Gayathri Girish on 20th June 2010

Smt.Gayathri Girish is one of the leading Carnatic vocalists of today. A disciple of  Sangeetha Kalanidhi Madurai Sri TN Seshagopalan, she has also learnt violin for a few years from Smt T Rukmini. An A-Grade panel artiste of AIR Chennai, Gayathri has given quite a number of interesting and non-routine concerts including Jugalbandis, Nava Vidha Bhakti, History of Tamil literature and carnatic music, several technical lecture demonstrations and so on. She has won numerous awards from several prestigious sabhas, the first one being received at the age of 13 from the hands of Dr.Balamurali Krishna and the title Sahityapriya from the hands of Semmangudi Sri.Srinivasa Iyer. Besides performing in all prominent sabhas in India Gayathri has also enthralled audiences in Cleveland (won CMANA award), Singapore, Russia, Colombo (won Gaana Rathna award), Muscat and London. She has released several CDs. A gold medallist Masters degree holder in Computer Applications, she now follows her heart and passion which is Carnatic Music.

Full Concert Review

A Scholarly Carnatic Concert by Gayathri Girish

Gayathri Girish presented a well balanced, thoroughly enjoyable concert on Sunday, the 20th of June 2010. Known for her bold initiatives, in researching and presenting highly innovative thematic concerts, this artist from Chennai, chose for great elaboration a Ragam Thanam Pallavi in the raagam Ramapriya. The earlier songs leading to the RTP started with the popular Naatakurinji varnam, Chalamela. Here the artist sang the saahityam for all the chittaswarams in two speeds thus giving a colourful start to the proceedings. Then came a crisp Kalyani number followed by the elaboration of Madhyamavathi. The exotic Dikshitar kriti in Kokilaravam was beautifully presented. The sub-main piece was Kedaragowla- Saraguna Palimpa with extremely enjoyable neraval and swaras. After the Chalanatta filler, came the amazing presentation of RTP. Seldom does this raaga treated to such grand treatment. The highlight of the evening was when the fount of swaraprasthara for the pallavi started. In what appeared to be an unending stream of raagas, the 18 raagam raagamaalika swarams simply stole the thunder. The swarams of the different raagas perfectly fell in place without any carry over and wove a fascinating tapestry of great musical value. Gayathri proved her eminence in this field by the effortless presentation of the RTP, including the complex swaraprastharam. Thukkadaas were well chosen and did not follow the beaten track. Set to sweet raagas, the compositions of Bharathiar, Surdas, Periazhwar, Kamban and Purandaradasa left a lasting pleasant feeling at the end of the concert. One common feature of these compositions were that they are all from the stable of her guru, the illustrious Madurai Sri.T.N.Seshagopalan. To crown them all, the final piece was a Thillana of Sri.TNS himself.

Overall it was a very satisfactory concert showcasing the scholarliness and musical prowess of Vidushi Gayathri Girish. Accompanying artists, Sri.B.Raghuram gave excellent support including effective replies to the complex swara delineations of the vocalist. Sri. V.Krishna on mridangam and Sri. Guruprasanna on Khanjira gave understanding percussion support and a short but memorable thani aavarthanam.

LIST OF SONGS

1. Naatta kurinji   Pada Varnam---Chalamela---Adi---Sang sahityam for all the chittaswaras---2 speeds.

2. Kalyani ---Bhajana seyave manasa----Rupakam ----Thyagaraja

3. Madhyamavati ----Naadupai palikeru narulu---Khanda chapu---Thyagaraja---swara @ veda sannuta

4. Kokilaravam ---Kodandaramam Anisham Bhajami --- Adi --- Muthuswami Dikshitar

5. Kedaragoula---Raga alapana---Saraguna palimpa---Rupakam ---Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar---neraval@ varaguna seshadri---Swara prastharam

6. Edaiah gati ---Chalanatta ---Adi --- Kavikunjara bharati 

7. Ramapriya ---RTP --- Khanda triputa   2 kale  pallavi ---Janaki manohara kalyana ramapriya pativrata siromani       
Ragamalika swaram in Ramapriya,nattai, sriranjani, todi, revathi, vasantha, varali, kapi, (brindavani?), ranjani, saveri,--------?, mohana kalyani, kanada,  poorvikalyani, suddha dhanyasi, hamsanandi,  suruti,  Ramapriya.

8. Brindavani --- Kakkai chirahinile --- Adi --- Subrahmanya Bharati

9. Gamanasramam ---  Gopigopala lala --- Adi --- Surdas 

10. Kapi ---Anjanavannanai aayarkulakuzhandinai --- Adi ---Periazwar paasuram

11. Karnaranjani --- Naamam annadu kel ---Misra chapu --- Kamba Ramayanam

12. Sindhu Bhairavi ---Tamburi meetidava --- Adi ---  Purandaradasa

13. Chadrakauns ---Thillana --- Adi --- T N Seshagopalan

14. Saurashtra --- Pavamana --- Mangalam ---  Adi ---Thyagaraja.