CD/Cassette Reviews

[Oldposts]

Topic suggested by RR on Mon Jan 18 04:51:14 .


A page to post reviews of albums/cd's/cassettes (on indian classical music) we recently bought or listened to.

[Oldposts]

My friend bought this cassette for me from india recently (well.. a few months ago

Carnatic Elixir - Neyveli R. Santhanagopalan (INRECO)
Violin: S.D.Sridhar
Mridangam: K.V.Prasad
Kanjira: V.Nagarajan

Side - A:
1. deva deva (MMGowla; Swati tirunal) - includes brief kalpanaswaras. could have been longer.
2. nada dhanumanisam (Chitha ranjani; Thyagaraja)
3. murugaa maalmarugaa (hari kamboji; Tanjore Sankara Iyer)
4. Ranganayagam (Nayaki; Dishitar) - This is somewhat an uncommon song. Nicely rendered with lot of involvement. My personal favorite on Side A.
5. bhakthibhiksha (Sankarabaranam; Thyagaraja)

Side B:
1. telisi ramaa (purna chandrika;Thyagaraja) - typical one from T.N.Sheshagopalan school
2. kaa vaa vaa kanthaa vaa (Varali;Papanasam Sivan) - This is the best song of this album. The alapana, kriti rendering, kalapanaswaras all show his singing maturity. The slow paced style of Santhagopalan best fits such ragas. IMO.
3. Erumayil (Bageshri;Thiruppugazh) - Another good song (thukkadaa) that round off this cassette.

In some of the songs, he has struggled in the higher octaves.

Accompaniments: The less said the better, about the violin. (Fails to follow the singer quite a times during swaras.) Mridangam and Kanjira are good, though.

Overall, a very good buy if you like his leisurely pace and 'involved' singing.

[Oldposts]

Thiruppavai album by
Sudha Raghunathan
2-cassette album; price $2.00 (Two US Dollars).
It is available in cassette format only.

We all know MLV's Thiruppavai album produced
nearly 30-yeargs ago.
But many people are not aware of this album
by Sudha produced about 5-6 years ago.
It is fantastic.
I have MLV's 2-CD album too.
The paNs (ragas) are the same as in MLV's
(set by Ramanuja Iyengar? long time ago).
The best of the 30 in my ears :
#5: sree ragam: maayanai mannu vada madhurai maindhanai
#7: bhairavi: keesu kees(u) enrengum
#15: begada: ellE iLang kiLiyE
#19: sahana: kuththu viLakkeriya (very moving)
#28: kambodhi: kaRavaigaL pin senRu
#30: madhyamavathi: chiRRam chiRu kAlE


I have been listening to this album since summer 94
irrespective of whether the current month is
Magazhi or not.
I have donated this to the local Venkateswara
Temple here in Atlanta and a lot of people liked
it and have asked me where they could buy it.

It is a must-have for your collection.

[Oldposts]

chandra,
I have seen this double album during early 90's. Haven't listened to it. Does it come with orchestation or in traditional carnatic concert style (with violin,mridangam) ?

[Oldposts]

i guess the album of sudha that chandra is referring to is on the web..please check if this is the one...
http://www.iupui.edu/~rravindr/andal.html

[Oldposts]

RR,
Apologies for the delayed response. I did not check the updated time correctly.

Anyway, Sudha's thriruppavai album is in "pure"
classical tamil (carnatic) style accompaniment...violin and mridangam (Vaidhyanathan).. no "irritating" or "distracting" synthetic instrument orchestrations, (although such orchestrated albums serve well in introducing people to tamil (carnatic) music).

Balaji,
You are right. The link you have cited has that album loaded! I am listening to them even as I type this.

I hav Nithyashree's 1-CD Thiruppavai also but it is not overall as good as Sudha's even though it is better than MLV's 2-CD Thiruppavai album which certainly has poor recording (at least in transfering from LP to CD;I have not listened to MLV's LP version). But some of her renderings were very good too.
The pace of her album is slightly faster than that of Sudha's and results in bringing out the characteristics of some paNs (ragas). The recording quality is very good unlike
Ongki yulagaLan-tha - aarabi
maayanai - sree ragam <----the best rendering IMyO
anRivvulagam - sindhu bhairavi
oruththi maganaai -
etc.

chandra

[Oldposts]

I left a sentence hanging which was to be completed as "unlike that of MLV's CD".
Then I tried to list certain selections.

Somehow Sudha's got lost in these years.
She herself nto so keen on promoting her thiruppaavai album. When I she visited teh last time in 96, she did not bring this album for sale
at the concerts. I have observed teh same with
Madurai TN Seshagoplan too.
I was telling Sudha that I was listening to her Thiruppavai so much that the tape got worn out, she said make copies...I was shocked to hear herself encouraging copyright violation of her own works.
I then told her that I had started to stock multiple originals at home which I do. They only cost $2. Also AVM's tape and audio quality is going down significantly with each generation of the same album. That is another reason I ma stocking up in advance.
I felt like asking AVM to sell me the master alongwith the rights and
would like to release these on real nice media.

chandra

[Oldposts]

Sudha's record is the best I've heard so far too - I did pick up Ariyakkudi's version while in India this year. I noticed Madurai N Krishnan's and KV Narayanaswami's versions as well (all are on AVM).

Re: Sudha's suggestion on copying: She doesn't get a fee for reprints/new generations of old recordings. She just gets a lumpsum payment intially when she records an album. Asked why this is a popular arrangement in India when artistes in the US/Europe make a killing everytime their songs are rereleased, she said it was too much of a hassle to track when a new version comes out and then get the producer to cough up the money. Only HMV/RPG/whatever they call themselves do this still. From an interview for Kalki a couple years back.

Re: AVM - HMV, BMG etc. are negotiating to buy the rights for future releases on CD/tape of all AVM recordings. I interpret this to mean they're not doing well financially.

[Oldposts]

Does anyone have a good album of Sowmya? If yes, can you post a review.

[Oldposts]

Interesting to knw that lump sum payment scheme
is prevalent in classical industry.

Still, I feel that in the long term such indifference
hurts every aspect of the industry since the original publisher
does not get the full revenue and feedback as to the demand for their publications and they end up underestimating the demand and cut corners right from the beginning; similarly for the artistes.

chandra