CD/Cassette Reviews

[Oldposts]

Topic suggested by RR on Mon Jan 18 04:51:14 .


A page to post reviews of albums/cd's/cassettes (on indian classical music) we recently bought or listened to.

[Oldposts]

My friend bought this cassette for me from india recently (well.. a few months ago :)

Carnatic Elixir - Neyveli R. Santhanagopalan (INRECO)
Violin: S.D.Sridhar
Mridangam: K.V.Prasad
Kanjira: V.Nagarajan

Side - A:
1. deva deva (MMGowla; Swati tirunal) - includes brief kalpanaswaras. could have been longer.
2. nada dhanumanisam (Chitha ranjani; Thyagaraja)
3. murugaa maalmarugaa (hari kamboji; Tanjore Sankara Iyer)
4. Ranganayagam (Nayaki; Dishitar) - This is somewhat an uncommon song. Nicely rendered with lot of involvement. My personal favorite on Side A.
5. bhakthibhiksha (Sankarabaranam; Thyagaraja)

Side B:
1. telisi ramaa (purna chandrika;Thyagaraja) - typical one from T.N.Sheshagopalan school
2. kaa vaa vaa kanthaa vaa (Varali;Papanasam Sivan) - This is the best song of this album. The alapana, kriti rendering, kalapanaswaras all show his singing maturity. The slow paced style of Santhagopalan best fits such ragas. IMO.
3. Erumayil (Bageshri;Thiruppugazh) - Another good song (thukkadaa) that round off this cassette.

In some of the songs, he has struggled in the higher octaves.

Accompaniments: The less said the better, about the violin. (Fails to follow the singer quite a times during swaras.) Mridangam and Kanjira are good, though.

Overall, a very good buy if you like his leisurely pace and 'involved' singing.

[Oldposts]

Thiruppavai album by
Sudha Raghunathan
2-cassette album; price $2.00 (Two US Dollars).
It is available in cassette format only.

We all know MLV's Thiruppavai album produced
nearly 30-yeargs ago.
But many people are not aware of this album
by Sudha produced about 5-6 years ago.
It is fantastic.
I have MLV's 2-CD album too.
The paNs (ragas) are the same as in MLV's
(set by Ramanuja Iyengar? long time ago).
The best of the 30 in my ears ;-):
#5: sree ragam: maayanai mannu vada madhurai maindhanai
#7: bhairavi: keesu kees(u) enrengum
#15: begada: ellE iLang kiLiyE
#19: sahana: kuththu viLakkeriya (very moving)
#28: kambodhi: kaRavaigaL pin senRu
#30: madhyamavathi: chiRRam chiRu kAlE


I have been listening to this album since summer 94
irrespective of whether the current month is
Magazhi or not.
I have donated this to the local Venkateswara
Temple here in Atlanta and a lot of people liked
it and have asked me where they could buy it.

It is a must-have for your collection.

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chandra,
I have seen this double album during early 90's. Haven't listened to it. Does it come with orchestation or in traditional carnatic concert style (with violin,mridangam) ?

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i guess the album of sudha that chandra is referring to is on the web..please check if this is the one...
http://www.iupui.edu/~rravindr/andal.html

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RR,
Apologies for the delayed response. I did not check the updated time correctly.

Anyway, Sudha's thriruppavai album is in "pure"
classical tamil (carnatic) style accompaniment...violin and mridangam (Vaidhyanathan).. no "irritating" or "distracting" synthetic instrument orchestrations, (although such orchestrated albums serve well in introducing people to tamil (carnatic) music).

Balaji,
You are right. The link you have cited has that album loaded! I am listening to them even as I type this.

