Gayathri Venkataraghavan @ Indiranagar Sangeetha Sabha , Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar Centenary Concert

Vocal : Vid Gayathri Venkataraghavan

Violin :  Mysore Srikanth

Mrudangam : Arjunkumar

Ghatam : Omkar G Rao

Thematic concert on Sri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar

List

01  shrI jAlandharamAshrayAmyaham – gambhIra nATa – Adi – JCW  ( O )

02  gam gaNapatE namastE – dUrvAnki – tisra tripuTa – JCW ( S )

03  durgAdEvi samrakSamAm – dharmavati – Adi – JCW ( A,S )

04  sarasvatim bhagavatim – hamsavinOdini – mishra jhumpa – JCW ( A,S )

05  gajAnanam gaNapatim bhajEham – thODi – chaturashra maTya – JCW ( A,N,S )

neraval & Svaras at ‘gangAdhara tanujam srIvidyA putram’

06  shankari sadAnanda lahari – mALavi – Adi – JCW

07  shrI cAmuNDEshvari bhajEham satatam – madhyamAvati – Adi x 2 – JCW ( A,S,T )

08  cintayAmi jagadambam – hindOLam – mishra jhumpa – JCW

09  brahmANDa valayE mAyE – mAND – Adi – JCW

10 mahAdEvAdi samsEvitE (mangaLam) – madhyamAvati – Adi – JCW

Fabulous effort by the vidushi. She presented a variety list of the Maharaja Composers kritis. A few ‘usual suspects’ like the gambheeranata, durvanki,hindolam and hamsavinodini , albeit rare in regular concerts, and a few refreshing ones , especially the thOdi, dharmavati and main madhyamavati.

She sang beautifully. Some hiccup and loss of flow as she referred to the lyrics ( I guess) in the device placed next to her ( which could have been avoided) but on a thematic concerts these can be swept past.

Nice little swaras for dUrvAnki, heard a few Karnataka based artist sing that.  But her swaras for hamsavinodini was evern classier. I liked the way she brought about the same.Dharmavati and hamsavinodini alapana were good.

Thodi composition, to me was the best of the evening. She had a rather abrupt end of her alapana. Mysore Srikanth did a superb return here. Kriti, set to chaturashra maTya was interesting. She have tremendous neraval, gradually increased the tempo and ended it in a grand way, to some very enthusiastic applause from the listeners.  Arjunkumar was at his best during thODi.

Madhyamavati alapana was also very good. A sedate start, building it with composure, some grand fast paced phrases ( she did with such a grace, I liked it), equally measured response from Srikant. No neraval, but the usual two speed kalpana swaras.

Brilliant stuff. Credits to the artist for the effort and the result.

 

 

Gayathri Venkataraghavan @ Rama Seva Mandali, Fort School – 28 Mar 2018

Vocal : Gayathri Venkataraghavan

Violin : Mysore Srikanth

Mrudangam : K V Prasad

Ganjira : Guruprasanna

List:

01 shLOkam ( vighnarAja krpAsindhO )

evaraNi – dEvAmrtavarSiNi – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja

02 kallu sakkare koLLirO  – kalyANi – mishra chAp -Purandara Dasa ( O, S )

03 jAlandhara supITHastHitE – valaji – rUpakam – Muthaiah Bhagavathar ( A,S )

04 kSIra sAgara shayanA -dEvagAndhAri – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja

05 rAma kathA sudhArasa – madhyamAvati – Adi x 2 – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & svara @ bhAmAmaNi jAnaki saumitri bharatAdulatO bhUmi velayu sItA’

06 RTP – dharmavati – khaNDa tripuTa , dwi nadai ( pUrvAngam in chaturashra naDai, and uttarAngam in khaNDa naDai)  +1 akSaram eDuppu, arudi after rAmuni 6 akSaram

pallavi line ‘ bhajana sEyavE O manasA rAmuni, paramAtmuni bhakta pAlini

rAgamAlika svaras in vAsanti, candrajyOti and nAgasvarALi

07 mAnasa sancararE – sAma – Adi -Sadashiva Brahmendra

08 shLOkam ( mAtA rAmO mat pitA rAmachandrah: ) – darbAri kAnaDa

rAma nAma bhajisavarigE uNTE bhavada bandhana – darbAri kAnaDa – rUpakam -Purandara Dasa

09 rAmanai bhajitAl – mAND – Papanasam Sivan

10 shLOkam ( gOpAlaratnam bhuvanaika ratnam ) – yamunAkalyAni

bhAvayAmi gOpAlabAlam – yamunAkalyANi – khaNDa chAp – Annamacharya

11 thillAna ( dhIm tana udara tarana ) – behAg – Adi – Papanasam Sivan

12 mangaLam – saurAStram – Adi – Thyagaraja

shLOkam ( mangaLam kOsalEndrAya ) – suruTTi

Concert started very late ( around 6:53 pm) despite the artists arriving on stage at 6:25. There were tuning of two tanpuras , probably there was a shruti box too. Getting all of them in sync and sing the same  sa pa sa, was taking eternally long. In the meanwhile, one saw the percussion artists leaving the stage and going back ( It was later announced that Sri K V Prasad was unwell and was infact unable to start the concert. However, he came back and continued for next 3+ hours with his usual style, which should be appreciated).   After singing some kEdaram raga sketches, Vid Gayathri Venkataraghavan also left the stage for a while.  However, concert started around 6:55 and she did sing for more than 3 hrs ( beyond 10:00pm), in spite of the dwindling audience.

