VenkataNagarajan@Pushkaram On Sept 11th,2022

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

VenkataNagarajan@Pushkaram On Sept 11th,2022

Post by rajeshnat »

VenkataNagarajan@Pushkaram On Sept 11th,2022
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Vocal: Srirangam VenkataNagarajan
Violin : M Vijay - Student of S Varadarajan
Mrudangam - Ravindra Jadeja more commonly known as Arjun Ganesh
Ghatam - Trichy Murali
Tambura : ??

Concert Type : Nirvana - Non Ticketed concert. No concert to follow
Day/Duration : Thursday/ 18: 25 to 20 :45 pm
Hall : RagaSudha Hall
Sabha : Pushkaram in remembrance where sponsor was in the name of parents of Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi, poona

01A. Slokham -vandE guru - ?? - ???
01B. varnam - Dhari Teliyaka - darbar - Patnam

02. BhoolOka kumAri - ranjani - Mahakavi Bharathiyar
03. Thyagaraja PAlayasumAm (s)- Gowlai - MD
Swaras for 6 mins

04. cheraRavEdimEra (R ) - reetigowlai - T
8 mins alapana and 7 mins violin return

05 . Jaya jaya Padmanabha(S ) - sarasAngi - ST
Swaras for 5 mins
06.enTe CheluvAgE - yAgapriya - PD

07. vaNdE Mataram EnbOm - KEdaram - mahakavi bharathiyar
08A. rAma bAna (R N S T)- sAveri - T
9 mins alapana and 6 mins violin return
Neraval for 6 mins in pogaDudurA O manasA
Swaras for 8 mins
08B. Tani for 17 mins

09. kandEna Udupi - duga - PD
10. KAni nilam vEndum- hamsadhwani??? + bhAgeshri + Sindhubhairavi - Mahakavi Bharathiyar
11. pavamAna mangalam
Last edited by rajeshnat on 20 Sep 2022, 12:47, edited 1 time in total.

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

Re: VenkataNagarajan@Pushkaram On Sept 11th,2022

Post by rajeshnat »

The search for This vidwan VenkataNagarajan started this year with me hearing 2 live concerts some time few months back. The double joy of hearing one extraordinary mrudangam artist Arjun Ganesh was also a big driving factor to hear the concert . I entered at 06 10 PM for a 06 15 Pm concert , VenkataNagarajan also entered at that time for a 06 15 pm concert . That is way too late and he lost 10 mins and we had a delayed 06 25 PM IST concert then the scheduled 06 15 PM. There was some junior artist who sang before, but that got over much before 06 10 PM . Any case he singing till 08 45 pm was quite adequate .

There are lot of promising vocalists who are all big stars in making . The count of percussion artists is also improving for sure , but Arjun Ganesh is a class of his own. I have this imagery of say the generation of Patri /Neyveli Venkatesh is kind of followed by generation of Anantha R krishnan / Arjun Ganesh . While Neyveli Venkatesh keeps access to only one vidwan and few next gen artists to have some arangetram like concert, Anantha R Krishnan keeps access to his cousin and a few of his extended relatives. But I have noticed Patri and Arjun Ganesh are spreading their excellence and help lot of vocalist, especially so far Patri is almost Turning out to be like Vellore Ramabadran. Arjun Ganesh plays with many and I am wondering why in academy he is featured for Sangeetha upanyasam of Visaka Hari, way too much mrudangam for a Sangeetha upanyasam which hardly needs that much mrudangam.

The start of VenkataNagarajan was lovely. MS amma brief signature tune slokham with VandE guru was brief and the long darbar varnam was well sung. The entire team got into the zone of excellence .Darbar with some arresting swaras was well done. A rare drop of Mahakavi Bharathiya in ranjani was gripping , what a raga is ranjani and I loved his rendition. Arresting speed and kalapramanam tightness was the order of the day and the gowlai MD krithi was presented cutely with a flash of swaras, engaging with intense classicism.

