Article 8369 of rec.music.indian.classical: Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.classical From: mayyar@extro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Mohan Ayyar) Subject: Smt Sudha Ragunathan, Sydney concert review 1994 Keywords: Sudha, MLV, sruthi bedham, pallavi Nntp-Posting-Host: extro.ucc.su.oz.au Date: Sun, 6 Nov 1994 06:38:43 GMT I was lucky to enough to be able to attend both of Smt Sudha Ragunathan's Australian concerts. Dr Mohan Krishnamoorthy has already posted a review of the excellent Melbourne concert which took place on 30 November 1994. As I have been in Melbourne (on business) over the last week I only now able to post a belated review of the Sydney concert. Concert Review Smt Sudha Ragunathan - Carnatic vocal Sri K. Sivaraman - violin Sri M. Ravichandhira - mridangam at The Wallace Theatre Univeristy of Sydney Friday 28th October 1994 8 pm to 11.30 pm Repertoire 1. ninnukOri, mOhana (varnam), Adi, poochi srinivAsa iyengar 2. srI mahAganapathIm bhajEham, atAna, Adi, mysore mahArAja 3. Emani pogadudura, vIravasantam, Adi, thyAgarAja 4. AnandAmritha karshini, amritavarshini, Adi, muthuswami dIkshitar 5. akhilAndEshwari, dwijAvanti, Adi, muthuswami dIkshitar 6. pakkala nilabadi, kharaharapriya, misra chApu, thyAgarAja 7. ranjani niranjani, ranjani, Adi, g. n. bAlasubramaniam 8. rAgam tAnam pallavi, sankarAbharanam, chathusra jAthi jhampa (chathusra nadai) - eduuppa half beat from samam "mA maruka guha saravanabhava, vadivEl muruga kumara" rAgamAlika swaram in priyadarshini and rEvathi 9. ellAm inbamayam, simhEndra madhyamam, adi (cine song) 10. brahmamukatE, misra bowli, tisra, annamAcharya (folk song) 11. kandanAl mudalai, madhuvanti, Adi, n. s. chidambaram 12. tillana, rageshri, adi, lAlgudi g. jayarAman 13. mangalam, sourastra, Adi, thyAgarAja The concert was quite superb in all facets. The vocalist was in top form, her accompanists were very supportive and the repertoire was well constructed. From an organiser's point of view, it was very pleasing to see an audience of about 450+, that too on a working Friday evening. The concert started on time with a brief introduction. Sudha began the concert with the mohana varnam - a common start for her guru, the late Smt MLV, as well as her guru's guru, Sri GNB. She sang the first half of the varnam in tri-kAlam (3 speeds: 2nd kalai, tisram, 1st kalai) and the charanam in the 1st kalai. This was a most pleasant surprise. Not many artistes (especially vocalists) seem to sing varnams in three speeds. I think it took a little while for her voice to settle but it was soon in great fettle. Next came an invocation to Lord Ganesha in atAna. This is a very elegant Sanskrit composition. The kalpana swara-s for this krithi were very well constructed with nice use of the characteristic janta swara-s like mppm pddn nssn. This was followed by a thyAgarAja in vIra vasanta (24:srgmps sndpmgrs) - a composition that was often rendered by Smt MLV. The first AlApana of the evening came in the form of amritavarshini. The rendition was quite reminiscent of her guru. Sudha beautifully handled this raga with all the right prayoga-s. It was followed by dIkshitar's composition that produced rain in Ettayapuram. Drought stricken Sydney has also had good rains since the concert. The kalpana swara-s were precise and Sivaraman played very well in this section. After a pleasant rendition of akhilAndeshwari, Sudha launched into a lengthy exposition of kharaharapriya. I really enjoyed this. I have heard Sudha sing kharaharapriya a few times, but every time I still I hear something new and refreshing in her AlApana. In recent years her voice seems to have gained a little more weight and despite her high sruthi (5.5), she has a excellent range and depth. The neraval and kalpana swara-s were taken up at "mansuna ..", three beats from samam in misra chApu. Despite the difficult (IMO) eddupu, Sudha's kalpana swara-s were always well calculated and on the mark. The accompanists coped well in all but a few passages. The thani avartanam by Melbourne based Sri Ravichandhira, was well executed, however, I found it difficult to follow some of his teermAnams including the final one. This is perhaps due to the fact that we don't hear too many thani-s in misra chApu. By the time the thani was over it was 10 past 10 and the concert was well into its third hour. Smt Sudha sang a GNB composition in ranjani before launching into a rAgam tAnam pallavi in sankarAbharanam. Again, the AlApana was superb. Step by step she developed the rAga keeping the audience in rapt attention. I thought that her use and handling of briga-s was truly incredible. I guess this is the GNB trademark shining through. I was eagerly awaiting her sruthi bhedam and was not disappointed. At the upper madhyama (mA) Sudha changed the tonic and developed kalyAni. Sri Sivaraman gave good violin support here which is indeed necessary. Due the fact that it was taken on mA, it seemed a little like kalyAni rendered in madhyama sruthi, ie. yamun kalyAni. In any case, it was very well handled and not too long so as to detract concentration from sankarAbharanam. Sri Sivaraman's AlApana was very sweet. As Dr Mohan Krishnamoorthy suggested, Sivaraman's style of playing "looks" almost lethargic but the effect is nothing like that. He was calm and supportive all through. Since he has been playing for Sudha for over 10 years, the understanding between the two is great. The tAnam was a little short - perhaps due to lack of time. The pallavi was also well executed. It seems that Sudha sang the same lyrics of the pallavi at the music academy set to khanda jAthi eka talam, pancha nadai - ie. a different nadai for each finger (tisra, chathusra, khanda, misra and sankeerna). She presented the pallavi with all the necessary facets including anulOlam in three speeds as well as the mixed 2nd and 1st kalai. Only two rAga-s were presented in the rAgamAlika. (I believe there was some discussion of priyadarshini raga some time ago on rmic but I cannot recollect the outcome. I need to check the archives). I know it was priyadarshini because she sang "priyadarshini" while sing the swara-s. The other rAga was rEvathi. There was a presentation to the artistes after the pallavi and Sudha rendered a few thukadda-s including a cine song sung by MLV and P. Leela as well as the thandanAnA folk song that seems to have become one of Sudha's trademark songs. She concluded with a lAlgudi jayarAman tillana and launched straight into mangalam without missing a beat. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mohan Ayyar