2012 Nov - Pantula Rama Vocal Concert

Vocal – Smt. Pantula Rama, Violin – Sri MSN Murthy, Mridangam – Sri Thanjavoore Murugabhoopathy

Exciting times in South Florida – just finished Navarathri looking forward to Deepavali followed by Presidential elections in which Florida is one of the swing states.  No one can take Florida for granted neither the politicians nor the artists.  They all need to work hard to gain our favor.  Whoever wins the general elections in the next couple days, let hope and pray that the next President will show leadership in bringing the divided country together.  The stalemate between congress and senate needs to end.  They need to steer us away from this menacing economic cliff and move the world towards safety and progress.  Congressmen, Senators and the President – you want our votes to lead us.  Then lead – pure and simple. 

Jayanthi joins me in thanking Mrs.  Bhagi Sahasranaman for her tireless work along with the cultural committee members for the past four years.  Bhagi has done a great job in delivering quality concerts and has served our community well.  Alright, let us go to the concert.

Nice to see a real life couple on stage – Here the husband played the support role for his wife as the main singer.  Just like the government there were three parts to the ensemble on stage.  Though individually talented they did take a little while to come together.  The main piece in Kalyani was magnificent.  I have not heard a thani in Mishra Chapu in a long time.  Let us discuss song by song.

Vallabha Nayaka in Begada/Rupakam – very short but crisp alapana.  Smt Rama captivated the audience with her rich and powerful voice.  She was very comfortable with the ragam gliding through the ups and downs.  She delivered swarams masterfully.

Endaro Mahanubhava in Sri/Adi – I don’t know about the rest of the audience but to me this was a disappointing delivery.  Being one of the Pancharathna krithis everyone knew the song well including many in the audience.  Anticipation is ok but the supporting violinist should not get ahead of the singer.  It seemed like the singer was the supporting artist in many places – not enjoyable.

Mudda Momu in Suriyagantham/Adi (double branched) – many in the audience including me were not familiar with the ragam and we could have used a short version of the Alapana.  When the song started the mood changed a little.  I liked the kalpana swaram part where the violinist could not get ahead of the singer. 

Sangeetha Gnanamu in Dhanyasi – very nice delivery.  Artists were beginning to come together.

Thunai Purindarul in Varamu/Adi – good change of language, I am biased towards Tamil songs.  Very peppy number and she was very comfortable with the song and also the language.  Violin was powerful, niravals were enjoyable and swaras flew nicely.  All in all, a good delivery

Main Piece, Dalli Innu Nera Nammi in Kalyani/Mishra Chapu – paisa vasool.  Alapana was beautifully structured and tastefully decorated with brigas.  Kalyani is a majestic raga.  I think the audience would have enjoyed a longer alapana.  Violin solo alapana was fantastic.  Artist showed a lot of bhavam in delivering the song, swaras were really good.  Thani in Mishra Chapu, my favorite talam, was beautifully done.  The mridangam sounded really soft.  Great job, everybody.

Dharma Shravana in Durga/Adi – excellent delivery

Charanu Charanu in Madhupriya – nice flowy number

Krishna Nee Begana Baro in Yamuna Kalyani/Mishra Chapu – let me add my thanks to whoever requested this song.  Very elegantly executed and captivated the audience.

Thillana in Dhanasri/Adi – enjoyable song, especially the mridangam was simply superb.

I have to admit that I normally tune out during the Mangalam.  But Smt Rama’s Mangalam was brilliant. 

Concert had a rocky start moved to a nice crescendo during the main piece and ended powerfully making us to want more.  Job well done.

2012 Sep/Oct Concerts by TVS, OST and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi

Vocal – Sri TV Sankaranarayanan, Violin – Sri VVS Murari, Mridangam – Sri Thiruvaroor Bhakthavatsalam

In my writing career this is certainly a high point to have the privilege of writing about the concert by the well respected TV Sankaranarayanan.  Musical heritage is not a guarantee of talent but in case of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri TVS it is certainly true – Sri TVS is Madurai Mani Iyer’s nephew.  Let us go straight to the concert.

It is certainly one of the best concerts I have listened to in several years.  First let me applaud the sound technicians who did some innovations for this concert.  I don’t know how they got the normally finicky musicians to agree to this significant change.  The monitor speaker was set up behind the artists so they could hear exactly what the audience heard.  The sound was balanced so perfectly it made the entire concert a great treat.  Even the artists mentioned about how great the set up was and they were going to try and use this method in future concerts.  Kudos, great job Arun and Dr. Ramakrishnan!

