Ganesh Kumaresh fpr MILAPFEST, Liverpool - 27 Nov 2010

[MaheshS]

Ganesh Kumaresh - Violin
Patri Satish Kumar - Mridangam
Kausic Sen - Tabla

Copestone Theatre,
Hope University, Livepool

From 13:15 - 15:00

1. ??? - Mayamalavagowla [Swarams]
2. ??? - Hindolam [ Alapanai by Ganesh, Swarams]
3. ??? - Nasikabhushani [ Alapanai by Kumaresh, Swarams]

10 minute break

4. Ragam Thanam Pallavi - Shankarabaranam - Adi Talam 2 Kalai, sundu viral [little finger] eduppu.
5. Thani

Brilliant concert. Me and my wife reached the venue abotu 12:45, there were about 100 people there already. Barring a very few asians it was a western audience. We had to stand outside fora bit as they were getting the auditorium ready. I was suprised when I went in, fantastic place, beautifully set. There were baout 200 odd people by now. A good turn out.

The first three pieces I could not identify the song, I think it's their own composition. The swaras for MMG was fantastic and was enjoyed by all. All the artists in the stage were smiling, encouraging each other and clapping. It was very nice that they appreciated each other. The Hindolam was a slow number. It was a good 5 minute alapanai of Nasaikabhusahi by Kumaresh.

After the break, they announced that they will be playing a RTP in Shankarabaranam. The alapani was slowly and nicely built by the brothers. The thanam was *fantastic*. Each round was applauded and applauded loudly. They did not sing the pallavi line and neither did they announce the thalam. But all of them were putting thalam on stage for the rest, so it was easy to figure out. If I am wrong, I apologise!! They did trikalam and finished off with a synchronised swarams which was very nice. It ended with abang and the organiser thought it was the end, and she walked over to thank the artists when Ganesn mentioned that it was not yet over. The audience and the artists all had a good laugh.

Then started the thani. WOW. Patri and Kausic played some fantastic combination's with the audience apprecaiting with applause for each round. It was about a 10 minute thani. The biggest applause was for the thani.

And that was that, I expect a small krithi after the thani,but it was 3 already so they finished the concert and the team got a very well deserved standing ovation.

Venue, Acoustics, Sound System, Ambience and the Concert - all fantastic.

Thank you MILAPFEST for organising these events. And it was a free concert as well!! Bravo

I thought we might get stuck in the football crowd, one of the Liverpool teams, Everton have a home game today [15:00 kickoff] and the stadium is only 5 mins away. But by the time the concert finished, all the football crowd would have been in the stadium, so no problem getting home!!

And Man United are 5 nil up already. Brilliant afternoon.

[rajeshnat]

MaheshS
This is a carnatic concert ,the violinist duo is not sharing the dias with a sitar artist to have a second tabla percussion . If that is the case why should there also be a tabla accompanist that too when this firework paTri being there. In addition, this is an inside out CM concert with pallavi.

Any reasons is it just to pull North Indians from liverpool , finding it bit strange to notice the combo of RTP with tablA |( ?

[mankuthimma]

Any one noticed the beauty of the Tabla play yesterday on AIR sammelan? . He was playing like a mridangam artist . My uncle who is a small town tabla artist himself said that he was playing a type of tabla called Sur Tabla - a set which resonates a bit more . Any one knows more about this ? I will play that clip tomorrow . sorry for the digression.

[srikant1987]

Any reasons is it just to pull North Indians from liverpool , finding it bit strange to notice the combo of RTP with tablA

Well, CM-HM jugalbandis often include RTPs, and they also have tabla. RTPs are closer to khayAls in a way, in that both are manodharma-rich. This is true even of jugalbandi pairs like TNK-NR by the way.

The very presence of a pallavi doesn't mean that a concert is super-heavy, and even less that it is super-classical.

[rajeshnat]

Well, CM-HM jugalbandis often include RTPs, and they also have tabla. RTPs are closer to khayAls in a way, in that both are manodharma-rich. This is true even of jugalbandi pairs like TNK-NR by the way.

