Monday, March 26, 2007

Am I hearing Sindhu Bhairavi?

I thought I heard some Sindhu Bhairavi in this Dhenuka swara prasthara by TRS. Can someone confirm it or is something wrong with my ears?

dhenuka.mp3

Damn. Wordpress conveniently removes these embedded audio. You'll have to download it. :-(

Updated: Ok, I think I should have posted only the snippet that sounded like Sindhu Bhairavi.

[audio:http://www.sangeethapriya.org/~sripathy/Audio/Carnatic/Snippets/TRS-Dhenuka.mp3]

MMI's Sindhu Bhairavi ragamalika swaras: [audio:http://www.sangeethapriya.org/~sripathy/Audio/Carnatic/Snippets/MMI-Sindhu%20Bhairavi.mp3]

TNK's response: [audio:http://www.sangeethapriya.org/~sripathy/Audio/Carnatic/Snippets/TNK-Sindhu%20Bhairavi.mp3]

Listen to the new snippet and then listen to TNK's response. The phrases that TRS sings - M D P M G, M P M D P M G, D P M G, D P M G R G. I was intrigued mainly by the way he starts off - S R G M P D P and TNK starts off almost the same way. I'm not saying that TRS is singing Sindhu Bhairavi but there definitely seems to be a flavor attached to it.

Update: I see a lot of people visiting this page. It'd also help if you could give your opinion. :-)

Friday, March 16, 2007

Thiruvayyaru

Got an opportunity to visit Thiruvayyaru and pay homage to the Bard with my family during my India trip. I have posted some pictures. I'll comment on the experience as soon as I find some time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shripathi/sets/72157600003933803/

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Song requests

I had five days left in my vacation yesterday and a thousand things to do. Still, I decided to attend Sanjay's concert at Madipakkam. Now, Madipakkam is not exactly at the heart of the city. It's located in an obscure part of Chennai and getting there is an adventure in itself. To add to the adventure, the Papanasam Sivan Karnataka Sangeetha Sabha that organized the concert decided not to publish the address and phone number of the Sabha. But we (my dad, mom, bro and I) are a determined bunch and decided that we wanted to hear Sanjay come hell or high water. After much asking around and travelling around in circles, we finally made it to the Sabha and that too quite early. I wanted to listen to a Narayanagowla or a Saranga very badly but decided not to request it since it might take away the surprise factor in a concert. The concert was very good starting with the Reethigowla Ata tala varnam, Sankari Neeve, a surprise Narayani, an awesome Thodi and a sparkling Mohanam. After a post-thani piece, I wanted to listen to a thiruppugazh (I guess) 'Malaasai Kopam' that he usually sings just before the mangalam. I sent in a request 'chit' (cheetu kudukardhu in Tamil). I thought he nodded his head acknowledging that he would honor it. After a brilliant viruttham, he sang another krithi and finished the concert.

I'm not sure if I should be disappointed or not. I'd love to know if he had a good reason for not singing that song. I'd be very disappointed if it was just good old arrogance!!

Update: Maybe I just over-reacted to the whole issue. I'll give him the benefit of doubt on this one. Anyway, he is not obligated to honor my request just because I paid for the concert. There's always a next time I suppose!!