Anahita and Apoorva exhibit skills in short and crisp Music Academy concert

Accompanists: Vidushi Apoorva Krishna on violin and Shri Rohit Prasad on mridangam

We went to the Music Academy a bit early for the 11:45 AM concert of Vidushis Anahita and Apoorva. Entering at around 11:15 AM into the morning concert of veteran flutist Shri B V Balasai, we felt we had missed a chance to attend his concert too, if only we had come at 9 AM. He was playing the pallavi in hEmavati, which was followed by kalpana swarams in the same rAgam, kIravANi and amrutavarshini. Hope it rains a bit it Chennai, as we still have a deficit of more than 50% in rainfall for the quarter ending 31 December, 2018. Shri Balasai then played vEnkatAcala nilayam in sindhubhairavi and a small piece in HamsAnandi, closing on the dot at 11:30 AM.

Veteran Flutist Shri B V Balasai

It was a bit disappointing to see that the hall was less than half full. However, it could be the standard modus operandi of rasikas moving to the canteen to appreciate the food, before the second serving of music at 11:45 AM. By the time the 2nd bell rang at 11:45 AM, the hall was nearly full. As the curtains opened to pink highlight of the backdrop to the sides, we also saw pink included in the attire of the ladies and the mridangam cover.

Moving on to the music, Vidushis Anahita and Apoorva began the proceedings with a brisk-paced composition of Oothukkadu Venkata kavi (Subbaiah Iyer says Wikipedia). God only knows which is the right spelling for this poet's name, with U / Oo, tt or th, and the name itself kept separate or combined as Subbaiyer, etc. 'vandaduvum pOnaduvum' set to bilaHari rAgam was sung well and set the tone for the crisp concert. The kalpanaswarams rendered in this rAgam were nice and short too. Shri Rohit Prasad played quite softly and aptly for this duo.

Kumari Apoorva then took up a detail AlApanA of shubhapantuvarALi. Vidushi Apoorva Krishna on the violin presented a delightful follow-up to the exploration by the vocalist on this first major item of the concert. A composition of Harikesanallur Shri Muthaiah Bhagavatar 'manOnmani mandaHAsini' was presented in a quick tempo, with an elaborate neraval at 'sanakAdi muni vinuta' by both the vocalists and the violinist. The neraval in the upper stAyi by Kumari Anahita was full throated and with shuddha shruti sangatis which made it a treat. In fact she was able to demonstrate this in other songs throughout the concert filling our hearts with superb music. I have to reiterate that mridangam accompaniment was really superb because it was quite apt, throughout the kutcheri. The nAdam of the mridangam was great.

Kumari Anahita then took up a brief AlApanA of dEvagAndhAri and rendered a shlOkam following the AlApanA. This was a nice change of pace after the two quick-tempo songs. They took up Shri Muthuswami Dikshitar's kshitija ramanam cintayE right after the shlOkam. Andal's tiruppAvai 'kaRRu karavai' was the short piece that came next sung in mukhAri, I think. As per lists on the internet, this has been sung in HusEni, saHAnA or vasantA by artists. If it was indeed rendered in HusEni, then it is my shortcoming in not being able to differentiate between mukhAri and HusEni rather than the singers' presentation.

Anahita and Apoorva in full flow, along with Apoorva Krishna and Rohit Prasad

The main for the kutcheri was kalyANi, which was initially taken up by Kumari Apoorva and then completed by Kumari Anahita. Once again the elaboration was impeccable, with the upper stAyi singing of Kumari Anahita taking the cake. Vidushi Apoorva Krishna played a detailed version in response and also repeated some nice phrases, which were sung by the duo. Saint Thyagaraja's karu vElpulu nIku sari was sung in medium tempo - first time I am hearing this composition. They presented wonderful kalpanaswarams in variety of korvais, in turns, before a very nice tani avartanam by Shri Rohit Prasad.

The final song was parulanna mATa in kApi, a jAvaLi composition of Dharmapuri Subbaraya Iyer, set to rUpaka tALam. I am hearing this after a long time and am reminded of an article that I read in The Hindu about two decades ago. If I am not mistaken, as per that article, this composition is originally set to a tALam of 17 beats, but is being sung in rUpakam (an extension of a phrase by a beat makes it a nice 18, which would be tisra-nadai rUpakam). Musicians / rasikas who know more about this may kindly share the specific information, and if I am mistaking some other composition for parulanna mATa, kindly correct me.

It was a gratifying concert where-in other than the shubhapantuvarALi and kApi pieces, I heard all the others for the first time. Looking forward to these artists to be promoted to next levels and getting more time for performance of full-fledged kutcheris.

