Some music is better than no music

This fall season was a muted affair when it came to attending music concerts. Had to make an emergency unplanned trip to India and a bunch of other obligations made it difficult to attend concerts.

Did manage to attend 5 concerts , some of them partially.. had to leave a Thissur brothers concert early because wife double booked me for a dinner at friends. Ended up attending last half of Asha Ramesh concert.

Managed to attend Amritha Murali concert from beginning to end. The Mandolin Rajesh concert was fantastic, but started 90 minutes late, had a bunch of folks talking to make it late by another 15 minutes and that pissed me off so much. Good thing he played amazingly well to calm me down. Had to leave after an hour though as we had to get back to the routine. 

It has been that kind of a year. They say you have to have a "kuduppanai" for everything. This years kuduppanai seems to be limited. 

Thissur brothers were just outstanding.. this is my third time attending their concert in as many years. Every concert has been better than the previous one!

Amritha Murli was great. No gimmicks. Clean singing. It was a demo in how to keep things simple and yet bring out so much!

Asha was so energetic. She is one of the most popular bay area artists and it is always a treat to listen to her. She is the Usha Udhup of carnatic music. Her singing makes me want to get up and dance ! The wide range of accompaniments in this concert including a veena was excellent. 

Mandolin Rajesh wrapped up the season finale at SIFA. was glad to catch at least a little over an hour of his concert. The tabla and kanjeera combo was scintillating. They even said the Jathi before playing their respective openings for the thaniaavarthanam. 

Just when we thought the season came to an end too soon, got invited to attend a fund raiser concert by my wife's Hindustani music guru Jaya Vidhayasagar at the MA center. Loved this concert. We all got to sing along with her for some of the bhajans. Enjoyed the music. 

That pretty much wraps up this Falls music season. Hopefully will get to attend more next spring!

An amazing music season

The spring of 2024 had an amazing line of up music concerts across the bay area. There are only so many weekends availble to attend 3 to 3 1/2 hour concerts. Made the most of the chances presented.

There is still one concert over the long weekend from Bharat Sundar which will be missed. So posting this as my spring attendance has already come to a close.

There was an amazing start from Ramakrishnan Murthy. He did a one hour piece on one of my favorite ragas, Kharaharapriya with Pakkala Nilabadi which we all loved. We also got to meet and talk to him for a few minutes after the concert, thanks to our friend who is related to him. Ram is going to be the Sanjay for the coming generation. His music is moving!

The next concert we attended (we go as a group from Cupertino) was a "curated" concert titled Krishnam Vande Jagatgurum by Gayathri Girish. She is a great singer and is a very traditional singer with no gimmiks but the beauty was in the way she tied every song to the theme, irrespective of the diverse composers and languages she chose the compositions from. Krishna is a pan-Indian god, guess he has a fan following across the globe. Short of singing a Krishna Bhajan in English, she covered the spectrum!

The week after, we were going to be dropping our daughter in Santa Barbara. Kid had come for the weekend and had to be in college a day early, so I was originally going to miss the concert to do the one day road trip. Was literally driving back non stop from UCSB when my friends were audio calling me from the concert hall to show how good the artist was. My music teacher had also told me not to miss NJ Nandini. So raced to the concert hall and could barely walk from the parking lot to the seat. Enjoyed the last hour of Nandini's concert. Have become a fan now. She is one amazing talent. The gambeeravani she sang with so much energy stayed in my head for a good week to the point that I tried learning it. There are no renditions out there with that energy level. Every piece she sang was brilliant! Will try not to miss her concert next time she comes!

This was followed by a Jugalbandhi Flute concert by Sashank and Ronu Majumdar (Ronu-da) that was just out of the world. The boy wonder and the bansuriwala were just teeing off of each other and we walked out feeling that this could have been a longer concert. 3 hours went by too fast. Just amazing. They picked pieces in Aboghi, Kalyani- Yaman, Megh-Madhyamavathi, Maand- Misra Maand, and that just went on to other things to conclude. We got a flavor for pitch shifting with both of them playing flutes in different pitches which were harmonic. The mridhangam and tabla were supposed to go with the Carnatic and Hindustani sections, but they switched seamlessly to support the other style in two of the pieces in the most brilliant way. 

