jayalakshmi santhanam@rAgasudha hall on Nov 6th,2007

[rajeshnat]

Accompanied by Dr Hemalatha - violin and Mridangam- MannarkOil BalAji and Vocal Support - SheelA rAjendran (Some one told me that Smt SheelA is daughter of Smt jayalakshmi).

Authentic sampradayA music is one where classicism takes center stage and is something that is more felt only when the main performer sings every sangathi in an allout manner . Smt Jayalakshmi was certainly quite old , but just had so much energy and gave a very good authentic sampradayA concert.

The start was a popular slOkham in "Gnanananda mayam devam" , very expressively sung in an open throated fashion. The nAttaikurinji varnam was sung quite good with a gentle descent here and there bringing the beauty of nAttaikurinji. She continued with a lovely rendition of sahAnA not sagging even a bit , holding her pitch very well. The next AbhOgi after sahAna was beautiful with a very open throated voice. There was one exhilirating experience in her superb tara sthayi lift in anupallavi line dhikku vErillai dheena sharannai devar... subramanya and looping back to pallavi , our balAji gave great support there. AbhOgi what a masterpiece

THe next alApana was in a rAga alApanai where it has become nearly impossible for me to distinguish with its closest cousin . I thought she sang kamAs, but when only after the violinist played I got it as harikAmbhOdhi. The rendition of rAma nannu brOvarA was very good with nice neraval in " meppulakai kannatAvu-nappu ". Her swaras in harikAmbOdhi was just ok.

After her little exhausting Abhogi and harikAmbOdhi , her drop of jujAvanthi was nice , again most noteworthy was her pitch never sagged. The next in hindOlam was excellent , her alankAram in the line pAmaramE unnakku ennaDi pEchu was exceptionally good. Swaras in hindOlam were too short. y.k.kAmbOdhi alApana was sung in a perfect vilambakAla speed, she never rushed and delivered it well (no trace of kedAragowlai ), I enjoyed the alApana more than the krithi .

Her rendition of nannu viDaci was just ok perhaps she could have cut this number and given more time for the main.Her open throated singing gelled well with saraswati manOhari , certainly made me awe with respect to think how she sings with such energy at this age these difficult fillers like saraswathi manOhari .

All till now was suddha madhyamA rAgas and I was pretty sure that the main would be kalyAni. My guess was right .Her alApana of kalyAni was sung excellently with no sag, the sedate pankaja lOchana was very good. The neraval was just ok , the swaras of kalyAni was perhaps below average(she did not give any vistAramana treatment). Always makes me wonder , the biggest challenge for carnatic musician is to make kalyAni as a main and also interesting throughout.

Post tani , with her style and voice being close to Smt DKP , all her tukkadAs were good. navarasa kannaDa was sung with lot of energy, a rare shyamA was rich in lyrical content and the most famous DKP defining shanti nilava venDum was sung with a lot of emotional feel. Dr hemalatha played very good, just could have made kalyAni little more interesting than staying too long in melancholy mood . balAji's play was very soothing , his tani was more rich in nAdham than strokes but certainly was very good. Smt SheelA gave a very apt support more taking turns to fill up the lung space , never increased the decibel .

1A Gnana nanda mayam Devam.. hayagreevam upAsmayE "slOkham" - nAttaikurinji?? -???
1B. chalamEla - nAttaikurinji - rangaswamy nAttuvanAr
2. vandanamu raghunandana - sahAnA - T
3. nekkurugi unnai - AbhOgi - pApanAsam Sivan

4. rAma nannu brOvarA (R,N,S) - harikAmbOdhi - T
neraval in "meppulakai kannatAvu-nappu"
5. akhilAndeshwari - jujAvanti- MD
6. raamanukku mannan muDi(R,S) - hindOlam - AK

7. hecherika ga (R)- yadukula kaambhOdhi - T
8. nannu viDaci - reetigowlai - T
9. enta vEDukondu - saraswati manOhari - T

10A. pankaja lOchana (R N S T) - kalyAni - ST
neraval in "shankara vidhivAra...?"
10B. tani

11. nanOru vilayAttu bommaiyA - navarasa kannaDa - pApanAsam Sivan
12. naaraayaNa naLinaayadha - shyamA - pApanAsam Sivan
13. shanthi nilava vendum - thillang - sethumadhava rao
14. pavamAna and sreenivAsaya mangalam

Overall my first concert of Smt Jayalakshmi was very good , came out with a feeling I should have heard her atleast a decade or two before. rAgasudha's Late Shri SVK's daughter Smt Jaya appears to follow the footsteps of her dad. It was very nice to see her going round the hall, checking the sound etc.., looks like rAgasudha is in safe hands.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
Thank you for the review. I had heard earlier through the family grapevine that she was not well at all two weeks before the concert and had to be hospitalized. I assumed the concert would be canceled. Nice to hear that she sang with energy. Did any other forum member attend the concert?

[jagan]

The glorious cutcheri pantha of the earklier years was on view. There was never a dull moment. No sagging. Her energy, open throated singing and the rousing rallies in the upper octaves was awesome.

In my view, the raga elaborations of Harikambodhi and Yadulukula Kambodji were superb. So also the kriti s, Akhilandeswari and Endha Veduko (her family property).

[sbala]

I was late but just in time to hear the Sahana and Harikambodhi. As others have stated, open-throated singing was the highlight. If she wasnt able to reach the higher octave, she sung one octave lower but never compromised by allowing the voice to thin.There were times during Akhilandeshwari when she sounded exactly like DKP.

[arasi]

Jayalakshmi Santhanam's concerts during the Season:

11th Dec: 5-30 PM: Gokhale Shastry Hall, Karpagambal Nagar, Mylapore

23rd Dec: 10 AM: Swamy Hall, R.K Mutt Rd, Mandaveli--Amruta Murali and B. Ganapathi Raman

25th Dec: 10-30 AM: Bharath Kalachar, T.Nagar--T.Rukmini, J.Vaidyanathan, S.V.Ramani, B.S.Purushotham.

31st Dec: 10 AM: Brahma Gana Sabha, Petachi Auditorium, Luz Church Rd.