Chitravina N. Ravikiran's concert at Hamsadhwani on 15.2.09

malavi · Post by **malavi** » 16 Feb 2009, 20:31

Sri.Ravikiran Chitravina
kum.Anahita vocal support
Smt.Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi Violin
Sri. Srimushnam Rajarao Mrudangam
Sri.vaikkam.Gopalakrishnan ghatam

An excellent concert still ringing in my ears. The song list ( I could have missed one or two songs)

1. Ata Tala Varnam - Sahana -Patnam subrahmanya iyers ( A rare varnam)

2. Sri Rama padama - Amritavahini - Tyagaraja

3. Marivere - Lathangi - P.S ( ragam, swaram)

4. Mayamma - Ahiri - Syama Sastri

5. Janani ninnuvina - Ritigowlai - subbaraya sastri ( Ragam, Swaram)

6. An Oothukkadu kriti

7. RTP Ramapriya - adi - swaram in neelambari kapi

8. Tillana - Behag

On the whole it was a fantastic performance. Anahita a young disciple of Ravikiran sang very well proving worthy of her great Guru!
Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi provided equal support in all aspects. Tani Avartanam was very good.

The kalpana swarams in lathangi and raga alapanai in Ritigowlai especially stood out.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 17 Feb 2009, 11:18

Strange... how does one provide vocal support to a chitravINa?

uday_shankar · Post by **uday_shankar** » 17 Feb 2009, 13:14

I was at this concert as well as a previous one in which Anahita provided vocal support.

It's not really "strange" as it is novel. And I rather like it.

The young vocalist Anahita is extrordinarily sensitive and perceptive. And she's been Ravikiran's disciple for many years now. So she blends very well with the strings, singing the kriti along and providing a very useful sAhitya reference. This could help audience identify better with new compositions. The creative floruishes and improvisations are still the exclusive domain of the chitravina. However, many great instrumentalists possess extrordinary fidelity to the sAhitya, which does not get adequate exposure. I believe the vocal support provides the necessary sAhitya complement to the chitravina experience.

Generally speaking, I think vocal support for instrumental music is an excellent idea in Carnatic music, which, unlike Hindustani music, does not have a separate instrumental repertoire. Thus Carnatic audiences are vocal obsessed and miss out the special musical experience found in instrumental music. I would argue that familiarity with instruments will increase one's musical sensitivity, for both listener and performer. The experience can only be enhanced, but it requires some work. Perhaps adding a vocal support will get some more people interested in expanding their musical experience.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 17 Feb 2009, 14:29

It struck me as rather strange because CM instruments seek to replicate the voice as best they can, and to have a voice itself accompany an instrument which is trying to mimic the a voice seems rather like a ... futile cycle? But that's not to say that it's a concept that cannot work- I've just never considered this possibility before! Would be very interested in listening to even a short clip...

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 17 Feb 2009, 16:54

A rasikA is happy when he knows the words of a song as he listens to it on an instrument. Once in a while, Ravikiran sings lines from the songs he plays. It is helpful if you don't have an idea about the kruti. Yes, the sAhityA does not get lost and one can feel the impact of bhAvA better with words. It is not new since most vainikAs sing along here and there as they play. I suppose it is natural too since they learn a song both by singing and playing it.

Priya_s · Post by **Priya_s** » 17 Feb 2009, 17:42

This seems to be a very novel and intriguing idea!! I'd have loved to listen to that concert..........I guess it might have been quite tough for the vocalist to synchronize perfectly with chitravina......i remember anahitha singing mahalakshmi jaganmatha for the school prayer a few years back...i never knew she w'd come this far!!Really amazing!!!

chalanata · Post by **chalanata** » 18 Feb 2009, 11:04

I found that the voice was overshadowed by the chitraveena. chitraveena has such a dominating sound that the voice of the girl was not all audible most of the times and RK had to instruct the girl to raise the volume of her voice quite a bit. a veena and voice may gel with clear identification of each but the same is not possible in chitraveena because its gamaka is quite loud in the absence of frets.
RK in fact made a similar excercise with OST last year in parthasarathy sabha. that was a fine concert not only because of the flourishing voice of OST but also because in comparison competency wise they are equals.
The girl from what the audience could hear has a sweet voice no doubt but did not provide a rally enough to counter the complicated swaras of RK. most of the time she was putting thalam and keeping quiet.
the concert otherwise was excellent and RK's kalpanaswara in lathangi was one of the finest that i have heard in recent times. Lalgudi junior provided an excellent subdued support. srimushnam was sulky in the beginning but compensated in thani as usual ably supported by vaikam.