Then I went by myself to see Vijay Siva in concert. Still remember going to a private concert in someones basement in Philadelphia suburbs as a grad student on his first tour to US (if I remember right) in 1993. Some kind lady had offered to pick up me and my housemate from college campus and give us a ride oneway. We were to take the train back. It was 50 or so people listening to him in a basement turned stage! Vijay Siva stuck to basics and showed how purity in music and simplicity can still work in a concert. The music was pristine for lack of a better word! An added bonus, yet along hour long piece on Kharaharapriya, this time it was Chakkaniraja. He also sang the thiruppugazh Nada vindu kaladi, which I love. 

The other interesting thing in this concert was the teacher allowing two of his students stage time and showing them how to take over and sing with him.. this was tradition in the old days when the star musicians would introduce their students to the audience.. he was the only one in recent time who has followed this tradition. It is good to see this guru parampara also being alive and well in this day and age!

Then there was a week of music that had three concerts. On a Saturday we went to see Sikkil Gurucharan perform for a fund raising event for MA foundation. This was not exactly a Carnatic music concert. It was more of a "musical evening" where he sang everything with a motherhood theme in many different styles. There was cine music mixed into Carnatic and Hindustani music, with a violin duo and a keyboard accompanying the second half the concert. The music was enjoyable and there was a lot of time spent on introducing the pieces because the large crowd was very diverse. 

The very next day we got treated to what was undeniably the best concert we attended this season. Sanjay Subrahmanyan was in town for his "Tamizhum Naanum" concert where he did the entire concert with songs in Tamil. Last year I missed his concert inspite of having tickets because we had to drop the kids off in college that very weekend. This year thankfully, got to attend what was an amazing concert.

Every song he sang was spell binding. At one point when he was singing Keeravani, I started crying uncontrollably. Was suddenly reminded of my grandmother who passed recently. Never got to grieve her the way the rest of the family did. Sanjay broke some emotional dam and all that pent up grief just came pouring out. Took me a good five minutes to compose myself again and get back to focusing on the music and just then he was playing with the notes and ending every line in his aalapanai with a smile on his face... knew there was some familiarity there and sure enough when the violinst played the whole thing at a stretch, it was S. Janaki's aalap from Kaatre endhan geetham from Johnny! Ilayaraja magic showed up!

As usual, he picked some rare pieces. His RTP in Brindavana Saranga was mesmerizing. Came out wiping my eyes after that concert. The purpose of music is to move. Hope he shows up again next year and I get to attend his concert. 

The week of music was not over as on Friday, got to attend an amazing Hindustani- Carnatic jugalbandhi vocal concert by Nachiketa Yakkundi and Asha Ramesh in Cupertino for a Ram Navami house concert that had been delayed from the original date. That delay was my fortune. Two local artists who are amazing musicians who do sold out concerts, performing in a house for family and friends. It was an amazing experience just sitting 5 feet away and listening to these two show their mastery over their art forms. Got to learn about Behag vs. Bihag among other things. Ther was an amazing piece in Pantuvarali and Poorya Dhanashree (they are close but not the same) and the artist showed us what was close and what was not for an hour long piece that was brilliant. Just came out thinking "must have done some good in the previous birth" to get this kind of music experience over a 7 day period! 

The regular sponsored community concerts will be done by next weeked and things will resume in Fall. Maybe will get to attend some one off events over summer.

This time San came with me to a lot more concerts than she usually does. Made me very happy!

Fortunate to have a bunch of friends who are like minded with whom I can go and enjoy music this way!d

Marghazi singing

Paadarivom Padipparivom has this wonderful idea to give a platform to students to sing one song each during Marghazi season. There is a lot of encouragement from this community for learning Carnatic music as well as Cine music.

Most of the fellow adult classical music students I have talked to, started learning in hopes that the knowledge here will improve their Cine music singing. It has been two years and two months since I started learning Carntic music again after a long break, from Koushik Ramchander.

He has been an epitome of patience!

For a novice like me, the support this group gives is just phenomenal. If there is one place where the Dunning Kruger effect is in full display, it is while learning Carnatic music or singing Tamil movie songs. 

When I started singing, my knowledge was very limited.. not that I could not identify ragas instantly or have a concept of what "right" sounded like. When my own voice was producing the output, my ears somehow selectively decided to be very forgiving when I was off. It takes a lot of "listening", very careful listening to understand that you are off. 

If a song had 600 notes total, I would be off on 400 of them two years go. Today I am off on 40 and going towards 4. My MIL has been my one constant judge and supporter while my mom has been my strongest critic. 

