V Shankaranarayanan in Singapore on 29th Aug 2009

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 30 Aug 2009, 02:29

V Shankaranarayanan - Vocal
VV Ravi - Violin
Mannarkoil Balaji - Mridangam

OVK Krithi Concert
Venue: Krishnar Temple Auditorium
Duation: 2 h

Approximate Songlist:

01. nI dAn mecchikkoLLa vENDum (S @ pallavi) - srIranjani - Adi
02. ranganaAtam aniSam - gambhIra nATTai - Adi
03. asaindADum mayilonDRaikkANum (R, S @ pallavi) - simmhEndramadhyamam - Adi
04. pArvai onDRE pOdumE - suruTTi - Adi
05. ati nirupamA sundarAkara - pantuvarALi - Adi
06. vENugAna ramaNA (R, N @ pallavi, S, T) - tODi - rUpaka cApu ?
07. swAgatam kriSNA - mOhanam - Adi (tiSra naDai)
08. kaNNan varuginDRa nEram - senchuruTTi - Adi
09. nI nAma (mangaLam) - sowrASTram - Adi

VS and team presented a nice concert last evening dedicated to Oothukadu Venkata Kavi's compositions. The concert had a melodious start with nIdAn mecchikkoLLa vENDum, which had a fairly elaborate swaraprastharam with an expected but aesthetic culmination in DND,,, , which is a stock phrase in kalpanaswaras for a variety of ragas like vEghavAhini (any of TNK's recordings), kharaharapriya, srIranjani, etc. After a good rendition of the gambhIranATTai krithi, VS launched into a simmhEndramadhyamam alapanai which was quite concise and noteworthy for some thanam-like brigha sangathis and jaNTa sequences like PD DN NS. I am noticing that several artistes these days (Maharajapuram Ramachandran, Sowmya, NSG, now VS) use thanam phrases in alapanai, something which I have not heard much in recordings of yesteryear greats, and I welcome this practice, because (1) the semi-rhythmic style of thanam is very suitable for bringing out the beauty of certain ragas like madhyamAvati, and it can also offer some rhythmic variety amidst a freestyle alapanai, and (2) since people seem hell-bent on relegating RTPs to tukkaDa status, if they even venture to sing one, they might as well import elements of thanam into other components of manOdharma. MEl kAla neraval, for instance, has always been and continues to be sung in thanam fashion. Yes, you would think I'd be over my bitterness about the absence of thorough RTPs in the kutcheri format evolving these days.

Anyway, the simmhEndramadhyamam krithi was presented nicely, and had attractive kalpanaswaras with phrases like R P R, and the swaras sung around the tara rishabam were very good in general. My grandfather and I who had been listening to an excellent, elaborate srI venkaTa girISam by Nedunuri this morning, were pleasantly surprised by a second dose of suruTTi in the form of pArvai onDRE pOdumE, which is such a melodious composition. The subsequent pantuvarALi was fine, and then tODi ragam was taken up for main. VS sang a robust tODi, and included some elegant jArus about the dhaivatam and nishadam which sounded almost Hindusthani-esque. VENugAna ramaNA was sung well, with a thorough neraval in two speeds at the pallavi line which had a nice usage of S-P phrases. After a mostly mEl kAlam dominated kalpanaswara segment, thani was given, whereupon a slew of people promptly got up and made for the lift (which is within the auditorium), and didn't mind chattering amongst themselves as they waited either. If I were VS, I'd have told them off in front of everybody else. There was a good audience today of about 80-90 people (maybe because it was a free concert? I mean, barely 20 attended Neyveli's concert last Sun at the Glass Hall, which is barely 5 min from the Krishnar Temple, so location can't be to blame... Of course, last evening's concert was also an OVK special, which meant lots of Tamil compositions would be sung, which must be an attractive feature itself).

Both the tukkaDas were rendered very nicely, and I especially enjoyed the kAvaDi cindu piece.

V Shankaranarayanan sang quite well last night, though his shruti struggled at times, especially in the higher octave, and also in brigha sangathis. He also lost his breath quite frequently in racy madhyama kAla passages in krithis like ati nirupama. Nonetheless, he sang the krithis very well, and included elements of manOdharmam to ensure it remained a CM concert, though I would've liked another neraval in this concert. My grandfather also liked his singing, but said his pronunciation of some tamizh words lacked clarity.

