Review - Unnikrishnan - DC area
Nandakumar Gopalakrishnan
Shri Unnikrishnan - Vocal
Shri M.A. Sundaresan - Violin
Shri Mannargudi Easwaran - Mridangam
14 May '95 at the Siva Vishnu Temple, Lanham, Maryland
After all that I had heard about recently on this group about the Unnikrishnan
tour, I went to his concert yesterday setting aside any baggage of preconceived
expectations, but with simply the hope that he would be in a mood to perform at
his best. Saying that I was not let down would be a gross understatement. His
was a performance par excellence. His virtuosity shone through at every stage
of the concert. He pleased the erudite sections of the audience in the first
half with elaborate alapanas, neraval & svaraprasthara in many a piece
culminating in a grand Kambhoji RTP and then had the galleries swaying to his
melodious voice and tapping their feet to his precise rhythm in the lighter
pieces that followed. Altogether the little master put on a masterly show.
Looking back, his start as mentioned by other nettors before, was sober and
measured. The Saveri varnam he picked was crisp with the pallavi rendered in
two kalams followed by a second kala charanam. Next came the composition "Jaya
Jaya Swamin" in Nattai, Adi. This piece had a brief alapana and svara. Soon
after followed another meditative piece in Poorvi Kalyani, "Satru Vilagiro
Pillaai". He wasted no time in establishing the identity of this deep raga
appropriate for the hour of sandhya. The krithi was nicely done with neraval on
the line "Bhaktiyil Karai Kandavan, Parthu Parthu Undavan". Yet, he was clearly
conserving himself although right off the bat there was never a doubt to the
purity of his tone, the clarity of his bhriga and his commitment to the
highest standards. There was now anticipation in the air of greater things to
come.
And come they did in torrents. An uptempo Suddha Saveri composition "Pari
Palinsumani" in Kanda Chapu tala was followed by the Thyagaraja Krithi "Bantu
Reethi". The alapana in Hamsanadham was done with sufficient elaboration, with
the Pa Ma interval highlighted. This Adi tala krithi itself is very popular
due I think in part to its cadence, 1-1/2 eduppu and its spread across the
octaves. Unnikrishnan's neraval on the line "Rama Nama Mane Vara Gatha Veeri"
was simply breathtaking. Melodious as it was, rhythmic improvisation with
sarvalaghu (regular tetradic pulse) and mild kanakku (arithmetically complex)
phrases in succession in syllabic form added to the aesthetics of the display.
The extended climax concluded with an emphatic theermanam (finish phrase) with
the accompaniments juxtaposing precisely in unison causing the audience to
erupt into spontaneous applause. He had also successfully heightened the
emotion in his singing and his voice was by now fuller bodied and ringing
crystal clear. The svaraprasthara that followed was very similar to the
neraval.
Next was the piece-de-resistance, the Kambhoji RTP in vilamba kala Adi. It was
thoroughly explored with utmost adherence to ragabhava. The origins of this
ancient raga in Panns was highlighted by the folksy touch imparted, reflecting
his training under the late Dr. S. Ramanathan. Imaginative phrases were woven
centered around Ga and Dha. On one of the sancharas where he was doing rapid
aakaras he was about to lose sruti control. He quickly applied the brakes
before that happened and after a second's pause re-executed it perfectly. The
tanam that followed had a lot of variety too. It started off subtle and
understated but before long he used his well cultured voice to cast it
differently and produce interesting effects in combination with volume
modulation. There was never any exaggeration in these exercises to be deemed
gimmickry. The pallavi line "Hare Rama Govinda Murare, Mukunda Saura
Muraharakare" was nicely improvised around and his style of breaking up/
adding vowels in neraval seemed to me in the mold of the late great Madurai
Mani. I would have loved to hear some trikalam and tisram but he instead moved
onto some scintillating svaraprasthara. The koraippu (geometric reduction)
featured phrases ending at Dha in several ways as Ni - Dha Pa Ni Dha, Ma Pa Dha
Pa Ni Dha, Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Dha, Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Dha, Dha Ni Dha, Sa Ni Dha ...
to then touch the high Sa and further to Ga Ma Ga in the tara sthayi and topped
off with an elegant svara korvai.
