Kruthi Bhat @ NGS Mini Hall (Charsur), 18th December 2018

[krishnan meenakshi]

Kutcheri Review- Rating (7.5/10)

Audience: No. > 100. Very appreciative audience with many NRIs.


Sampled Ragas:

1. Saraswathy, Saraswathy namosthuthe, GNB- A, K, S
2. Neelambari, Amba Naalayadakhshi, M Dikshidar – Short A, K
3. Thodi, Venugana Ramana, Oothukkadu V Subbaiyer- A, K, N, S
4. Yamuna Kalyani, Bhavayami Gopalam, Annamacharyar- A, K


Observation:

* Saraswathy: Alapana was aesthetically rendered covering Madhya and Thara sthayi. Few sancharams with Gamakams, short Brigas and spurithams, added to the flavour. Vittal (Violinist) was not given chance to bow. Saraswati Namosthuthe was sung with usual sangathies along with a chittaiswaram. Kalpanaswaram was sung at the Pallavi with impressive kanakku- Chatusra-Tisram (1 Roopaka Talam = 16 Mathrais) and Tisra nadai swara sequences, ending with a chatusra nadai korvai (5x3, 6x2 + 6x2, 7+7+7), all of which the violinist aptly reproduced (Sabhash !!). Despite a few hiccups in kanakku, it was executed well, a good attempt. Flow of swarams was natural but alliterative patterns were missing.

* Neelambari: Took off with a glimpse of the ragam. Amba Neelayadakshi was rendered grammatically lacking Bhavam- this might be a direct result of absence of kammpita gamaka prayogam of Dikshadar school. Pace of the song was slightly on the higher side. The Kriti sounded soothing after fast paced swarams of preceding Saraswathi.

* Thodi (Main): Alapana was detailed, structured and technically expressed, more in patterns of short sancharams. After explaining ‘Ma’, the performer jumped over to ‘Sa’ with no detailing of ‘Pa’, ‘Da’ & ‘Ni’. These places offer good scope for expressing the Rakti bhavam of the Ragam- something that the performer missed. Lesser sung Kriti, Venugana Ramana was sung with usual sangathies, followed by Niraval at Charanam “ Karunya Komala Shyamala”- an apt place to explore. Niraval sounded very ordinary, nothing more to add. Swaram included kanakku at Kurraippu- attempt at Tisra kurraipu (48+8, 24+4, 12+2, 6+1) was partly successful but a welcome effort. Simple korvai (9x7 + 5/10/5/10/5) having utharaangam aligned to the charanam line (poruttham) sounded aesthetic, however a mistake at 2nd round of korvai cannot be ignored by an acquainted audience.

* Yamuna Kalyani: Sung in line with MS rendition of this kriti without any deviation or addition. Short but sweet.


Comments:

Kruthi Bhat: Performer has been gifted with vibrant voice spanning 2 and half octaves, well suited for Carnatic vocal. She has to put efforts to better her Brigga/gamakka abilities which would help improve her manodharmam and versatility. She should attempt for more perfection in kanakku and avoid getting anxious on stage in case of misses. Her re-aatempt at a briga sancharam in thodi spanning from mahya sthayi to thara sthayi ‘Ma’ reveals her probity, again a welcome attitude. The concert seemed well prepared, a little sense of spontaneity would be an enriching factor.

Vittal Rangan: A hectic day for him. After slogging with Ravikiran in the morning, rowing his fiddle for Vignesh in the afternoon we expected him to be too tired to bow for Kruthi. To our surprise he was as agile as Kruthi and provided wonderful support.

Ganapathyraman: A seasoned performer and doesn’t need a comment. Wonderful support realising the needs of a budding performer. Thani was short, sprinkled with his typical kanakku.

Anirudh Athreya: He played along with mrudangam well. However, made more than couple of mistakes during thani.

Audience: Very appreciative of talents of the young performers.

Since, this is a clinical analysis (unlike general reviews seen in newspapers written by Rasikas) of the Kutcheri, the review tends to be mostly critical. Generally speaking, the Kutcheri was very good considering the age profile of the singer.

[rajeshnat]

1. Saraswathy, Saraswathy namosthuthe, GNB- A, K, S
2. Neelambari, Amba Naalayadakhshi, M Dikshidar – Short A, K

Krishnan meenakshi,
ambA neelAyadakshi is kruthis krithi. She is certainly a naalaya star. I see that you have put for each song with the letter K indicating Krithi , what else you expect for the artist when you have mentioned the krithi in detail and why you put K for every krithi . We have still not got any innovation yet where Krithi is followed by Alapana neraval and swaras . I hope I am not giving any new idea to future artist to sing K anywhere. 2 years back when i heard her short concert in parthasarathy sabha ,this year I decided to hear her in pozhichalur which was extremely satisfying as the concert had TIME.

Thank you for the review, keep them coming.

[krishnan meenakshi]

Thanks for the input. Please keep reading and provide feedback.

[sureshvv]

Looks like you missed the excellent sri raghuvara aprameya & the wonderful neraval & swaras @ saarasa hitakulabja brunga sangita lola and sarasiruhasanapriye with swaras @ saraswathi.

Would have added 1 mark at least for each

[Sachi_R]

For old people like me living in Margazhi mood vicariously, your reviews are a feast!

Of course listening to the music is irreplaceable by any review.

Vittal Rangan: A hectic day for him. After slogging with Ravikiran in the morning, rowing his fiddle for Vignesh in the afternoon we expected him to be too tired to bow for Kruthi. To our surprise he was as agile as Kruthi and provided wonderful support.

Vittal Rangan is a wonderful fiddler. An asset on the stage indeed!

[SrinathK]

3 back to back concerts in one day. Wow. Hope he gets some rest.

This reminds of Raga Sudha Hall on 5th Dec when Anirudh Athreya had to play back to back for both Ramana Balachandran and Sandeep Narayan. Overall he must have played non stop for almost 5 hours.

We have to give credit to the accompanying artistes. Many of them are performing multiple concerts a day.