Kiranavali Vidyashankar @ Carnatica Global Music Fest

[tiruvarur]

After hearing her at Parthasarathy Swami Sabha a week back, I decided to attend this concert too.

Accompaniments:

Jyothsna Srikanth - Violin
Sridhar Chari - Mridangam
Akshay Ananthapadmanabhan - Kanjira

Song list:

1. Karunimpa - Sahana Varnam - Adi - Veenai Kuppaiyer
2. Brochevarevare - Sriranjani - Adi - Tyagaraja
3. Apparamabhakti - Pantuvarali - Rupaka - Tyagaraja (Neraval & Swarams)
4. Brovabharama - Bahudari - Adi - Tyagaraja (Ragam & Swarams)
5. Kamalamba - Anandabhairavi - Misra Chapu - Muthuswami Dikshitar
6. Nannubrochutaku - Todi - Adi - Subbaraya Shastri (Ragam & Swarams)
7. Saramaina - Behag - Rupaka - Swati Tirunal
8. Tillana - Bindumalini - Adi - Ravikiran (I clarified this with the artiste post-concert)
9. Chinnanchirukiliye - Ragamalika - Bharatiyar

I was told that the concert started after a brief delay as the violinist showed up a few minutes late and I was thus able to catch the concert from the end of the Varnam. The concert really picked up for me from the Pantuvarali neraval & swarams. The handling of Bahudari was tasteful and refreshing. Todi had the classical stamp all over it and the kriti was a rare treat. I was particularly happy with the extensive slow-tempo kalpanaswarams and the brisk rounds of the fast kalpanaswarams. Indeed Kiranavali seems to excel in kalpanaswaram singing - there were also some very good patterns in Bahudari. She ended the Behag javali with some interesting and imaginative variations at Chaluchalura. The Bindumalini tillana made us sit up and wonder whose beautiful composition it was, and it is a great piece by Ravikiran (he was also at the concert). The concert ended with a touching rendition of the immortal poem by Bharatiyar, during which I could even see a few people wiping their eyes!

Jyothsna had a sruti issues with her violin and this seemed to affect the vocalist. Kiranavali regained her composure after a few minutes, but the violin didn't greatly improve. Her response throughout the concert was quite muted. The mridangam and kanjira players are both new to me, but provided excellent support throughout. The audience, though not great in number (~50), was very appreciative.

Kiranavali, as mentioned in another thread, comes across as a very original thinker steering clear of cliched phraseology. In my opinion, the one thing that would make her music more accessible to a listener is if she opened her eyes a bit more and sang. I know many artistes (esp ladies) today keep their eyes closed for a large part of the concert, but the listener connects better with some eye contact, don't you think? From here I headed to Parassala Ponnammal's concert at Nada Inbam and I couldn't help wondering if the young Kiranavali would be a future Ponnammal!