I hav Nithyashree's 1-CD Thiruppavai also but it is not overall as good as Sudha's even though it is better than MLV's 2-CD Thiruppavai album which certainly has poor recording (at least in transfering from LP to CD;I have not listened to MLV's LP version). But some of her renderings were very good too.
The pace of her album is slightly faster than that of Sudha's and results in bringing out the characteristics of some paNs (ragas). The recording quality is very good unlike
Ongki yulagaLan-tha - aarabi
maayanai - sree ragam <----the best rendering IMyO
anRivvulagam - sindhu bhairavi
oruththi maganaai -
etc.

chandra

[Oldposts]

I left a sentence hanging which was to be completed as "unlike that of MLV's CD".
Then I tried to list certain selections.

Somehow Sudha's got lost in these years.
She herself nto so keen on promoting her thiruppaavai album. When I she visited teh last time in 96, she did not bring this album for sale
at the concerts. I have observed teh same with
Madurai TN Seshagoplan too.
I was telling Sudha that I was listening to her Thiruppavai so much that the tape got worn out, she said make copies...I was shocked to hear herself encouraging copyright violation of her own works.
I then told her that I had started to stock multiple originals at home which I do. They only cost $2. Also AVM's tape and audio quality is going down significantly with each generation of the same album. That is another reason I ma stocking up in advance.
I felt like asking AVM to sell me the master alongwith the rights and
would like to release these on real nice media.

chandra

[Oldposts]

Sudha's record is the best I've heard so far too - I did pick up Ariyakkudi's version while in India this year. I noticed Madurai N Krishnan's and KV Narayanaswami's versions as well (all are on AVM).

Re: Sudha's suggestion on copying: She doesn't get a fee for reprints/new generations of old recordings. She just gets a lumpsum payment intially when she records an album. Asked why this is a popular arrangement in India when artistes in the US/Europe make a killing everytime their songs are rereleased, she said it was too much of a hassle to track when a new version comes out and then get the producer to cough up the money. Only HMV/RPG/whatever they call themselves do this still. From an interview for Kalki a couple years back.

Re: AVM - HMV, BMG etc. are negotiating to buy the rights for future releases on CD/tape of all AVM recordings. I interpret this to mean they're not doing well financially.

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Does anyone have a good album of Sowmya? If yes, can you post a review.

[Oldposts]

Interesting to knw that lump sum payment scheme
is prevalent in classical industry.

Still, I feel that in the long term such indifference
hurts every aspect of the industry since the original publisher
does not get the full revenue and feedback as to the demand for their publications and they end up underestimating the demand and cut corners right from the beginning; similarly for the artistes.

chandra

[Oldposts]

Sowmya albums (I got these while in India last month - don't know if they're new releases): Try the Marga Music Festival 2 tape HMV release of her live concert at the Krishna Gana Sabha in 1996. The Aruna Sayeeram album in this series is good too. Also, Sowmya's chinnanjiru kiliye, bharathiyar songs, and kavadi chindu albums on AVM. The Marga album has a very nice nekkurugi (papanasam sivan/abhogi). chinnanjiru kiliye is an all-tamil album in the traditional mode (i.e. - no orchestration), but there's not a lot of scope for elaboration ( 10 songs in 60 min). I liked kaanavenum laksham kangal seetha devi than kaalukku nigaraamo pengal by arunachala kavirayar on side A. Haven't listened to side B yet. The bharathiyar songs album has several standards like theeraatha vilayattu pillai, aasai mugam maranthu poche as well as some unusual ones like munnai ilankai, kaalaa unnai, ninnai chila varangal. Haven't tried this either. The kavadi chindu album is a must buy - arunachala reddiyaar's melodies as well as others like azhagu deivamaaga nindru, kaalamaam vanathil, and thedi unnai charan adainthen desa muthumaari. I also got a AVM Classic Series album titled Classical vocal Sowmya which has her singing kanden kanden (vasantha, arunachala kavirayar), vaa velava (sivaranjani, S ramanathan). As you can tell by now I'm partial to albums with multiple tamil songs in them:-) That's b'cos I can understand only tamil and sanskrit and some malayalam. BTW, there is a video CD called nadhopasana with a bharathiyar song concert (15/16 songs) acc. to an interview she gave to Sun TV's vanakkam thamizhagam program around Pongal.