Two weeks ago, they agreed for the first time after hearing me sing a carnatic based movie song. My MIL told me my voice has finally adapted to sing SPB songs. My mom actually said this and I am saving this for posterity! She prefers if I stick to slokas and bhajans instead of movie songs, which is expected. 

My teachers at PP of course gave me honest feedback on every line of that song on where I was off in the notes, pronunciation and execution. The DK effect does play mind tricks, once you know finer details and appreciate what is actually required vs. where you are. You know what has to be done, but it needs a lot more effort to get there and it cannot be done in a week!

Not one for giving up, have been trying impatiently. That is the truth. 

Singing with just a Tanpura in background and your own hand to keep the beat was a lot more challenging than singing along with your teacher or fellow student on Smule with a familier fixed backround track! Almost came to the conculsion that Smule singing isn't singing and was downright depressed two weeks ago. This song is usually sung in the ragam Naatai (for most of the instances you find on Youtube). He taught it to me in Gowlai ragam. Asked my teacher why he thought I could do this and he said "You can do this Sundar! you already sang every line after me very well in class. you just have to do it at a stretch and on your own!"

Thank god for teachers. They tell you to buckle up, keep your head high and get your confidence back, one step at a time. Koushik Sir as I call him has been my music shrink as much as my music teacher. When you start learning at 49, the psychological challenges in learning need to be fixed as much as the skill gap. What he says between singing notes and making me repeat is the other half of the lesson, probably the bigger lesson! After many attempts, voicenotes feedback on whatsapp, he finally gave me the equivalent of the Oliver Cromwell look.. that made my day!

A heartfelt thank you to this platform and the folks who make it great!  

Carnatic music folks (especially family), this will not meet your standards. The good news is that I am okay with where I am today and tomorrow WILL be better than today! 

Thanks again to PP for this experience! It feels good to participate in the Marghazi season remotely!

Plan all you want..

The post on attending the spring concert season is here.. 

This year both SIFA and Sankritilaya had an impressive series of performances lined up. Had planned to go to as many of these as possible, including some "double headers". It is one thing to listen to one 3 or 3 1/2 hour concert. Listening to back to back concerts with only a 30 minute break is a very immersive experience. 

It is like doing a hot yoga double. The first class is the warm up for the second class. You are more flexible in the second class but you don't have the same strength. Something along same lines happens at these double headers. You start to close your eyes and completely enjoy the second concert but you zone out too often. 

Got to hear one vocal concert outside of SIFA and Sankritilaya. It was our friends son's mridangam arangetram. He did us all proud. The vocal for his arangetram was by Ranjani Ravindrabharathy (his guru's daughter). She sang amazingly well. She is going to be a rock star in her own right. We got to attend her guru's daughters concert as well as part of the fall lineup! We hope to see our friends kid keep up his performance as well. 

The concerts I managed to go to this season..

Ashwath Narayanan

Ramakrishnan Murthy

Anahita and Apoorva

Trichur brothers

Vignesh Ishwar

Sriranjani Santhanagopalan

It is not just the main artists but all the supporting artists that were amazing. Charumathi Raghuraman and Vishvesh Chandrasekaran were just amazing! Look forward to them doing violin concerts in the near future. 

There are a few concerts I wanted to go to but missed. Yet again, missed a Sanjay Subramanyan concert. That was scheduled the exact week we had to go drop the kids in SoCal. We did not know that both our kids would end up in quarter system schools with a late start. Missed it.. maybe next year..

There is a concert today as well, but could not go. Hence the "closing post" for concert season. Hope my friends who made it are enjoying it right now.

A few pieces that stuck to my head for a full week before the next concert.. Vignesh did a RTP of Dikshidar's 14 raga masterpiece, Shri vishwanadham bajeham. First time hearing a Thanam for all 14 ragams, live. That was a standout. 

Sriranjani sang Vanchatonuna almost like a haunting melody. 

Ashwath sang a song called Shonaiyum kaathu nal aanaiyum kaathtu. Have never heard this before. The lyrics were just amazing and he sang this ragamalika so well. He also sang Karaharapriya for an hour and it was the best I heard in recent times. 

Thrichur brothers sang an RTP in Jog. Pat myself on the back for boldly guessing it was Jog when my friends were guessing it as closer south Indian popular ragas. All I had was one familiar phrase from Pramadhavanam (from His Highness Adbullah) to go with. Was so happy I guessed right! They also sang Bo Shambo with the audience participating. The crowd was dancing. The bros are on to something. Between them and RaGa, these are artists today that are trying to spread the reach of carnatic music and give it a mass appeal to reach a non technical audience. Sincerely commend their effort!

