Sublime Devi Concert on Janmashtami Day

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Ajit Ramachandran
Posts: 23
Joined: 12 Oct 2011, 03:08

Sublime Devi Concert on Janmashtami Day

Post by Ajit Ramachandran »

In these uncertain times around the world, one yearns for that which is familiar and a touch of the sublime. Thanks to Kollur Mookambika Saraswathi Mandapam, modern technology of Facebook Live, and established Carnatic artiste and Guru Smt Srividya Ramanath, we get to experience a wonderful concert focused on devi, on the occasion of Janmashtami. For those unfamiliar, Smt Srividya is one of the earliest disciples of Isai Peroli Sri Neyveli Santhanagopalan, and part of his sishya gurukulam along with others like Sriram Parthasarathy, etc. Over the years she has established her own stamp while staying firmly rooted in the robust paddhati of the original Neyveli bani.

While I was not able to hear the ‘live’ rendition that took place on Janmashtami, I have listened to the concert twice since, discovering new nuances that the artiste and her team of Mridangam vidwan Sri Ramanath Ramadas (the main artiste’s husband), and violin vidwan Natarajamurthy Sistla. The artistes must be commended for achieving

The concert began with an invocational viruththam focused on ‘nAdan nAmam’ in the majestic begada. Smt Srividya took up ‘amba alankari’ true to the focus of the concert, a rare composition of Muthiah Bhagavathar, and set of Khanda Ekam. This was a subtle nod to the lineage of this parampara given the Neyveli school owes origins to Muthiah Bhagavathar by way of Sri Santhanagopalan’s own tutelage under TN Seshagopalan for many years. The understanding between main artiste and mridangam vidwan for the sangatis was superb, especially seen in the sangatis of the charanam line: ‘Srividye shive hite’.

The clarity of the crisp sangatis, richness of the brief neraval, all made this piece an excellent start to this concert. Given the FB Live format while the concert was only to last an hour I honestly felt it was well planned, and it felt like we got an amazing ‘mini meal’ that filled us as much as a ‘south indian thali’ would. (Cruel analogy, I know, given we can’t remember the last time we all ate out!).

A second, sedate viruththam proved an unusual choice. It was an excellent slokam rendered in raga Saraswati. I would have preferred the straight launch into the brisk purandaradasa kriti “SharaNambe vANi” that followed but it was a great raga transition from begada to saraswati. Smt Srividya followed this with a short outline of ahiri before the weighty Shyama Sastri gem mAyamma. Again an excellent rendition with the classic ‘pidis’ the doyen M.S. made famous in the charanam.

Next followed another gem from Muthiah Bhagavathar that was the main piece of the evening. Ratnakanchuka dArini is one of my all-time favourites that works equally well at any tempo. A short alapana in kambhoji followed where the pidis in tara sthAyi gandharam in particular gave indication of what this artiste could deliver in a longer duration concert with better acoustics. Smt Srividya sang the composition at a somewhat brisk tempo with a few sangati ‘flourishes’ that swept the range of kambhoji. A few quick rounds of neraval and swarams followed with a very short tani that Sri Ramanath rendered aptly.

The nectar-like Narajanma in Madhuvanti followed as the only composition marking the religious occasion of the day. A surprising choice that after was a really interesting devi kriti in Pantuvarali embellished with more of the Puriya Dhanashree flavour - a composition of Guruji Vishwanath likely tuned by Guruji himself with the aforementioned touches and set to mishra chApu (or equally could be a slow tempo mishra nadai).

A bhajan Jesudas made famous in Revati on Devi Adi Parashakti in Malayalam followed which she managed to create an impact with due to the immense bhavam with which it was rendered, in spite of the effect of Madhuvanti and Pantuvarali that immediately preceded it.

All in all a delightful evening from a concert that my family and I will likely revisit like one does a cherished album from time to time, thanks to the wonders of modern technology to make available the fruits of age-old tradition and years of sadhana.

Kudos to the artists and thanks to the organizers for this event. I look forward to more!

Song List:

Viruththam - nAdan nAmam - begada
Begada - amba alankari - muthiah bhagavathar - khanda ekam - N
Saraswati - sharanambe vAni - purandara dAsa - Adi
Ahiri - mAyamma - syama sastri - Adi - Raga Outline
KambhOji - ratna kanchuka dArini - muthiah bhagavathar - mishra chApu - R,N,S,T
Madhuvanti - nara janma bandAga - purandara dAsa - Adi
Pantuvarali - Kalavilasa - Guruji Vishwanath - Mishra chApu
Revati - Kadjadriyil Kudikollum Maheshwari (Devotional from movie Neelakkadambu) - Adi

Here is a link to the concert:

https://www.facebook.com/srivivenkat/vi ... 693372071/

HarishankarK
Posts: 2216
Joined: 27 Oct 2007, 11:55

Re: Sublime Devi Concert on Janmashtami Day

Post by HarishankarK »

the main song by HMB is a beautiful one - good the artiste selected this krithi
Review is also good
will try and listen to FB concert relay

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Sublime Devi Concert on Janmashtami Day

Post by rajeshnat »

Srividya ramanath is one musician whom I yet to hear in a live concert. I forgot what I heard 5 to 7 years back this vidishi then sang beautifully. Hope to catch up this concert .thank you for your review ajit ramchandran

Sachi_R
Posts: 2174
Joined: 31 Jan 2017, 20:20

Re: Sublime Devi Concert on Janmashtami Day

Post by Sachi_R »

Thanks for the review.

