Kala Kruthi ::: Reviews
- Interview with Rama Raghunaathan published in Snegidi, Indian magazine
- Shobha Sekhar Impresses | Times of India
- Vintage Bearing | Indian Express
- My Annual Music Yatra | Shobha Sekhar
Shobha Sekhar Impresses
by N Hariharan, Times of India
Shobha Sekhar - Vocal
Birla Kreeda Kendra
December 24
The second day of the 26th "Kal-ke-kalakar Sangeet Sammelan" offered
delectable fare in Carnatic music. Shobha Sekhar, a pupil of D.K.
Jayaraman and T.R. Balamani, was outstanding in her alapana of kalyani
raag and the collaboration of Papanasam Sivan's composition
"Unnaiyellal."
Her sweet, sharp voice helped her to etch beautifully the contours of
the melody. And she engrossed the listeners with her competent
interpretation of the kriti with an involved neraval, invoking
benediction at the line "Neeye Meenakshi Kamakshi Neelayadakshi."
Her swaraprastharas were imaginative. Soumya gave complementary support
on the violin. Shobha's opening number, a Dikshithar kirtana in Abhogi
raag "Sri Mahaganapathim" was sung arrestingly and her concluding bhajan
in Tilang raag was rendered with spiritual fervour. She had good
accompaniment on the the mridangam by Mahesh Krishnamurthi.
Review by Batuk Dewanji
Kal-Ke-Kalakar Sangeet Sammelan
Birla kreeda kendra
December 24, 25, 26, 27
Two artistes in Carnatic music dominated the second session of the
sammelan. Shobha Sekhar (vocal) and P. Krishnamurthy (flute) gave
scintillating recitals which will linger in the memory of the listeners
for a long time.
The Arts
by Batuk Dewanji
36th Swami Haridas Sangeet Sammelan
Birla Kreeda Kendra
May 28, 29
Shobha Sekhar gave an impressive performance in Carnatic vocal music.
She sang varnam in Ranjani, alapana and kriti by Muthuswamy Dikshithar
in Mohanam, and a bhajan in Sindhu Bhairavi. She is endowed with a rich,
tuneful voice and she sang with a rare sensitivity.
Vintage Bearing
by India Express
Shobha Sekhar
Little Theatre
By Our Music Critic
In these days of innovative spurts and jetset pyrotechnics which
youngsters quickly fall for, adhering to tradition and a paataanthara
that has a vintage bearing and beauty, is certainly a sign of promise
for classical arts. One such adherent is Shobha Sekhar who has had sound
training under T.R. Balamani, a teacher to reckon with in this
metropolis and "advanced direction" under veteran D.K. Jayaraman.
Hers is not a powerful voice but its pliancy perched on a clean sruthi
and facility to traverse high with ease, lend it a pleasantness. Her
vocal recital at the NCPA Little Theatre on Friday was short and crisp;
and neatly covered the segments of a Karnatak cutcheri.
Shobha's melodic perception and musical acument came through in
Shankarabaranam which she delineated with an aesthetic impulse and
rendered the kriti, Swararagasudha with sustaining verve. The niraval
and swaras added a crisp facet. That the very musical essence of
annuvidachi (Ritigowla) swayed her was evident in the way she rendered
it with absorption. A neat array of Arunachala (Saranga), Srinivasa
(Hamsanandhi), the Ragamalika Tharangam, Nandanandana and Ranjani
Thillana etc., comprised the repertoire.
Accompanying on the violin, Sowmya Subbaraman adopted over restraint. A
vocalist too from the same gurukula and a talented violinist, she could
have weileded her bow with a little more confidence. Her Saranga and
Shankarabaranam were fine pieces.
P.S. Sriram (mridangam) performed with a professional touch. The soft
sarvalaghu strokes added a charm. His Thani had an original flavour,
giving a refreshing facet to laya intricacies and pacings.
My Annual Music Yatra
by Shobha Sekhar
My Concert tour to India was to commence in a
few weeks’ time. I got a call from Dr VV Srivatsa, Secretary of Music
Academy, Chennai conveying the message that I had been selected amongst
the best musicians to perform at the Music Academy during the Music
Festival in December 2003 and that too in the Sub Senior Slot!! I was
thrilled beyond words and began preparing in greater earnest for the
nine plus one concerts during this tour.
I began my Concert tour with a program held under the auspices of
Dombivili Fine Arts, Mumbai on 7 th of December and in Chennai--Narada
Gana Sabha on 13th of December.
After all these years of stage experience , I still find every concert
in India a great learning curve. During the season in December, concerts
are organized from 9 AM to 10 PM and sometimes the “gap” between two
concerts is barely 5 minutes-which means I have less than 5 minutes to
tune the Tambura Sruthi and align Mridangam and Violin pitches. Sound
checks are quite non-existent and if at all, it is done “live” – with
audience in full view.