Excellent concert of Vidwan Prasanna Venkatraman in MFAC

21 December, 2019, Friday

Accompanied by Vidushi H M Smitha on violin, Shri Manoj Siva on mridangam and Shri B S Purushothaman on kanjira

Having heard quite a bit about this artist, who is currently mentored by Sangitha Kalanidhi Sanjay Subrahmanyan, we decided to attend his concert at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club, TAG Auditorium. Shri Prasanna Venkatraman started the concert with a nice warmup rendition of the darbAr varnam, calamEla, a composition of Shri Thiruvottiyur Thyagayya. Shri Prasanna's voice was well settled right from the word go. He then took up the Shri Gopalakrishna Bharathi composition sivalOka nAtanai in mAyAmALavagowLa. He unfurled his vidwat in the neraval at 'arpa sugattai' and followed it up with very good kalpana swarams. Vidushi H M Smitha accompanied very well in both the neraval and kalpana swarams.

Prasanna Venkatraman and team in full flow

The first rAgam taken for detail exploration was udayaravicandrikA a.k.a. shuddha dhanyAsi (as known in the current trend). Shri Prasanna gave a very good sketch of the rAgam followed by Vidushi Smitha's nice follow-up. Saint Thyagaraja's statement of the eternal truth - 'How much ever one has learnt, whatever places one has visited and seen; every single man among them is still a slave to the one wearing bangles' - was the composition sung in this rAgam. Yes, it is enta nErcinA that was sung, followed by very brisk kalpana swarams. One tidbit about the translated version of this song in thamizh - Dr. M Balamuralikrishna has presented about 12 Saint Thyagaraja kritis in 2 CD set. This song's lines in that set, (enta nErcinA) in thamizh as sung by the Maestro are - ettanai kaRRALum ettanai kaNDAlum; attanai AnROrum aRangin adimayE.

kalAvati kamalAsana yuvati of Shri Muthuswami Dikshitar was the next item that Shri Prasanna sang, which we thought would be the filler before the main song. However, he sang another fast paced composition, vararAgalaya of Saint Thyagaraja in cenjukAmbhOji following the kalAvati song. Shri Prasanna took up mukhAri for the main fare of the evening. It was very well elaborated in a steady build up. He has a style of his own, but at one or two points, there was a bit of influence of Shri Sanjay's mannerism and some phrases. Vidushi Smitha also presented a melodious mukhAri after which kArubAru of Saint Thyagaraja was rendered in a relaxed speed. The kalpanaswarams in mukhAri were also well covered before a superb tani avarthanam. Both the stalwarts Shri Manoj Siva and Shri Purushothaman enjoyed the exchange, which was a nice treat to watch.

Shri Prasanna immediately took up a rAgam tAnam pallavi exposition in mOHanam. It is quite difficult to pack all these into two hours and fifteen minutes and hence the AlApanA was a nice crisp one from both him and the violinist. The tAnam was also a nice show of his voice and skill, followed by the pallavi 'kanaka sabEshA jagadIshA nataNa prakAshA' set to Kandajati Triputa Talam in tisra naDai. He sang kalpanaswarams in HindOLam, nATTakurinji and bEHag.

The final song rendered was composition of Kanakadasa 'bArO krishnayyA' in a rAgamAlikA beginning with mAnD rAgam. A flawless concert we enjoyed.

If one were to point out any shortcoming, we can say that there was not enough neraval on the mOHanam pallavi. Maybe that could not be fit into the short time, but in my opinion neraval can be given priority over rAgamAlikA kalpanaswarams. Shri T N Seshagopalan, in his lecture demonstration on Pallavis at the Pallavi Darbar of 2018, had mentioned that the most important part of a good rAgam tAnam pallavi is the extended neraval on the pallavi. I agree with this thought, and hence hope that all artists give more weightage to the neraval. They can trim other parts of RTP when their is paucity of time.

Shri Prasanna Venkatraman has a very good voice and superb control over it. We will definitely show our patronage to his concerts as it is very much worth enjoying his good music.

Ashwath Narayanan sings to full house at Raga Sudha Hall

Accompanied by Vidwan S Varadarajan on Violin, Maestro T V Gopalakrishnan on Mridangam and Shri Alathur T Rajaganesh on Kanjira

(9 December, 2018)

We can fathom that Shri Ashwath Narayanan is an accomplished artist by the crowd that assembled at Raga Sudha Hall on the Sunday evening. Many rasikas were standing outside and peeping through the windows to see if they could find an empty seat. The better indication about the entire team is that about dozen other musicians were attending the concert, among whom could identify Shri Bharath Sundar, Smt K Gayatri, Shri Aditya Narayanan.