The tani commenced at this point with a simple Tha Dhin Dhin Na nadai when
Mannargudi Easwaran who had until now been enjoying himself providing delectable
accompaniment was distracted by an over-enthusiastic thigh slapper way back in
the last rows. After a caustic rebuke to stop the wrong tala, he quickly
regained composure and his smile and progressed to carve out a spectacular solo
replete with dhurita (fast) kala tisra and misra gatis (pulse of 3 and 7) often
disguised in chatusra nadai (tetradic) phrases. Even in his accompaniment, he
showed excellent judgement as to when to increase amplitude of his strokes
(as a couple of pieces demanded in crescendoes) and when to finesse them with
gumkis (sliding bass strokes with the left hand). However one wishes his
mridangam and/or audio acoustics had been balanced for a deeper bass tone that
sounds majestic.
M.A. Sundaresan provided good accompaniment throughout. His Parur style
was amply evident in the Poorvi Kalyani alapana as well in the bowing
(sort of discrete than elongated) of svaras in Bantu Reethi and RTP.
He especially excelled in his expression of Mohana and Dhanyasi ragas in the
virutham (alapana with words) of the second half of the concert.
Earlier on, Sundaresan didn't seem too pleased with the volume of his
instrument and low level of stage feedback. Real time adjustments to correct
this by the sound people led to shrill tones from the electronics on occasion.
In the lighter second half, the outstanding feature was an unhurried ragamalika
virutham in Mohanam (Kondal Kannanai Kovalanai, Vennai Unda Vayanai), a chaste
Dhanyasi (Ennullam Kavarndhnai) and an apoorva Karnaranjani (En iniya amudhinai
kanda kangal matrondrinai kanave) followed by a song "Om Namo Narayana" in
Kanda Chapu.
The other pieces were:
Rama Rama Rama Sita - Tilang, Rupaka, Purandaradasa
Eppo Varuvaro - Jaunpuri, Adi, Papanasam Sivan
Narahari Deva Janardana - Yamuna Kalyani, Adi
Amme Narayana Devi Narayana - ?? in Malayalam
Mosam Pogadhe Nenje - Kapi
Mangalam - Madhyamavati & Sowrashtram.
In toto folks, a not to be missed event for music lovers if this group is
coming to a neighborhood near you!
-- Nandu
Nandakumar Gopalakrishnan
Layamani
L A Y A M
- - - - -
a magazine from the Sruthi Laya Seva Trust (Registered)
Chief Editor: Karaikudi R. Mani
Shri Karaikudi R. Mani, mridanga vidwan extraordinaire, has recently come
out with the publication of a new bi-monthly digest for conoisseurs of Karnatic
music. Contrary to what the title may suggest this one is not simply a journal
of percussion or rhythm alone. It instead is a crisp newsletter of informative
articles, juicy newsitems, concert reviews, interviews etc. brought for the
enjoyment of the reader from the world of contemporary Karnatic music
in its entirety. Vividly featured are renowned personalties and instruments of
this pristine musical tradition, not to mention snippets from the life and
times of the doyens of its past.
The fifth issue of the magazine is just out and those interested in
a subscription are invited to contact Mr. Sathish Pathakota or Nandu
Gopalakrishnan and receive a complimentary issue for trial. The above
can be reached via e-mail or phone at:
Sathish_...@wyattconsult.com Tel: 703-631-6063
na...@lccinc.com Tel: 703-573-7527
The US annual subscripton is $30/- inclusive of postage.
Each issue typically contains a short theoretical discussion that currently
focuses on the 72 Tala Melakartha scheme analogous to its Raga counterpart.