Always_Evolving · Post by **Always_Evolving** » 18 Feb 2009, 12:03

chalanata wrote:I found that the voice was overshadowed by the chitraveena. chitraveena has such a dominating sound that the voice of the girl was not all audible most of the times and RK had to instruct the girl to raise the volume of her voice quite a bit. a veena and voice may gel with clear identification of each but the same is not possible in chitraveena because its gamaka is quite loud in the absence of frets.

Quite an erroneous statement. There is nothing inherently loud about the instrument or its fretless-ness. It is amplified electronically. On that day the audio was below par -- different mics were not in proper balance and the overall effect was poor. In particular Anahita (yes "the girl" has a name) was not audible.

RK in fact made a similar excercise with OST last year in parthasarathy sabha. that was a fine concert not only because of the flourishing voice of OST but also because in comparison competency wise they are equals
The girl from what the audience could hear has a sweet voice no doubt but did not provide a rally enough to counter the complicated swaras of RK. most of the time she was putting thalam and keeping quiet.

It was WAY not a similar exercise. Anahita was not attempting a jugalbandi with her guru. The idea of vocal support in this case was precisely as Uday said -- to blend with the strings and provide a sahitya reference. She was not supposed to be rallying swaras or competing for the limelight.

the concert otherwise was excellent and RK's kalpanaswara in lathangi was one of the finest that i have heard in recent times. Lalgudi junior provided an excellent subdued support. srimushnam was sulky in the beginning but compensated in thani as usual ably supported by vaikam.

hmmm... I wish we could refer to current leading musicians in a more appropriate way. "Lagudi junior"??!

saramati · Post by **saramati** » 18 Feb 2009, 12:10

i think the review is drifting from Shri.Ravikiran's chitraveena concert to Ms.anahita's voice being audible or not?

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 18 Feb 2009, 16:23

Always_Evolving wrote: hmmm... I wish we could refer to current leading musicians in a more appropriate way. "Lagudi junior"??!

Agree. Being a member of the "old boys club" here at rasikas should provide no immunity for such uncouth verbiage.

uday_shankar · Post by **uday_shankar** » 18 Feb 2009, 17:30

I think Arasi's short post above sums up all points neatly. What more is there to be said about this matter ?! Always_Evolving is also right.

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 18 Feb 2009, 22:45

Smt.Rajeswari Padmanahan always used to sing along as she played the vINai. I think it is the 'kAraikudi 'tradition.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 20 Feb 2009, 04:41

sureshvv wrote:
Always_Evolving wrote: hmmm... I wish we could refer to current leading musicians in a more appropriate way. "Lagudi junior"??!
Agree. Being a member of the "old boys club" here at rasikas should provide no immunity for such uncouth verbiage.

We are taking things too seriously, labeling a casual term of endearment with a heavy negative baggage.

'old boys club' : Well, there is really no such thing though you can conjecture such a thing based on the sign up date. As we all know, there are reverant and irreverant ones from any of the clubs

Cheers!!

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 20 Feb 2009, 08:35

vasanthakokilam wrote:
We are taking things too seriously, labeling a casual term of endearment with a heavy negative baggage.

If that is so, I apologize for jumping the gun. Still I think it is important to ensure posters are polite to artistes and are hauled up when they stray.

We could place the threshold for politeness slightly lower between posters in the heat of debate.

chalanata · Post by **chalanata** » 20 Feb 2009, 13:21

VK,

Thanks.