2009 Sri Thyagaraja Utsavam Recap

Dear Music Lovers,

 

"Sogasuga mridanga Talamu" was the theme of the 32 Annual Thyagaraja Utsavam, held April 24,25,& 26, 2009 at the Sri Meenakshi Temple in Pearland, Texas.  Of the three "Bhava, Raga and Taala" components of music, knowledge of the intricacies of "Laya'  is usually lower among general audiences. An effort to learn more about this important component of music underscored this year's choice of artistic director, Sri Trichy Sankaran, who is not only a great performing artist but also an academic at the York University at Toronto, Canada. Sri Trichy Sankaran was more than pleased to be able to present the festival with a focus on 'Laya' and chose the theme title "Sogusuga Mridanga Taalamu".  Under his direction the festival theme  was interwoven into the various segments.

 

Nisha Rajagopalan's concert on Friday April 24 was a good start for the Utsavam and was well received. It was well attended despite the inclement weather. On Saturday April 25, the festivities started with the traditional Unchavriti.  The visiting artist Sri Trichy Ramesh led the procession of the usual Houston devotees, as Saint Thyagaraja singing the Unchavriti kritis. The accompaniment of Prof. Trichy Sankaran on the Kanjira and the featured vocalist Sri Madurai Sundar gave the processional music a tremendous boost and a stamp of authenticity.  The Pancharathna rendition followed,  led by the visiting artists, Sri Madurai Sundar, Sri Trichy Ramesh and our own Smt.Rajeshwary Bhat, joined by Prof. Trichy Sankaran on the mridangam.

 

Following the welcome remarks by the Classical Arts founders and the MTS chairman, Sri Sankaran gave an excellent Utsavam overview, inaugurated the new website of the Classical Arts Society and introduced Sri Madurai Sundar who presented a well researched and outstanding lec dem on compositions by the Trinity of carnatic music.  

 

The local vocal groups coordinated by Anuradha Subramaniam and Asha Bhakthavatsalam presented songs on Sri Narada andRaja Margam as their respective themes.

The post lunch session comprised of the individual segment participation on two stages simultaneously to accommodate the overwhelming response for this segment.

The evening concerts began with Trichy Ramesh's fast paced concert followed by the doyen violinist Sri V.V. Subramanyam's  melodious concert that evoked nostalgic memories among several in the audience of yesteryear concerts by stalwarts such as Chowdaiyya with Palghat Mani Iyer and such.

Sunday April 26 morning, audience were greeted by the local instrumental group "Rasikapriya" who presented well synchronized kritis. This was followed by erudite presentations by Dr Koontz  on "Rhythm in Painting" and Prof Trichy Sankaran on"Rhythm from World Music Perspective". Each of these lec dems evoked participation by the audience through the Q & A Session which was lively.

Following this was a vigorous presentation of "Tala Vadhya Kutchery"---an ensemble of percussion instruments.

The afternoon individual segment participation was preceded by the two other local vocal groups coordinated by Chitra Dharmarajan (theme Eka Kriti Ragas) and Rajeshwary Bhat (theme: Sogasuga Mridanga Talamu).

The festival ended with the grand finale concert by Madurai Sundar which was well received. The attendees were treated to a sumptuous dinner on all three evenings catered by local restaurant.

Those who attended the festival were able to take with them some aspect of rhythm related knowledge that they had gained. The role of Artistic Director was well received and appreciated by many.

 

Your feedback about the Utsavam, any new ideas and suggestions for improvement are welcome. Please contact us at tyag2009houston@gmail.com

 

If you are interested in volunteering for next year, please send us an email indicating the area where you would like to volunteer and provide your contact information.

 

Please be in touch with our website http://classicalartssocietyhouston.org as we update it from time to time.

 

Sincerely,

Classical Arts Society

Review of Nisha Rajagopal's concert on April 24th

Review by Ram Ganesan

Nisha is not new to Houston. A few years ago she gave a full concert in the Ramar Sannidhi of MTS.

The passage of a few years has made a great impact on her performance. On Friday, the 24^th April, we heard a well rounded concert.

After the Eranapai varnam, Ninnada in Kannada was sweet and brisk.  It was a very traditional rendering.

Syama Sastri’s Biranavara in Kalyani with elaborate niraval at Syama Krishna Sodari was very good. I was expecting kalpana swarams to follow. We missed it. May be she remembered that she did elaborate kalpanaswarams during her last concert here; that time the song was Etavunnara.

What I took home with me was her fantastic rendering of the Surati ragam for over 10 minutes. I am glad the younger generation ventures into breaking the mould; surati is thought of as an end game light raga.

The violinist Mysore Srikanth also played this ragam well for about 5 minutes. The song was Sri Venkata Girisham. No Kalpana swarams here either.

Azhaga azhaga in Tamil in Suddha Dhanyasi  was crisp in Kanta chapu followed by a few strings of kalpana swarams.

