Concert and Aradhana

Last Friday, I was able to attend Aditya Prakash's concert at UCLA(organized by Spic-Macay). His accompanists were Shiva Ramamurthy on the violin and Nirmal Narayan on the mridangam. We reached half an hour late. Aditya sang well. Good alapanas and smooth change of speed in swaram singing. His Dwijavanthi alapana reminded me a little of Sahana ragam. Upon discussing with Teacher, I learnt that these ragams have similarities, being janyas of the same karta (Harikambhoji). The violinist was good. All three artistes showed a good command over music.
On Saturday, Sri Thyagaraja Aradhana and Other Composers' Day was celebrated at Malibu Temple. Some of my favourite songs like Gaanamurte and Nambikkettavar evarayya were sung. I was able to identify Nattakuranji ragam. I liked the rendition of Bhagyada Lakshmi baaramma. I listened to Manirangu ragam for the first time. The Ashtalakshmi song was long but a good display of teamwork. The singer of 'Maa Ramanan' could have sung the lines about 'thanjam endru.... anjel..' with more bhavam.

This week's saadhakam

I shifted focus to Hamsadhwani ragam this week. I read and learnt that this janya of ShankarabharaNam was created by Sri Ramaswami Dikshithar, the father of Sri Muthuswami Dikshithar and that it has an auspicious effect. Apparently the best time to sing this ragam is 7-9 pm.
I attempted to sing the varisais in Hamsadhwani. I was able to sing them in 3 speeds. I should get it checked with teacher sometime soon. I am happy with this step. This sure is fun!
I have also been practising Hamsadhwani kalpanaswarams. I have been working on these steps:
1) Write down swarams from various resources - my own imagination; the varNam, jathiswaram and krithi I know; the tape of Sri Semmangudi's and tips and ideas from teacher.
2) Practise the listed swarams - problem is - by the time I reach the long swarams, I lose interest or breath. Need to make practice more interesting.
I foresee repeating these two steps for at least the whole of January to feel confident.
The singer I listened to the most this week - Nithyashree Mahadevan.
In addition, I was able to practise Valachi vachi and Jagaddaananda for class. Good week:)!

The beauty of Sri Sanjay Subrahmanyam's music

It was five years ago when Suresh anna told me about Sri Sanjay Subrahmanyam. He pointed out that this singer of Carnatic music was qualified as a Chartered Accountant and had been a Ranji Trophy cricket player. In 2007, my teacher said that her son was an upcoming concert musician and a disciple of Sri Sanjay. I got my first chance to attend his concert in 2008 in Los Angeles. He bowled me over with his lilting voice and heartfelt, detailed renditions. I felt that his was a vibrant and power-packed concert. I purchased two of his CDs and listened to them over and over again. I learnt to like Malayamarutham and Madhyamavathy listening to his alapanas. He really enjoys his singing on stage. He also has a good sense of humour and an unassuming personality. But he takes music very seriously and has an infectious passion for it. I was lucky to get his autograph during his concert in 2009. The songlist for the concert is at http://simala.net/pastevents/2009Events/october24/sanjay-subramanyam-october24.html .Here is my short review of his 2009 SIMA concert:

After a powerpacked concert last year, Sanjay gave us more bhavam and detailed singing this time. He started with an Ata thala varnam Neevanti deivamu (Neelambari) followed by 'Vande sada Padmanabham'. He sang beautiful swarams. The next krithi in Reethigowla was good. 'Saravana bhava guhane' in Madhyamavathi was excellent. The RTP started in my favourite ragam Abheri. For the pallavi, he used a ragamaalika. The line was 'Vellai thamarai poovil iruppaal.' I particularly liked the way he interspersed the words with swarams like ' Vellai Thamarai Poovil Iruppaal.' It sounded very good. It must be difficult because I have not heard a lot of this type of swaram-singing. The young violinist got a couple of 'sabash'es from Sanjay for his keen following of the singer's swarams. He then switched to Tamil and sang in Kalyani, Sahana, Mohanam etc. He switched from Bhakti rasam and sang 'Oho kaalame' about time. Another good one was 'Thunbam nergayil' in Desh. Subrahmanya Bharathi's 'Ninnaye Rathi endru' sounded pleasantly different from the film-version I am used to hearing. We could glimpse Sanjay's sense of humour when he sang 'nee nillaadu ooduvai' (about time) just when a playful boy was rushing onto a first row seat; he also pointed to Mr.Narayan while singing 'Narayananai thudi maname.' On the whole, a very enjoyable concert.

Voice culture tips

http://www.carnaticindia.com/tips.html

Tips for Kalpana swarams

http://nivedita-n.livejournal.com/23745.html
http://www.narada.org/kvn/intview2.html

Music season reviews

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2010/01/08/chenindx.htm has lots of reviews and articles. Enjoy!

As the December season 2009 draws to a close in Chennai, I am busy reading reviews by newspapers and detailed accounts by bloggers. Many thanks to all for giving me vicarious pleasure about the season. Los Angeles is waking up to music with at least two house-concerts in January:

1) Vidhwan S.Shankar on Jan10.
2) Sri Aditya Prakash on Jan17.

Then, there is the Thyagaraja Aradhana at Malibu temple on Jan23.

Let us look forward to great music in 2010. Happy New Year!!

Invocation

Gajananam bhootha gaNaadi sevitham
Kabitha jamboo palaasara pakshitham
Uma sutham soka vinasa kaaraNam
Namaami Vigneshwara paada pankajam.

Saraswathi namasthubyam varade kaamaroopiNi
Vidhyarambam karishyaami siddhirbavathume sadaa.