[Oldposts]

chandra, I agree with you that these trends are not encouraging for the long-term, but that's the difference between the indian and us economies IMHO. Information and trust are things we take for granted here, but not in India - oh, well a topic for another day and forum:-)

[Oldposts]

Kishore Krishna,
thanks a lot, i think you covered all the main albums of sowmya :-)
is it possible for you to give me the list of songs in Krishna Gana Sabha 2-cassette album.

[Oldposts]

I am looking for a somewhat complete LIST of all
audio cassettes entirely devoted to Dikshitar Krithis. The following is a partial list, that comes to my mind. Could anyone please update/add
this list? Thanks
Narayanaswami (swami@math.mun.ca)

S. Ramanathan: Navagraha Krithis
B. Rajam Iyer: Navagraha Krithis
Bombay Sisters: Navagraha Krithis
Balamuralikrishna: Navagraha Krithis
Balamuralikrishna: Kamalamba Navavarana Krithis
Mani Krishnaswamy: Kamalamba Navavarana Krithis
S. Rajeswari: Kamalamba Navavarana Krithis
D.K.Pattammal: Dikshitar Krithis (LP album)
Santha Subramaniam: Dikshitar Krithis (LP Album)
Balamuralikrishna : Dikshitar Krithis (Sangeetha 6ECDB 2358)
Balamuralikrishna: Dikshitar Krithis (Sangeetha 6ECDB 497)
Balamuralikrishna: Dikshitar Krithis (Sangeetha ECDB 7158)
M. Santhanam: Dikshitar Krithis (Vani 6SEI 595)
B.V.raman, B.V.Lakshmnan: Dikshitar Krithis (Sangeetha 6ECDB 113)
Bombay Jayashri: Dikshitar Krithis
Sudha Raghunathan: Dikshitar Masterpieces (Music Today)
Hyderabad Brothers: Dikshitar Masterpieces (Music Today)
U. Srinivas: Dikshitar Masterpieces (Music Today)
N. Ravikiran: Dikshitar Masterpieces (Music Today)
Salem jayalakshmi : Great Composers (Dikshitar)(IMT SCC 113)
Kumari Devi: Shakti Sahita Ganapatim (nottu svara
melodies of Dikshitar) (Sangeetha)
N. Vijaya Siva: Dikshitar Krithis (??)
S. Sowmya: Dikshitar Krithis (??)
M. Balamuralikrishna: Dikshitar Krithis (new)

Thanks
Narayanaswami

[Oldposts]

The site:
http://www.kalvi.com (http://www.kalvi.com
)

contains a detailed overview of the Thirkkural Isai Malar album I had mentioned earlier.

[That site also seems to sell Tamil Learning Software for kids. It seems to be an interesting software.]

chandra

[Oldposts]

The following albums have been reviewed in Sruti.

- GANA KARPAKAM. By T.V. Sundaravalli (Vocal). [Sangeetha - 6ECDB 647. Rs. 39].
- TIRUCHUR V. RAMACHANDRAN (Vocal). [AVM Audio - 45B 1246 & 1247. Rs. 74].
- DR. M.L. VASANTHAKUMARI (Vocal). [AVM Audio - 60 B 9260 & 9261. Rs. 74].
- GANA RASA SOUNDARYAM. By Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan (Vocal). [Sangeetha - 6ECDB 659. Stereo. Rs. 39].
- S.P. RAMH (Vocal). [HMV Marga - STHVS 847953. Stereo. Rs. 45].
- AANANDA GEETHAM. BY Geetha Rajashekar (Vocal). [Sangeetha - 6ECDB 663. Stereo. Rs. 39].
- KUNNAKUDI - KUNNAKUDI - KUNNAKUDI. Violin Trio. [Sangeetha - 6ECDB 7130. Rs. 39].
- SIKKIL MALA CHANDRASEKHAR (Flute). [HMV Marga - STHVS 847943. Stero. Rs. 45].
- KALPANA'S SWARAM. By Kalpana Kishore (Violin). [Kalavardhani - REC 014. Price not mentioned].
- EESHA - The First Ray of the Sun. By Mukul Shivputra (Vocal). [NINAAD Premium - NC 0005. Stereo. Rs.75].
- BHAKTI PADALGAL. By D.K. Pattammal (Vocal). [HMV - TPHV 38022. Rs. 29].
- KRISHNA HARE. By Kalyani Menon (Vocal). [AVM Audio - 45B 1258. Rs. 35].