There is then an indepth presentation (with pictures) of a musical instrument,
exotic or otherwise, and the last one was on the Chitra Vina written by its
great exponent Shri Ravi Kiran. The Morsing and Jalatarangam had been featured
earlier. There is also a feature of a personality distinguished by his/her
service to the musical art form. In the past, Sri Calcutta Krishnamurthy and
mridanga vidwan Shri Mylatore Ramachandran have figured in these columns.
There are interesting interviews of people eminent in their roles of musician,
organizer or critic. For example, the last issue presented joint interviews
with sabha secretaries such as Sri Yagnaraman (Krishna Gana Sabha), Sri
Rajagopal (Kartik Fine Arts), Sri Venkataraman ( Mylapore Fine Arts), Sri
Srinivasan (Kalarasana) who talked about organizational issues and commercial
aspects of concerts. Here is an excerpt:
" Q. As for the crowd, has it been more for senior or junior concerts?
A.[Yagnaraman]: All our programmes during the just concluded December season
were ticketed. The junior concerts attracted more crowd and collection.
Except one or two, the attendance for senior concerts was generally poor. "
Another pitted reputed critics Subbudu, K.S. Mahadevan and
S.V. Krishnamoorthy against a bold interviewer and here are some of their
viewpoints:
"Q. Just as the saying 'I can eat but do not know how to cook' - is yours a
similar situation?
A. [SVK]: No I can ably demonstrate whatever I write.
[KSM]: Though I may not be able to sing well, I can surely point out where
the mistake lies.
[Subbudu]: No, I can perform also as an accompanist on the harmonium and
piano.
Q. How do you think criticism can help in promoting fine arts and artists?
Should significant value be attached to it?
[SVK]: It all depends on whether the musician takes criticism in the
right spirit.
[KSM]: Criticisms should be done by knowledgable persons only. Good
criticism can modify both the artist and audience - this brings
in a healthy fear in the artist also...
[Subbudu]: The critic only helps to hold the torch to the artists."
Panel discussions and debates, for example one on Gurukula vs Institutional
education of music with panelists including Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman, Smt.
Charumathi Ramachandran, and young research scholars, conducted by Shri
Karaikudi R. Mani, are often featured. Readers queries to eminent
musicians, for example involving Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna and answered in his
irrepressible enigmatic style never fail to pique interest.
Further, there are bits and pieces of trivia, updates on events in India
and abroad, music quiz, essays etc. Altogether "Layam" is a nice magazine for
the several avid Indian Classical music lovers on this net to try out
and add to their repertoire of information and wisdom.
Nandakumar Gopalakrishnan
MADURAI MANI IYER FINE ARTS FOUNDATION (MIFAF)
proudly presents another great concert series
between September - November 1995
*******************************************************************
Yuva Kala Bharathi
Smt. S. SOWMYA - VOCAL
(disciple of the late Sangita Kalanidhi Dr. S. Ramanathan)
Smt. M. NARMADA - VIOLIN
(d/o Padmashri M.S. Gopalakrishnan)
Sri Melakkaveri K. BALAJI - MRIDANGAM
********************************************************************
More than two dozen concerts in major U.S. and Canadian cities have
already been scheduled. A few good dates are still available to schedule
concert performances. MIFAF seeks organizers including local SPIC-MACAY
chapters throughout U.S.A and Canada for sponsorship.
