Shruthi jauhari@mantra's house (rasikas crt #15) on Apr 12th

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 14 Apr 2009, 12:55

Shruthi jauhari@mantra's house (rasikas crt #15) on Apr 12th,2009
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I think it is 15th concert I suppose.For sure the first HM concert.

was Accompanied by janaki rAjagOpAlan - harmonium ,rajesh dhAvale - -tablA and
tamburA support - cool help me with the first name of this Mrs kulkarni

We are starting with our first HM concert , and just how TV rAmprasAdh's first CM concert started with a lot of promise 2 years back , the same applies here too.

Smt shruthi perhaps the most apt name for a HM musician briefly talked about the artist (I wish that rasika of rasikAs.org did not give the introduction of the artist(s))and then briefly broached about two styles of HM one is dhrupad (which is more CM like and it is more dying faster)and the other more popular kayAl style (Is that hayAl or kayAl style), I did not hear that perfectly.

# 1. Brief Speech of two forms of HM and the artists.

As I hear 1000 to 1 concerts of CM and HM , the HM musicians start with a biggie number unlike CM , My mind raced to shri TanjOre S kalyAnarAman and that memorable kandanAl mudhalai , you must have guessed the rAga of the bAndhish (HM name for krithi).This rAga is haunting always and I took some time to get the rAga swaroopam but once I had latched it was just beautiful. Will CM artist start with this melodious madhuvaNti , I doubt if it happpens ever?.The madhuvanti was split as badA and chotA incidentally the chotA was appearing more badA to me as it had a sprinkle of more swaras

# 2A . badA kayAl "nEENdhiyA nA???" - madhuvaNti - ? for 23 minutes
# 2B. chotA kayAl "kuNgA mOrA" - madhuvaNti - for 8 minutes

The next one our mOhana kalyAni incidentally it is called as shudha kalyAn there and I could spot so much of HMB's bhuvaneshwariyA there. This was quite good though not as great as madhuvaNti
3A. rAs behI behI AvO - shuddakalyAn -? for 11 minutes

Cool just a suggestion , we have to cut the snacks to either at the beginning or the end only, remember our venture for these concerts is mainly to get CM or HM as a memorable presentation. We should lose ourself more to music unlike the sabhas of chennai where rasikas try to lose themselves in the combo of snack and music.
# 3B. 20 minutes break for snacks.

I was worried with the break if the musician loses her momentum. But not at all . To me this number was the best in the concert . The rAga was dhAni which is very very damn close to our sudda dhanyAsi . This was a superb bAndish and I am assuming for this bAndish only she gave a brief explanation of the lines . Who says HM does not sAhitya anubhavam and the lines have a deep philosophical meaning.
# 4. I think it was another kayAl "karaNE singAr chatura alamEni" - dhAni for 22 minutes

I took a durgA poojA break for about 25 minutes , wish I had kept the mobile at my home .Heard the first few lines of
# 5.sAkE mOrE rOONA jOOnA - durgA(Incidentally durgA is now very much into mainstream CM , no need to think suddasAveri of CM = durgA of HM as felt by many there) - ???

When I came back then smt Shruthi was competing with one of the finest musicians of our era Smt vani jayarAm . I wish I had heard this number in full,
# 6. bOlE rE pappi - miyAn ke malhAr- ??

The tradition of HM is to start with heavy kayAls and end with thumri and bhajan . This thumri in Mannjh Khamaj was very close to yaman and it was very good rendition.
# 7. thumri jagh parE me tO -Mannjh Khamaj - ???

If the clone of suddadhanyAsi was a gold winner , the madhuvanti the silver ,the bronze goes to kaushikdhaNi . Coolkarni whispered me to that it is close to kAnadA I find it quite close to shankarAbharanam(any inputs from anyone here) . This was a meera bhajan
# 8. bhajan rAmA uDu jAnu - kaushikdhAni -meerA(atlast I got one vaggeyakkara as the name meera popped up somewhere)

Two gentleman asked for pahadi , and out popped up pahadi , I did not like this pahadi (a folkish rAga) thumri that much, I like soan papadi more than pahadi

.
# 9. kahArE jArE jAN - pahaDi - ??

In total I felt there was just 8 numbers , but Smt Shruthi felt O I sang quite a lot of numbers today.

