Review: O.S. Thyagarajan in Atlanta, May 14, 2006

Sangeet Rasik · Post by **Sangeet Rasik** » 16 May 2006, 00:29

This is a review of O.S. Thyagarajan's recital organized by the Carnatic Music Association of Georgia (CAMAGA), Atlanta, GA on May 14, 2006 at the Hindu Temple Auditorium.

CAMAGA is run by a dedicated group of volunteers and does an excellent job of propagating bharatiya shastriya sangeet among the Indian community in Atlanta through lec-dems, classes, and a well-attended concert program.

O.S. Thyagarajan's kacheri on May 14 served one useful purpose - it was a lesson in what should be avoided in the public performance of shastriya sangeet.

Having arrived at the venue ten minutes early, one had the opportunity to observe Thyagarajan's preparations. Ideally, a well-tuned tanpura at medium volume and quiet preparation by the artistes creates a reposeful atmosphere. Thyagarajan's set-up was characterized by loud throat-clearing and coughing, an excessively loud electronic tanpura, and trading wisecracks in Tamil with the accompanists.

Thyagarajan fired an opening salvo of three Tyagaraja krtis in ragas Gauri Manohari, Dhenuka, and Kamavardhani. The choice of three melakarta ragas revealed poor concert planning, made worse by Thyagarajan's "need for speed". By the time Kamavardhani was delivered, he had achieved an almost breakneck pace. The next offering - "Srivalli devasenapate" by Papanasam Sivan in yet another melakarta raga Natabhairavi, stirred some hope.

However, this flicker was all too brief, as the alapana in Suddha Dhanyasi revealed. Thyagarajan tortured this audava raga with aimless and extended swara excursions that destroyed its crisp, abbreviated charm. Faced with this onslaught, this author had to seek refuge in the silent words -"Subrahmanyena rakshitoham" - well before Thyagarajan began the krti. The krti, a fine piece of Muthuswami Dikshitar, was delivered perfunctorily. A sahitya error in the charana (substitution of "Saanandena" with "Aanandena") stood out. The madhyamakala portion of the charana lacked conviction and defeated the purpose of Dikshitar who devised an arresting finale to the krti.

Another melakarta raga - Kiravani - was chosen by Thyagarajan as the main item for special torture. The Kiravani alapana revealed the musician's full divorce from ragalakshana. Thyagarajan encroached repeatedly upon Simhendramadhyamam and Gauri Manohari. In his hands, Kiravani appeared as a musical "Frankenstein" cobbled together from Simhendramadhyamam and Gauri Manohari with no consideration for its unique and interesting swarupa.The following Tyagaraja krti was ho-hum. It appeared to be one of the many "generic" Tyagaraja compositions.

Thus in a single afternoon, Thyagarajan managed to cut a destructive swath through no less than three Chakras of melakarta ragas, with the Veda Chakra (containing Natabhairavi, Kiravani, and Gauri Manohari) being almost entirely demolished.

He then trained his guns on the desya (of Northern origin) ragas. First to be dragged in was Bageshree, and the unfortunate victim was M.D. Ramanathan's masterpiece "Sagarashayana vibho". The limitations of Thyagarajan's reedy voice came out during his attempts to execute the beautiful swaraksharic glide from shadja to tarasthayi madhyama in the phrase "Saamagana". He wound up his campaign with a few "lighter" items, taking potshots at Nilambari and Madhyamavati among others.

With "Full-Speed-Ahead" Thyagarajan at the wheel, B. Ganesh Prasad (violin) and P. Subramanian (mrdangam) were more-or-less passengers and seemed resigned to their fate. Ganesh Prasad's essay in Kiravani was quite credible and Subramanian provided a good tani avartana.

To the younger folks and rasiks/rasikas of shastriya sangeet - my advice is please do not follow the practices of musicians like Thyagarajan. Some tips:

1) SLOW DOWN. As on the road, Speed Kills.
2) Pay attention to raga lakshana. All ragas are not to be sung in the same manner.
3) Understand the sahitya and incorporate its bhava in rendition.
4) Study and practise compositions of composers such as Dikshitar and Maharaj Swati Tirunal - between them we have a repertoire of almost 1000 compositions replete with towering masterpieces. Most concerts today have excessive focus on Tyagaraja krtis.

Best Wishes,
Sangeet Rasik

onetwothree · Post by **onetwothree** » 16 May 2006, 03:15

Sangeet Rasik, were you in a bad mood or something?? Looks like you didn't like ANY part of the concert. Jokes apart, I am waiting for the moderators to come out talking baloney about how uneducative your post is, and how baseless and unfounded your accusations are ...