http://www.sruti.com/bks.htm (http://www.sruti.com/bks.htm
)

[Oldposts]

I bought Anoushka Shankar's cd on a whim. It was in a very comercial music store so it is obviously being marketed agressively. But hey, she is the daughter of the master. There may be sitarist out there more deserving of exposure but I have really enjoyed the cd. She does:
Bairagi
Tilak Shyam
Kirwani
Charukeshi
First Love (Pratham Prem)
She is accompanied by Bikram Ghosh and Arup Chattapadhyay on tabla.

Each piece is illustrated with a poem in English representing earth, water, fire, air, and love as metophorically as feminine. She is not only a good player, but also a poet.

I was shocked to learn that the cd was recorded last yeaar when she was 17 years old because of the quality of her playing is so good. Because of Ravi Shankars age I had assumed she was older.
So not only has she made a good cd, but she is an artist to look for in the future.

[Oldposts]

Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 09:56:54 -0700
From: Seshadri Kumar <skumar@crsim.utah.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.classical

*****************

JVC World Sounds: Music of the Veena I
(S. Balachander) (JVC VICG-5036-2)

This was very good, a long rendition
of ragam Malahari (alapana and tanam).
There is no mridangam accompaniment ... something
Balachander did fairly frequently (witness all
his 72 melakarta tapes ... personally quite a
disappointment to me ... for one, melakartas
themselves are a little dry, and then when you
don't even have a krithi to hang on to, things
get a bit rough) ... but the performance here is
quite intense, and well done. Balachander just borders
on overdoing things but doesn't. A very creative
performance. Liner notes are rather sparse ...
even the raga is not mentioned.

******************
JVC World Sounds: Music of the Veena II
(Raajeswari Padmanabhan) (JVC VICG-5038-2)

This was the pick of the lot. I came to know
only recently that Raajeswari Padmanabhan belonged
to the Karaikudi family, from a friend. I immediately
ordered this, and was not disappointed. I fell in
love with the Karaikudi bani the first time I
heard it, in an AIR National Program recording
of the great Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer (the only
recording of that great soul that I know so far to
exist) ... every piece in that concert is etched
in my memory. I still remember the time when I had
a roommate who really didn't care much for Indian
classical music ... he would always dismiss my
other recordings, but he said he loved the way
Sambasiva Iyer played that opening nATTai
("sarasIruhAsanapriyE") ... the gait, the elegance,
the sheer beauty of that rendition has to be heard
to be believed. The "varanArada nArAyaNa" that
followed was another treat for the ears, and
I have never heard such a sweet "sarasa sAma dAna
followed was another treat for the ears, and
I have never heard such a sweet "sarasa sAma dAna
bhEda danDa catura". But the piece de resistance
was the shaNkarAbharaNam AlApana followed by a
not-so-common krithi (I found out what the krithi
was only a couple weeks back, when I heard it on
a vocal tape, but I cannot remember ... maybe someone
can post)

