Vivek Moozhikulam Concert

 Yesterday, I witnessed Sri. Vivek Moozhikulam's vocal concert. He was accompanied by Sri Vignesh Thyagarajan on the violin, Sri Santhosh Ravindrabharathy on the mridangam and Sri Sathya Ganesan on the ghatam. Most songs were on Goddesses. He started the concert with Endaro Mahanubhavulu in Sri ragam, followed by Sri Varalakshmi, Ranjani Niranjani, Bhaja re re chitha in Kalyani etc. 

The concert was enjoyable and my kids were mostly engaged. Lots of powerful singing. Wishing Sri Vivek a successful US tour and a bright music career ahead!

Oothukkaadu Venkata Kavi compositions

 Recently, on March 22nd, I got the opportunity to listen to the rendition by Smt. Latha Sriram's 100+ students singing compositions by Oothukkaadu Venkata kavi.

Among the familiar songs were Alaipaayuthey Kanna in Kaanada, and the Kaalinga Narthana thillana in Gambeera Naattai. I also listened to Nindranda Mayil for the first time. It has a nice message that we should look inwards to find peace. The event was well organized and the performers showed discipline and dedication. Their singing was well synchronized. Overall, an insipiring experience. 

Margazhi season 2024-2025

 Got the opportunity to listen to a few concerts on YouTube this Margazhi. My favorite concert was the Margazhi Mahautsavam concert by Sandeep Narayan. 

Unfretted concert on Sep 6, 2023

 Vishal Sapuram on Chitraveena, Sruti Sarathy on violin and Akshay on the mridangam gave a crisp concert on Gokulashtami day. Very beautiful concert. Wonder why they didn’t play any Krishna songs until I left.

SIFA concert on Sep 10, 2023

 Vidwan Ramakrishnan Murthy’s performance reminded me of Sri Semmangudi Sreenivasan Iyer. Smt Charumathi Raghuram gave a fitting accompaniment on the violin. Overall, a very enjoyable concert!

SIMA Concert - Sri Shashank

We had this opportunity to attend flute concerts by Shashank and LA's own KRS this year. Both concerts were delightful. Flute music is indeed calming and relaxing. I felt immense tranquility at the end of Shashank's concert. Got a chance to take a selfie with Shashank and a couple of my buddies after the concert.

SIMA Thyagaraja Day 2018

SIMA Thyagaraja Day 2018

After a hiatus, I became a member of SIMA again in 2018. I was fortunate to visit Malibu Hindu temple and listen to Shubha teacher and others sing the Pancharatna Krithis. That was in January 2018. After that, I practiced the krithis using the recordings I had saved. I was also pepped up due to the visit of Surya teacher in April/May. I continued my practice, mostly during my drives to and from work. In June, when the artistes sang on the Hoover school stage for SIMA, I was able to sit on the first row and sing along with them. I consider the opportunity as a blessing from the Gods and my Gurus.

December Season 2012 concerts

Watched a few Margazhi Mahautsavam (MMU) and Chennayil Thiruvaiyaaru concerts on TV. Smt Sudha's MMU concert was good - the best part was her innocent smile. Nisha Rajagopal singing was good - showed saadaka-balam, something I've been lost recently. Sandeep Narayan was a surprise. He sang Sri Varalakshmi again. He seems to be perfecting that song. Mr. Manimaran needs to sing more soulfully. Smt Sowmya's songs about the rivers in India were enjoyable. Smt. Mahathi's rendition of Thelisi Rama in Poorna chandrika was good. Its been a while since I practiced that song. Sri Unnikrishnan's Vijay TV concert lacked something - but he draws such large crowds! Is comparing his 'Deva deva kalayaamithe' in Mayamalavagowla to Sri Semmangudi's rendition wrong? Maybe their styles are different. Surprised to hear singer Karthik's fusion concert on Vijay TV - he sang Bantureethi kolu pretty well.

SIMA concert - Ranjani Gayatri

After listening to the duo's good concerts and CDs in the past, I went hoping to listen to an inspiring concert. And I was not disappointed. 'Tatvamariya tarama' in Reetigowla and 'O Rajeevaksha' were rendered beautifully. I felt that the singers were out of synch in the ending of the first line of the Kumudakriya krithi 'Ardhanareeshwaram.' In the Bhairavi krithi 'Yaaro ivar yaaro,' one singer forgot words at one place. In the tripallavi RTP, Smt Gayatri went wrong a couple of times, while doing the khanda jaathi Ata thalam. Smt Ranjani had to put thalam with her left hand as well to keep it going right. Later, they sang a few of the requested songs and they sang them well! During the entire concert, the sisters were moving from one piece to the next briskly and there was no dragging or delays anywhere. I somehow got the feeling that there was maybe a slight hurry to keep moving on. The sisters attracted a big audience. The crowds kept pouring and sheets were spread for people to sit on the floor and listen, about halfway through the concert. On the whole, the duo gave an enjoyable performance, with a minor flaws here and there.

SIMA concert - Sri Unnikrishnan

Due to his singing for films, Sri Unnikrishnan has become very popular, I suppose. The auditorium looked packed when I reached about an hour after the concert's start. The accompanists did a good job but somehow, I felt that the singer was not giving an enjoyable performance.

