Tuneful and lively recital
Sri Rama Lalithakala Mandira had organised a Veena recital by Nirmala Rajasekhar, last week.
Nirmala has learnt Veena under many gurus including G Chennamma, E P Alamelu and Kalpakam Swaminathan. Now, she is the director of the "Naada Rasa", Minnesota, and has performed in many parts of the world, including New York, London, Switzerland, Indonesia and of course in important music centres of India, like Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai.
She is the first Indian to receive the BUSH Artistic Fellow by the Bush Foundation and received the "Achievement Award - 2008" from the first Lady of the State of Minnesota and she is also a Meknight Fellow, awarded by the Meknight Foundation.
Many of her albums have been released in both India and abroad. In the current concert, Nirmala mainly dealt with two ragas and two compositions of Dikshitar. In Kalavathi, she chose the composition "Kalavathi Kamalasana Yuvati," which serves as the illustration of the raga.
It is on Saraswati, the Goddess of learning, who shines as white as the rays of the autumn moon. The alap of Kalavati came as a whiff of fresh air and the raga was presented in all its attractive facets through the varying individual approaches, suited to Veena and Violin (C N Chandrasekhar) instrumental possibilities.
The finale was Gamakakriye with raga and shortish taana. Though one felt that the alapana could have been much more elaborate, it was tuneful and lively throughout.
Dikshitar says in the composition (Meenakshi Me Mudam Dehi) "Goddess Meenakshi is the knowledge and also the means of knowledge. She is the victorious one, who plays ten kinds of gamakas on the Veena."
Manavyalara and Sarasa Samadhana - were fast-paced quickies. In the concluding part, the thillana (Veene Seshanna) and devaranama (Ragee Thandeera) - were also pleasing. Nirmala Rajasekhar's career needs watching. The percussion duo, C Cheluvaraj and Krishna Prasad, lent whole-hearted support.
Nartana Avartana
The International Arts and Cultural Foundation presented "Nartana Avartana" on Saturday at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
Remember Lakshmi (now Lakshmi Khanna), daughter of Padmini Ravi? A prodigy, probably the youngest Nattuvanar then and a bright young dancer. She has been trained by not only her mother, but also teachers from the Kalakshetra. After several years, Bangaloreans got an opportunity to see her dance again. She chose just one piece - popular varna "Swamiya Varasholladi." But it was an intelligent adoption of a celebrated varna vouched for her good practice and talent. With attractive jathi, lively movements and restrained abhinaya, Lakshmi impressed the audience.
Attractive performance
Ajith Bhaskaran Dass is a disciple of Adyar Lakshman and has been guided by Bhanumathi Krishnan, Dhananjayans and Gajendra Kumar Panda and is well-settled in Malaysia. For his Bharathanatya recital, Dass had chosen a krithi on Devi, a popular varna and a thillana. "Sri Jagadeeswari" gave Ajith Bhaskaran Dass a bright start. Interpretation for the popular varna "Innum en Manam" (Lalgudi Jayaraman - raga Charukeshi) was attractive with crisp jathi, emphasised by spacious adavus. He displayed greater depth in both Nritha and Nritya.
Neela Ramanujan and Nanda Kumar (vocal), Kiran Subramanya (Natuvanga), N G Ravi (Mridanga), Achuthan Shashidhar Nayar (violin), Jayaram (flute) and Pavan Dath (rhythm pad) - gave good support from the wings.
Sri Rama Lalithakala Mandira had organised a Veena recital by Nirmala Rajasekhar, last week.
Nirmala has learnt Veena under many gurus including G Chennamma, E P Alamelu and Kalpakam Swaminathan. Now, she is the director of the "Naada Rasa", Minnesota, and has performed in many parts of the world, including New York, London, Switzerland, Indonesia and of course in important music centres of India, like Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai.
She is the first Indian to receive the BUSH Artistic Fellow by the Bush Foundation and received the "Achievement Award - 2008" from the first Lady of the State of Minnesota and she is also a Meknight Fellow, awarded by the Meknight Foundation.
Many of her albums have been released in both India and abroad. In the current concert, Nirmala mainly dealt with two ragas and two compositions of Dikshitar. In Kalavathi, she chose the composition "Kalavathi Kamalasana Yuvati," which serves as the illustration of the raga.
It is on Saraswati, the Goddess of learning, who shines as white as the rays of the autumn moon. The alap of Kalavati came as a whiff of fresh air and the raga was presented in all its attractive facets through the varying individual approaches, suited to Veena and Violin (C N Chandrasekhar) instrumental possibilities.
The finale was Gamakakriye with raga and shortish taana. Though one felt that the alapana could have been much more elaborate, it was tuneful and lively throughout.
Dikshitar says in the composition (Meenakshi Me Mudam Dehi) "Goddess Meenakshi is the knowledge and also the means of knowledge. She is the victorious one, who plays ten kinds of gamakas on the Veena."
Manavyalara and Sarasa Samadhana - were fast-paced quickies. In the concluding part, the thillana (Veene Seshanna) and devaranama (Ragee Thandeera) - were also pleasing. Nirmala Rajasekhar's career needs watching. The percussion duo, C Cheluvaraj and Krishna Prasad, lent whole-hearted support.
Nartana Avartana
The International Arts and Cultural Foundation presented "Nartana Avartana" on Saturday at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
Remember Lakshmi (now Lakshmi Khanna), daughter of Padmini Ravi? A prodigy, probably the youngest Nattuvanar then and a bright young dancer. She has been trained by not only her mother, but also teachers from the Kalakshetra. After several years, Bangaloreans got an opportunity to see her dance again. She chose just one piece - popular varna "Swamiya Varasholladi." But it was an intelligent adoption of a celebrated varna vouched for her good practice and talent. With attractive jathi, lively movements and restrained abhinaya, Lakshmi impressed the audience.
Attractive performance
Ajith Bhaskaran Dass is a disciple of Adyar Lakshman and has been guided by Bhanumathi Krishnan, Dhananjayans and Gajendra Kumar Panda and is well-settled in Malaysia. For his Bharathanatya recital, Dass had chosen a krithi on Devi, a popular varna and a thillana. "Sri Jagadeeswari" gave Ajith Bhaskaran Dass a bright start. Interpretation for the popular varna "Innum en Manam" (Lalgudi Jayaraman - raga Charukeshi) was attractive with crisp jathi, emphasised by spacious adavus. He displayed greater depth in both Nritha and Nritya.
Neela Ramanujan and Nanda Kumar (vocal), Kiran Subramanya (Natuvanga), N G Ravi (Mridanga), Achuthan Shashidhar Nayar (violin), Jayaram (flute) and Pavan Dath (rhythm pad) - gave good support from the wings.