In my previous post, I mentioned about Vishaka Hari,
a carnatic classical singer. The friend who told me about this concert
and inspired me to go, has written a nice article about his experience
of the concert. I am copy pasting his writing here.
----------As told by him------------------------
It’s 4 days of Vishaka here at 2 venues. Both organizations had arranged a concert and a discourse.
The first was Indiranagar Sangeetha Sabha where Day 1: 7 Nov 2008 (was a
Thyagaraja Vaibhavam rendered in English. Here Vishaka impressed with
her singing – however one felt that the artist was not totally
comfortable talking to an audience in the English language. The verve
displayed in her Tamil discourses was missing. Here, though the
expression was good, it reminded one of school and college days where
students memorize pages and pages of oration essays lovingly penned by
parents using the most pompous complicated words (with the help of
Roget!) – there were several moments when one felt she could not
recollect the next word/sentence and then groped clumsily to find a
substitute to convey the thought. Some sarcasm-laden jokes on the
new-gen/old-gen that cares little for tradition did not fall too well
on the audience’s ears and evoked little more than weak smiles.
Nevertheless the singing was par excellence and in pieces like
Durmagachara and Giripai she brought out the bhava beautifully.
Day2: Indiranagar Sangeetha Sabha – Concert - – B Ananthakrishnan (Violin) – Sudheendra - Sukanya
She got off to a great start with an MSS style shloka followed by a well
executed Saveri varnam. This was followed by a Jaya Jaya Swamin in
Naatai that had some novel sangathis. Innu Daya Baarade in Kalyana
Vasantham – a Lalgudi stable favourite - was next, significantly
different from the way Sudha/Jayashree render it. A brisk Kandajumi and
then Thodi followed for Raju Vedala – here one thought the weight and
grandeur of Thodi was lacking – successfully overshadowed by the bhava
injected into the sangathis. The alapana had some inspired phrases but
overall was not an “AAhhhh – THAT Thodi”! Swagatham Krishna in Mohanam
again racy and then RTP in Kapi. Need to listen to this again before
comments – but remember some parts where the enthusiasm overtook the
grace in rendition causing a noisy result. Theeradha Vilayaatu Pillay
was definitely the jewel of this concert and possibly 2 concerts – sung
with excellent expression and the right mix of bhava and laya and
improvised sangathis. Another piece in Kannada followed in Abhogi –
Baarayya Krishna Barayya was soothing. The last piece was Lalgudi’s
Brindavana Saranga Thillana. Throughout the concert the violinist
impressed both with his support as well as innovative pidis in the
alapanas. Overall this concert was good but not one that would remain
in memory forever. Average age of the audience was 55 and they wahhed
and che-che-choed appropriately, and left the hall awestruck with
several comments overheard about CA GOLD MEDALLIST wearing MADISAAR ;-)
ISS took some time to get their acoustics right with the vocalist’s voice being muffled almost till the 3rd piece
Day 3: Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira – Concert – Charulatha Ramanujam (Violin) – Sudheendra - Sukanya
This concert started with a shlokam again on Mannargudi Rajagopala followed
by Viriboni. A very fast Shobillu followed – a tad noisy. Hamir Kalyani
followed for VenkataShaila Vihara – a good alapana from both singer and
violinist. Maragatha Mani Maya – Arabhi again sung with aplomb. Paraaku
Maadade - Saveri was the main piece for a Purandara Dasa composition.
Here the first signs of the artist’s voice cracking showed and she
evidently had problems reaching the upper sthayi. The violinist
executed a neat but uninspiring alapana. The main piece was again OK –
flashes of great music but mainly forgettable. Brova Bharama in
Bahudari was next – breathtaking speed as if the artist was desperate
to conclude the concert. Her shruti by now was a thing of the past and
was frequently slipping.
