Thursday, July 30, 2009

Smt.Pantula Rama's concert on 29th July,2009

I had been wanting to listen to a concert of Smt.Pantula Rama for quite some time now.Thanks to my schedule, I couldn't get an opportunity until yesterday.

She sang under the auspices of Sri Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer Golden Jubilee Foundation.She was accompanied by Sri.M.S.N.Murthy on the violin and Sri.V.V.Ramanamurthy on the Mridangam.This concert took place at Kasturi Srinivasan Hall (Music Academy Mini Hall).

I liked her slightly unconventional approach towards the choice of songs and also her style of singing Raga Alapana. (One minor thing that I noticed was that there could have been a better mix of tempo in the songs chosen throughout the concert.)

She began with the Kriti shrungAra lahari in nIlAmbari. Then she sang gOpAlaka pAhimAm (composition of swAti tirunAl) followed by padavini (sAlagabhairavi). AlApana for bhOgindra sAyinam was nicely sung. Again,her approach to subhapantuvarALi Alapana was a slightly offbeat one and I liked it. She sang the kriti sri sathyanArAyaNam of muttuswAmi dikshitar and a nice neraval taking the lines 'satya gnAnAnandamayam sarvam vishNu mayam".

After subhapantuvarAli she sang manavyAla(naLinakAnti) and took up KAmbhOji for elaboration. I had to leave at this point.

On the whole, it was refreshing to hear a new style of singing. I liked the confidence displayed by her on stage.The accompanists were very good. I particularly liked a few "teermAnams"(phrases on the percussion) given by the mridangist.

Glad that I could listen to her concert yesterday.

5 comments:

Priya Ram said...

Hey Gayathri, I am so used to reading reviews about your concerts posted by others, now I find this review by you amusing.
Very nice to read a review by one artist, appreciating another artist. Good review. :-)

Anonymous said...

Hey GG,

Its indeed glad to note this. Hope to listen to this voice sometime soon.

HariOm
gksharma

Revanth said...

Not many musicians appreciate other fellow musicians! You are someone really wonderful! :)
Keep it going Mrs.Girish

SAI<=>MUSIC said...

Namasthe mam,

That day's concert was indeed good and your review is just an honest and unbiased account of it. Especially, the description of the raga alapana of Shubhapantuvarali as "off-beat" is indeed very true but it was really nice and different!!!:-)... Hoping to see you at many more concerts(both as a performer and a listener!)

Regards
Sai

Satyavel said...

Interesting review. What kind of tempo mix would have been better you feel - given the choice of items?
Again like Priya Ram said, it is amusing to see you on the other side of the fence! Keep up the good work!