Your responsibility as a Rasika this season

[Charu Venkat]

Two instruments in general have seen a decline in recent years- the Nagaswaram and the Veena.

Yet the Nagaraj seems to see enduring patronage amongst students since Ravi temple me a Nagaswaram player both in India and elsewhere.

This is not the case for the Veena where players often give up since there is little patronage.

Hence, as Rasikas it is our responsibility to attend and support Vainikas this season. Swell the numbers in the hall from 10 to 100, from a 100 to a 1000. When you start listening to the Veena, it will be difficult to stop, so all you have to do is to start.

This season make a pledge to keep the Veena alive.

[nadhasudha]

Two instruments in general have seen a decline in recent years- the Nagaswaram and the Veena.

Yet the Nagaraj seems to see enduring patronage amongst students since Ravi temple me a Nagaswaram player both in India and elsewhere.

This is not the case for the Veena where players often give up since there is little patronage.

Hence, as Rasikas it is our responsibility to attend and support Vainikas this season. Swell the numbers in the hall from 10 to 100, from a 100 to a 1000. When you start listening to the Veena, it will be difficult to stop, so all you have to do is to start.

This season make a pledge to keep the Veena alive.

Take a Listen to this budding vainika Rakshita Ramesh. Very nice and confident playing!! Concert on Parivadini.

https://youtu.be/ZkDSiCue4Hg

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Even 'big' Sabhas do not entertain Veena concerts unless the artist is a celebrity. Even the one or two slots seem to be considered as 'Parihaaram' of the series!

Only the Veena festivals where the artists keep changing
every 30 minutes (or even less) seem to be the only solace for Veena practitioners.

The fact is that Veena is the toughest to learn qmong south Indian instruments and it warrants intended listening by rasikas.

Certainly not like Violin.

That's why we have very few students for Veena.

[balavenu]

I've posted viewtopic.php?f=6&t=30293 on Ramana Balachandhran's veena concert schedule for the season. Kindly attend when convenient.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Thanks.
Note to catch up.

[shankarank]

I really liked this rendition : https://youtu.be/oG-ZQ2Ip5Ss?t=945. Another syllable/interval aware ( should I avoid the term viSranti now ) artiste. I did listen to his Mathrubhootham in an earlier competition as well.

Things I liked in the rendition: The Alapana was effective - long multi-phrases woven together in every go! In the kriti rendition: He stopped @ yOgiSvara mAnasa giving that artha bhAva. Vocalists have not done that. But the go back sangati ( I noted this in another instance) of the first line form the second line with continuity from D2 to N2 was again missing.

In the svaras; Final kOrvai for sakalAgama - had a beautiful poruttam that didn't sound like a poruttam until it was done! Wonderful.

The pickup picks up some blare - but I also noticed the Sruti is only about 2. Could he go higher?

Also when will we get to use ( and invent) a away from body kind of directional sensitive Mike array, that smothers over the kuDam but does not touch it - and that does not pickup the blare.

Here is an old article I found that discusses pickup: http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday ... 613045.ece

[Charu Venkat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1PGdTtjeq4

RS Jayalakshmi at Raga Sudha. 12 people watching the webcast.

Begin your responsibility now, and elevate Veena music to where it is supposed to be.

[sankark]

A great sedate grand YKK right now, 19:04 IST

[Charu Venkat]

Ninnu Sevinchana of Subbaraya Sastri.

[srikant1987]

toli janmamuna in bilahari now

bhairavi when I edit this post.

[srikant1987]

What exquisite music!

[balavenu]

I really liked this rendition : https://youtu.be/oG-ZQ2Ip5Ss?t=945. Another syllable/interval aware ( should I avoid the term viSranti now ) artiste. I did listen to his Mathrubhootham in an earlier competition as well.

Things I liked in the rendition: The Alapana was effective - long multi-phrases woven together in every go! In the kriti rendition: He stopped @ yOgiSvara mAnasa giving that artha bhAva. Vocalists have not done that. But the go back sangati ( I noted this in another instance) of the first line form the second line with continuity from D2 to N2 was again missing.

In the svaras; Final kOrvai for sakalAgama - had a beautiful poruttam that didn't sound like a poruttam until it was done! Wonderful.

The pickup picks up some blare - but I also noticed the Sruti is only about 2. Could he go higher?

Also when will we get to use ( and invent) a away from body kind of directional sensitive Mike array, that smothers over the kuDam but does not touch it - and that does not pickup the blare.

Here is an old article I found that discusses pickup: http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday ... 613045.ece

Shankaran, he plays at 2.5. Used to play at 3. Several factors influence the sruti -- his preference to sing along, finger hardening as the boy to adult transition happens (thereby admitting of higher sruti's since there's less chance of a cut), growing bone/muscle power (more power brings in the danger of overemphasized gamakas, etc.).