Anyway, as to this CD, I was delighted to see that
Raajeswari Padmanabhan was truly the grand-niece
of Sambasiva Iyer (reminds me of a story I once
read in Dan Neuman's book, I think ... that in the
1920s, the vocalist Sinde Khan, son of the Gwalior
gharana great Amir Khan, met the great Balkrishnabua
Ichalkaranjikar at a music conference and introduced
himself. Balkrishnabua said, "my eyes aren't very
good, why don't you sing something for me?" After
Sinde Khan had sung a couple of cheeza for Balkrishna
bua, the old man said, "hmmmm ... now that you have
sung, I can very clearly see that you are indeed
Amir Khan's son) ... every piece is a gem, from the
opening varnam in nATTakuranji (calamEla) to the
gauLa krithi "praNamAmyaham", to the simhEndramadhyamam
"ninnE nammiti naiyyA" ... actually in this piece
they begin with the anupallavi rather than the
pallavi ... I know musicians sometimes do this, but
does someone know if this is deliberate or an
editing goof? The final piece is titled RTP in
shaNkarAbharaNam ("svara rAga sudhArasa") but there
is no AlApana ... I don't know if this is because
the artists decided against playing an AlApana and
went straight to the tAnam (after all tAnam is the
most important thing in vINA) or whether we have
another editing goof. Does someone know? Anyway,
editing goofs or not, an AWESOME CD ..

********************

The Fast Side of Dhrupad: Bidur Mallik and Sons
(Wergo SM 1517-2)

Absolutely Incredible!!!! I just loved this one.
These people are complete masters of sur! I'd been
curious for a long time about the Malliks ... I
had my first chance about a year ago when I bought
the Playasound CD of Ram Chatur Mallik (Darbari
and Multani, I think), and later when I bought the
AIR release of Ramchatur mallik (Bhoop, Shuddh Basant
and Khamaj) and I was already in love with their
style of singing ... that probably has something to
do with my love for the Agra gharana style ... it
seems like RCM's style is very much like Agra.
Anyway, these recordings are about 7 pieces, an average
of 10 minutes or so per piece. The opening Bhairav
took my breath away...such beauty. Most of
the dhrupads are in jhaptal and sultal. A must-have!
(BTW, that AIR release of RCM is very interesting
because it features a thumri!!! by a dhrupadiya ...
and VERY MASTERFULLY DONE! loved it.)

**********************

[Oldposts]

Date: 10 Mar 1999 08:14:08 GMT
From: S Suresh <sureshss@sequent.com>
Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.classical
Subject: Rare Krithis of Syama Sastry - A recording


Hi,

I happened to pick up a tape of Rare Syama Sastry krithis.
These are sung by Sulochana Pattabhiraman and party. I was
initially a bit hesitant to buy this tape since I had no
clue about the singer. Since the songs were of Syama Sastry
I went ahead and bought it. It was the second time when the
surprise was pleasant. The earlier occasion was when I bought
"Prahalada Bhakthi Vijayam" by Sita Rajan and party.

I can beleive the "Rare" part of the title since I havent heard
any of these songs earlier. Syama Sastry was not a very
prolific composer. I think only around 50-60 of his songs
are available. Even in these 50-60 songs, only a very small subset
is sung in concerts or are available on tape. So this is a welcome
addition.

The krithis are rendered without any raga alapana or kalpanaswaras.
This is good since the idea is to have more krithis. This is a
group rendition and not a solo one. The diction is very clear and the
songs are rendered in the appropriate pace. The songs and the ragas
are very pleasing. An additional surprise is the inclusion of Tamil
songs. Syama Sastry was the only one out of the Trinity to compose
in Tamil. Though I knew this fact earlier, I hadnt heard any one of
his Tamil compositions.

A brief look at the contents :

Side A :

1. Pahimam SriRajaRajeshwari - Nattai - Rupakam
A Sanskrit song. Set to a brisk pace.

2. Palayasumam - Aarabhi - Tisra Triputam
One more sanskrit song. Keeps up the pace set by the earlier song

3. Enneramum - Poorvi Kalyani _ Tisra Triputam
This is one of the Tamil songs. Steady pace. Lot of sangathis on each line. But to me, not in the same class as NinnuviNaga.

4. Kamakshi - Begada - Adi
The best song on the tape. All the hallmarks of a Syama Sastry krithi are present. Telugu Song. Slow and Begada unfolds very well. The lyrics are typical Syama Sastry. Surprised that this song has not been popular.