Then came the RTP – this was an attempt at a Dwi-raaga pallavi. Mohanam and
Hindolam. Now, the point in multi-raaga pallavis is for artistes to
display expertise in flawlessly traversing the notes of ragas that are
significantly different , blending the turns so that the shifts are
soft and smooth and the character of each individual raga is
maintained. The RTP attempt was far from any of these rules. It was
marked by extreme violations of the basic notes of each raga and the
transition between the ragas was far from smooth – both vocalist and
violinist abruptly stopped a raga and then restarted the next!! There
were apaswaras galore from both(?? Why the violinst one wonders) and
Shruti had quite evidently left the concert in a greater hurry than
Vishaka herself. Definitely something distracting the performer. A
significant portion of the audience was missing by the time the Raga
part of the RTP was concluded. The rest of the RTP was limpid and
lackluster.
Yaman Kalyani – Hari Smarana Mado a Dasar padam was the last piece – Vishaka’s voice had lost its soft appeal by now and the rendering sounded a trifle hard on the ears. By now the race to conclude was obvious and there was no
“Shantham “ so to speak in a raagam like Yaman Kalyani.
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Extremely disappointing indeed. There is a compellingly unique reason people
flock to hear Vishaka – iconic in her image – student of none less than
Lalgudi Jayaraman, a dancer of repute, a Gold Medallist Chartered
Accountant who gave up the prospects of a potentially brilliant career
for marriage to Sri Hari – nevertheless gaining fame as the
daughter-in-law of the revered Sri Krishna Premi; a 21st century
Chennai-bred – Mylapore damsel who donned the Madisaar and slid into a
supposedly “old” lifestyle with ease!
For many of the “progressive” Tam-Brahm community this sterling example of
one of their own breed returning to roots is possibly confounding as
well as inspiring – especially compared with their own situations of
sons and daughters in far away lands pursuing dreams that may or may
not include them. The novelty of a woman extolling the scriptures (she
is not the first but definitely the most talked about), comfortable in
Tamil as well as English, a vocalist upholding the Lalgudi baani – many
many reasons to inspire.
However, having listened to Vishaka both live and recorded, as well as having
listened to some of the great exponents of Hari Katha and Upanyasam,
here are some thoughts:
1.Hari katha : Vishaka has a very long way to go in terms of narration –
novelty wears off when it ceases to be fresh – its is 4 years now that
the Thyagaraja Vaibhavam or the Prahlada Charitram or the Sundara
Kandam have consisted of stock fare – from the songs to the jokes! The
danger of mediocre becoming inane is not far. Hari Katha is not easy –
it needs a sweeping knowledge of 100s of incidents and stories that the
narrator has in memory and can naturally command to the front to keep a
performance from becoming tame. A wonderful voice that flashes a few
bhava-laden pieces cannot bring majesty to an overall Hari Katha.
Vishaka is young and learning – she should make sure that complacence
does not become her undoing – lest the same audiences that looks up to
her as Sri Anna’s daughter-in-law, fail to accept her in comparison to
the giant he is!
2. Concerts: It is one thing to pull at the heart-strings of an audience in an
emotionally charged narration, with a perfectly chosen song/shloka in a
apt raga, and quite another to hold one’s own in a full-fledged
Carnatic Concert. The 2 concerts were proof of this. When compared to
the most average well-planned concerts delivered by artists of the day,
the two concerts can only be called pedestrian. A good voice and a
great guru do not a great artiste make – manodharma is what makes a
Carnatic performer stand apart from his or her peers. Vishaka had voice
–problems – this is possibly among the first performances after her
maternity break and her voice failed her more than once – not something
saadhana will not remedy. Her delivery of the pieces as per instruction
were excellent, the sangathis great, some of the
alapana/niraval/kalpana swara interludes showed latent brilliance – but
a few and far between moments do not hold up a concert. She will do
well to plan better and maintain a kalapramana in her concerts and pay
heed to that all important aspect of music - Manodharma.
Vishaka has everything going for her – she has established an image of piety
and sincerity, she has an automatic fan-following thanks to her
father-in-law that will encourage and nurture her talent and support
her every miss, all she needs to leverage is the great training she has
been imparted by her Gurus and give flight to her creativity – the road
is long and tortuous... but unlike many, she is blessed with all the
support she needs for her journey.