As to the pickup, thanks for the link. I was thinking of starting a separate thread on this. Have read numerous opinions on this matter in this forum. If am not wrong these are generally coming from rasikas, as opposed to performers. Every time you think you've "now" understood the mechanics (of the mike, pickup -- magnetic/accoustic, mixer, hall, etc.) you face a new challenge. Actually it's not impossible show a consistent tone so long as you are willing to drop your standards on certain other characteristics. I never knew there was something called "authentic" sound till some years ago from very sound sound engineers . However I realized later that some of the loved tones of senior musicians definitely don't fall in that category.

Then there's this left versus right (no, no, not that one!). The pluck oriented style demands less than the pull oriented style wrt sound requirements. For instance, please listen to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_y48VQw4wU between 3:00 and 3:15 -- a system set up for a right oriented style will not pick up these nuances. In this case it so happens that it's almost purely accoustic (as opposed to magnetic), but picked up with a good pickup.

OK, let me stop here and start a new thread .

[Nick H]

RS Jayalakshmi at Raga Sudha. 12 people watching the webcast.

Some of us, a little more than twelve but not that much many, did better than watch the webcast, we were there! And for some of us, it was our second veena concert of the day, having come from Jayalakshmi Sekar at NGS Mini.

Is that it? Is my Veena watching responsibility fulfilled, or do I have to go and see another one?

(Hey, I almost certainly will. I go to veena concerts because I like veena concerts, and have never been able to understand why they are unpopular )

PS... my wife's favourites are first, flute; second, veena; third, solo violin... and then probably two or three other things. Vocal comes a bit far down the list!

[harimau]

RS Jayalakshmi at Raga Sudha. 12 people watching the webcast.

Some of us, a little more than twelve but not that much many, did better than watch the webcast, we were there! And for some of us, it was our second veena concert of the day, having come from Jayalakshmi Sekar at NGS Mini.

.........

PS... my wife's favourites are first, flute; second, veena; third, solo violin... and then probably two or three other things. Vocal comes a bit far down the list!

At the temple at Vedaranyam, Saraswathi is shown not holding the veena but with the veena resting in front of her.

That is because Parvati, upon hearing Saraswathi playing the veena, expressed her appreciation (it couldn't be 'balE, balE' as that is a Persian word meaning 'more, more'). Upon hearing Parvathi's voice, Saraswathi put her veena down in shame because Parvathi's voice was so much sweeter than the sound from the veena. Parvathi at the Vedaranyam temple is called "Yaazhai Pazhittha Mozhiyaal".

I guess every single Carnatic vocalist is a Yaazhai Pazhittha Mozhiyar!

[arasi]

Harimau,
Lovely post. Vedaranyam meant only the salt satyAgrahA to me until now! Thanks...

[shankarank]

I guess every single Carnatic vocalist is a Yaazhai Pazhittha Mozhiyar!

I guess every Carnatic rasika is a Yaazhai Pazhittha seviyar! tam makkal(meaning artistes) mazhalai sollayE kEtpavar!

[Sivaramakrishnan]

At the temple at Vedaranyam, Saraswathi is shown not holding the veena but with the veena resting in front of her.

That is because Parvati, upon hearing Saraswathi playing the veena, expressed her appreciation (it couldn't be 'balE, balE' as that is a Persian word meaning 'more, more'). Upon hearing Parvathi's voice, Saraswathi put her veena down in shame because Parvathi's voice was so much sweeter than the sound from the veena. Parvathi at the Vedaranyam temple is called "Yaazhai Pazhittha Mozhiyaal".

I guess every single Carnatic vocalist is a Yaazhai Pazhittha Mozhiyar!

"Vipanchyaa gaayantee vividamapadaanam pasupathe:..............chalitasirasaa SAADHU vachane ...." -
the celebrated sloka in Shankaracharya's Soundarayalahari describes the celestial incidence. The Sanskrit word for appreciation is Saadhu

[harimau]

Harimau,
Lovely post. Vedaranyam meant only the salt satyAgrahA to me until now! Thanks...

Rama is supposed to have worshipped Siva here. On a hill on the way to Kodikkarai, there is a set of footprints on a rock and these are supposed to be Rama's.

Vedaranyam is one of the saptha vitanka kshetras and has one of the seven marakata lingas brought to earth by King Muchukunda. (I am not sure if it is still there or stolen. Temple security used to be -- and sometimes continues to be -- lax and quite a few of these have been stolen. Just a couple of weeks ago, police arrested some idol thieves on a tip and recovered one marakata linga whose asking price was in the range of Rupees 60 million).

The four vedas worshipped Siva here and locked the main doors as they left. Nobody could open the doors and devotees had to use the side entrance to the temple. The Saivite saints Appar and Gnanasambandhar arrived together to worship at the temple. After inquiring why the main doors were locked, Appar sang a set of ten songs which opened the door. Appar then requested Gnanasambandhar to lock the doors again so that the doors would function as intended. Gnanasambandhar sang ten songs and the doors could be locked again.

A temple that bears witness to the piety of the people. In a sandy town situated on the coast, huge stones were brought from elsewhere to erect this huge temple.

[ekrishnaprakash]

The temple and the maragadha lingam still exists and a special puja is performed in the evenings (not sure about the timing though) for the same. Very nice temple, but the maintenance is poor.