Kasim and Babu@BGS on Jan 28th,2012

[rajeshnat]

Kasim and Babu@BGS on Jan 28th,2012
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Nadaswaram : Kasim and Babu
Spl Thavil : Thirupungur Muthukumaraswamy
Thavil : dharApuram???? manikandan

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours 20 mins /Saturday
Concert Type : Nirvana (prime evening concert , no concert to follow)
Sabha/Hall : Brahma gAna sabhA

1. DarbAr varnam????(not sure)
2. sugunamulE chEppukoNti (S) - chakravAkham - T
6 mins swaras

3. sadA sAranga(RS S) - ranjani - yoganarasimhan
4. vAnanai madisooDiya (R,S) - keeravAni - appar (tevAram)
8 mins alapanai
15 mins swaras

5. janaki ramana - suddaseemanthani - T
6A. evari mAta (R,S) - kAmbOdhi - T
11 mins alapanai
8 mins swaras
6B. tani for 20 mins

7. rAmA nAmamE(RS) - dEsh - TSI
8. tirupati venkataramanA??? - sindubhairavi - PD
9. thirruppugazh?? (not sure) + mangalam in madhyamAvati

Kasim and Babu are maternal grandsons of Shiek Chinna Moulana . I have personally heard very less of Chinna moulana though do know he is a great vidwan . My personal experience is mainly sticking with my two favourite nayanam artists kAraikkurichi and TNR and listening mostly to their recordings.Also of late I began to like few recordings of this vedAranyam vedamurthy.

I guess nayanam in general had its optimal sound setting in a temple prahAram where there is a lot of dissipation loss prior to hitting our ears, especially the thavil needs the most dissipation loss . But certainly after migration to cities, nayanam has taken a backseat especially with the general fear of sound SOUND. (I am assuming there are many of us who have the intrinsic phobia like me) .

It was saturday , decided to go for a concert. There was one vidwan singing in nanganallur and a young vidushi singing in alwarpet.Went to BGS to hear my first full length live concert of nAdaswaram and overall it was definitely an experience to cherish.

Kasim and Babu started with darbAr??? ,went only in the second half did not hear fully and I could not make much impressions . The second in chakravakham was in a typical rolling mode , liked their synchronicity with one brother Kasim really taking more powerful sangathis , swaras were measured and well done.

The next number in ranjani was really stunning , it was exquisite and they had brought in a shade of melody too in their nayanam . TNR and Karaikkurichi fleeting experience was felt in janaki ramana in suddaseemanthini, a rAga for the nayanam and they played beautifully. The next in keeravani was something very expansive , the alapana had a lot of their characteristic piDIs and it was nice to hear vAnanai . Swaras in keeravani had quite a bit of kanakku and sarvalaghu mix , their blow was showcasing the difficulty of generally playing this instrument .

The main in kAMbODHI was a bit of mixed bag. The alapanai was well done , it was not a stormy kAmbOdhi more championed by Babu , but definitely hit all the right kAMbOdhi essence , the krithi was not that interesting as also with swaras , somehow the muse was not really that great, they strictly adhered without much manOdharmam there.

Tukkadas were wonderful, Desh was played bit fast almost could hum every line of sangathi and sindhubhairavi was superb, had a lot of hindustani touch.

There was good rotation between the tavil and Spl tavil artists, the clarity of strokes especially with senior artist ,Thirupungur Muthukumaraswamy who played with lot of assertion , at times assertion also produces a lot of sound , i guess that is the way of life for thavil or in general any percussion.

If there was one thing that was very interesting in the concert it was the way they ended few krithis , the keeravani, desh and sindhubhairavi .While kasim was playing and holding the sA, babu was giving a sustained melody of shenai like bismillah khan effect and there was a feather touch from thavil artists . It was so soothing and wonderful.

[rajeshnat]

Few cribs:
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Having said that , I generally like nadaswara vidwans to get into the territory of going with more exploratory manodharmam especially in RAgabhavam either thru the alap or swaras ,and at times like TNR or karaikkurichi take a bit of artistic liberty in presenting those manOdharmic elements and intersperse as interesting sangathis right inside the krithis. It adds a lot of charm in taking those manOdharmic liberties . But that did not happen .

Googling in the internet , I find that these vidwans have more a gayaki style of play which in first place I question if it is indeed needed for nAdaswaras . I feel nAdaswara vidwans should forget words and get into the moods of rAgas , atleast that suits the best of my taste and open up newer frontiers for the next upcoming vocal artist to catch up and copy.

Also at times especially during the last few minutes of tani and for few krithis when both thavil artists play, it becames unbearably loud. But overall the volume phobia that I had was somewhat not present .Kudos to the nayanam team, they have adapted to the changing times by not over banging and giving a gentle shenai effect .

We have to thank Shri nalli kuppuswami chettiar for arranging in a prime sabha with posh seats and not shedding any crocodile tears that we all collectively do by keeping nAdsaswaram in the sabha for the opening ceremony and close it immediately . I was glad to find the kelvinator AC person of BGS and managed to switch off the AC , in my almost gONEbODY in that deep-freeze main.

There was definitely a great attendance about 250+ in BGS ,about 60-70 % hall was full , every one was silent unlike marriages where nayanam is played . There was near pin drop silence which is so rare.

Overall a very good concert .

[annamalai]

Thanks for the review. TNR is the more expansive, free flowing style. One point I would to mention - TNR and Karaikuruchi great Nadaswara vidwans - there were also other Nadaswaram traditions and greats - who used to render krithis in a compact way - Kacchidham (dunno the correct english equivalent).

I understand Tiruveezhimizhalai brothers (same period as TNR) were known for their krithi rendition - Swararaga sudha (Sankarabaranam), ... TNS recalled an incident how Mannargudi Chinna Pakkiri used to render Sree Rajagopala (Saveri) for the procession of Mannargudi Rajagopala swamy.

I have listened to some of Sheik Chinna Moulana renditions of krithis and the packing of sangathis is very nice.
BTW, Karaikuruchi and TNR renditions are different - Arunachalam has more compact krithi rendtions - Mariyadagayya (Bhairavi) .

[rajeshnat]

Annamalai
Yes thiruveezhimizhilai brothers is known for compactness. TNR for expansive free flowing style. KAraikkurichi has a tinge like TNR but the nAdham is at times so pleasant to my ears. Some time before about 5 or 6 years there was a mention about Vedaranyam vedamurthy, who plays slowly , IIRC there was a forumite by id vinayO who said vedamurthy is like MDR.

WIth respect to Sheik Chinna Moulana , I think his manaseega guru is TNR , but his style is gayaki style, which kasim and babu have taken. There are indeed different styles of nAdaswaram artists.

[arasi]

Nice to see nAdasvara reviews, one after the other! May there be more--by which I mean, more attendance. Harimau is happy, I guess...

Annamalai,
In this context, can kachitham mean: to the point?

[Sivaramakrishnan]

I don't think anyone has got/inherited Sheik Chinnamoulana's style in full.