Side B :

1. Raave Parvata Rajakumari - Kalyani - Misra Jhampa Telugu Song. This is also a very good song. Possibily got overshadowed by other classics of Syama Sastry in Kalyani

2. Akilandeshwari - Kaapi _ Adi
Comes very close to being called the best of the tape. Begada beats it by a small margin. Again a very typical Syama Sastry song. Slow development of Kaapi. Wish this were a solo sung by someone like KVN.

3. Enneramum - PunnagaVarali - Mishra Chapu
This is the second Tamil song in the tape and has the same opening words as the PoorviKalyani song. This sounds almost as if it had been translated from Telugu. Lyrics are typical Syama Sastry and maybe that is the reason that there is a Telugu "feel".

4. Kamashi Loka Sakshini - Madhyamavathi - Tisra Triputa Excellent Madhyamavathi.

As you can see the talas are varied as can be expected from Syama Sastry's compositions.
Definitely worth buying if you are interested in listening to only krithis.
A must buy for anyone interested in Syama Sastry. Originally a Sangeetha release, now re-released by HMV. Costs Rs.45/-.

Warm Regards,

S.Suresh

[Oldposts]

Author: james pokorny <j.pokorny@worldnet.att.net>
Date: 1999/03/18
Forum: rec.music.indian.classical

Some other dilruba / esraj recordings:

There are 2 nice recordings on the German Nataraj Music Label; the first is called "Music for Meditation - Indian Classical Music - Raga Yaman" (CD NM 001) by Dakshina Mohan Tagore playing dilruba. He plays a full alap, then vilambit and drut gats. This is a lovely recording.

The second Nataraj disc (CD NM 006) "Evening Raga - ICM" features a full performance of Raga Rageshri by Ud. Allaudin Khan (NOT Maihar Allaudin
Khansahb). He plays the "dilrubaesraj" (sic) which as far as I can make out from the photo is an esraj equipped with a brass resonator like those seen on sarods. This too is well-recorded and well played.

These CDs are somewhat difficult to find, but I believe that some of the online music outlets carry them.

Some harder-to-find cassette recordings are:

HMV STCS 850360 "The Magnificence of Esraj" by Ranadhir Roy, a live recording of Raga Bageshri.

HMV STCS 02B 6254 "In Memoriam - Ranadhir Roy" featuring Shri Raga, Raga Bhupali, and Raga Sindhu Gandhar.

Magnasound C4HI0219 "The Magic of Dilruba and Tarshehnai" by Pt. Vinayak Vora, featuring short selections of Shri, Komaldhwani, Jhinjhoti (dilruba) and Basant and Bhairavi on tar-shehnai. The tar-shehnai, as Amit noted, does have a shehnai-like quality which comes from the addition of a small horn on the face of the instrument which serves to increase volume and resonance.

Swarashree Enterprises GV001 features a jugalbandi performance between Arvind Gajendragadkar on bansuri and Vinayak Vora on tar-shehnai. They play a full performance of Raga Puriya Kalyan, then a short Pahadi dhun, after which each performer has a solo, with Pt. Vora playing Raga Gawoti.

[Oldposts]

http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/1999/04/23/stories/09230707.htm

[Oldposts]

Does any one know what the ragam in which the "mincaarak kanaa" song in padaiyappa is sung?

[Oldposts]

Hi
I recently bought 3 tapes of Dr.Balamuralikrishna and would like to offer my opinions about them.
1. Thyagaraja Krithis 6ECDB580 sangeetha
A.Kanyakumari violin Thiruvarur Bhakthavathsalam-Mridangam.