Vigneshwara Subha in Arabi/Rupakam – great start to the concert in a peppy ragam that set the tone for the entire concert.  Fantastic voice dynamics, Sri TVS owned the stage.  The swaras were borrowed from Pancharathna Krithi initially and then skillfully shifted away.  Just like one can expect in any TVS concert swaras started pouring.  Both violinist and the mridangist made their mark early in the concert.

Subrahmanya Rakshitham in Suddha Dhanyasi/Adi – very energetic song in a popular ragam; several more bushels of swarams;  Bhakthavathsalam on the mridangam knew he had many fans in the audience and did not disappoint them.  He showed tremendous speed and clean strokes to match the gamakams from the singer.  Borderlines on being a little theatric but the audience just loved it.

Ravichandra Budha in Atana – short and sweet

Guruvayoorappa in Chakravaham/Adi – Nice change of pace with alapana; soulful rendition.  Mridangam sound was a bit too loud

Sarasa Samadhana in Kapi Narayani/Adi – evergreen song, fast number and everyone’s favorite popularized by his uncle Madurai Mani Iyer.  Niraval was remarkable going from soft and slow to fast and furious.  Took a small song and elaborated with niravals and swaras showing his mastery over the art

Venkataramana in Lathangi/Rupakam – Elaborate alapana with some tastefully mixed Hindustani phrases.  My father used to say one should show bhakti bhavam even in alapana by blending in words like “hari ….”, “hara …” instead of meaningless “Ta da ri na”.  Sri TVS is one of the few to still follow that age old tradition.  Violin had done a great job till this point but the alapana here was a bit lackluster.  Could have selected a different ragam for the afternoon concert. 

Main Piece – Intha Sowkya Manine in Kapi/double branched Adi – I thought it was rare to hear Kapi as the ragam for the main piece.  Alapana was powerful, he quickly got through the words and got to the swaras.  The swara spigot opened at full speed.  Great rendition.

Thani – had to make a special mention of Sri Bhakthavathsalam Sir’s Thani.  People come with certain expectations of energy, speed and combination of strokes.  He did not disappoint.  Absolute magic, fantastic Thani that made the audience totally engaged.

RTP in Mohanam/Tisra Tiruputai – thanam part was beautifully done, wow, what command over the ragam.  Violinist came to his full height.  The ragamalika section was very entertaining with popular ragams like Hindolam, Shyama, Bhageshwari.

Eppovaruvaro in Jonpuri preceded by a Virutham – gamakams were fantastic

The concert ended with the ever popular Madurai Mani’s Note, a toe tapping number.  The energy was maintained from the beginning to the very end. 

None of us wanted the concert to end that included the artists.  When we all went up to the artists to mention how well they sang and played for us, Sri TVS humbly said it is because you were great rasikas - please come back.

Vocal – Sri OS Thyagarajan, Violin – Ranjani Ramakrishnan, Mridangam – Dr. S. Ramakrishnan

It was a traditional concert with the pentatonic raga medley (5-note ragas) being the highlight of the concert in Hindolam, Mohanam, Suddha Saveri and Hamsa Nadham.  He moved from ragam to ragam without giving a chance for a applause in between.  He also showed a unique capability in displaying Ragam-in-Ragam. – he brought out Suddha Dhanyasi within Kalyani Ragam by doing a Graha Bhedam or Swara Bhedam.  This is a skill that is very difficult to master, only a few will even attempt.  It seemed like the artist was holding himself back.  An open throated singing would have made the concert even more enjoyable.

Here is the write-up for the concert from Prasanna Padmanabhan:

He started off with Dikshitar's Vatapi Ganapathim followed by a small but brisk kalpana swaram. This was followed by Tyagaraja's beautiful Evarani nirNayincirirA in the ragam Devamrithavarshini (or also Nadachintamani in some circles), a very close cousin of Karaharapriya. 

 
The next was Samagana Lolane in Hindolam. Ranjani showed great dexterity on the violin in the aalapanai. OST cleverly exposed the swaraksharam built into the song (Sa Ma Ga...) in the kalpana swaram.

Without any gap, he started Evarura Ninuvina in Mohanam, Korvais were beautiful crafted by Ranjani in the kalpana swaram. Again, without any gap, he started a brisk paced song in Sudhasaveri called Kala Karane Mela Raghave, which also included a fast Kalpana swaram. It felt almost like a singing marathon when he quickly moved on to Bantureethi in Hamsanadham, once again, without any gap, which I felt he could have gone a little slower and taken the time to bring out the depth of the ragam. I also saw that because there wasn't a lot of breathing room between songs, Dr Ramakrishnan was forced to fine tune the mridangam on the fly although he seemed to do it quite seamlessly!