Rajesh in tabla played excellently and he lived with the reputation of his name

. The harmonium artist Smt janaki rAjagOplan is 82 year old (how did I know that I googled in the hindu to find an article about her). 82 Year old 9 yards mAmi from sirkAzhi who grew up musically with maharAjapuram vishwanAtha iyer and Andavan pichai playing the harmonium for a HM concert, gives pride in me as how much tanjOre district has contributed to both CM and HM(sirkAzhi is near mayavaram which is part of nAgapattinam district which carved out of tanjore). mAmi was more submissive in the play and never drowned sruthi's impeccable sruthi.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 14 Apr 2009, 12:57

There is just one minus and plus I would like to point out in the concert .

- 1. Smt Shruthi took a long gap to tune her harp (was she using harp as an instrument), between madhuvanti and shuddha kalyAn about 5 minutes , something in me tells that possibly without the harp in her hand or may be with little less gap it would have been better.That was a minus.

+ 2. We usually see in CM concerts at times the vocalist will be drowned by the percussionist beats,but in this concert Smt Shruthi was controlling the overall tabla amplification and at all places she instructing rajesh to either change the layam a bit or to reduce the tAl a bit was spot on and perfect. That way one has to give a lot of credit to both rajesh and shruthi. Their feedback is more instantaneous unlike most cm concerts where we just have no feedback shared between artists.

Overall a good to very good concert .

Some info about Smt jAnaki
http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/06/27/stor ... 300300.htm

Some info about Smt Shruthi
http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/02/08/stor ... 670500.htm and
http://www.hindu.com/fr/2009/03/27/stor ... 500600.htm

This post is a continuation from
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... -12th.html

Thanks to mantra(shyam) and cool and their families.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 14 Apr 2009, 14:02

Excellent Review Rajesh

And thank you so much for the links too.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 14 Apr 2009, 14:34

picking up on one small point... we see a different relationship with the percussion here in HM.

Of course, the tabla artist has the responsibility of keeping taal (did anyone follow the long, long cycle in the first song, which Smt Shruthi told us was over one minute in duration? i certainly didn't). I have seen HM artists before "correct" the tabla player, asking for specific bols for the song they are singing --- all taken in stride by the tabla player. I wonder how it might be received if one of our vocalists pauses in a song to say to their mridangist, no... please play sarva laghu here only.

Different! For me, the song-following mridangam in Carnatic will always be the winner, but still I appreciate those tabla skills too.

I had the impression that the break was asked for by the artist, rather than pre-planned. Cool or Mantra can confirm?

I found Shruthi's explanations very interesting; although an HM listener some years back, I had little idea what is meant by Kayal, thumri, and so on.

I wouldn't have minded a more old-style concert, with even longer raga presentations and maybe only three or four pieces in the concert.

For the future, I ask our organisers please to try to arrange a Drupad concert for us!

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 14 Apr 2009, 14:58

Well, since khayals don't have lots of lines, it will be nice of the whole verses are listed down. She explained the meaning of the dhAnI khayal fully. The lines were,

kara le singAr
(?) sAjan ke ghar jAnA hai
mATI uDAnA, mATI bichAnA,
mATI meM mil jAnA hai.

(OK, decorate yourself!
You need to go to your would-be's place,

--but finally, after you die--
you'll be buried in mud,
and you'll become one with earth)

It reminded me strongly of "yeh zindagi useeki hai" in the movie anArkali (old Hindi movie), composed by C Ramachandra and sung playback by Lata Mangeshkar.

I liked the "default" tunes of the first jAnA hai and the bichAnA which went like NSNP.

The (sin)gAr was a "swaraksharam", placed at a flat madhyasthAyi ga.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 14 Apr 2009, 15:11

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 14 Apr 2009, 15:17

Yes, like Nick says (and the singer said!), there were way too many items for a HM concert. AlAps especially were quite short in this one.

There could have been more tAn too.

The madhuvanti really stuck into me ... I'd heard a dharmavati a few days ago, and sort of both combined for an effect.

And a major miyAn ki malhAr would be good to hear ... if it's allowed in dhrupad, we can have both!