And, some of the best music came towards the later half of the concert.  The early part of the concert wasn’t all that great. Valaji and kalyani were ok, devagandhari wasn’t moving at all.  It was with the main madhyamavati, the whole concert lifted itself out of the drab, more precisely from the neraval. Not surprisingly the first real ‘active applause’ of appreciation was for the neraval. Kalpana swaras were pretty good too. K V Prasad and Guruprasanna played a commendable tani avartanam.

The concert peaked at its best in the pallavi. Tanam was exquisite. Srikant played some delectable tanam here. Super class. Structuarally complicated talam with two different nadai for khanda triputa with a shift in eduppu was impressively executed. The trikalam was smooth. Nice rounds of ragamalika swaram,  the one in vAsanti was beautiful.

She sang a quick short ‘mAnasa sancharare’. I thought  she was quickly filling up the sheet to fill the number of compositions. But the rest of them were very nice, including the request ‘bhavayAmi gOpAlabAlam’ and the devarnama , each preceded with a nice shlokam. Good concert, with a brilliant pallavi from vid. Gayathri venkataraghavan.

 

Gayathri Venkataraghavan @Nadasurabhi, Indian Heritage Academy Hall Koramangala 21 Apr 2013

Vocal : Gayathri Venkataraghavan

Violin : Nalina Mohan

Mrudangam : C Cheluvaraju

Ganjira : B N Chandramouli

List:

01.  sarasijanAbha mAm pAhi (varNam) – nAttai – Palakkad Parameswara Bhagavathar

02.  nAdasudhA rasambilanu – Arabhi – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S )

neraval & Swara @ ‘dhara bhajana bhAgyamurA tyAgarAju sEvincu’

03. marivErE dikkeveru – latAngi – Patnam Subramanya Iyer ( A,S )

04.  mAyamma yani nE  – Ahiri – Thyagaraja ( O )

05.  kumaran tAL – yadukula kAmbOji – Papanasam Sivan

06.  gAnAmudha pAnam – jOthiswarUpiNi – Koteeswara Iyer ( S )

07.  mAkELarA vichAramu – ravichandrika – Thyagaraja ( S )

08.  kaligiyuNTE gada – kIravAni – Thyagaraja ( A,N,S,T )

neraval & swara @ ‘ bAguga srI raghurAmuni pAdamula’

09.  jagadhOdhAraNa – kApi – Purandara Dasa

10.  rAma nAmamE tudi – dEsh – Tanjavur Sankara Iyer

11. mangaLam – saurAshtram / madhyamAvathi

Back to Back Keeravani main ! If it is keeravani it has to be kaligiyunte gada. One more Keeravani this season, I will take a sabbatical 🙂

My neighborhood promised with two back to back concert for the evening. The decision to skip other Ramanavami Celebration venues was easier thus. One was to start at 4:15 and the second, at the same premise ( different hall) at 6:30. A possible overlap for a short duration. Tottnham-Man City, Liverpool-Chelsea matches can wait.

Gayathri Venkataraghavan and the team started their concert on time, with a not regular varnam in Nata. A shortish alapana by both vocal and violin for Arabhi was nice. Kriti was nice, neraval was very good, so was the few rounds of kalpana swaram that was sung. Latangi alapana was a little more detailed. As anticipated , Patnam kriti came in followed with some good round of swaras. Then, came a chain of kritis , not so impressive ahiri ( the short sketch was nice), yadukulakamboji, jothiswarupini with few rounds of kalpana swaram and a quickfire ravichandrika with super fast swaras.

Keeravani, as said earlier was the main for the second consecutive day. This I thought was the highlight of the day. The raga build up was fabulous, unhurried, melodious and stacked beautifully. Kriti was good as usual, and neraval was splendid with pretty decent two speed kalpana swaras befitting the main. Post main was short, the kapi devarnama and the desh kriti of Tanjavur Sankara Iyer. Concert concluded pretty fast with a mangalam.

Looking at the list, it is fairly good balance. A wide variety of composers, and nice mix of raga. I still thought she would have innovated at the middle. After a good start, it seems to have lost the flow with those 4 kritis one after the other. On the other hand, there was some coherence missing through out. Violin was hardly heard and the neraval and second speed swaras were immersed in the percussion over power. Cheluvaraju wasn’t banging, but the overall balance of the sound in the hall seems to have had an issue, which dampened the overall experience of listening.