Warning:you may soon be asked to leave the forum or abide by the "rules" and respect "authority"

Sangeet Rasik · Post by **Sangeet Rasik** » 16 May 2006, 03:55

Sangeet Rasik, were you in a bad mood or something?? Looks like you didn't like ANY part of the concert. Jokes apart, I am waiting for the moderators to come out talking baloney about how uneducative your post is, and how baseless and unfounded your accusations are ... Warning:you may soon be asked to leave the forum or abide by the "rules" and respect "authority"

Hi,

I posted my honest review of the concert. I do not know Thyagarajan nor do I have anything personal against him. Some of the problems I mentioned exist in how karnataka shastriya sangeet as a whole is practised today - but that is a different discussion.

And no - I was not in a bad mood. In fact I got there early, in all eagerness. Three weeks ago I had listened to a good recital by Gayatri-Ranjani at the very same venue.

Best Wishes,
Sangeet Rasik

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 16 May 2006, 04:08

onetwothree, I know you have an axe to grind with the mods, but you don't have to pollute unrelated threads with that...

Sangeet Rasik, thanks for taking the time to write the review. A couple of concerts of OST I have heard, it was quite fast... So that is his bAni, I guess inherited from his guru TMT.

onetwothree · Post by **onetwothree** » 16 May 2006, 04:17

[I posted my honest review of the concert. I do not know Thyagarajan nor do I have anything personal against him]

Sure, sometime or the other we've all been really looking forward to a concert and been quite dissapointed. I think its all the anticipation that results in a big letdown. Besides, we rasikas in the US really look forward to the concert in our area while forgetting the fact that these artists have been giving 30+ concerts all around the US.

[onetwothree, I know you have an axe to grind with the mods, but you don't have to pollute unrelated threads with that...]

I am just warning sangeet rasik, thats all!! After witnessing what happens to other people who write negative stuff in this forum, a little warning is useful lest he runs away or something after seeing your admonitions.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 16 May 2006, 05:17

Sangeeth Rasik.
As some one who has attended atleast 30-35 concerts of OST (starting with a sublime 4 hour concert for MUDRA in the Company of Umayalpuram Sivraman and MC in the mid 80s) I have no doubt that yours was an honest review.
But your inclination to give advice (don't follow the practices of musicians like OST...) was a bit too presumptous.
There is no need for that in a review .
Most of us who visit this forum can make up our minds for ourselves .

Sangeet Rasik · Post by **Sangeet Rasik** » 16 May 2006, 05:41

Sangeeth Rasik.
As some one who has attended atleast 30-35 concerts of OST (starting with a sublime 4 hour concert for MUDRA in the Company of Umayalpuram Sivraman and MC in the mid 80s) I have no doubt that yours was an honest review.
But your inclination to give advice (don't follow the practices of musicians like OST...) was a bit too presumptous.
There is no need for that in a review .
Most of us who visit this forum can make up our minds for ourselves .

Hi,

Sorry if my advice appeared presumptuous to you. I notice that this forum is visited by many - hopefully a number of them are learning karnatak sangeet. Even if they did not read a word of the review, I hope they did read the advice section - it is well considered.

I have mentioned my reasons for my criticism of the recent kacheri - I do not know why and if the other kacheri 20 years ago was sublime, and I hope it was.

Best Wishes,
Sangeet Rasik

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 16 May 2006, 06:35

I mentioned that I did not doubt that your review was an honest one.

But I wonder if you are aware of the responsibility that goes with the advice
of
"NOT TO FOLLOW PRACTICES OF MUSICIANS LIKE OST" ,

and that too,
to a segment targeted by you , the young and the new.

But I will rest this matter here.

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 16 May 2006, 18:00

I am certainly not a fan of OST. Perhaps the contrary? Not sure anymore.

Still, even so, I would condone a comment like this: "NOT TO FOLLOW PRACTICES OF MUSICIANS LIKE OST" You might see why below.

In OST's case, I am not fond of much of his stuff at all. But there was an exceptional concert where I still remember him taking a hamsadwani piece, a tOdi piece and behAg exceptionally. I remember tOdi being Thyagaraja's "Emi Jesithe" and bEhAg being "Muruganin" (Surajananda). Ironically, it was his manodharma in tOdi and rendition of Thyagaraja's piece that impressed me, rather than the Tamil piece. It was a wonderful tOdi, quite unique. Like all famous artists, he does have something special about his music (just in hiding a lot of the time?). Still, I preferred his style to Sanjay or Unnikrishnan at the time, as he wasn't so nasal like the latter two. I guess there are +ives that OST's music after all!

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 16 May 2006, 18:29

Still, I preferred his style to Sanjay or Unnikrishnan at the time, as he wasn't so nasal like the latter two.

I would hardly classify their voices (or styles) as nasal! Semmangudi could be called nasal.

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 16 May 2006, 20:06

The feature isn't so obvious in Sanjay, I admit.

Unnikrishnan and Bombay Jayashree are prime examples of nasal vocalists. Unnikrishnan has improved a bit, recently, apparently...

It doesn't show so obviously in Semmangudi. Though, I remember hearing a few of his disciples when I was a kid. They maintained that nasal style/voice VERY obviously...

Notice that artists like Chembai, Yesudas or KBS can't be given the same 'title'.