Notwithstanding, what is it that draws me and thousands of music lovers
to Chennai during the music season in December? It is the pleasure of
listening to scores of the best artistes –all of them vying for the top
position. The competitive spirit is thrilling and it is quite amazing
how the star performers manage to attract full capacity halls with
tickets (priced equivalent to $20 to $25 each)sold out, in spite of
performing in 10 different venues within a span of 15 days!
I always try to analyze the ‘magic formula’ that yields popularity but
the secret eludes me!! Sometimes it is a great voice, sometimes vidwat,
sometimes one hit song in a film, sometimes-just good looks!
One ingredient though is a must—being in the
midst of where every action is – in Chennai. Performing as often as
possible , amending your style to suit audience and critics’ preferences
and evolving in the process. NRI (Non Resident Indian) artistes as we
are called lack this ingredient and it is therefore very hard to negate
this impact. However music Sabhas including the very prestigious ones
such as the Music Academy and Narada Gana Sabha and of course
Hamsadhwani (which has pioneered NRI music festivals) have started
recognizing the huge efforts that some of us put in to propagate
classical music in different parts of the world and have moved towards
encouraging NRI artistes in a big way.
After the schedule of concerts I was interviewed by Jaya TV for their
program titled “Chadhanai Penn”—(Successful Woman). The focus of the
interview was how classical music was perceived and appreciated in
Australia and mainly how the language barrier, as in pronouncing the
Indian words with clarity, was handled. One of my students Sakthi
Ravitharan was in Chennai at the time of the interview and she was able
to demonstrate and impress the above points by singing the Bharathiyar
song “Chen Tamizh nadennum podhinile”.
The next lap of my tour was to the hallowed land – the birthplace of the
Trinity of Carnatic music. Is it the magical quality of the River Kaveri
that Tanjore ( a city further down south of India ) abounds in arts,
culture, sculpture, instrument workmanship (90% of the best quality
veenas are still manufactured in Tanjore)? Whether it is the awe
inspiring architecture of the massive Temples, or the breathtaking
beauty of its palaces (The Tanjore Kings were great sponsors of Arts),or
the fact that Saint Tyagaraja, Sri Syama Sastri and Sri Muthuswamy
Dikshithar –the Musical Trinity -were all born in Tiruvarur (a village
in Tanjore)—this place touches your heart. The Saraswathy Mahal museum
is another eye opener into the rich history of this land. One of its
exhibits is the world’s oldest manuscript – a 2000-year-old palm leaf
inscription in Devnagiri script. The clarity of the print is amazing. It
is still readable!
Tyagaraja was born in Tiruvarur but moved to Tiruvaiyar- a village 55
kilometers away. The Tyagaraja Aradhana Festival is held at Tiruvaiyar
on the banks of the river. It was my dream to sing during this festival.
I performed on 9th of January - and for the first time in my life-
before a 2000 strong audience that was highly receptive. This festival
draws multitudes of music lovers from all over the world - thanks to
media coverage.
On the 12th of January TV cameras converged at Tiruvaiyar to telecast
the Pancharatna singing- live. Roads were blocked and the narrow roads
could not cope with the traffic and political dignitaries who were
heading towards the shamiana. Famous musicians along with other
interested singers stood in the mile long queue just to get a seat in
the much-coveted enclosure!!
The next day I visited Tiruvarur accompanied by my Aunt Girija. We
traveled by car and tried to follow road signs. To our utter dismay
there were no directions and the people around seemed to know nothing
about the Trinity. Fortunately we bumped into a gentleman, Hari Iyer,
who spoke to us after I sang a song in praise of the deity in the
temple. He knew exactly where the Trinity lived and even volunteered to
get the keys from the caretaker.
Not only were the three great musicians born in the same village they
were also contemporaries and lived only a few blocks from each other.
Surprisingly there is little evidence of any familiarity in the
anecdotes documented or the styles of compositions!!
Mr Iyer narrated how Tyagaraja’s humble birthplace was in shambles and
the tenants were far from preserving the sanctity of the home. It needed
a few articles in magazines before the Government of Tamil Nadu
allocated some funds towards renovation.
Even remnants of Dikshithar’s home were non existent. It needed
donations from Smt MS Subbulakshmi and Sri Yesudas and several years of
research to locate the area where Dikshithar might have lived and
reconstruct a building (hence the modern looking home in the photo) in
the great composer’s memory.
Sri Syama Sastri’s home was intact and needed only minor renovations. I
felt the vibrations when I visited all the homes and sang their
compositions to seek the blessings of these very great composers. I
visualized the place about 200 years back and was moved to tears.
The Trinity’s compositions are the “treasure troves” of carnatic music.
It is our pertinent duty not to let the mission of their humble yet
great existence fade into obscurity.
We need to preserve, cherish and nourish this invaluable cultural
inheritance.