The concert began with a brisk rendering of the kalyANi rAga varnam "vanajAkshi". He then followed it up with a brisk rendition of "shiva kAmasundari" in jaganmOHini, which was also at a good pace. The vidwans were in good flow and were enjoying each other's music as well as the small innovative sangatis or subtle plays at different points of the song. Shri Ashwath Narayanan included a nice set of kalpanaswarams before the first big item. Shri TVG showed his knowledge of the compositions as well as decades of polishing of the skills by giving such a subtle accompaniment appropriate to each kriti. Shri Alathur T Rajaganesh played a subdued role and sometimes had to be goaded by the Maestro to play further and play more.

Ashwath Narayanan and team, in full flow

Shri AN took up aTAnA for a very good AlApanA. Given that this rAgam cannot be easily fit into any structure but has a beautiful swaroopam drawn by the many compositions in it, this was a commendable AlApanA. Vidwan Varadarajan stuck to his role of playing an appropriate AlApanA in length, but brought out all the beauty of aTAnA within the time that a violinist is expected to play compared to the main artist. Ela ni dayarAdu was the song chosen, with the standard start at the anupallavi 'bAlakanakamaya'.

After the three faster paced songs, it was time to slow down and relax with cEtashri bAlakrishnam in dvijAvanti. The short AlApanA prior to it by Shri AN was followed by a crisp and beautiful one by Shri SV. The composition was sung with lot of bhava, which was appreciated by the Maestro TVG as well. The next song was kaDaikkaN vaittennai ALammA in bEgaDA. This was also rendered in a relaxed fashion before a fast paced paramapurusham Hrdaya bhAvayatam. I had not heard this one before and was wondering that it was not really paras rAgam which was the closest I could associate with. The lyrics revealed that this is in lalitapancamam rAgam.

Eagerly looking forward to the main song for the evening, we were treated to the regal shankarAbharanam. Shri AN's AlApanA was very elaborate and enjoyed by Shri TVG too. Shri SV's version was again kept within a shorter timeframe but brought out the full scope of the rAgam, showing his tremendous knowledge and experience. swara rAga sudhA was the chosen kriti which was presented well, including an extended neraval at kamalanupai. Then followed a free flow of kalpanaswarams. The tani avartanam was excellent with a nice exchange between the mridangam and kanjira. Nuances from the enormous experience were played and there was good response too from Shri Rajaganesh.

Shri Ashwath Narayanan made everyone relax with viruttam in kApi, sindhu bhairavi, beHAg and bAgEshri rounding it up with a nice rendition of Shri M D Ramanathan's sAgara Shayana vibhO. Shri TVG again appreciated this very much, as, if I am not mistaken, he is a contemporary to Shri MDR. The concert was closed with the pUrnacandrikA rAgam tillAnA and mangaLam. The Maestro placed his hand on Shri Ashwath Narayanan and blessed him at the end of the concert during the applause.

Though a few members in the audience left at varied times, the hall was back-filled by those waiting outside and listening - this happened over the entire duration of the concert. Overall a very good concert.

However, have to mention that there were a couple of slips in tara stAyi by Shri Ashwath Narayanan in aTAnA AlApanA, shankarAbharanam AlApanA and in kalpanaswarams of the same. This was a bit uncharacteristic of him. We could say an influence "tad bit" on the percussionists too, as they also missed one of their korvais each (Maestro TVG and Shri ATR) during the tani avartanam. Shri SV however was flawless in his bowing and sangatis throughout. Let us blame this on some superstition, like the artists leaving home during RahukAlam on a Sunday or some such  - because to my knowledge it was uncharacteristic of them.

These small blips did not affect the mood and quality of the concert at all. We can always enjoy this rising star, in my opinion.

December 2018 Music season - Tidbits - Part 1

Tidbits mid-season from here and there

(plus hits and bites on many everywhere)

Part 1 of . . .

December season has the musical highs, as well as the accompanying fun, awkward moments and woes. Here are some of them to chew on, mid-season.

A picture from the previous season - 30 December, 2017 - winners of best concert of the season

Why is it that some folks wear those overpowering perfumes and land up in a tightly packed small hall, which is already warmed up by the excited bodies in spite of the A/Cs going full blast? Boy o boy, was it a hit on everyone's nostrils and for some it struck the brain and probably nearly made them faint. Please folks, can you take it a little easy on the perfume in such places. Maybe you can try it in huge auditoriums, like NGS / MA, but please don't in the Raga Sudha Hall! You have some weddings too, like at Antila, that can present you with the right opportunity to overpower everyone within 3 floors of you.