Reserve your dates with :
===============================================================
R. Ramakrishnan - 17403, Marigold Drive, Sugarland, Texas 77479
Tel or Fax : (713)-265-5805
===============================================================
A few press reviews about the concert group:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"To a packed audience in the Music Academy annual festival Sowmya sang
in such a way that she deserved a sanad of excellence. Among the afternoon
cutcheries her performance was top class" - The Hindu, Dec '94
"Sowmya has music in her large eyes. A major music company sees her as the
successor to the legendary M.S. Suubbalakshmi" - India Today, '87
"Sowmya's skill in approaching and expounding the ragas with a keen feeling
for lyrics bore the stamp of a competent artiste" - Times of India, '94
"We are extremely pleased to have you (Sowmya) as the performing artiste along
with Ustad Bismillah Khan" - SPIC-MACAY, New Delhi, '94
"I heard Sowmya sing a Papanasam Sivan song. I was captivated by her sweeter
than nightingale's voice, the clarity of the lyrics, and the devotion. I saw
her face light up at the word Ramanujar. I have not seen this specialty in
any other young artiste" - Subbudu
"The Madras rasikas are declaring loud and clear, that their votes for the
1994 season is for Sowmya only. She is more than a "star of the future", she
is a "sure bet" " - Ananda Vikatan, Dec '94
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"M. Narmada's violin support to Sudha RAghunathan was outstanding. Her
virtuosity was not of being merely MSG's daughter, but solely of her own
prodigious sadhakam. Subtle lines, rich tone, elegant design, temptingly
served marked her vidwat".
"M. Narmada on the violin followed Sowmya like a shadow, she gave to the
Ragas stringed richness with well modulated gana naya touches. The ideal
match between Sowmya's impulses and the violinist's response was invigorating
and mutually inspirational" - The Hindu, Dec '94
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Melakkaveri K. Balaji as the Mridangam accompaniment paid exemplary devotion
to rhythmic support. The whole cutcheri was a harmonious ensemble which was
duly acknowledged by listeners with liberal spells of ecstatic applause"
- The Hindu, Dec '94
"The young trio belong to the Sishya Parambara of sustaining schools in their
respective fields. Balaji flourished the concert with sarvalaghu strokes and
played the thani with ease and pacy rhythm. All in a rare experience"
- Indian Express, '90
"I must commend Melakkaveri Balaji's adroit and understanding Mridangam support.
He has the gift of effectively utilizing the Thoppi which gives third dimension
to his playing" - Subbudu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For enquiries via e-mail please contact:
na...@lccinc.com
nand...@ecn.purdue.edu
Dev Mannemela
In article <3ph5t1$f...@mozo.cc.purdue.edu>,
Nandakumar Gopalakrishnan <nand...@noble.ecn.purdue.edu> wrote:
>.. [deleted]
>Palinsumani" in Kanda Chapu tala was followed by the Thyagaraja Krithi "Bantu
>Reethi". The alapana in Hamsanadham was done with sufficient elaboration, with
>the Pa Ma interval highlighted. This Adi tala krithi itself is very popular
>due I think in part to its cadence, 1-1/2 eduppu and its spread across the
>octaves. Unnikrishnan's neraval on the line "Rama Nama Mane Vara Gatha Veeri"
Can someone post the lyrics of "Bantu Reethi", please?
/dev
--
Dev Mannemela de...@spimageworks.com
Sony Pictures Imageworks (310) 641-1614 (O)
pa...@onramp.net
Here you go with the lyrics of "Bantu Reethi":
Bantu Reethi kolu viya vaiya Rama
Anu Pallavi
Thunta vintivani modalaina madha -
Dhula ghoti nela ghula jey yu nija
Charanam
Romancha manu ghana kanchu kamu
Rama bhakthudanu mudra bhillayu
Rama nama munu vara khatga mivi
Rajillu naiya Thyagarajuni ke
Sugantha Srinivasan
G. Balakrishnan
EM address: gbalak...@worldbank.org@internet
Kamala Anupindi
>
>> Can someone post the lyrics of "Bantu Reethi", please?
>
>Here you go with the lyrics of "Bantu Reethi":
thanks for posting the lyrics, sugnatha... some minor corrections:
>Bantu Reethi kolu viya vaiya Rama
banTu reeti koluvu iyya vayya rAmA
>
> Anu Pallavi
>
>Thunta vintivani modalaina madha -
>Dhula ghoti nela ghula jey yu nija
this should read : mAdhAndhula goTTi nEla koola chEyu nija
>
> Charanam
>
>Romancha manu ghana kanchu kamu
mAney
>Rama bhakthudanu mudra bhillayu
bhadruDaney
>Rama nama munu vara khatga mivi
maney miva
>Rajillu naiya Thyagarajuni ke
>
>
>
>Sugantha Srinivasan
kamala anupindi
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NPAC, 111 College Place, Syracuse, NY 13244
URL: http://www.npac.syr.edu/users/kamala/homepage/
Venkat Devarajan
subsequent "minor" corrections by Kamala bring up an interesting dilema
into focus - that of splitting the lyrics at inappropriate places to
allow sangathis to be sung effectively.
