Comments: Ranjani & Gayathri (vocal)
V R Vasudevan
Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai, as part of the Gokulashtami series of
concerts. They were accompanied by R Hemalatha on the violin, Madipakkam
Suresh on the Mridangam & Madipakkam Murali on the Ghatam.
The overall performance of the duo was less than satisfactory, while R
Hemalatha was very good in accompaniment. Suresh & Murali played a
subdued & good role in the percussion accompaniment.
The concert began with the "in varnam" of the season, in thOdi, "erA
nApai". Following traditional patterns, an expected RTP in thOdi was
presented later in the concert.
Gayathri gave a brief AlApanai in atANa followed by "sree mahAganapathim
bhajeham". Next came "gOvardhana girIsham smarAmi" of Muthuswami
Dhikshitar in HindhOLam set to rUpaka thAlam. Ranjani then took up
lathAngi for elaboration, but made a couple of slips during the same.
She was more conscious of her "bhindhi" at times, rather than the
AlApanai. Hemalatha presented a good AlApanai of lathAngi on her turn.
The duo then presented "marivere dhikkevaru rAmayyA" in Kanda Chaphu
thAlam, a composition of Patnam Subramanya Iyer. This was followed by a
small piece in vasanthA, which began like "mAlayai anindhu" (if someone
could give more information on this one, it will be helpful).
Karaharapriya was the main piece of the concert which was taken up for
elaboration by Gayathri. Her essay was good, which was followed by a
great work by Hemalatha, some stretches of which were pretty moving &
evoked applause. "rAmA nI samAnamevarO" of St. Thyagaraja was the song
sung by the duo, which was punctuated by a very good neraval at "paluku
paluku". Ranjani faltered yet again during the svara prasthara and also
missed a beat once. The "bhindhi" consciousness was total by this time,
as it fell off a couple of times. She even went to the extent of placing
the "bhindi" when she was singing, obstructing the mike by bringin her
hand between it & the mouth.
This essay was immediately follwed by the rAgam thAnam pallavi in thOdi.
Ranjani took up the first half of the AlApanai and made an obvious slip
once more, while Hemalatha on the violin & Gayathri's second part were
very good. The pallavi was set to thisra jAthi thriputa thAlam in kanda
nadai. There was a simple exposition of the pallavi "veNNai thinna
chinna thanamA vENu gOpAla" followed by svaras in the same rAgam thOdi.
The thani avarthanam was pretty good, but did not bring out much of the
talents of Suresh & Murali. The reason could be the exodus of half the
crowd, when the thani portion began.
Vrittam in a few rAgams was followed by sOdhanai sumaindhu by Papanasam
Sivan in Kapi and a Meera bhajan (rAma rathan payo payo ni maine).
Ranjani & Gayathri do not seem to have much range in their voice as of
now. From the lower nishadham to the upper Gandharam is their normal
range. If they exceed these notes, the voice tends to drain off with
nothing much heard (softens too much). Moreover, there is a lack of
"azhuttham" (punch?) in their singing. They took a very low sruthi (2
kattai?) and still were not able to go higher than the upper gandharam,
which should have been a breeze for good female voices. The low sruthi
also ensured that they could not go below nishadham or dhaivatham on
lower octave.
There is a lot more work required, for them to prove their ability,
while their technical knowledge cannot be faulted.
Regards,
V R Vasudevan.
Home Page: http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/7755/
Music Pages: http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/7755/music.htm
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
K. Vaidyanathan
I was astonished and deeply saddened to read a review of a concert by
B.Ranjani & B.Gayatri in Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai by one Mr
Vasudevan. I listened to the concert from the beginning to the end and
went back like all the other rasikas present, with an elated feeling.
Concerts of such excellent quality are very rare and the standard of the
sisters' singing is such that it throws even established, popular
vocalists into shade.
The success of the above concert was evident from the deep-felt and
enthusiastic appreciation of all rasikas. Though Ranjani and Gayatri
follow the general concert format of the Semmangudi bani, they have a
strikingly original approach which is reflected in their imaginative raga
alapanas, evocative rendering of krithi's and brilliant niraval and
swaras. I have rarely heard niraval of such high calibre, as the
sisters' handling of the line 'Paluku paluku' in Rama nee samana
(Karaharapriya). Their sense of proportion, be it niraval, swaras or
raga alapana must be highly commended. What stands out, above all, is
the depth of feeling and involvement with Ranjani & Gayatri sing - this
is what moves and gladdens the heart.
The entire tone of Mr. Vasudevan's critique is very acrimonious and seems
to have a malicious edge to it. Some details given are even entirely
false and baseless. For example, any lay listener will know that the
sisters' sruthi is no less than 5 1/2 kattai (G-sharp) instead of 2
kattai as mentioned in the review. They also have an enviable range and
were very much at home in the manthra sthaayi and thaara sthaayi. In
fact, Gayatri's Karaharapriya and Thodi had many magnificent sancharas in
the thaara sthaayi, focusing on madhyamam and panchamam. Mr.Vasudevan's
point that they did not venture beyond nishadam in the lower octave or
the gandharam in the upper octave is quite absurd.
Moreover unimportant and frivolous details such as bindi falling off
Ranjani's forehead, minor, unnoticeable slips (which occur to any
musician on all days) are not which constitute a good, unbiased review.
