2016 May 1 - Gayathri Venkataraghavan Vocal Concert

Vocal - Gayathri Venkataraghavan

Violin- Mysore Srikant 

Mridangam - Neyveli Skanda Subramanian
Tanpura - Sharada Ramakrishnan

MS Subbalakshmi centenary concert held on May 1, 2016

I am thrilled to introduce Anushka Radhakrishnan, an eighth grader to the readers.  She is one of the youngsters who regularly attend Carnatic music concerts.  My thanks to Anushka for her brave effort in writing up her views on today’s concert.  I appeal to all of you to encourage more participation from our youngsters.  Below is Anushka’s write-up about the concert:

“I greatly enjoyed the concert. The singer's voice was beautiful and she sang the ragams and sangathis very well. Her song choice was different and unique. I especially liked the Ragam - Thanam - Palavi that she sang. The Ragamalika in the Palavi was very good. The violin and mridhugam accompaniment nicely complimented her voice. However I felt their individual solos were a little too long. Overall I was very impressed by her performance – Anushka”

Let me first give a broad brush stroke before going to song-by-song.  Overall, I felt like I was in a roller coaster through the concert.  The team took a little bit to come together and then delivered some excellent krithis.  The highlight of the concert was the mesmerizing main piece in Sankarabharanam.  During and after the thani there was a bit of an energy drop and many among the audience left.  But they all missed a phenomenal rendition of MS Amma’s songs towards the end of the concert.  With a little better planning of the song sequence many more could have also enjoyed the popular MS segment.  This concert lasted almost 4-hours.  Last time I remember such a long concert was the one by Sudha Ragunathan in Miami Museum of Science.  

Nama pranavaya – nice meditative start to the concert 

Mathe malayadwaja in Kamas/Adi Daru varnam - Brisk rendition

Sri Maha Ganapathi ravathumam in Gowle/Mishra chapu – Good demonstration of her mastery over the ragam. High energy swaras. Team is taking a bit of time coming together though individually talented

Smarane onde salade in Malayamarutham/Adi – So, you think whistle is only for film songs?  Not so in our community.  There is a special segment of rasikas who would whistle for only Kannada songs in Carnatic music concert!  It put a smile on everyone’s face including the artists.  Alapana was pleasing with the singer nicely gliding through the notes. Singer took some risks which paid off.  Violin alap was excellent.  Long swara passages were pleasing. 

Ninuvina Nama yendu in Navarasa kanada/rupakam – First time in the concert the singer was showing some vocal acrobatics.  It was flawless.  Audience is getting deeper into the concert and there is genuine interaction with the artists. 

Rangapura vihara in Brindavana Saranga/Rupakam – Very beautiful song with MS Amma’s voice still ringing in many of our ears.  It is difficult to sing this song without a touch of MS’s style. Very nicely rendered. 

Main piece Sagaraga Sutha in Sankarabharanam /Adi (2) – This as I said was the highlight of the concert.  Long alapana that kept the audience engaged while she traversed through the ups and downs of the ragam.  Very good support from the violinist. Intricate gamakams were executed without flaw. Violin alap deserves special mention. Mastery over the ragam and instrument was clearly evident.  Both artists took us to musical heights. 

Lots of voice dynamics demonstrated so early in the song. Brigas and gamakams were tastefully inserted. She read the audience well by now.  Neraval on the word "mooladhara " was brilliant. Swaras anchored on the same spot in the song was energetic. She covered the range from low Ga to high Pa. Nicely done. 

Thani – frankly, too long.  But it was a treat for our young aspiring mridangam students who were sitting in rapt attention in the front row. 

RTP in Hemavathy and Khanda jathi jampa thalam – the thalam is 5-beats followed by 3-beats and 5-counts in each beat totaling 40-counts per cycle.  Quite a complicated “kanakku” or method of counting within a cycle.  It was very well  delivered.  But the audience was getting a bit restless.  Ragamalika section enjoyed by Anushka had several beautiful ragams – behag, Kapi, mohanam and sindu Bhairavi.

Unfortunately at this point several in the audience left but they missed a great MS Amma segment.  Ms. Gayathri Venkataraghavan sang the popular krithis made famous by MS like a couple of Meera Bhajans, Bhavayami Gopala Balam, Kurai onrum illai, Vahe Panduranga and more in rapid succession.  Each one was rendered so beautifully the audience kept wanting more and more.