Hindustani methods are mostly followed in every thani avartanam. That is my opinion. What do I mean by that, am sure you ask! Well, the presentation of the percussionists starts at a leisurely place, in vilambita kaalam and possibly a 2-kalai chowka taalam. However, as the different exchanges move forward, the taalam speeds up and soon the beats are closer placed. At the end of the kuraippus and korvai one can see the vast difference in the taalam as the singer / instrument player has to switch back to his/her 2-kalai chowka taalam in vilambita kaalam to finish the presentation of the item. It is very obvious at this time, though the earlier change of speeding up is very gradual and less noticeable. If we were to have an electronic taalam keeper, one will find that at times the taalam is at 1.5 times the speed - or they finish 1.5 avartanams near the end of the tani avartanam compared for every avartanam used during the start of the piece.

Now is that something to complain about - probably not. However I wonder whether the percussionists can do even more variations in more complex nadais, if the taalam were kept at the slow speed. It could give more scope to the mridangam, kanjira, ghatam and morsing players, if one were to keep the slow pace throughout. More complicated korvais and many more variations could probably be played with ease, don't you think in the vilambita kaalam?

It was not rare to see people reading magazines and newspapers in the decades ago, while enjoying the music. Though magazines were less of a problem, newspapers were a nuisance - noisy to open, flip, fold, etc. Now-a-days, of course it goes without saying, many are on their mobile phones to either post their opinions (minority) or keep checking news, social media, etc. (majority) It was interesting to see one gentleman in the 2nd row of a hall (already mentioned in that particular concert's notes) happily reading a newspaper. Probably he was doing it noisily, as a VIP from the first row had to step up to him and admonish him (after which the reader folded, and after a few minutes was out of the hall, probably bored without parallel activities). Though the mobile phone usage by others has not been bothering me much it has indeed made me wonder which gets priority in our brains - music or the masala? Your views please!

Can you identify the star on the dais, other than the violinist Shri B U Ganesh Prasad?

When we complain about the audience, it is OK, but couple of folks took the cake and ate it too, when doing on the dais - disturbing the concert. They ate it because they were the percussionists in the concert, when they decided to start chatting during the AlApana of the main artist. They kept at it for "longer than it can be ignored" duration and disturbed the main artist so much. The artist had to break off the AlApana and a stare at the mridangist had to set the 'concert ethics' right! I did not expect the lack of professionalism on the part of experienced percussionists (was this AlApana of a top artist so disinteresting). Ooh la la. If they were my friends I would have let it rip at them after the concert. However, I am just a lay rasika who should not poke nose into giving top artists some advice.

Back to the audience - we seriously really need to control our movements and respect the fellow rasikas. Sabhas need to do something to stop movements in the middle of songs. Like the volunteers in tennis matches, who stop movements in-and-out of the stadium except during the breaks between games, we need the sabhas to enforce the rule of in-and-out only during the gaps between songs. It is really annoying when the interruptions are frequent, especially in the "free concerts"... okay, okay... since it is free for me, I should bear with it? Oh wait. It is free for them too - does that mean they are going to run amok and trouble all rasikas? Hmmm... You decide folks.

Yes, yes, it is well known that people should switch off their mobile phones or put them on silent mode. But wait, we don't announce that anymore. That means, there are many who don't do it anymore. Every concert I hear a dozen or two interruptions by the mobile phone. Now, there are going to be one or two people who genuinely forget to switch off or switch to silent mode. An announcement before every concert should likely reduce these interruptions to one or two (by old person or two whose problem(s) we have to be sympathetic to). So, please organizers, continue to announce before every concert - it may really help (along with chaperones at the gates for the control of flow of people).

Back to sound advice. Or rather just observation of solace for the experts who are fighting every day with the equipment. If Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan itself has problems with the sound, at times, where we are supposed to have one of the best sound systems if not "the" best in Chennai, then what can we say about other sabhas, halls and kalyana mandapams. During the concert of Shri Abhishek Raghuram there was a hum heard, but I believe only on the dais, probably from the monitors (lucky for the rasikas in the seats). In the concerts of two vidushis Gayatris (K and V, latter after the first), there was feedback heard and at times for the rasikas too. However, this time it seemed to have been reduced if not eliminated after a while and multiple attempts - just tells us so much about the complexity of creating a re'sound'ing success.