Anahita and Apoorva sang in Kalavathi. Had never heard this one before. They also sang Kaa vaa vaa extremely well. It stayed in my head..

Ramakrishnan Murthy was outstanding in every piece he sang. He may well and truly be the first US born kid to become a Sangeetha Kalanidhi. What a talent. He sang Chinnanjiru kiliye as a ragamalika, but with a twist. He used different ragams than the ones Bharathiyaar used. Some of us liked it. Everyone has heard that as a kid and the tunes just stick. Swithing to a different ragam and singing it so well is a challenge. It did cause a debate post concert.. especially with the older generation! 

It is good that the bay area gets to see these performances. Next year, plan to take jr. with me to some of these concerts whenever she happens to visit. 

Can't wait to see next year's lineup!

When the rug gets pulled under your feet...

The recent spring concerts I attended were not just a treat to the ears, but also a treasure trove when it came to learning new things. 

Not just talking about the new ragams that we got to hear and appreciate and add to our list of things to cross correlate for future raga identification, but the specific details and comments made by the singers during the concert. 

Two of these concerts had the same nugget of information presented in slightly different ways. When Sudha Raghunathan started explaining the concept of "graha bedam" (planetary shifts would be my literal translation or place changes a more amenable translation?) I was simply lost.

She started explaining it this way. We start with Madhyamavathi ragam and if we move the base Sa (imagine C in a C to C scale) to the next note in the raga, and we prounce the notes differently keeping the original frequencies, we end up with a new known raga. This type of note shifting on the same original scale gives you five ragas.. when you start with a five note raga like Madhyamavathi.. she asked the audience what happens when you make the "ri" into the "sa" and what happens when you make the "ga" into the "sa" and some audience members responded.. and as she kept asking the volume and number of answers dropped exponentially. It was funny to watch. For me, it was like my ground shifted!

Sitting there trying to grapple with what was happening, my head started hurting. I am a drawing board kind of guy who is a very visual learner. Made a mental note of this and came home and searched google for pictorial explanations of this. Did not find anything that clearly showed me this.. so made a chart to explain this. 

Before doing that though, wanted to make a list of five note ragas using the same style to try and pick from the raga list. There was a lot of time spent double checking this across multiple sites. In spite of that, there are possible mistakes in this. Some ragams have complex multiple descending sequences and that might not be same across sites. Some ragams are essentially the same notes, but the way the notes are used in select sequences to bring out the flavor of the raga (think catch phrases.. or literally "pakkad" in Hindustani terms) is just different. 

First a list of pure five note ragas that are common and where at least two songs are there to identify it. This one has the ascending scales listed and descending scales listed

Then there were ragas that had five notes in aarohanam (ascending sequence) but more than five notes inavarohanam (descending sequence). Made a table of that as well.. which came in handy after another concert!

Once this list was done, I did not even have to know what raga turned into what. Just go on a sequence of Sa to Sa to the next octave Sa. Type in the first ragam, see what the notes changed to, cross refernce with the first table.. and voila.. it was easy to see what she was talking about!

You can click on the images to get a large size version.

The idea is this, based on my limited understanding. If you start with Madhyamavathi, you make the "ri" the "sa" and move all corresponding notes in Madhyamavathi raga relatively on a keyboard (shift it by same number of keys), then you get the next ragam. It is the sound you make versus the syllable you say but the way this is done in a concert is simply masterful. You need total command over the placement of the notes in their respective frequencies to the point where saying something different consistently and shifting it and doing it all over again makes it sound natural. 

To a layman, it sounds like magic. I felt like that monkey in the youtube videos that is amazed by a magic trick! Only after doing all this notation, there was some understanding and an "aa-haa!" moment. Some folks have the natural ability to visualize this and it is easy for them as they are steeped in music. For other learners who need music aids, this might hopefully help!

Again, mistakes if any are mine. So advance apologies for them. If you read this and find ways to correct this, please drop a note.  

This same concept was done at a more advanced level by RaGa (Ranjani Gayathri sisters) in their Raaja by RaGa concert. They started with one raga and went to explore both five and six note ragas with this same shifting and covered it with songs composed by Ilayaraja in movies. It was done brilliantly. With each shift they covered a five and six note raga variation. 

There were many amazing nuggets of information and learnings across all concerts. Will share them over the next few weeks.

Until then, the learning continues..