Nisha Rajagopal's concert on April 24th(Tyagaraja Utsavam, H

[vsn207]

Posted by Asha Bhakthavatsalam
Nisha Rajagopal, a popular young vocalist in the field of Carnatic Music from Chennai, commenced her musical training with her mother, Smt. Vasundhra Rajagopal, currently training with Sangeetha Kala Acharya Shri P. S. Narayanaswamy.
2009 Thyagaraja Utsavam at Houston started wtih Nisha's enjoyable concert. The best part in Nisha’s kutcheri at Houston was her natural expression in the alapana, neraval and kalpana swaras. Her Keeravani was enjoyable had a class of depth in conceiving the raga swarupa.
She started her concert with :
1. Thodi varnam Era naa pai in adi thalam of Patnam Subrmania Iyer. She went on to sing
2 .Ninnada a Thyagaraja's composition in ragam Kannada set to Adi thalam.
3. Kalyani ragama alapana, Biranavaralicchi a composition of Shyama Shastri in tishra nadai adi thalam and followed by neraval and kalpana swaram.
4. Suruti ragam alapana, Sree Venkat a girishama lokaye a composition of Muthuswami Deeksithar.
5. Azhaga azhaga azha endru , a composition of Perya sami thooran in Suddha Dhanyasi set to Khanda chapu thalam.
6. Keeravani ragam alapana, Kaligiyuntegada a vilamaba kala krithi of Thyagaraja set to adi thalam was followed by detailed neraval and kalpana swaram.
7. Naanoru vilayattu bommaya in Navarasa Kannada set to adi thalam a composition of Papanasam sivan.
8. Kandena Govindana a Purandaradasa's composition in ragam Chandrakouns.
9. Thillana in poornachandrika.
Her accompanists Mysore Srikanth Venkatraman and Trivandrum Balaji supported her well. Balaji's Tani was short and sweet. The team work was applauded by Artistic Director Trichy Sankaran and the artists received a standing ovation.

http://houstonsangeetham.blogspot.com

[mahavishnu]

"......The team work was applauded by Artistic Director Trichy Sankaran"

Could you please elaborate?

[vsn207]

He congratulated the individual artists and then also remarked that the team work was very good. He wished the artists all sucess and I am sure that was a gift to treasure for all of the artists.

Vivek

[mahavishnu]

thanks, Vsn. My question was more re: the term "artistic director".

[rajeshnat]

2 .Ninnada a Thyagaraja's composition in ragam Kannada set to Adi thalam.
5. Azhaga azhaga azha endru , a composition of Perya sami thooran in Suddha Dhanyasi set to Khanda chapu thalam.
http://houstonsangeetham.blogspot.com

ninnADa nEla nIrajAkSa shrI rAma is a rare composition in kannada by ThyagarAja.
azhaga azhaga - sudda dhanyAsi - ambujam krishna(popularized by MLV)

[vsn207]

The Classical Arts Society(http://classicalartssocietyhouston.org) has been having an artistic director from 2007 who provides creative input to the organisers to structure the festival. We had Ravikiran doing the role in 2007( the first time) and TM Krishna(2008) following him. Each festival thus is very unique and different owing to the differing personalities of the artistic directors. So, each year, we have a different theme and emphasis. This year's theme was "Sogasuga Mrdanga Thalamu" which was Dr. Trichy Sankaran's brainchield. We had lecdems on rhythms and thala vadya kutcheri. This has been well appreciated by the Houston rasikas. I will be posting them all very soon.

Thank you for asking and giving the opportunity to explain the concept of artistic director.

Vivek

[mahavishnu]

how interesting! sounds like a very active group of rasikas in Houston.

[suma]

how interesting! sounds like a very active group of rasikas in Houston.

Yes, that's interesting! and a novel approach to get a big artist and let him/her decide/plan the festival.

how does your group come up with deciding who would be the artistic director for the year?

[vsn207]

We do provide a feedback form for rasikas. Then, the board also comes up with a pool. The final choice is a function of the availability and willingness of the artist, their schedules, and so on. This has been working well for last three years.

Vivek