VV Ravi was quite good on the violin, playing succinct raga alapanais and swara responses, though he underplayed slightly during the tODi neraval, I thought. Although he too struggled with shruti on occasion, his bowing and fingering were fluid. The volume for the violin was rather low, and as such, I could almost never hear the violin during krithi renditions.

Our own mridangam, Balaji sir, was an asset to the concert. This is the first time I'm hearing him play, and it was an enjoyable experience. He has an intricate, stroke-filled style which must take a lot of confidence to pull off especially in manOdharma segments, but he demonstrated good anticipation in all the kalpana swara and neraval segments, and where needed, allowed the vocalist the liberty to sing without the mrudangam and create his own swara patterns, and then he reproduced the patterns exactly during the violinist's turn. His accompaniment for the krithis was very lively, and certainly lifted the presentation of the krithis. Although Balaji sir plays with a lot of azhuttham and strokes, he is also well aware of the aesthetics of silence, and gave ample moments of silence during his accompaniment, and modulated his playing suitably for different krithis. I particularly enjoyed his accompaniment for the srIranjani and senchuruTTi krithis. His thani was quite short but very crisp and energetic. Having no knowledge about layam, I think he would be the best person to educate us on the kOrvai he played last night. I look forward to listening to him in the future!

All in all, it was a good concert and an evening well-spent.

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 30 Aug 2009, 02:32

Oh, and Jananee attended the concert too-- looking forward to reading her impressions.

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 30 Aug 2009, 08:12

Bilahari you have covered every aspect lucidly .. thank you very much .. Actually when you came i told Ravi sir that you are Bilahari and the person coming along with you might be Shankarabharanam (meaning your father ) and that is why i asked you whether that gentleman was your father. Now can you connect why i asked you that question ? I also asked Ravi sir what could be the father of Shankarabharanam after you said that person was your grandfather.

Jokes apart i enjoyed the concert thoroughly and the atmosphere was filled with hopes and expectation which i could find in each and every one of them. It was well met too by the choice of kritis, confident renditions, free flowing manodharma and the reciprocation that the artistes got after each and every piece.

Nothing more to add here .. will revert back soon

J.Balaji

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 30 Aug 2009, 08:22

Bilahari wrote "The volume for the violin was rather low, and as such, I could almost never hear the violin during krithi renditions. "

It was not only with violin and also with mridangam. When shankar started singing both violin and mridangam mike channels got automatically cut and when he was giving pause violin and mridangam could be heard through mike. Basically mridangam being a more volume instrument and also the hall was small probably i was heard even without the mike. Ravi sir's Simhendramadyamam and thodi ragas were excellently rendered showing his high calbre and 40 long years of experience.

Bilahari : that main kriti was in Misra Chaapu.

J.Balaji

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 30 Aug 2009, 08:30

Balaji sir, yes, in fact, the sound of the left hand side of the mrudangam sounded rather muffled. I gathered that you, too, weren't very pleased with the arrangement.

Thanks for the correction about the talam of the main-- I was a bit confused because VS didn't keep talam in the usual MC style of one clap and two waves.

What happened to the edit function in posts?

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 30 Aug 2009, 10:47

mridhangam wrote:Bilahari you have covered every aspect lucidly .. thank you very much .. Actually when you came i told Ravi sir that you are Bilahari and the person coming along with you might be Shankarabharanam (meaning your father ) and that is why i asked you whether that gentleman was your father. Now can you connect why i asked you that question ? I also asked Ravi sir what could be the father of Shankarabharanam after you said that person was your grandfather.

Elemantary Dr Watson , If bilahari's father is shankarAbharanam , then bilahari's grandfather is melakarthA

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 30 Aug 2009, 12:30

Yes Mr. Holmes, I see your point, Shankarabaranam IS A melakartha after all! My first thought was if ShankarAbharaNam refers to the attire of Shankara, then Shankara may be the father of that AbharaNA. Your answer is spot on!!