OK, I will sign-off with a confession until the next hit-or-miss comments on everything but music. Except for a concert in Arkay CC, where I waited for a particular song to complete before entering, the few times I have been late to a concert, I have entered in the middle of the presentation wonly. We are like that wonly, when seats are likely to be gone in any delay of a few seconds. But I do try to avoid in case seating is not likely to be a problem and I happen to be late. Leaving mid-way is usually not a problem, as I leave only between songs or when the artists are re-tuning their instruments.

Shertalai Shri Ranganatha Sharma's brilliant concert constrained by time

Not enough time to showcase voice, skills and knowledge

at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan on 4 December, 2018

Allotment of just an hour and 15 minutes (or 1:20) for some top artists is very restrictive. Shertalai Shri K N Ranganatha Sharma's concert today at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan was one such, which was supposed to begin at 5 PM and end before the following 6:30 PM concert. On top of it, we had veteran maestros accompanying him like Mridangist Shri K V Prasad and Ghatam Shri Vaikom Gopalakrishnan. This time constraint we can avoid in some way, if possible - by providing at least a half-hour extra to make it at least a 2 hour concert.

Shri Ranganatha Sharma began the concert with a relaxed dEva dEva kalayA in mAyAmALavagowLa by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal set to rUpaka tALam. He sang short set of kalpanaswarams before concluding this piece. Then he presented a brief and crisp AlApanA of janaranjani. Expected the kriti on Lord Ganapathi as per structure of the 2nd song being in praise of Him. 'gaNapatE suguna nidE' of Harikeshanallur Shri Muthaiah Bhagavatar was presented as expected, including the chitta swarams.

4 December, 2018 - at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Another brief AlApanA in dEvagAndhAri was followed by shrI tulasammA of Saint Thyagaraja. With these three songs presented in relaxed manner, we were next expecting main presentation of the evening. Shri Ranganatha Sharma's style seems to start the main AlApanA in teasing manner (only my own opinion), where lay rasikas come to conclusion of one rAgam, before the full structure is unfurled. Today the AlApanA started with the uttarAngam sounding like vAcaspati. Only after a few phrases, with a slow descent to the shuddha rishabham he gave the picture of rAmapriyA (ramA manOHari as per Dikshitar school). He then launched into a very good AlApanA with standard structure of exploring the same.

I say this about his teasing manner, because in an earlier concert about a week ago, at Raga Sudha Hall, for Parivadini (you can read review by Shri Balasubramanian Gurumurthi), he started presenting the uttarAngam like kalyANi. Only when he descended to the shatsruti rishabham (R3) did we know that it was kOsalam - and it was a brilliant kOsalam on that day. Today, however, due to time constraints, it was a bit shorter presentation of rAmapriyA. The violinist also presented his version of AlApanA with skill and softness within the scope presented by the vocalist (please help in identifying the violinist). With both these rAgams, kOsalam on other day and today's rAmapriyA, I am convinced Shri Ranganatha Sharma needs better recognition and more time - it will be for the benefit of all rasikAs for sure.

Having heard 3 different composers in first three songs, I was hoping for a Dikshitar song. He presented mAtanga shrI rajarajeshwari very well followed by extended kalpana swarams. Set to rUpaka tALam I was wondering if the tani avartanam may not be included in this part, even though the 1 hour mark was reached. Indeed that was the case and gave ambiguous feeling. Expectations of another main song while also wondering whether he will not be able to do justice to that song, due to paucity of time.

Shri Ranganatha Sharma then sang Saint Thyagaraja's composition in kalAvati, 'ennaDu jUtunO inakula tilaka' in brisk manner before taking up AlApanA in mOHanam. I am sure he is capable of a full-fledged presentation of this important pentatonic scale. He sang a good AlApanA though not elaborate enough to satisfy our thirst. Again the violinist played his interpretation in short and crisp fashion, before the song mOHanarAmA. This song included neraval and kalpanaswarams befitting a main song, followed by the tani avartanam. It was good to see that none stirred from seat at tani avartanam, even though it was already about 6:30 PM (time for next concert). Shri K V Prasad and Shri Vaikom Gopalakrishnan played a very good unhurried tani avartanam showing their knowledge and skills well - and it ended near 6:40 PM.

Shri Ranganatha Sharma then rounded off the concert with a brief sketch of beHAg followed by sAramaina. This was a very good concert, with a superb voice booming in the hall over the wonderful music system. The volume of the other 3 accompanying artists could have been set a bit higher, to make it a nice even concert. These sounded a bit subdued, compared to his voice, which was not fully recognized by audio team, even though there were a few indications from the dais for adjustments.

Shri Ranganatha Sharma has been added to my list of favorite artists especially after these two concerts I have enjoyed in span of a dozen days.