Kiravani was her other major piece; raga alapana was very creative and her voice exhibited the full 2 octave range, remaining sweet all through the range.

Trivandrum Balaji on mrudangam gave excellent support through out and his thani was much appreciated.

We had torrential rains outside with thunder and lightning. We even lost power for a few minutes.

Someone aptly commented “Velila gana mazhai; ulla gaana mazhai”

Tukkadas were Nan oru vilaiyattu bommaiya, kandena Givindana. I expected more emotion from Nan oru vilaiyattu bommaya. Being a tamil song one understands the meaning of the lyrics which let you sing it with greater emotion.

She ended the concert with the crisp thillana in Purnachandrika.

Madurai Sundar Concert at Houston Tyagaraja Utsavam on April 25th, 2009 at Meenakshi Temple

Review contributed by Asha Bakthavatsalam.

Madurai R. Sundar was initiated at a very early age into Carnatic music by his aunt Smt. Ananthalakshmi Sadagopan, a musician of repute. Later came under the tutelage of music legend sangeetha Kalanadhi Madurai T. N. Sheshagopalan in 1972. 

An imaginative singer with a rich, enchanting and resonating voice. . Sundar's   involvement in  sruthi, clarity of sahithya, improvisation of ragam and kalpana swaram had the Houston audience spellbound . Despite Sundar’s  busy schedule  as an IT professional , his passion for music remains unhindered. 
 
Sundar started his concert to a packed audience in Houston with: 
 
1 Poorvikalyani (Gamakakriya )ragam alapana, Meenakshi me mudam a composition of Mudduswami Dikshitar set to Adi thalam. 
 
2. SreeRanjani ragam alapana, Bhuvini daasudane a composition of Thyagaraja set to Desadi thalam. 
 
3 .Tharama nee mahima pogada in ragam Kalyani  set to rupaka thalam , composed by K.V Srinivasa Iyengar (Tiger Varadachari's brother) 
 
4 .Thodi ragam alapana, Enduku daya raadu in Mishra chapu thalam, composed by Thyagaraja. 
 
5 RTP in thisra triputa talam starting at 1 1/2 edupu in Nattai ragam, alapana and kalpana swaram in five ragams - Natai, Gowla Aarabi,Varali and shree. 
 
6 Thirupugazh in Hamsanandi composed by Arunagirinadar

 
7. Geetharthamu in ragam Suruti set to adi thalam composed by Thyagaraja. 
 
8. Nirupamaana in ragam Behag, set to rupaka thalam, composed by Puchi Srinivasa Iyengar. 
 
9. Mangalam. 

Madurai.R.Sundar was accompanied by Jayashankar Balan on the Violin, Dr. Trichy Shankaran on the Mrdangam and Dr. Ravi Balasubramaniam on the Ghatam. The highlights of the concert was the RTP with Tanam accompanied by the Mrdangam and Ghatam. The tani-avarthanam was a high adrenalin class act.

The team left the Houston rasikas asking for more. It was a great grand finale concert. 

Review of Nisha Rajagopal's concert on April 24th

Posted by Asha Bhakthavatsalam

Nisha Rajagopal, a popular young vocalist in the field of Carnatic Music from Chennai, commenced her musical training with her mother, Smt. Vasundhra Rajagopal, currently training with Sangeetha Kala Acharya Shri P. S. Narayanaswamy.
2009 Thyagaraja Utsavam at Houston started wtih Nisha's  enjoyable concert. The best part in Nisha’s kutcheri  at Houston was  her natural expression in the alapana, neraval and kalpana swaras. Her Keeravani was enjoyable had a  class  of  depth in conceiving the raga swarupa.
She started her concert with :
1.  Thodi varnam Era naa pai  in adi thalam of Patnam Subramania Iyer.  She went on to sing
2 .Ninnada, arare Thyagaraja's composition in ragam Kannada set to Adi thalam.
3. Kalyani ragama alapana, Biranavaralicchi a composition of Shyama Shastri in tishra nadai adi thalam and followed by neraval and kalpana swaram.
4. Suruti ragam alapana, Sree Venkat a girishama lokaye a composition of Muthuswami Deeksithar.
5. Azhaga azhaga azha endru , a composition of  Ambujam Krishna in Suddha Dhanyasi set to Khanda chapu thalam.
6. Keeravani ragam alapana, Kaligiyuntegada a vilamaba kala krithi of Thyagaraja set to adi thalam was followed by detailed neraval and kalpana swaram.
7. Naanoru vilayattu bommaya in Navarasa Kannada set to adi thalam a composition of Papanasam sivan.
8. Kandena Govindana a Purandaradasa's composition in ragam Chandrakouns.
9. Thillana in poornachandrika.

Her accompanists Mysore Srikanth Venkatraman and Trivandrum Balaji supported her well. Balaji's Tani was short and sweet. The team work was applauded by Artistic Director Trichy Sankaran and the artists received a standing ovation. 

