Monday, May 18, 2009

காவிரி முதல் வோல்கா வரை ! - Day 1

(Title courtesy : Mr.Jeeva's comment in my previous post !)

Today (or rather yesterday!- its already past 12.30 a.m now in Moscow) has been a long day at Moscow.

We boarded the Aeroflot flight at Delhi at 7 a.m on Sunday morning(May 17th). I personally felt that the food on flight was very mediocre.

Reached Moscow at 12.20 p.m(Russia local time.)The Embassy people received us at the airport and we reached the hotel around 2.30 p.m.

They provided us with good Indian food (pulao and Aloo parAtas) and we barely had some time to freshen up,have lunch and leave for sound check by 4p.m.

The moment we entered the auditorium,we were awestruck by the acoustics,the wooden paneling done and the marvelous structure of the hall.

Here is a photo:

















Here are a few snaps taken during the sound check procedure:




























At 7 p.m, when we entered the hall again after the formal introduction of the artists',we saw the hall filled with almost 900 people (almost all Russians).

What perfect discipline among the audience !! There was absolute silence during the concert. No mobile phones ringing, no one walking in or out of the auditorium.

We were honored by the huge applause after each song and especially after the last song vandE mAtaram.

I will post photos of the concert after I get them from the organizers.

We are planning to do some sight-seeing of Moscow tomorrow, so I will be back with more info and photos..

13 comments:

Darya S said...

Dear Gayatri Girish and the group!

Thank you so much for the fantastic performance! This evening you made my dream to come true - I wanted to listen a live carnatic concert in Moscow for a long time.
I feel blessed that I got an opportunity to listen to you. I were also very happy to see and listen Mr. J. Vaidyanathan playing mridangam here in Moscow (noticed him from Chennai winter season).

Thank you again for this amazing and truly inspirational performance! Hope you all enjoy the Moscow city.

Pranam. Darya

jeevagv said...

I am delighted to see my phrase being used title, Thanks, Gayathri Madam!

I am sure this is going to be an interesting series to read.

The concerto hall looks brilliant & amazing!

And I am pondering:

P1: Did you have to tell them to keep the lights on? (as that usually happens :))

P2: In such a large hall, Do you get any feeling of being in every small corner, atleast at the beginning of the concert? - Particularly because of the staircase like seating arrangements, that keeps going above your eye level.

Anonymous said...

Nice to receive more appreciation even when giving simple renditions, right? As usual, I now, you frame the concert list to the taste of rasikas. No doubt, you will be well received in Russia also. Have a gala time out there!

nagraj

Sathej said...

Nice pics..yes, the auditorium looks great. The acoustics must indeed have been good.

Sathej

Anonymous said...

Hey,

Happy to read your blog as well as first comment by listener.....

Good luck for rest of concerts there....

sharma

ஜீவி said...

கட்டுரையின் தலைப்பு கைப்பிடித்து அழைத்துக் கூட்டி வந்தது. படித்தும், புகைப்படங்களைப் பார்த்தும் பழம் பெருமை வாய்ந்த தொடர்புகள், கலாச்சார உறவுகள் இன்னும் தொடர்ந்து கொண்டிருப்பதாகத் தான் தோன்றியது. தொடர்ந்து படிக்கக் காத்திருக்கிறேன். மிக்க நன்றி.

Katerina said...

Dear Gayathry!
Thank you very much for coming to Moscow!
It was such a grate pleasue to hear you and feel your country, its grace, harmony, highest spirituality!
I loved all your songs but specially Vande Mataram!
Speaking frankly, with the first tones of this song I wanted to stand up and listen it standing! Tears were in my eyes!
Thank you and your group so much for your perfomance!

Hope to see you in Moscow again and again!

P.S. Will you be so kind and tell how can I get your audies?

Gayathri Girish said...

Hi Katerina,

Thanks so much for your kind words.
We really enjoyed performing yesterday in the wonderful hall and more importantly,to the wonderful audience.

It would be my pleasure to come back and perform in Moscow again !

I am currently staying at Hotel Borodino in Moscow. We will be checking out tomorrow morning immediately after breakfast.

You may please email me at gayathrigirish@gmail.com.I shall see to it that you get a few of my audio albums as soon as possible.

Regards,
Gayathri

Gayathri Girish said...

Hi Darya,

Thanks very much for your compliment:-)

I conveyed your message to Mr.J.Vaidyanathan- he sends you his regards too !

I am indeed very happy that all of you enjoyed the performance very much- it has been a great honor and our great pleasure in having brought our great art form to your historic city !!

I am looking forward to being at Kazan tomorrow.

I would love to come back and perform at Moscow again and again !!

We did some sight-seeing today and saw quite a few beautiful cathedrals.That will be my next separate post :-)

Thanks once again for your message.

Regards,
Gayathri

Gayathri Girish said...

Mr.Jeeva,

That was a very catchy phrase for a title, hence thought I would use it :-)

The hall lights were on even while we entered for the sound check - we didn't ask them to do anything.

It was a truly magnificent hall, with brilliant acoustics.

And during the concert, there were focus lights only on the stage, all other lights in the auditorium were either dimmed or switched off. Hence I never got the feeling of being left out in a corner. In fact,the ambience was excellent.

All of us enjoyed performing here.

Gayathri

Gayathri Girish said...

ஜீவி அவர்களே,

மிக்க நன்றி !

நமது கலாச்சாரத்தின் மஹிமையை உலகெங்கும் பரப்பி அனைத்து மக்களின் மனங்களை இந்த இசையின் மூலமாக குளிர வைப்பது தான் என்னை போல் உள்ள கலைஞர்களின் நோக்கம். அதை நான் எப்பொழுதும் கண்டிப்பாக செய்வேன்.

இன்னும் எழுதுவேன்.ரசித்து,படித்து, உங்கள் கருத்துகளை எழுதுங்கள்.

நன்றி,

காயத்ரி

Gayathri Girish said...

Mr.Nagraj, Sathej and Sharma,

Thanks !

Gayathri

pushkala said...

The hall looks amazing and to hear your bhakti filled music must have been great. The fact that divine music can be enjoyed by anyone has been illustrated by you. Congrats! Amazing that you reached there in afternoon and start performing immediately. That I guess is professionalism.