Since coolji was talking about a veena year, we can have dhrupad on the rudra veena.

vganesh · Post by **vganesh** » 14 Apr 2009, 16:33

Mantra ran the Ac from 1pm itself to keep the audience cool and went on a shopping splurge at Sree Mithai - Cant thank him and his family enough , for the pains they take

so nice of them. In fact I had come at 3.00 PM just going by coolJis post. The audio-wala said that coolJi had just come and gone but that floor was cool

Ofcourse I went to valluvar kottam

& returned at 3.45... Enjoyed the concert and relished the snacks ... Thank you CoolJi and ShyamJi

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 14 Apr 2009, 18:39

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 14 Apr 2009, 18:55

coolji wrote:Just till yesterday , the artist was just a name and a figure and in the space of three hours , the rasika is let into the innermost recesses of a thought process -

Yes, yes. Very true!

The introduction and some conversation in between the concert were another good thing, and it's nice to have a break just for that!

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 14 Apr 2009, 20:56

coolkarni wrote: Thanks JJ for breaking the shell over the Manjh Khamaj and revealing to us , the hidden Krishna .

I assume this refers to Sri Jeyaraj, 'cos the other 'J' is here in the US, right?

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 14 Apr 2009, 21:51

Reading about this concert I wish I were there...
Any video even if it is a short clip?

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 14 Apr 2009, 21:58

shriranjani · Post by **shriranjani** » 15 Apr 2009, 00:56

The 'harp'Rajeshnat is referring to is a Swarmandal-Hindustani musicians use that in addition to the tanpuras-you will always see Kishori Amonkar with one.It takes long to fine tune it , as it has several strings that have to be tuned -for each string represents a note of that raga(unlike a tanpura which has 5 strings).Lovely to hear about the octogenarian Smt.Janaki accompanying on the harmonium-

shriranjani · Post by **shriranjani** » 15 Apr 2009, 00:58

The 'harp'Rajeshnat is referring to is a Swarmandal-Hindustani musicians use that in addition to the tanpuras-you will always see Kishori Amonkar with one.It takes long to fine tune it , as it has several strings that have to be tuned -for each string represents a note of that raga(unlike a tanpura which has 5 strings).Lovely to hear about the octogenarian Smt.Janaki accompanying on the harmonium-

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 15 Apr 2009, 02:09

coolkarni wrote:R
You are on the spot .JJ is apt to describe either of them .They make such a perfect pair.
Video ... will have to depend on Nick to upload it.If he has difficulty , then I will try and get it for uploading.He must be having 30-40 minutes worth

I think I've got less than 20 minute: 327Mb. Can certainly put it onto a CD for you.

Otherwise, where would you suggest I upload it --- even after all my techie years, I am still a novice at such things!

Swarmandal --- interesting, I never knew that word. In English, I think it is a Zither?

coolkarni wrote:My apologies Nick
I had asked the artist not to choose that format , not being sure if the audience would be able to relish it.
In that sense it was not a typical concert that the artist would have been capable of.

Could have doesn't mean that it should have been! It was an experience, and in every way a valid as well as delightful experience.

But how about going the whole hog with that Draupad concert that I suggested?

(Catching up with intervening posts, there seems to be some support for this. At a pinch, I think I'd vote for the vocal, rather than the veena --- at least at first!)

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 15 Apr 2009, 02:11

Great read, rajesh, and it seems like an afternoon well spent for all!

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 15 Apr 2009, 07:50

shriranjani wrote:The 'harp'Rajeshnat is referring to is a Swarmandal-Hindustani musicians use that in addition to the tanpuras-you will always see Kishori Amonkar with one.It takes long to fine tune it , as it has several strings that have to be tuned -for each string represents a note of that raga(unlike a tanpura which has 5 strings).

I am sure swaramandal is more musical than tampurA.What does swarmandal achieve that the tampurA does not achieve . Perhaps swaramandal and tampurA is like rAgas shrirnanjani(thanks for letting us know) and AbhOGi, kind of almost equal I guess and only musicians are more likely able to perceive the difference.

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 15 Apr 2009, 08:03

I think it's just to add the effect. It's often used for (apparently) such a reason in old Hindi film music.

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 15 Apr 2009, 08:27

shriranjani · Post by **shriranjani** » 15 Apr 2009, 09:15

The swarmandal is an Indian zither.It is a modified santoor,akin to the harp.Since there are about 36(no.variable)strings generally ,it can be tuned to 3 octaves.It is used as a drone-like the tanpura.Since H musicians have long karvais in their alaps,playing the swarmandal,helps in providing perfect shruti alignment in all the notes & enhances the mood of the raga in the mind of the singer.The swarmandal is tuned for each raga according to its notes I was told.In the tambura we have reference only to S&P,but the Swarmandal gives you all the notes!

