Double Sundae

Nice to be back, though not with a full update on my experiences during December 2008 in the sabhas.
But before I write about my December 2008 experiences, I wanted to share with you all my experiences on January 10, 2009 at Narada Gana Sabha. Rasika Ranjani Sabha - one of the oldest patrons of fine arts in Chennai are conducting a series of concerts. That day was the arudhra darisanam day.
Thanks to my friend Mr.Hariharan for prompting me to attend. He is a very strict disciplinarian when it comes to attending concerts - he will be in the hall much before the start of the concert, won't leave the hall in between, won't talk, et all. So I was very careful while listening to the concerts (yes 2). Infact couple of times when I wanted to tell him something, thanks to technology,I typed the message in my cell phone and showed it to him. A worth while way of listening and emulating too. I request you all to try it.
Coming back to the concerts. I actually went late to the first concert of Gayathri Venkataraghavan (GV) which started by 4pm. When I went in she was singing Hindolam ragam, she sang 'nambikettavar evar aiya'. I have heard this kriti very often sung by Sri. DKJ. I always felt there was a lot melodrama in his rendition, where the lyrics always prevailed over the ragam. But GV sang it brilliantly. I know her since 1988 when we were in YACM. Honestly I never thought she would come up to this level in the carnatic music arena. She was a very lovable friend, never had any cliched persona. And am happy that she is still the same. But what am writing about her performances are not because I know her, my views are as genuine as her music.
I had a feeling of listening to MLV in her last days despite her ill-health. What I mean by saying so is that I find a clear emergence of a distinct style of singing. She has an ingenious ability to produce good music. And she has understood that.
One important aspect I want to highlight here is the mutual appreciation and respect the artistes showed on stage that day. GV was thoroughly enjoying Charumathi's raga renditions and so was towards Manoj Siva on the mrudangam and Anirudh Athreya on the kanjira. They made a perfect combo!!
Coming to the music delivered by this team, it was harmonious in the true sense of the word. GV's singing is very ingenious and true. She never tries to imitate anyone. She only delivers what comes best to her. It was a real audio-visual treat for us that. What I mean is that the stage was very pleasant to the eyes too. None of them showed any strain, infact very warm towards the audience too.
Anirudh's smile was very infectious as much as his playing. A perfect pedigree he is. He showed a lot of respect for Manoj, as a upa-pakkavadhyam, understanding his position on stage. I want to compliment Manoj in particular. I also know him since 1986. He is a good musician not just a percussionist. I know he used to like TNR, Ramnad Krishnan's music a lot. The sensitivity in thier music has ingrained in Manoj too. The way he got involved in the music of the evening and the space he gave Anirudh should be commended. But the pinnacle stays in his way of setting the shruthi while the raga alapana by Charumathi was getting to a close. He shifted the mrudangam away from the mic and checked it showing perfect finnesse. Keep the good attitude going Manoj.
Charumathi Raghuraman, probably the youngest disciple of Prof. TN Krishnan. She is just too good for her age. Her playing shows that she is an ardent listener. I have seen her in 2004 (if am right) sitting beside me in a Sanjay's concert at Gurukulam at R A Puram, Chennai. She was present till the concert ended around 9.45 pm. She should have been in her teens then. I still remember the attention she showed in the concerts and I dont her as a violinst then. She is living up to the promise she showed 4 years ago. May this tribe flourish. Actually the violionists of this decade are too good in terms of their playing skills, music value. I should say violin as an instrument has matured over the years.
GV sang a brilliant Kedaram ragam and as expected sang the immortal dikshithar composition 'aanandha natana prakaasam'. And the swara patterns she sang were very impressive and spontaneous. The slow tempo rendition of kedaram was succeeded by the brisk bhavapriya kriti 'sri kanthane yadabalaathi'. She made the audience sit up in this song. The kharaharapriya ragam and the very rarely sung thyagaraja kriti 'koori sevimpa raare' was a real treat. A soothing desh and ragamalika with sama, ranjani finished the concert. I had to mention the thani avarthanam played by Manoj and Anirudh. I was very soft on our ears. Infact during the 3 song Dr. Venkat prompted Manoj to instruct the PA guy to increase the volume for mrudangam. I remember an anecdote of ARI refering the mic as micasuran. It is valid even today. For Pete's sake, why can't the organisers engage a good person to handle the public address system. Let me do it as an organiser sometime and set the trend!!!
