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.