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 15 Apr 2009, 09:23

vganesh · Post by **vganesh** » 15 Apr 2009, 10:06

My son was harping to me to know the name of the instrument. Finally he himself went and asked with Ms.Shruthi. Now the next question he is asking me for why there is no such requirement in in CM! I do not know. Any enlightment.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 15 Apr 2009, 10:20

vganesh wrote:My son was harping to me to know the name of the instrument. Finally he himself went and asked with Ms.Shruthi. Now the next question he is asking me for why there is no such requirement in in CM! I do not know. Any enlightment.

Maybe this discussion we had in the link below may give you an answer.

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... ruthi.html

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 15 Apr 2009, 10:36

I've signed up on eSnips and I am currently uploading a short snippet where she speaks of singing raag, and how it could go on for an hour, but things have changed in the current day.

The service is limited to 100Mb --- so I have to find out how to split files before I can upload a video of a song. I have everything I need to do that with audio, but not sure about video.

Work in progress. I'll let you know!

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 15 Apr 2009, 11:24

I uploaded it ---> http://www.esnips.com/doc/9baffcf9-8cfa ... i-Speaking

But it doesn't work for me! All I get is that Quicktime "Q".

I've had trouble with Quicktime browser plugin before, it may be just something that doesn't work on my system.

Can anyone else play the video?

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 15 Apr 2009, 11:41

Initially I got the big Q as well but after a while ( a minute or so ), the video and the audio played just fine.

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 15 Apr 2009, 12:15

I downloaded and installed quick time but still video is not loading. I will try again later

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 15 Apr 2009, 12:18

It works!

It seems that one has to stare at the big, blue "Q" for a while, perhaps until it buffers enough data to start playing.

I wasn't staring, I was doing something else, and when it started to play it took me by surprise!

rajumds · Post by **rajumds** » 15 Apr 2009, 12:20

May be you were on 'Q'

shriranjani · Post by **shriranjani** » 15 Apr 2009, 13:25

this is an answer to VGanesh's poser..In a Hindustani music concert,an artiste sings 2 or 3 ragas at the most.So,it makes sense tuning the swarmandal to the raga.In a CM kucheri,we sing many ragas,many compositions which last barely a few minutes!So where is the possibility of tuning 36 strings to the raga?!!The artiste would spend more time tuning than singing!!It is useful for HM singers as they can align the shruti of every note they sing as they dwell on each note for long periods.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 15 Apr 2009, 14:13

rajumds wrote:May be you were on 'Q'

Of course! It detected that I'm British, and everybody knows how the Brits love Q-ing!

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 15 Apr 2009, 15:01

It was a great evening.
I enjoyed the concert and the hospitality at mantra's place.

i am illiterate in hindustani to give comments on the performance.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 15 Apr 2009, 20:53

Illiterate may be, but rasikA enough (more than enough!) to give your impressions, Bharath!

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 15 Apr 2009, 22:37

arasi wrote:Illiterate may be, but rasikA enough (more than enough!) to give your impressions, Bharath!

Bharar,You are a rasika and not arasika(nothing to do with arasi, what I meant was non-rasika-

so definitely you can give your iimpressions.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 21 Apr 2009, 21:39

coolkarni wrote:http://www.esnips.com/doc/194ba96b-37ff ... Dhani-Clip
This 11 minute phase was the high point of the concert for me.
In 30 years of listening this is the only fourth occasion I have heard this raga in vocal - whether radio or tape or CD or whatever .
And there are some absolutely divine moments in the alaap here.

When I first said that dhAni was the best ,and a big surprise it was also your best (atlast in HM our favourites have matched in a concert). For me when I latched dhAni into suddadhanyAsi, at that second my mind raced to perhaps 25 years before to one of the finest sudda dhanyAsi by my favourite musician .

I think this youtube url is an excellent clip (I am pretty sure The harmonium artist Smt janaki rAjagOplan is doubly happy

). In 3 and 1/2 minute song , you have a mini thAnam, superb orchestration, incidentally the happy song is suddadhanyAsi and perhaps pathos is packaged and morphed from sudda dhanyAsi to hindOLam. BS Sasirekha sings with this greatest musician.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY8WyzuCXr0