Faithful recording of minor slips and furnishing false information such
as low audience turn out and low sruthi - not only reflect the ignorance
and sheer vindictiveness of the reviewer, but also is misleading and
irresponsible.
I also attended a couple of other concerts by Ranjani & Gayatri and was
very happy to note that they are consistently maintaining their high
standard of pedigree excellence. It is also heartening to note that
quality also attracts crowd. All their concerts that I attended had a
large audience turnout; recently they sang in Narada Gana Sabha to a full
hall.
When such prodigiously talented artists come on the scene, one should
whole heartedly welcome and enjoy their music. As a unbiased listener of
more than forty years standing, I can only pray that the sisters will
keep up their high quality and not change tracks for the sake of more
popularity as some musicians have done. It is a well know fact that
success through good-quality music is slow to come but is enduring.
Ranjani & Gayatri's music is one such music, and therefore it is no
surprise that they are making waves in the carnatic music scenario.
T.L. Shankar & V Jayashankar
Chennai
V R Vasudevan
<Pine.SOL.3.91.990817...@godzilla5.acpub.duke.edu>,
"K. Vaidyanathan" <k...@duke.edu> wrote:
>
> I was astonished and deeply saddened to read a review of a concert by
> B.Ranjani & B.Gayatri in Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai by one Mr
> Vasudevan. I listened to the concert from the beginning to the end
and
> went back like all the other rasikas present, with an elated feeling.
I would like to stand by my comments. I for one, did not feel this was a
high class concert.
> Concerts of such excellent quality are very rare and the standard of
the
> sisters' singing is such that it throws even established, popular
> vocalists into shade.
I agree that Popularity has nothing to do with Quality, but I will not
agree with the "rareness" of the quality of this concert.
> I have rarely heard niraval of such high calibre, as the
> sisters' handling of the line 'Paluku paluku' in Rama nee samana
> (Karaharapriya).
My words from my "comments" posted earlier are :
rAmA nI samAnamevarO" of St. Thyagaraja was the song sung by the duo,
which was punctuated by a very good neraval at "paluku paluku".
> The entire tone of Mr. Vasudevan's critique is very acrimonious and
seems
> to have a malicious edge to it.
I have nothing against ANY musician. I have no reason to pull down
anybody. I just put my opinion down. My comments are only in the
direction of "points to improve."
> Some details given are even entirely
> false and baseless. For example, any lay listener will know that the
> sisters' sruthi is no less than 5 1/2 kattai (G-sharp) instead of 2
> kattai as mentioned in the review. They also have an enviable range
and
> were very much at home in the manthra sthaayi and thaara sthaayi. In
> fact, Gayatri's Karaharapriya and Thodi had many magnificent sancharas
in
> the thaara sthaayi, focusing on madhyamam and panchamam.
Mr.Vasudevan's
> point that they did not venture beyond nishadam in the lower octave or
> the gandharam in the upper octave is quite absurd.
I have always wanted to have a pocket recorder for many purposes. One is
to get the first few seconds of AlApanai & first line of the krithi on
tape to listen to and understand various bhanis and analyze the rare
explorations. I wish I had done that to be able to "recall"
successfully. I wonder what the implications are with respect to the
musicians not wanting people to bring in recorders & other copyright
issues. I have wanted to throw this discussion to public in the past one
week, but has now risen in this thread.
> Moreover unimportant and frivolous details such as bindi falling off
> Ranjani's forehead, minor, unnoticeable slips (which occur to any
> musician on all days) are not which constitute a good, unbiased
review.
I agree that this is minor. Since it interfered with music more than
once, I had to bring it up. This is as much a disturbance (when hand
comes in front of mike & disturbs the AlApanai) as people making a noise
by getting out of their chairs at their will & wish.
> Faithful recording of minor slips and furnishing false information
such
> as low audience turn out and low sruthi - not only reflect the
ignorance
> and sheer vindictiveness of the reviewer, but also is misleading and
> irresponsible.
Regarding low audience turn out - I NEVER MADE SUCH A STATEMENT. Please
re-read the posting. The only reference to audience is "The thani
avarthanam was pretty good, but did not bring out much of the
talents of Suresh & Murali. The reason could be the exodus of half the
crowd, when the thani portion began."
This was intended to point out to the listeners that the disturbance
should not happen. It has nothing to do with the quality of concert, as
many on the net will agree (and have discussed at length). I will
continue to raise this point, whenever it happens. Listeners should wait
for the end of the piece to step out. This was not the case in
Unnikrishnan's concert in the same auditorium, but that was due to their
choice of playing the thani in the middle of concert, before the RTP.
> As a unbiased listener of
> more than forty years standing, I can only pray that the sisters will
> keep up their high quality and not change tracks for the sake of more
> popularity as some musicians have done. It is a well know fact that
> success through good-quality music is slow to come but is enduring.
> Ranjani & Gayatri's music is one such music, and therefore it is no
> surprise that they are making waves in the carnatic music scenario.
I just stated my unbiased opinion. I do not differentiate between
artistes, nor do I compare the artistes or their bhanis. I have no
malicious intent. I also hope EVERY musician, not only Gayathri &
Ranjani, blossoms into a great artist.
Regards,
V R Vasudevan.
Home Page: http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/7755/
Music Page: http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/7755/music.htm