Then there was the main piece in Kalyani - Tyagaraja's Ethavunara. In the elaborate aalapanai, he was demonstrating "swara bedam". The audience was completely wired to Dr Ramakrishnan's tani. 

He entertained the audience's request for Sabapathi (although usually Abhogi is sung earlier in the concert) - it was a nice treat to my ears. Then there was Muruga (Saveri), followed by Pashyati and a Tillana in the ragam Sankarabharanam (sung in tishram). He finished with Nadupai in Madhyamavati starting with the anupallavi first!

Overall I enjoyed the concert. While I felt he could have gone a little slower in some places, it was well rooted in a refreshingly traditional, old-school style and quite authentic which you don't see very often these days. 

 

Violin – Vijayalakshmi, Mridangam – Bangalore Praveen, Tabla – Nitin Mitta

Comments from Bhavani Nirmal – She chose all lively ragas and elevated the mood of the audience. Normally in writing about a dance performance we talk of "Konjum chalangai" I can describe today's concert as "Konjum violin" The melody and her handling of the ragas and swaras are ringing in my ears.  The thani between the mridangam and tabla players was masterful and engaged our attention totally.  I didn't see a single person treating it as a coffee break because we were totally absorbed by the performance. 

Let me add my comments but it may not be as flowery.  Frankly, I had low expectation for this concert.  But Smt. Vijayalakshmi has blown that away with her sheer violin prowess.  But I have a fundamental question about the concert – what is the true reason for adding tabla to the concert?  The violinist did not add Hindustani touches anywhere in the concert which could have brought out the beauty with the tabla accompaniment.  She just powered through with her traditional Carnatic style playing.  Other than creating a balanced appearance on the stage with the violinist in the middle with mridangam and tabla players on either side, in my view the tabla did not add much to the concert.

Varnam in Garudadhwani – a clever choice, with this peppy number she instantly connected with the audience.  She had a very good command over the instrument

Mamalu Sadha in Kanada/Rupakam – very nice, clean rendition in another peppy ragam.  I had difficulty accepting tabla in a Carnatic concert. 

Arul Seyya Vendum in Rasikapriya/Adi – soulful alapana, very nice touches with her gamakams.  Soft mridangam was very enjoyable

Mati Mati in Mohanam/Mishra Chapu – Smt. Viji rose to her full height in the alapana,  Swaras with alternating mridangam and tabla was an enjoyable section of the song.  Derailed a bit in second speed.   Could have tastefully injected some Hindustani Bhupali touches

Amritha Vahini – energetic song with fantastic control of the bow even at top speed

Hechariga Ra Ra in Edukula Kambodhi/Kanda Chapu – another peppy ragam that captivated the audience.  Well executed gamakams and she glided through the swaras

Kamalamba Bhajare in Kalyani/Adi – favorite of many in the audience.  Alapana was very clean.  But in a long song holding the audience was tough.  I am finally getting used to the Tabla – actually enjoyed it. 

Thani – I agree with Bhavani, the Thani was simply amazing.  The back and forth between the two percussion players was done in misra kuraippu – 7-count inside the 8 beat Adi talam.  This allowed the luxury of a gap of one count making the give and take very easy and enjoyable at the same time.  The energy, speed and stroke combinations were brilliant.

Kaliyuga Varadan in Brindavana Saranga/Adi - Nice

Baro Krishnayya – very enjoyable rendition

Akhilandeshwari in Dwijavanthi/Adi – beautifully executed with very nice touches. 

Thillana in Behag/Adi Tisra Nadai – very good audience involvement, well done.

Arangetram by Nitya Ramalingam

The Bharathanrityam Arangetram of Nitya Ramalingam was a delightful treat to the knowledgeable South Florida audience on Jul 14, 2012 at the Sunrise Civic Center in Sunrise, Florida.  It was our privilege and pleasure to have the presence of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. Trichy Sankaran.  In addition to being present he has also reduced my workload by reviewing the performance as well.

(Transcription of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. Trichy Sankaran's Speech)

From time immemorial, dance has been an important part of ritual in Indian tradition.  Bharatanatyam is grounded in bhakti besides other sentiments.  In fact bhakti is at the centre of all the arts in India.  Our music and dance are two important offerings to god.  As one gets involved in the art, with greater dedication, one can experience throughout the hours of dancing a greater joy, a complete well-being, especially when music and dance mingle indistinguishably.

