' any day to 'saraNam'....

harimau · Post by **harimau** » 19 Apr 2007, 07:48

arasi wrote:Forgetting the grammar for a moment, sub, how would you deal with the first line (first words) of the following song?
'Solla Solla iniththiDumE amudan nAmam' or 'chollach cholla'? While singing it, it definitely sounds better as 'chollach cholla' to me. The song is in vAchaspathi and if poetic license is there, I prefer chollach cholla. At least in this particular juncture, it works for me...

Arasi, your Tirunelveli district background shines through when you say 'chollach cholla'. The Tanjore folks, incapable of properly pronouncing Tamil words, have mangled Tamil beyond belief but you can't expect much from folks who used to say 'emblathu' when they meant 'embathu' (eighty). Lakshman Ragade is forced to follow their horrible pronunciation and would spell the words as 'sholla sholla' in his composition bank.

Those who don't believe me only have to listen to movie songs from the 1940s onwards. By the 1970s rolled around, the 'ch' sound was slowly replaced by 's'. Unnikrishnan actually pronounces any word beginning with 'ch' with a sibilant 'sss'!

Yechhhh!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 19 Apr 2007, 08:03

sollaDI! is a Sol aDi (Chol aDi) for me as well:)

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 20 Apr 2007, 02:58

mahAkavi,

Quiz Question for you: What is context of the song? Does it imply vibhiSaNa has already performed SaraNagati?

Rengarajan · Post by **Rengarajan** » 20 Apr 2007, 08:20

Mandahasa Vadhana is an old pallavi which was rendered by her guru and all yester years musicians. It is the genious of mami to have signalled to the photo, which was apt to the line rendered

Music · Post by **Music** » 20 Apr 2007, 20:07

arasi wrote:Ravi,
You see my problem now. Added to it all, I am not very happy either when thAmizh is pronouncd in a sanskritized way (in dha, gha and so on). !

This is an interesting point. I have heard Dr. Ramanathan's rendering of 'Sabapatiku' where he pronounces it in the sanskritized way as 'Sabhapatiku'.
Going on the same lines, which one of the following is correct?
1. Harihara sutane or,
2. Harihari sudane?

('suta' being a Sanskrit word meaning son. The same word is used in Hindi and telugu too)

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 20 Apr 2007, 20:40

Music,
Thanks! This is exactly what I mean! So, the judgement call comes in (several components here--keeping the meaning intact, what the ear is used to etc). In thamizh, the word sutan is used rarely, if at all. So, it is 'sutan' for me since it is very much a sanskrit word! Moreover, you may come across as someone who has a malayALam influence if you sing it as sudan (Jesudas would). As I said before, it is a tough call. Take parAtparA paramESwarA of Sivan, for instance--with a pallavi entirely made up of sanskrit words--a good excercise in finding out our own choice of pronounciation. There are no hard and fast rules. If there are, I am not aware of them...