In article <3pkvvt$b...@newstand.syr.edu>
kam...@npac.syr.edu (Kamala Anupindi) writes:
> >
> >Here you go with the lyrics of "Bantu Reethi":
>
> thanks for posting the lyrics, sugnatha... some minor corrections:
>
> >Thunta vintivani modalaina madha -
> >Dhula ghoti nela ghula jey yu nija
>
> this should read : mAdhAndhula goTTi nEla koola chEyu nija
The first line of this Anupallavi is often chosen for a few
sangathis. If you stop at modalaina, there is a significant gap in the
thALam before you can pick up the beginning again. Many musicians sing
the word mAdha before going back to Thunta (I know it makes no sense to
people who understand Telugu or have looked up the meaning:-)). This is
especially convenient because mAdha occurs on sAmAm (Adi beginning -
the song itself is in DeSAdi) and adds quite a lot of layam to the
sangathis.
I wonder what is _right_ here. One can argue
a) that musicians must be given some license in these matters.
b) that singing any BhAkthi-laden line over and over again in
different sangathis does not make any sense anyway..so why not go a
step further and allow the splitting of the lyrics at inappropriate
places for musical effect.
I am not necessarily advocating this. In fact, when this is done in
Tamil, a language that I understand, it sounds terrible; mercifully
there aren't too many Tamil kritis taken up for elaborate singing in a
typical concert:-)
Having said all this, what's _the_ solution?
> >
> >Romancha manu ghana kanchu kamu
> mAney
> >Rama bhakthudanu mudra bhillayu
> bhadruDaney
Once again, Sugantha's version is what I have heard most often.
> >Rama nama munu vara khatga mivi
> maney miva
Most people seem to sing "mivi" instead of "miva".
Incidentally, there are differences in the sahityam if you look up
"Thyagaraja Hrdayam" and "T. R. Parthasarathy" ( as examples of two
texts) and by inference, among other "authentic texts". An example that
I ran into recently was the Kriti "AparAdamUlnorva" in rasALI ( I
believe even the rAgam names were different in these two books). A
recording of Sudha Raghunathan shows that she has picked up some of the
words from one and others from the second. I am assuming that she had
researched it well ( I believe, rasikAs would appreciate this type of
help from our professional musicians)
> >Rajillu naiya Thyagarajuni ke
> >
_____________________________________________________________________
Venkat Devarajan 817-273-3485
The University of Texas at Arlington
Ranganathan Srikanth
ThyAgarAja composed through extensive cross rhythms and splittings of word
which occurs in many krithis and sometimes at several instances in a given
krithi. This is a very well realised and discussed topic within music circles.
Recently I came across an excellent article (thanks srini pichumani) by
vidwan sadagOpan on the splitting of words and giving consonant/vowel
stress at inappropriate (lyrical) locations by thyAgarAja. He discusses
several krithis loaded with such apparent lyrical flaws and also shows
that such syllablic distribution doesn't occur in dIkshitar's and shyAmA
shAstri's krithis.
Given that dIkshitar was more a musical architect than a sculptor that
thyagaraja was it is understandable why music stood to dominate. It is
not to say that thyAgarAja was not lyrical. Vidwan sadagOpan concludes the
article in a mystical/spiritual way leaving it to nAdavisEsham. thyAgaraja
must have had a GREAT musical purpose in doing that.
I personally have no problems with such splits as far as thyAgarAja's krithis
go. I have learnt to read meaning even when the words are split. nAdamarmam
is something thyAgarAja had complete knowledge of is my strong belief.
srikanth