The tape as can be said of many Sangeetha recordings is of superlative audio quality. The artiste starts out with kanugonu in Nayaki, the song is brisk and is sung with clarity and bhava.
This is followed by a long but enjoyable Shankarabharanam alapanai by Balamurali and an excellent one by Kanyakumari. This is followed by Emi neramu which is excellent.
Side B starts out with a rare Jingala krithi Anathudanu Gaanu which is not as enjoyable as the others before but is not bad. This is followed by a beautiful Arabhi alapanai, but too long though. Kanyakumari violin is most impressive here short and sweet. The song is Naa Moralanu vini, another rare krithi, not a fast number and not as beautiful as O Rajeevaksha.
Overall the tape was worth it at least for Side A.
2. Thyagaraja Krithis 6 ECDB 584 Sangeetha
Raghavendra Rao violin and M.Balachandran mridangam
The tape quality is immaculate, and starts out with a brief very enjoyable Harikambodhi alapanai followed by Rama Nannu Brovara which is rendered with lot of bhava, and correct saahitya chedhas. This is followed by an awesome Thodi alapanai, the best I have heard. The song is Yemi Chesithey nemi which is rendered inexplicably well. The other side features a brief Tanamidane in the raga Bhushavali (another rare krithi). The last song is simply superb and is another rare krithi in Surutti titled Ramachandra Nee daya.
Bhakthi Bhavam in this tape is just superfluous and is definitely worth purchasing.
3. Vocal 6 ECDB 516 Sangeetha
Sundaresan violin and Thiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam Mridangam
First is the famous ata thala Bairavi raga varnam by Adippayya Viriboni. Its rendered at a slow pace and leisurely and is thoroughly enjoyable. Next is the famous Upacharamu Cheseyvaaru in Bhairavi by Thyagarajar. The artist chooses the phrase " Vaakithane padilamuga vaathathmajudunnadani" for excposition and does it very well but does not follow up with swaras, which was a little disappointing to me. On the other side are the two Panthuvarali krithis Ninne nera namminanu ra and Raghuvara nannu marava thaguna. The most pleasing is the fact that Balamurali sings the entire song without editing some of the charanam passages like the others do. They are sung very well, but again no swaras and exposition. But overall a great rendition.

[Oldposts]

http://the-hindu.com/stories/0923070b.htm

[Oldposts]

Thanks, GV. Usually I read Hindu cassette reviews to know about the list of songs & ragas. The reviews are generally wonderful-great-excellent types. So, I'm interested to know if R. Tyagarajan is really that good. (I'm a fan of Ramani) Any concert experiences?

[Oldposts]

RR: I'm also a big fan of Ramani, and have been to a few of his concerts in India as well as one in Canada. I don't know whether Tyagarajan is doing concerts yet. The reviewer thinks he is good. I'm trying to get a cassette to find out!!

[Oldposts]

This is a review of an old cassette by BMK - Krithis in Kalyani Raga.

It starts with the Adi Tala varnam and it has the BMK stamp - with his 'Sa ri ni sa ni da ni Sa ni da pa ma ga ri' once and 'Sa ri ni sa ni da ni Ni ni da pa ma ga ri' later.

The second krithi is his own composition - Gati Neeve. Short and sweet krithi, well rendered.

Sogasu Nee sommu - another BMK composition - completes the first side. This Kalyani is very different from the ones normally heard.

Side 'B' is devoted to Sundari Nee Divya rupamu. BMK has excelled in the raga alapana and meets his match in M.S. Anantharaman on the violin. But the highlight is the rendition of the krithi itself. Awesome! The accompaniment of MSA and Srimushnam Raja Rao on the mridangam embellishes the vocals.

In my opinion, a must listen!

[Oldposts]

I have not listened to this cassette, but isn't this collection (all kalyani) an overkill?

[Oldposts]

Overkill is the name of the game RR :-). But serioulsy, it is enjoyable because BMK has presented Kalyani in different ways in each essay.Of course, a song a day will make for better listening pleasure:-)

[Oldposts]

RR, Diwakar:
I have that in CD. the first is 'vanajakshiro' varnam. even though all are in kalyani it didnt bore me at all. Another such - i have cassette by BMK in Shanmukhapriya: Marivere, Vaddene, Vallinayakane and Sadaya manasa. I have listened to it 20-25 times continuously still aint bored (probably because of the raga itself!!). Fantastic rendering. I would highly recommend this cassette to anyone.

[RR]

Pls continue here: http://forumhub.lunarpages.com/hub/viewtopic.php?t=1636