Anyway Mrs.Sudha Raghunathan was on a tour of North America and gave a concert at Aurora, IL.
I went with a hope that she would sing more songs rather than spending more time for elaborate exposition of a raga, which is the done thing in Chennai concerts. My reasoning was here the audience would be more diverse ranging from swines like me to savants of Carnatic music and she'd aim to please us all. To my mild surprise, the audience were knowledgeable (not counting myself) and demanding as well. They wanted the detailed rendition of a raaga more than once. They called it the "RTP" meaning ragam, thanam and pallavi. Even the world of carnatic music doesn't escape the acronyms!! "RTP! RTP!", many in the audience cried.
Per audience demand, Sudha did a detailed rendition of two raagas and added to them, some kritis, bhajans and before one knew the concert went for 4 hours.
To my big surprise I enjoyed the entire concert. I can't recognize a raaga for the life of me. Still I was in thrall to the divine music.
Sudha brought the concert to a close with a very moving "Kurai ondrum illai". Ofcourse I have not heard M.S' version of this song.
It was Sudha's birthday. So at the end, the audience in one voice (very strong voice) sang "Happy Birthday" to her and also provided a strong proof as to why she is the singer and the audience are , well, the audience.
10 comments:
My roommates were there at the concert!! You probably read his blog too! serus :p... i will probably download some of her songs and listen too!
second photo enna effect/filter??
hey I visited the concert at Jersey... I was particularly amazed by the mastro in mridnagam... I really could not appreciate the ragas that I never heard of.. but the once which I could recognize or atleast correlate to the ragas I knew, were delightful to listen to....
@totti - Gimme the download source.
@karthik - Vivid mode in Canon Powershot S2IS
@susu - I guess ours was the last in her tour. Because she praised the audience of her entire tour and mentioned all the cities she went. You could relate to atleast a few ragas. Me nothing.
Excellent narration. Yep when I was in chennai, my parents used to get the season tickets. I love that 2nd pic, great work.
Enda ambi... antha pomnAtti oru attiyal pOtrukkAle adu enga vAnginAlAm??? second photo konjam nallA eduthurukkalAmo illiyO... podavai border olunga theriyalai....
I have actually learnt classical music on the guitar for 3 years, and yet I remember nothing, nor have much appreciation for indian classical. That said, I still try to catch a concert every once in a while.
Donno much abt Karnatic music but i luv the sari the singer is wearing :)
@shankari - Thanks!
@paravai - !!
@casa - Western classical? Guitar? Cool.
@viewer - :-)
No, Indian classical actually. The hawaiian guitar is meant for indian classical... the raags etc. The works. But I learnt it only coz my mom made me do it ;)
Post a Comment