Category Archives: Kutcheri

The three ‘musik-seers’ ;)

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When I read the title and saw the photo in this article in ‘Friday Review’, the supplement of ‘The Hindu’, my initial reaction was ‘These men??? :O’ before I went on to read the full article. Why did I give that reaction?

During Sanjay’s Nadopasana concert last year, these men were sitting on the row behind mine and they kept saying the raaga names loudly and singing along quite loudly. I can’t tell you what a great nuisance it was. Though I did try my best to control my rising temper, when Sanjay started the Charukesi alapana and one of them started loudly singing his own version of Charukesi alapana, I couldn’t stop myself any longer from asking him to stop singing. He did stop singing, but only for a few minutes after which he resumed his singing again! Since I didn’t want to say anything more, I went to the row in front of mine and sat. During the Season, I saw these men in quite a few concerts and the moment I saw them, I made sure that I was sitting as far away from them as possible!

It’s high time that people like these started remembering that the audience has come to a concert to listen to the musicians on stage and not to listen to them! One can enjoy a concert in their own way, only as long as it doesn’t disturb others and mar the concert listening experience of others. Now that they have been featured in a newspaper, I think they will be encouraged even more to show-off their singing skills and knowledge during the concerts. 😐 Seeing this thread in rasikas.org, I felt happy that I wasn’t the only one who found what they did so irritating.

P.S.: Here’s my earlier rant on the same topic.

Margazhi Raagam

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I watched Margazhi Raagam today 🙂 To begin with, it’s not everyday that you get to watch a ‘movie’ in a theatre where the majority of the audience comprises of Maamas and Maamis. 😉

Coming to the ‘movie’, the camera and lighting and of course, the audio are, needless to say, excellent. I liked the stage setting too. I didn’t like Bombay Jayashri’s part that much. Her singing, though quite good, was nowhere close to how it was in her Music Academy concert. Or so I felt. Graceful is the word that I would associate with Jayashri when I see her sing. Eyes closed and lost in the music is how she appears. But since I didn’t find anything that great about her singing, the visuals didn’t matter much to me. But, I just loved TMK’s part. I liked his part visually too since he is more expressive while singing and those have been captured so well on the camera.

Every moment of TMK’s singing in this is superb! I felt so happy listening to TMK after a long time (or so it feels like, since Sanjay is all I am listening to most of the times!)! Watching this movie today has compensated for no Sanjay’s or TMK’s concert happening today. 😉

P.S.: I didn’t want to know before watching the movie, what was sung by TMK and Bombay Jayashri in that. So, am not posting the songs list here now. If you want me to post, do let me know.

The craze for Aruna Sairam’s singing!

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When I came to know that T.M.Krishna’s concert at Music Academy was on the same day as Aruna Sairam’s, the first thought that came to my mind was, ‘Will I even get a ticket for TMK’s concert?’ Having heard many say that people queue up outside Music Academy as early as 5:30 in the morning (!!), I knew it was going to be difficult to get a ticket. When I asked the person at the ticket counter a few days before the concert, he too confirmed the same. So, on the day of the concert, at 5 am sharp, my dad and sister went to Music Academy to find there were already 3 of them waiting. Seems a lady came as early as 4:30 itself! By the time I went there at 6:30 or so, the place was already full. How popular Aruna Sairam is!

Music Academy has to really be commended for making excellent arrangements for those who had come to buy the tickets. Neatly-arranged chairs for those coming in and ensuring that people are seated in the order in which they came, serving coffees at around 6 o’ clock for those waiting, issuing tokens at around 7 am with the number of tickets (the no. of tickets were restricted to 3 per head on that day initially) and the price of the tickets written on it, opening the ticket counter at 8:20 and calling out the token nos. in order and issuing the tickets – the whole thing was very well-organized.

I guess my sister and I must have been the only ones who didn’t go for Aruna Sairam’s concert despite having tickets. We did go for the last 35 minutes of her concert to find that the auditorium was packed to the full-capacity and the only place where we could sit was the steps in between two bays!

Sikkil Gurucharan’s Concert

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Accompanists :
Mridangam – Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan
Violin – Shertalai Sivakumar
Khanjira – Alathur T.Rajaganesh

Where & When? – Chettinad Vidyashram (Margazhi Mahotsavam) on 5th December

Concert Duration: 1 hr 15 min?

Songs List: (Incomplete)
1. natajana pAlini – naLinakAnti – swarams at parama krpAkari
2. vAnanai – kIravANi – Alapanai; neraval & swarams at vIranai viDamuNDanai
3. nija marmulanu – umAbharaNam
4. mInAkshi mEmudam – pUrvikalyANi – Alapanai; neraval & swarams at vINa gAna
5. sEndanai kandanai (viruttam) followed by kArtikEyanai kaNNAra kANa – kApi – raaga outline

I reached the venue just as Gurucharan was singing swarams in naLinakAnti. naLinakAnti – What a beautiful raaga to begin the evening with! 😉 Besides, the fact that naLinakAnti is the one that I am hooked to these days, thanks to Sandeep Narayan’s awesome pAlaya sadA (Do check it out here), made me feel so happy listening to it.

Anyway, coming back to the concert, Gurucharan sang quite well. I liked his alapanas and the fast-paced nija marmulanu. Though I did feel that the violinist’s pUrvikalyANi alapana wasn’t that great, I was later left wondering if it was because of the way the not-that-great sound system was making the violin sound!

Though I did like the concert, I didn’t find anything that special to make me want to go for Gurucharan’s concert today also. So, I have dropped my plans of going to his concert today.

M.S.Gopalakrishnan, Dr.M.Narmadha & M.S.G.Suresh’s Concert

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Accompanists:
Ganapatiraman – Mridangam

Where & When? – Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (Kalapradarshini) on 2nd December

Concert Duration: 1.5 hrs

List of Songs:
1. Sri Maha Ganapati – Gowlai – Raaga Outline; Swarams at Sri Maha Ganapati
2. Rama Nee – Kedaram – Swarams at Rama
3. Evari To – Manavati
4. Sankari – Begada – Alapana by Suresh; Swarams at Sankari
5. Enta nerchina – Saveri – Alapana by Narmadha; Swarams at Enta Nerchina
6. Nagumomu – Abheri – Alapana by MSG; Swarams at jageme – Tani Avartanam
7. Tulsidas – Behag – Brief alapana by Narmadha
8. Tarana – Sindhu Bhairavi – Brief alapana by MSG
9. Tiruppugazh – Hamsanandi
10. Mangalam – Sowrashtram
11. Madhyamavati – Raaga Outline

The first three songs were quite good. I especially liked the Kedaram song and swarams. But after that, the Begada alapana by Suresh, which wasn’t that great, left me wishing MSG had played the alapana instead! Sankari in Begada is one of my favourites by MSG and I have listened to it so many times on a cassette of his. Saveri alapana by Narmadha was good. The Abheri alapana by MSG, though lasted just a few minutes, was nice. MSG’s Sindhu Bhairavi was just out of the world! I wish it had lasted for some more minutes! There was no neraval at all for any of the songs. 🙁

Btw, the film song, idhu oru ponmalai pozhudhu was the one that came to my mind on listening to Rama nee in Kedaram!! Never realized this song was in Kedaram till then!