Music and dance or any fine art for that matter, knows no barriers.  Although the roots of Bharatanatyam run deep into the culture of South India, it has a universal domain and acclaim.  So it is not surprising that Bharatanatyam is being taught and performed everywhere around the globe.  We have many dance systems, styles and banis.  The very life-breath of art is unity in diversity.  This is what I see in many of our dance systems.  I express my sincere admiration for all these systems, be it Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kathak, Manipuri, Odissi or Kuchipudi for which the divine god-centered aspect is common.

Tradition is a stronger force.  We must use tradition as a basis to develop art; otherwise the art will decline and disappear.  In this respect, innovations are an integral part of any great art.  Innovations and modifications are taking place all the time and our music and dance are evolving and changing.  But we want to make sure that these changes take place within the boundaries of tradition.  Dr. Padma Subramaniam, a dance legend herself is known for her unique style of dancing based on Natyasastra, under whom Smt. Sangita Sridhar has received her training in Dance.  It is quite evident in today’s arangetram of Kumari Nithya, how well she has trained her student and how wonderful a teacher she is.  The blending of Vazhuvoor Bani and Padma Subramanyam’s style showed beautifully in today’s performance.  Music is integral to a dance performance; particularly vocal music where lyrics become important for the portrayal of abhinaya and this has been followed very faithfully in today’s performance. Her choreography was excellent.  The Nattuvangam, the very essence and the bedrock of the whole concept of dancing performed by Sangita Sridhar herself showed her versatility on this particular aspect as well.

About the artists: 

Vocal:  Sudev Warriar, who is the disciple of Padmavibushan Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna, has enthralled us with his captivating music.  His music reflects on the experience he has gained over the years by singing for eminent dancers as well as his collaborative work with famous playback singers such as Dr. J. Yesudas, Sri S.P. Balasubramaniam and others.

Mrdangam:  On the mrdangam, we have Sri Sudhaman who demonstrated his excellent skill in accompanying the dance.  He has performed with eminent dancers like Dr. Padma Subramaniam, Chitra Viswesvaran, and others besides performing in regular Carnatic recitals.  His father K.N.S. Namboodhri was my disciple and I have known Sudhaman very well on a personal basis.  I wish him well in the future.

Flute:  On the flute, Sri Chitoor Pathanjali beautifully demonstrated his skills.  He comes from a family of musicians.  I have known and performed with his grandfather Sri. Chitoor Gopalakrishnan.  His melodious accompaniment was quite delightful.  My blessings and best wishes to all the artists on stage.

It was quite graceful to see Nitya Ramalingham dance and make her debut on this auspicious occasion at a young age.  Her coordination of feet and body movements to the rhythms of jatis, facial expressions and mudras in abhinaya, dancing to the tirmanams etc. were excellent.  Her training in vocal music, am sure, must have helped her dancing in many ways.  As I pointed out earlier, knowledge of vocal music is essential for the dancer as well as accompanying artists.  No wonder for a bright and brilliant girl like Nitya who is an honors students holding top rank in her high school studies, the art of dancing, singing, and piano playing must have come naturally, of course with arduous practice.  Once again, my hearty congratulations to Nitya for her successful debut.  

Arts are tremendous source of inspiration for any culture.  Arts and cultures dialogue in a number of different ways.  I am very glad to see teachers like Sangita Sridhar helping the community to get involved in learning the fine arts.  Similarly Dr. Ramakrishnan has been training many students in Mrdangam and am sure there are many others teaching different arts in this part of the world.  Holding on to their professional careers, these individuals have been devoting their time and for the propagation of arts, thus serving the cause of Carnatic music and dance, a fact that should really be commended.

With these closing remarks, I want to thank the proud parents of Nitya, Smt. Lalitha and Sri Prabhakar Ramalingham for having invited me to be the chief guest for the arangetram.  I wish Nitya a great success in all her artistic endeavors in future.  Thank you all.
(End of Dr. Sankaran's remarks)

I want to make a special mention of the choreography, it was absolutely stunning.  The Ananda Sandhya Thandavam describing the Prodhosham day and time (thirteenth moon day at sunset and moonrise) was just fantastic.  The composition of Smt. Vasumathy Swamy, choreograhy and the execution of Nitya - transported us Kailash.  My request to Sangeetha Sridhar is to choreograph a group dance for this song.  Also it will be great to sing this song during Pradhosha Kala pooja - great work.  Thanks to Nitya, we were able to witness a 45-min long solo varnam performance after a long time.     

Jayanthi aunty joins me in congratulating Nitya for a wonderful performance and blessing you in achieving everything your heart desires.