And yesterday a concert by Mahathi at Bhavan's Andheri. I had heard of her as a child prodigy who was recognising ragas when she was 18 months old. And maybe I had even heard a song or two by her.. but never a full fledged concert.
Mahathi started with the Kalyani Ata tala varnam by Pallavi Gopala Iyer. She has a voice that is capable of moving through musical phrases at lightning speed. This was demonstrated right in the beginning at Chirunavvu itself and sort of set the pace for the rest of the concert.
This was followed by Deva deva( Mayamalavagoula, Swathi) with neraval at Jaata roopa nibha chela, janmaarjitha maamakhila. And I clearly remembered Dr T S Sathyavathi telling us that if we had to sing neraval for this piece , it would be better to do it at Dithi jaali vidalana, deenabandho maamava. TSS, could in general be extremely acerbic about many musical irregularities. And she used to be particularly biting about people who sang neraval without understanding the meaning of a line. I am unable to remember which workshop she said this in.. so I could not listen to the recording again. But I remember the gist of what she said in this context. It was her contention that all krithis would not lend themselves to neraval( obviously). She believed the musician should select that line which was not just amenable to musical variations but was also a line which encapsulated a lofty thought or idea and was worth repeating again and again so as to bring forth the composer's core vision.
And therefore I came back and sat with my Sanskrit translator and Govinda Rao's book again today morning . And yes, janmaarjitha maamakhila encapsulates an incomplete thought which gets completed only with the next 2 lines paataka sanchaya... karunaaya. All of it together means " Please obliterate all the sins I have accumulated in previous births" .
This was followed by Jagadananda and then Lavangi( Omkaarakarini by BMK). Lavangi as we know is the raaga with the least number of swaras( just 4 .. S R M D). Mahathi of course was able to traverse till the upper dhaivatam easily.
This was followed by a krithi called Saravanabhava, which I had never heard and sounded like it was Sudha Saveri and had all the Sudha Saveri notes. However, it was later announced as Pasupatipriya.. again a raga which I have not heard anything in.
The main piece was Kadanuvaariki. During the thodi alapana, there was a brief graha bhedham to rishabham resulting in mohana kalyani
Followed by a RTP in Malkauns .. other ragas during this piece were Brindavani, Durga, Behag and Revathi.
Followed by a thillana and a mangalam.
The musician has a very flexible voice, great skill and high energy.
Mahathi started with the Kalyani Ata tala varnam by Pallavi Gopala Iyer. She has a voice that is capable of moving through musical phrases at lightning speed. This was demonstrated right in the beginning at Chirunavvu itself and sort of set the pace for the rest of the concert.
This was followed by Deva deva( Mayamalavagoula, Swathi) with neraval at Jaata roopa nibha chela, janmaarjitha maamakhila. And I clearly remembered Dr T S Sathyavathi telling us that if we had to sing neraval for this piece , it would be better to do it at Dithi jaali vidalana, deenabandho maamava. TSS, could in general be extremely acerbic about many musical irregularities. And she used to be particularly biting about people who sang neraval without understanding the meaning of a line. I am unable to remember which workshop she said this in.. so I could not listen to the recording again. But I remember the gist of what she said in this context. It was her contention that all krithis would not lend themselves to neraval( obviously). She believed the musician should select that line which was not just amenable to musical variations but was also a line which encapsulated a lofty thought or idea and was worth repeating again and again so as to bring forth the composer's core vision.
And therefore I came back and sat with my Sanskrit translator and Govinda Rao's book again today morning . And yes, janmaarjitha maamakhila encapsulates an incomplete thought which gets completed only with the next 2 lines paataka sanchaya... karunaaya. All of it together means " Please obliterate all the sins I have accumulated in previous births" .
This was followed by Jagadananda and then Lavangi( Omkaarakarini by BMK). Lavangi as we know is the raaga with the least number of swaras( just 4 .. S R M D). Mahathi of course was able to traverse till the upper dhaivatam easily.
This was followed by a krithi called Saravanabhava, which I had never heard and sounded like it was Sudha Saveri and had all the Sudha Saveri notes. However, it was later announced as Pasupatipriya.. again a raga which I have not heard anything in.
The main piece was Kadanuvaariki. During the thodi alapana, there was a brief graha bhedham to rishabham resulting in mohana kalyani
Followed by a RTP in Malkauns .. other ragas during this piece were Brindavani, Durga, Behag and Revathi.
Followed by a thillana and a mangalam.
The musician has a very flexible voice, great skill and high energy.
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