Gayathri Girish on 20th October 2013

Thematic Concert

Lord Shiva in His Varied Forms

Vidushi Gayathri Girish           - Vocal

Vidwan B.K.Raghu                 - Violin

Vidwan H.S.Sudhindra           - Mridangam

Vidwan Phanindra Bhaskara   -  Ghatam

An enjoyable and informative concert by Gayathri Girish

A review:

Listening to Gayathri's concert was not only enjoying the nuances of Carnatic music but also was a gain in acquiring intricate knowledge of the adhvita philosophy, bird's eye view of the various Shiva kshetras, their iconography. Her explanations of the compositions (mostly muthuswami dikshithar's ) gave beautiful insight into the scholarly approach of his incorporating all the details about the particular form of Lord Shiva and how he beautifully incorporates the name of the raga in the composition. A commendable research that she has done .
 Coming to the compositions taken up, she started with Sri Maha

 Ganapathy in gowla(ganapathy at Thiruvarur).-Among the compositions chosen many  were lesser heard ones. Next was describing Bikshadana moorthy form of Shiva-Maarakoti koti lavanya in Arabhi. Kalabhairavam Bajeham in Bhiravam depicted the Bhairavamoorthy- a ferocious form. Anugraha moorthy or kalyanasundara moorthy was represented in Sri Parvathi Parameswaram in bowli-vedaranyam kshetram.

 Next was brief but complete picture of the raga Poorvikalyani , the song chosen was rare one-Gangadhara tripura, composition of Mysore sadasiva rao..This depicted the Gangadharamoorthy.
 Umamaheswaramoorthy was represented in the song chintaye  mahalingamoorthimin the raga Paras (slightly different from what is sung as paras today- according to the  Sampradaya pradarsini.(Thiruvidamaruthur).

Next was again another  not heard one-Ehi Trijagadisa in saranga a composition of Thyagaraja -. On the panchanadisa of thiruvaiyar. A melodious and nuances filled Bhairavi alapana followed by  the composition - Chinthayamam in   rupakam.  A good niraval with swarams reminded of her guru in places.(This depicted somsaskandamoorthy at Kanchipuram).  Veera Vasantha on the raga of the same name was taken up next depicting the Thyagesa of Thiruvarur.
 

The main raga of the day was detailed delineation of Sankarabharanam followed by Akshayalingavibho- beautifully sung  with good niraval and swarams.( this  represented  vrishabakshara moorthy in Keevaloor).  Pahi Gowrisa in Nadanamakriya , a composition of Venkata vittala dasa and Nagendraharaya-sloka of Adisankara in ragamalika were sung
 Lastly an interesting mangalam on Shiva in pantuvarali by muthaiabhagavathar brought the concert to an end.
 

Mr. Raghu on the violin, Mr Sudheendra on Mridangam and Bhaskar on ghatam gave good support in fitting way to sustain the audience interest the thematic concert.

Announcement of Concert:

Smt. Gayathri Girish is amongst the leading Carnatic vocalists of today . She has imbibed some of her boundless Manodharma from the training under veteran Padma Bhushan, Sangeetha Kalanidhi Madurai Sri TN Seshagopalan. She has also been fortunate to have learnt the violin for a few years from the legendary Lalgudi Sri G Jayaraman and Smt T Rukmini. Ever since making her debut in 1986, Gayathri has received accolades in substantial measure from both the lay listeners and erudite critics.Her repertoire is particularly impressive, with songs ranging from Tamil Tevaram hymns and Divya Prabhandams to Purandaradasar Devarnamas.Oothukkadu Venkatakavi Kritis, Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathiyar songs, compositions of Muthiah Bhagavathar, Papanasam Sivan and Ambujam Krishna all find a place in her song lists.

Smt. Gayathri Girish has given performances extensively both in India and abroad. Some of her concerts outside India encompass recitals at Cleveland, Singapore, Russia, Colombo, Muscat and London. An A-Grade panel artist of AIR Chennai, Gayathri has given quite a number of interesting and non-routine concerts such as Jugalbandis with Hindustani musicians, vocal performances with Thavil accompaniment, one Raga – one Kriti concerts (that call for highest levels of Manodharma) and numerous thematic concerts on topics like Shanmatam and Nava Vidha Bhakthi. She has also given several lecture demonstrations on topics such as “Complex Pallavis”, “Music and Mathematics” and “Structural Variations in Compositions since the Trinity”. She has also appeared in TV shows and has recently undertaken an archival project of Divya Prabandams by Doordarshan.

Smt.Gayathri is presently producing and presenting a thematic concert series titled "The myriad forms of Lord Shiva" She has already given seven such concerts, each performance specialising in a particular form of Lord Shiva, like Somaskanda Murthy, Umasahita Murthy and so on. Each concert brings forth the creativity of various composers in propagating Bhakti of Lord Shiva in that particular form.

Smt.Gayathri has several prestigious awards and titles to her credit including that of Kalaimamani and awards from leading sabhas in India and the USA.

A number of her live concerts have been released commercially as albums. Vaishnavam, Aarupadai Veedu Kshetra and a delectable Raga Manjari are some of her recent recordings.