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Gayathri Venkataraghavan at Gayana Samaja June 08, 2008

Vocal : Gayathri Venkataraghavan

Violin : Nalina mohan

Mrudangam : Cheluvaraju

Ghatam : G Omkar

Song list:

1 sarasija (varNam) – kAmbOji – Swati Thirunal ?

2 gajavadanA karuNA sadana – srIranjini – Papanasam Sivan  ( S )

3 srI chAmunDEswari pAlayamAm – bilahari – Mysore Vasudevacharya ( A,N)

neraval @ ‘ raakanishaakara sannibhavadanE raajeevalOcanE’

4 mA kELarA vicAramu – ravichandrika – Thyagaraja ( S )

5 mannisO sri venkaTEsha – madhyamAvathi – Vadiraja Swamy    ( A,S )

6 nijadAsa varada – kalyANi – Patnam Subramanya Iyer  ( A,N,S,T )

neraval @ ‘bhujagAdhipa shayana bhUmija ramaNa’

7 rAma rAma rAma rAma rAma ennirO – vasanta – Purandara Dasa

8 RTP – Anandabhairavi – chatusra jati jumpa , khanda nadai

pallavi line ‘ pArvati paramAnandabhairavi dayanidhi aruLpuri-‘

rAgamAlika swaras in Anandabhairavi, rEvagupti ( could be bhUpALam as well) , ? , varALi, Anandabhairavi

9 muDikonru mUlakamum ? – rAgamalika ( chenchurutti, punnagavarali…)- ?

10 lAli sri hayavadana – nIlAmbari – Vadiraja swami (?)   ( O )

11 thillAna – pUrvi –  ?

12 mangalam – saurAshtram

slokam ( mangalam kosalendra) – surutti

Smt.Gayathri Venkataraghavan gave a very good concert yesterday at the Gayana Samaja. She was performing here for the first time, as it was announced later.  What was impressive about this was the choice of krithis ( rare krithis and from a vast variety of composers).  Even though she sang every krithi very well, for me , the take of the day was the madhyamavathi krithi, which I have not heard before. The alapana and the swaras that followed after a rather long krithi was very impressive. Sri Cheluvaraju and Omkar was superb today, though the decibel level for percussionists were on a higher side.  Nalina Mohan was also good, especially during the bilahari and Madhyamavathi krithis. A good concert on a weekend.

 

Gayathri Venkataraghavan – Sheshadripuram 01 May , 2008

Vocal : Gayathri Venkataraghavan

Violin : Charumathi Raghuraman

Mrudangam  : H S Sudheendra

Ghatam :  Ravikumar

Song List  :

01 Slokam ( vighnaraja kripasindho )

dinamaNi vamsa – harikAmbOji – Thyagaraja ( O,S )

02 SrInivAsa nInE pAlisO – Anandabhairavi – Purandara Dasa ( A,S )

03 kripayA pAlayA – chArukEsi – Swati Thirunal ( A,N,S )

neraval & Swara @ ‘nAradamukha muninikara geyacarita’

04 paripAhimAm paravAsudEva – jaganmOhini – Mysore Vasudevacharya

05 intha sowkhya – kApi – Thyagaraja ( O )

06 srI rAma nAmam bhajanai sei manamE – aTANa – Papanasam Sivan

07 mOhana rAma – mOhanam – Thyagaraja  ( A,N,S,T )

neraval @ Swara @ ‘cirakAlamu guri maimaraci sEvinciri’

* I remember the lyrics she sang as durita pada maimaraci, I cant see such a line in lyrics. May have to listen to record again.

08 RTP – kIravANi  – Adi

Pallavi line ‘jagadAnanda kAraka jaya jAnaki prANa nAyakA’

No Ragamalika swaram

A short Tani Avartanam after the swaras ( 5 min )

09a viruttam – RagamAlika

kOdaNDa dIkshA guru – kAmbOji

kOdaNDa dIksha guru – kalyANi

nastA dharmE namastu vijayE – mAlAmALavagauLa
09b  dAsana mAdigO yamma – mAyAmALavagauLa – Purandara Dasa

10 hanumanai anudinam ninai maname – rAgamAlika – Guru Surajananda

( in madhuvanti? , sindhu bhairavi , rEvati )

11 thillAna  ( nadru dhi dhim ta tarana )- vasantha – Kandaswami Pillai ?

12 mangaLam – saurAshtram – Thyagaraja

slokam ( mangalam kOsalEndra ) – madhyamAvathi

Smt. Gayathri Venkataraghavan gave a nice concert with lot of ‘bhava’. The selection of Ragas for the concert  itself make it obvious. All soft ragas and krithis to suit the same. Charukesi and the kIravANi alapana stood out of the rest. Charumathi , whom I’m watching for the first time live, gave a superb support to the main artist. Sri HS Sudheendra was in good mood and did a splendid job.