32nd Tygaraja Utsavam, Houston

The thirty second Tygaraja utsavam organized by the Classical Arts Society was celebrated in the Meenakshi Temple in Pearland over the three day period from April 24^th to 26^th. The festival was under the guidance of Mrdangam virtuoso Prof. Trichy Sankaran as artistic director. The following were the salient features of the utsavam.

·         April 24^th

o   Inaugural vocal concert by Nisha Rajagopal and party which came in for much praise.

·         April 25^th

o   Unchavrithi around the temple with visiting artist Trichy Ramesh as Tyagaraja. Prof. Sankaran remarked that this was one of the few utsavams featuring the traditional unchavrithi and applauded the organizers for maintaining the tradition.

o   Grand rendering of Pancharatnams with about 45 participants including visiting vidwans Shri Madurai Sundar and Shri Trichy Ramesh along with local musicians.

o   Nalini Mukhopadhyay and Prabha Bala gave the founder’s welcome. They detailed the history of the Utsavam and its future directions and introduced Shri Vatsa Kumar, the Chairman of the interim board.

o   Prof. Sankaran inaugurated the utsavam and spoke about the importance of laya in music and how Tyagaraja gave importance to laya. 

o   The website of the society www. Classicalartssociety.org was formally inaugurated and blessed by Shri Trichy Sankaran.

o   A lecture demonstration by Shri Madurai Sundar on the compositions of the musical trinity. It was a very erudite presentation and informative to all of the audience.

o   Group  presentations

§  Tyagaraja’s  Narada’s compositions co-ordinated by Smt. Anuradha Subramaniam

§  “ Raja Margam” co-ordinated by Smt. Asha Bhakthavatsalam

o   Individual singing by Houston based singers. This was spread across two locations in order to accommodate a overwhelming registration of over 130 participants. The co-ordinaters Mahesh Iyer and Nalini Sadagopan came in for praise for the meticulous planning and scheduling.

o   A  mini-concert by Trichy Ramesh which was well received.

o   A grand violin duet by Prof. VV Subramaniam and VVS Murai along with Tiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam. It was display of melody and techniques and the audience was thoroughly regaled with great music. The tani was a high octane performance.

·         April 26^th

o   Day started with the Rasikapriya orchestra rendering Tyagaraja Krithis

o   Prof. Rex Koontz of University of Houston gave a talk on rhythm from a world music perspective.

o   Prof. Trichy Sankaran then gave lecdem on importance of rhythm and demonstrated the salient aspects of the Pudukottai school of percussion. This lecdem was highly interactive one with the audience asking several questions and Prof. Sankaran patiently answering all of them

o   The lecdem as followed by a thalavadya kutcheri by Prof. Sankaran on the Mrdangam, Dr. Ravi  Balasubramaniam on the ghatam and Desi Narayanan on the Kanjira. This was a highly explosive display of percussive artistry as its best. A fitting standing ovation followed.

o   Chitra Dharmarajan and her group presented Eka Krithi Raga compositions of Tyagaraja. They made to involve the audience by providing a powerpoint presentation simultaneously of their song selections and this was highly appreciated by the audience. Their handling of Deshadi talam came in for commendation by Prof. Trichy Sankaran.

o   Vidushi Rajeshwary Bhat and her group presented some of the saint Tygaraja’s compositions under the theme” Sogasuga Mridanga Talamu”. It was heartning to note a very diverse group of involved singers from small children to enthusiastic seniors all singing together as a tribute to a Saint non paralleil.

o   The individual singing for Sunday continued with two parallel sessions. Both the sessions were well attended.

o   The grand finale of Madurai Sundar was thundering success.  He regaled the audience with his soulful singing ably accompanied by Jayashankar Balan(Violin), Prof. Sankaran(Mrdangam), and Dr. Ravi Balasubramanian( Ghatam). The icing on the cake was the pallavi rendition, tanam accompanied by Mrdangam, and ragamalika swarams. Needless to say, the thani avarthanam was a high voltage performance.

o   The program concluded with a formal vote of thanks by Vatsakumar, Chairman of Interim Board of Classical Arts Society of Houston. Prof. Sankaran made the concluding remarks and was very happy with the success of the utsavam. It was then curtains closed for the utsavam. Until next Spring, these memories will  keep us certainly engaged and make us wait with eagerness of the next utsavam.

o   Detailed reviews of the concerts will be posted separately.  Most of the performances were indeed recording subject to artist’s approval. They have been very gracious in providing permission to share them with the larger musical fraternity on the internet. This will be done in the due course of time. Please stay tuned.

Pancharatnams

Dear Rasikas,

The notation for the Pancharatnams along with Sri Ganapatini and Gurulekha are available on the Classical arts society website. 

Musically yours.

Jigyasu

Tyagaraja Utsavam 2009 Schedule

The tentative schedule for Houston Tyagaraja Utsavam 2009 is on the web

http://classicalartssocietyhouston.org/ProgramFlierTyagaraja2009.pdf.

Happy Sangeethanubhavam.

Musically yours,

Jigyasu