Submain was expected to be dropped and the extraordinary ragam reetigowlai found its way and was well sung . The bit more Laya leashed krithi of T Chera rava demira was sung with gusto. Sarasangi came next and he presented with no sag. Sanjay I think only popularised the yaagapriya of purandara dasar, Sanjayish rendition came in the enTE cheluvega, very nice hueness and a bit of lazy sangathis here and there is really special for our ears. I did not expect a 2nd Bharathi krithi vandE mAtaram in Kedaram was sung well.

Saveri was main .Venkatanagarajan announced the sponsor grand parents immensely like saveri and he picked this krithi . This krithi Rama bana acclimatisation for Me started with DKJ rendition. I think I heard once K Gayatri singing in a live concert . This krithi Rama bana is so chiseled right for Saveri , the neraval was well done . Swaras were concise and he did good justice for swaras , but bit lesser when compared to neraval rasa. The folkish Durga contours was good with a purundaradasar number .Surprisingly a 3rd Mahakavi song came in as a ragamaliga. Kaani Nilam vendum belongs to a rare musician Visalakshi Nityanand who sang in pantuvarali. I don’t know who tuned the same Kani Nilam vendum possibly Venkatanagarajan, Sanjay or may be Ambujam Vedantam tuned in ragamalaika- mahakavi is tuned by many musicians. The spread of ragas was well done , little more sharpness in hamsadhwani?? part of ragamaliga would have been better

Vijay in violin plays very well. He is slow and steady player takes a lot of time to at times even to start his return . I think he can bit more concentrate to increase speed in tandem with vocalist for little faster numbers like his guru s Varadarajan . Arjun Ganesh could have possibly cut a bit of longest first round of tani, All said Arjun Ganesh was a key enabler for me and many others to enjoy. With Ravindra Jadeja looks, Arjun Ganesh has a phenomenal arsenal of strokes with lovely nadham, almost all songs he leads with such great anticipation, Trichy Murali played very well ,Trichy reinforced with a nice envelope when Kumbakonam Arjun Ganesh takes a brief pause , all along Srirangam was never sagging. I wish bit reduces the first round of tani that is the first sign of stardom getting in the way of not giving enough quantum for vocal. All said for the arrow like precision of Arjun , stability of Ganesh , Ravindra Jadeja rocks in mrudangam.

I was wondering how come three mahakavi Bharathi numbers , few days later I realised that Mahakavi passed away on 09/11 in Triplicane not too far away in another kaaani Nilam in Mylapore we had this concert . I don’t know if Pushkaram is just a yearly homage name of the family or is that a Sabha like nadopasana renting a hall.Well done PUshkaram.I will watch out for 09/11 every year to go to a Sabha as I may get a chance to hear the greatest poet of India - Mahakavi , Carnatic Music has a unique dimension with mahakavi -atleast I understand one vaggeyakkara without any help from others.

Overall excellent concert for 2 hours and 20 mins

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

Re: VenkataNagarajan@Pushkaram On Sept 11th,2022

Post by rajeshnat »

VenkataNagarajan@Pushkaram On Sept 11th,2022
----------------------------------------------
Vocal: Srirangam VenkataNagarajan
Violin : M Vijay - Student of S Varadarajan
Mrudangam - Ravindra Jadeja more commonly known as Arjun Ganesh
Ghatam - Trichy Murali

Review is in below link
www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=377570#p377570

arasi
Posts: 16774
Joined: 22 Jun 2006, 09:30

Re: VenkataNagarajan@Pushkaram On Sept 11th,2022

Post by arasi »

Rajesh,
BhUlOka kumAri in sanskrit by Bharathi was tuned by Calcutta Krishnamurthy.

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

Re: VenkataNagarajan@Pushkaram On Sept 11th,2022

Post by rajeshnat »

arasi wrote: 20 Sep 2022, 08:55 Rajesh,
BhUlOka kumAri in sanskrit by Bharathi was tuned by Calcutta Krishnamurthy.
Thank you. My first experience of hearing this BhUlOka kumAri is when i bought a casette of TNS singing bhooloka kumari in amrithavarshini.

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