Srikant
Let jugalbandhi concerts that have CM-HM confluence(like TNK and NR or say BMK&AjoyChakravarthy) have both tabla and mridangam .Just reading what maheshs has written it looks like it is not a jugalbandhi concert as such. Awaiting more clarification from maheshs.

The very presence of a pallavi doesn't mean that a concert is super-heavy, and even less that it is super-classical.

I have not made any references on heaviness in my previous post.Perhaps you are opening a new point here. RTP in shankarAbharanam means it is very carnatic, if it was classical or not , I would not know that only those who attended would know.

[bilahari]

I, too, wonder why a tabla was included. In this case, the "why" rather than "why not" question applies given the norm in a Carnatic concert.

[MaheshS]

MaheshS
This is a carnatic concert ,the violinist duo is not sharing the dias with a sitar artist to have a second tabla percussion . If that is the case why should there also be a tabla accompanist that too when this firework paTri being there. In addition, this is an inside out CM concert with pallavi.

Any reasons is it just to pull North Indians from liverpool , finding it bit strange to notice the combo of RTP with tablA |( ?

To be honest, it was not advertised as a carnatic concert. Their ad says the following

"They come together for Milapfest presenting a heady mix of improvisation, as well as scintillating classical and new contemporary compositions".

They did not move one bit away from the Carnatic genre though. No *shades* of Hindustani at all. With ragas like MMG and Nasikabhushani there is pretty low chance of Hindustani creeping in. I just wished they played atleast one familiar krithi, for example Sama javaragamana in Hindolam. Weirdly, there weren't many North-Indians present. It was about 95% Western Audience. Sri Kausic Sen's play was very unobtrusive and added value to the concert in my opinion. Patri did steal the show, I will say again, WOW. His anticipation and thani was amazing. At one point, there was about 2 mins which was like hearing Umayalpruam Sivaraman, the chapu's made a divine sound, at the finish of that, Kausic Sen applauded Patri before continuing his play.

I have no idea what made Milapfest include a tabla for the brothers, but after hearing the concert, I can't find fault with them. Maybe to woo a non-carnatic audience. Westerners are more familiar with the tabla than the mridangam.

[mankuthimma]

Rajesh
To use Vadivel's lines ... Nee Romba Overaaa porey ....
Man .. That is an artschool far away from Mylapore ... They have managed to make the Brothers play chaste CM Music .. which You and Myself cannot do here in Chennai and you still need an answer for the presence of the Tabla .
It is a Creative arts school which says ( Visit their website )

and even if you would like to learn Indian music on your own instrument, there is an opening for you.

So a hundred things could have happened to make that Tabalji climb on to the dias .It is not blasphemous , is it ?

[Nick H]

Our group played for a Liverpool audience, with me on morsing. At first, I was a little shocked to find an audience of almost 100% non-Indian/non-Tamil. It felt like playing away from home, and my stage nerves were affected badly.

In the event, it turned out that I have never played to a more attentive, more involved, or more interested audience. Not only listeners, but there were eyes on every musician and every instrument, asking, what is happening here, what is being played, how is it being played? It was a wonderful experience.

If any that saw the humble group of students of which I was part were there to see G & K (and most likely they were, the number of real western rasikas in UK is not huge) then I am sure that they would have loved it, and the audience themselves would have contributed to a wonderful atmosphere.

Unconventional though they can be, I keep a soft spot for G & K. One of their London concerts, with K V Prasad accompanying, was one of the events that nudged me into mridangam class. One of their tapes was a constant source of comfort to me in the hospital days following serious surgery, and they played one of my first-ever, first-visit, Chennai concerts.

[mankuthimma]

Any one noticed the beauty of the Tabla play yesterday on AIR sammelan? . He was playing like a mridangam artist . My uncle who is a small town tabla artist himself said that he was playing a type of tabla called Sur Tabla - a set which resonates a bit more . Any one knows more about this ? I will play that clip tomorrow . sorry for the digression.

http://www.mediafire.com/?8kmifb5q3p9dgg1
sample here