Ragam Manirangu

A Kharaharapriya janya, Manirangu sounds very melodious. I have been listening to 'Iko namaswami' rendered by Smt. DK Pattammal, 'Yaar enna sonnaalum' by Nithyashree Mahadevan and 'Bhajare' by Sri. Balamuralikrishna from here:
http://musicindiaonline.co/list_albums/i/10-Classical_Carnatic_Vocal/671-Manirangu/#/list_albums/i/10-Classical_Carnatic_Vocal/671-Manirangu/2!q=

SIMA concerts - Shashank and Sandeep

We attended an hour's worth of Shashank's flute concert. Dhenuka and Surutti alapanas made the ragams sound very different to me. We had to leave as we didnt want to keep Avaneesh in the cold air outside the auditorium for too long.
Sandeep Narayan gave a grand homecoming concert on March 24th evening. The songlist is here:
http://sandeepnarayanmusic.blogspot.com/2012/03/sima-los-angeles.html
Sandeep has taken up Sri Sanjay's baani very well. In particular, I liked his rendition of the Ahiri song. Neyveli Venkatesh's thani exuded youthful energy to complement the youngster's singing. The audience enjoyed everything and forgave his forgetting a line and getting the violinist's help for Thamburi meetidhava.

Good 'season' of listening

The December season 2011-2012 has been good for me with abundant blessings from the Almighty. I visited Chennai with Avaneesh and took him on the stroller for a few concerts:
Hamsadhwani Sabha concerts 2011
A lot of youngsters gave excellent performances.
Ganesh Raman
Jaishree
Rupa Mahadevan
Srimathi and Anuradha Sridhar performed a violin duet.

Kalakshetra Concert of Parasala Ponnammal - even at this age when she finds it hard to drag notes, she gave a full concert including my favorite Kamalamba Samrakshathu in Ananda Bhairavi

Then I watched some concerts on TV:
Margazhi Mahautsavam concerts 2011-2012
Aruna Sairam
P. Unnikrishnan
Priya sisters
Sanjay Subrahmanyan
Sudha Raghunathan
Abhishek Raghuram
Neyveli Santhanagopalan
Kunnakkudi Balamuralikrishna

Kalaingyar tv 5:30pm
Vijayalakshmi Subramanyan Jan 19.
Anuradha Krishnamurthy Jan 23 with flute ghatam and mridangam accompaniments. Somehow this concert lacked harmony, at least the first part of it. Vathapi, pozhuthu pularnthathu were so-so.
Aruna Sairam on Jan 24 sang meenakshi madurapuri, vishamakkara Kannan, vittal. Looked tired.

Chennaiyil thiruvaiyaaru Vijay tv 5pm
Priya sisters Jan 24 Sri ganapathini, Thillai Chidambaram in saama was good.

Workshop continues

B
KVN
A lot of disharmony in this song's rendition.
Reminds me more of Kp than T
Vocal supporter is singing in a different shruthi.
Akaaram after Muralidhra is the AvarohaNam and ArohaNam but I cannot get the feel for the ragam.
Swarams slow to fast.
Violinist must have been a senior artist.
Thani ending is abrupt.
RK
S
Dragging initially.
Someone coughs.

Ka
MMI
Phrase
MLV
Energetic swaram singing - violin is meek and mridangam loud.
Singer cuts the words in the end.
S
Raada may not be the correct word.
While singing O, he brings in aa.

Smt Sudha

Mesmerising. Peaceful. Maybe because it was her Birthday. Maybe because she chose the songs she did (Tamil, M.S songs, but no Purandaradasa or Sivan songs- why?). Maybe because she posed as a gopika searching among the audience for the omniscient yet playful Krishna. Maybe because I could sit on the floor close to the stage....
Ragams I could identify were Nattakuranji, Kalyani, Mohanam, Behag.
The violinist Sriram was reverent to the vocalist, displaying his talent at the same time. The Thani was just right. The singer was off-shruthi when she resumed after the Thani. She also clarified that she wanted to sing songs of other composers in the thukkada section (maybe that answers my question about song-choice)
Usually the King perched on the throne gives out pearl necklaces to others. In this case, Smt Sudha was the recipient of one from a rasika (alongwith beautiful bouquets).
Avaneesh was sleeping peacefully when I found him at the end of the concert!

Thodi
SS
Different ways of singing G.
He starts off letting us know it is Gajavadana song.
S
Balaji Sankar
Song is good for dance until niraval starts.
Mridangam is not good near the m p d swaram.
Mohrsing can be identified.
Last kalpanaswaram was good.

Ramnad Krishnan
Violinist's alapana reminds me of another song.

SSI
SSI says Besh Besh when the other singer holds his breath.

Spring Workshop week 1

Pakkala nilabadi:
ARI’s voice (and probly the recording quality) is soothing. Somewhere in the alapanai, I am reminded of ‘Navasiddhi petralum.’ He does neraval and then goes into swarams at ‘Tanuvuche vandanamu.’ Violin is mild, mridangam blends with the singing.
Srinivasa Tava:
MLV’s long alapana is unappealing – I guess her voice is ‘loud’. I wonder who has offered the vocal support. The accompanists are good – the violinist plays the sangathis with ease.
Chakkani Raja:
In the alapanai, I am able to find it is Kharaharapriya ragam.

CMI

Listening to Carnatic Music Idol on YouTube. Thanks Sekar.

Carnatica concert

Boring. The songs were okay. But I did not feel that the artists were giving a team performance.

Pancharathna krithis

Avaneesh was playing on his wiggleworm gym while I listened to Jagaddanandakaraka today. I was able to recollect it is in Nattai ragam.