Jayanthi Kumaresh@Chennai Fine Arts on Dec 23rd,2017

[rajeshnat]

Jayanthi Kumaresh@Chennai Fine Arts on Dec 23rd,2017
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Veena : Jayanthi Kumaresh
Mrudangam : R Sankaranarayanan
Kanjira : Trichy Krishnaswamy

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Saturday/ 2 hours (06:40 pm to 08:40 pm)
Concert Type: Free Concert
Hall : Sastri Hall

1.varnam - kAmbOdhi after raga sketch
2. aparAdmula(R,S) - lathangi - patnam
7 mins alapana and 5 mins swaras

3. santhana gopalakrishnam (R ,S) - kamAs - MD
6 mins alapana and 6 mins swaras

4. mAyamma (starting with anupallavi nyayamA) - AHiri - SS
5. manavyAlakincharA (Ragasketch) - nalinakanthi -T

6A. RTP in keeravani for 37 mins
11 mins alapana and 6 mins taanam
Pallavi line she did not announce , i had to ask her post concert it was on lord ayyapA - harihara sudhanE ...
swara ragamaliA in keeravani + nattaikurinji + ranjani + neelAMbari
6B. tani for 14 mins

7. muralidhara gopAla - mAnd - PT
8. kanda naal mudhalAi - madhuvanti - NS Chidambaram
9. kAmakshi LokasAkshini - madhyamavati - SS

A day back vidushi jayanthi kumaresh had her concert in music academy. I planned but could not beat traffic and attend any concerts on a friday being a working day. Vidushi Jayanthi is certainly a top artist for veena she has few big sabha concerts and definitely due to overdose of vocal artists veenA gets pushed out due to lack of opportunities in tier II sabhas . I have never heard her ever performing in the last 10+ years in sastri hall. Incidentally before the concert she just announced that she is performing in sastri hall after a gap of 10 years . Sastri hall has tranformed a bit with AC and right now with few thermocol roofing and possibly with better speakers it has transformed to a better acoustic hall. She announced that she has played with her guru padmavathy (this time she told her guru name then rather just mentioning guru as she did few weeks back in a writeup) and s balachandar and she said she used to perform atleast 4 times a month in 80's.

Jayanthi has remarkable shruthi suddham and there is a certain degree of experimentation in distinctly presenting the octaves.One does not feel her experimentation is for experimentation sake as it is well grained with azhuttam. She started with a brief alapana and kept up a slightly sedate unusual calmbOdhi muse to start with kAMbOdhi .She gracefully picked up the roar of kamBodhi. The next lathangi alapana is one of a kind , a tricky raga I always used to feel why the hell this raga is there why cant musicians better make up their mind and either play panturvarali or kalyani . She played very distinct mandara sthayi , the pluck was surely strong the raga bhava consonance picked up very well with the patnam krithi , swaras were well done. What a kamAS it was , their cousin played a week back sujana jeevana and the muse of raga bhava intensity was the same what a joy it was in alapana and what a follow up with santhana gopala krishnam, swaras were well done and well received . The slow and fast paced sequence is a time and tested sequence not because ariyakudi did that way it is more of a pragmatism that is best felt by rasikas so that the ear avoids overdose . nyayamA(mAyamma krithi with anupallavi start) was well done in ahiri and her veena conveyed a joyful pathos . The premier durita kAlam was well done with a superb pace in manavyAlakinchara slight disappointment was there as she did not play swaras in nalinakanthi

She announced the first varnam and then she did forget to announce the rest of the krithis. She asked the rasikas if they want the numbers to be announced , few said yes and few said no . She jokingly announced all the ragas and krithis till nalinakanthi and then she announced for those who donot want to be announced I will play a RTP and told she will not tell the raga .

What a joy and what a mastery in RTP that too when a most fulfilling pallavi raga is keeravani . Distinct mandhara sthayi , distinct madhyamakala marked alapana , In taanam there was distinct madhyama kAla and a superb durita kala patterns . The pallavi line was not announced (I had to ask her post her concert where she said it was a phrase like hari hara sudhanE on Lord Ayyappan, i was thinking briefly if its was raagaprahavam as she did not announce). THe start of the pallavi line itself was flashy brigha and faster tempo like a typical hari hara sudhanE in ayyappan sabarimala temple . The swara ragamaligas had superb raga bhavam particularly nattaikurinji was so appealing. ranjani and neelambari were only slightly behind nattaikurinji in appeal.

In the tukkadas she thanked the sabha patron muralidharan who is the organizer and said she played the muralidhara gopala for him. More than the maand the madhuvanti stirred so much with emote - what a madhuvanti and what a choice of words in kanda naal mudhalai especially few lines like Neela mayil thanai nenjamum marakavillai (we all have to thank NS chidambaram vageyakkara and sunaada vinodhan s kalyanaraman for giving a new meaning to the haunting madhuvanti). She closed with her customary ss krithi in madhyamavathi at exact 2 hours .

The two percussionist were really superb . Sankaranarayanan applies rhythmmic intelligence and thinks certainly on spot like his guru srimushnam and with a more favorable volume control he dazzled . Trichy krishnaswamy gave superb support his taps were intense , i could feel a bit of the best of SV Ramani or Ghatam Suresh or Ghatam Karthik or trichy murali like excellence . At few places in keeravani the two percussionist teamed up as though they are violin return for swaras and that was a top display of concentration and vidwat.

Jayanthi kumaresh crowd likes her and has a wide canvas of age groups of rasikas. Her intensity in giving a holistic sound that is soaked with sampradayam with a certain feel of constant freshness makes a great experience .No wanted or unwanted sampradayam in singing any line while playing veena. Most importantly one has to thank vidwan kumaresh who was there to layout perhaps they bought in certain special microphone and wires , they fed it to laptop and used bit more audio gadgets certainly kumaresh expertise in sound setting must have helped this concert . The age old sAstri hall rocked with jayanthi kumaresh and team. i was there with vainika L ramakrishnan who is the disciple of Kalpagam swaminathan , he is bit inactive in forum , i am assuming he will write bit more. Nice to meet him after many years.

Overall an excellent concert for 2 exact hours.

[vainika2]

Enjoyable concert: full mastery over the instrument, impeccable shruti and laya, and entertaining to all segments of the audience. I really liked the kAmbhOji intro and khamAs. The amplification level was good but I found the sound effect (sustain) a bit unnecessary. Good chemistry among all the artistes on stage.

The last I listened to her was in a duet with guru/aunt Smt Padmavathy Ananthagopalan more than 15 years ago. Her brilliance remains, but style and aesthetics have evolved since.

And it was great meeting rajeshnat after all these years.

lramakrishnan/ vainika2 (vainika until i forgot my password and linked email)

[Nick H]

vainika2 (vainika until i forgot my password and linked email)

The last I listened to her was in a duet with guru/aunt Smt Padmavathy Ananthagopalan more than 15 years ago

How did it become so long a time? Are you not still Chennai-based?

[vainika2]

vainika2: How did it become so long a time? Are you not still Chennai-based?

Nick, yes but I mostly get back to base only on weekends.