Ajit Ramachandran
Posts: 23
Joined: 12 Oct 2011, 03:08

Re: Sublime Devi Concert on Janmashtami Day

Post by Ajit Ramachandran »

Thank you all!

Yes there are definitely other YouTube concerts from this vidushi. She also did a month-long thiruppugazh series not too long ago that is on YouTube - think hash tag is thiruppugazhaday with each day featuring a new ragam and viruththam, and some with rare ragams & talams as well.

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Srividya Ramanath - Devi Concert on Janmashtami Day

Post by rajeshnat »

Srividya Ramanath@Bangalore on Aug 2020 - Review 1 of 2
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1.Begada was a great start , the relative volume was bit worrying me as to whether i have to continue with this facebook live. But hey she came up with nice neraval.Felt at that time Begada is always a lovely carnatic heavy raga that opens out

2.Saraswati slokham was lovely .Her voice and emote is just hitting a sweet spot . Quite a few Saraswati kritis crossed my head like the NS ramachandran, GNB,HMB etc but i never knew this rare krithi of purandara dasar . vidushi Srividya Ramanath got it well from the lines of paada? vimani vara? brahmani still at times the reverberating effect of mrudangam was bothering me.

3.The flagship krithi of Ahiri always never lets anyone down.The more you create a still the more likely the serenity of this masterpiece is observed.Without much difficulty i could spot her mandhara sthayi touches. Well done vidushi, good selection considering that the mrudangam can get bit subdued due to operational difficulty. Ramanath mrudangam is getting into the zone of right amplification perhaps there is a wilful surrender to nyayamA meenkAkshamma.

4.When ahiri was almost done it was lunch time for me . THe songlist particularly North Indian ragas madhuvanti is a haunting raga. But family of wife and amma made Chenna Masala with chappathi, that is also like near to madhuvanti. With another scream "come for lunch" and with me recollecting the only carnatic lesson that I learnt did decide to break for lunch. The lessson is " Ahiri may not give you food ,no chance taken to disrespect that :idea: ".

KamBodhi started just now after my half an hour break.

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: Sublime Devi Concert on Janmashtami Day

Post by rajeshnat »

Srividya Ramanath@Bangalore on Aug 2020 - Review 2 of 2
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5.stormbOdhi after lunch is a great raga. You atleast need more energy to hear the extra expressions of stormBodhi .Alapana was bit short , i guess all this is because to save energy being a pandemic concert.Violinist Natarajamurthy Sistla could have had a share of little more melody. But certainly he gave lot of space without intrusion.

Ratna kanchuka dArini is a krithi made famous by mainly TNS and TVS school. I heard i think for the first time when TNS sang , suryaprakash , once TNS Krishna sang beautifully. In one of our rasikas concert Bangalore Shankar sang beautifully. This krithi of HMB just keeps a little extra power of the little aggressive kambOdhi in check . The neraval manda gamana was well done , her voice was clear in different registers. The violinist gave good support and mrudangist gave appropriate support . Swaras were built up well but she ended way too soon. Tani just continued and ended.

6.The joy of madhuvanti with a slokham Krishna , with just anchor word of krishna the madhuvanti rasa was sufficiently tossed ,the popular narajanma was sung with lovely emotional finesse. I enjoyed it a lot. I am so familiar with the most famous madhuvanti krithi kanda naal mudhalai composed by NS Chidambaram primarily championed by Tanjore S kalyanaraman . TNS and SKR share a great overlap with a lot of taan like approach to few krithis particularly the tukkada hindustani typecast bhajans. Well done Srividya.

7. I am not aware of Guruji Vishwanath . This pantuvarali tukkada Kalavilasa was lovely .The start with an alapana sketch bit reminded of the famous anilatharala sung in viswapriya by maharajapuram santhanam. Before the krithi she spoke something in language kannada , did she say she is singing in madhyama sruthi not sure

8.The emotive rasa filled Revati gives a tough fight and generally wins madhuvanti. Every Revati krithi oozes with vedam like recitation , but i found it difficult to hear what she sang as mrudangam was bit drowning for some part of the song.

All said , Srividya appeared sincerely singing with lot of classical pidis . Considering the situation that each of the artist face, it is nice for her to select lot of rare krithis with her giving the right classical polish. Did see a comment that she was not able to arrange microphone due to pandemic reason. Understandable they did their best

Go away Pandemic , just like how once tanjore sankara iyer composed revati krithi mahadeva shiva sambho to pray against rain destruction in chennai, let this pandemic go with Srividya rendition of her last revati song. Hope to hear Srividya Ramanath soon in a live concert.

rajeshnat
Posts: 9906
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Srividya Ramanath@Janmashtami Day Concert on Aug 2020

Post by rajeshnat »

Mods
Include Srividya Ramanath in the title . Google will index better

Ajit Ramachandran
Posts: 23
Joined: 12 Oct 2011, 03:08

Re: Sublime Devi Concert on Janmashtami Day

Post by Ajit Ramachandran »

Rajeshnat Sir - lovely to see your thoughts and impressions here! Thank you for sharing.

I’ve tried to make the change to title so artiste name is included - that’s really good feedback but can't seem to find an option to edit the topic now.


Last bumped by Ajit Ramachandran on 25 Aug 2020, 17:52.

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