I met the team on stage and gave my compliments from the bottom of my heart. I have requested Dr.Venkataraghavan (GV's husband), incidentally our family ophthalmologist, to send me pictures of this concert to include in this page. Will upload as soon as I receive them.
The 2nd concert of the day was by the living legend TNS. This is the 5th concert of TNS in this season am preparing myself to listen.
TNS started the concert with the Sri ragam varnam. He then sang 'sivaloga nathani kandu' without singing even a short sketch of the ragam. He compensated with a good panthuvarali ragam, I have heard some more brilliants by him earlier in my collection of more than 150 concerts of his. His voice was very good, heard that he had a tooth extraction, probably the antibiotics he took as post operative therapy helped his voice. And the audience were the obvious beneficiaries. He sang 'siva siva yenaradha' with his usual kankku in the kalpanaswarams.
A short digress. I forgot to mention about the accompanists of the day for TNS. The best violin TNS can ask for MC was there. I say this because LGJ, TNK, VVS, MSG have all stopped playing as accompanists. And the younger ones who are good haven't started yet. Though my take will be Mysore Nagraj, Manjunath, MA Sunderaswaran, Embar Kannan, Varadarajan, Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi (infact its very sad that she is not accompanying these days), for reasons best known these artistes are not seen with TNS over the last couple of years. Guruvayur Dorai (GD) was on the mrudangam, a great admirer of TNS. Guruprasad on the ghatam. I've to mention the way Guruprasad carried himself on stage was not pallatable to me. Particularly after seeing Anirudh Athreya an hour ago, the difference in attitude was very loud. No doubt he plays well and infact grasped most of the korvais TNS sang well before GD got them. But that shouldn't give him the audacity on stage. I have seen TNS ruthlessly slaughter the pakkavadyams and even went on record saying that they can't accompany him. And Guruprasad remember this, if TNS gets a clue that you are trying to over power him then that concert will be your Waterloo. So better be careful.
TNS then sang sahana and a song I haven't heard before - 'appa naan venduthal kettarul puri'. Alas TNS is starting kedaram ragam. We were for sure he is going to sing 'aananda natana prakaasam'. And he did. But, believe me, it was very refreshing. Infact I typed in my cell phone and showed it to Sri. Hariharan too. The rendition was totally different from what GV did. The tempo was much slower than her version. At places GD didn't play enhancing the effect. 'innamum santhega padalAmo' was the next kriti TNS sang. Kiravani is another ragam TNS freaks out. Particularly his 'amba vaani nannu' is one rendition I like very much.
In the 150+ concerts of TNS I've, one RTP I used to yearn was in aabohi. And TNS fulfilled my desire that day. Yes he sang one of the finest abohi ragam (I have heard a rendition by MLV in one of her US concerts, where she announced at the start that she will sing 'manasu nillpa' and changed to a RTP, my mother always used to talk high of this concert. I rate this the best abohi rendition). This one TNS comes next to it. He sang the phrase 'oru tharam sivachidambaram enruraithaal modhume' as the pallavi in khanda triputa 2 kalai. The ragamalika he sang after the kalpanaswarams was something I can't write about. Because the way he brought the ragams' full structure in a minute was amazing. He sang ahiri, amrithavarshini, hindolam, kaanada etc. After the thani TNS sang a virutham 'paal ninaithu uttum' again in ragamalika - the ragas he choose were saveri, yadhukula khamboji, boopalam, hamsanandhi, darbari kaanada, yamuna kalyani and shankarabharanam. Here I have to mention the large heartedness of MC. In all the concerts this season I heard of TNS & MC, MC was gracious enough to say that TNS has sung enough in a ragam that he wont play it. MC did it for y'kalyani. TNS sang a mangalam praising all the celestial pairs and concluded the concert.
Now you know why I have named this post as Double Sundae. Yes it was.
To rasikas - Try and listen to more of GV's concerts.
To GV - please maintain the consistency in your performances and provide us with some good no gimmicks music.