Friday, August 08, 2008

A departure of sorts...

The last one year has been quite fulfilling, musically- two live shows; Blogswara V4; recording/ blogging of course; the senior grade exam in Carnatic music; some gyan in Musicology; attending concerts; some interesting interactions with Jessica Keyes for her MA thesis on Indian Audioblogging; and most importantly, I had the good fortune of receiving tutelage from the renowned violinist Smt Lalgudi Rajalakshmi, sister of the legendary Padmabhushan Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman.
As things turn out, it is at this juncture that I have to leave India to pursue my academic interests. I hope to take with me all these years of formal music training and continue to make the best of it. After all, its this training that's been pivotal to most of my musical endeavors.
Music has been the second tongue at home and I am so grateful to my parents for that. Many thanks to my sister too, who's been quite a big influence.

So today, I'm posting for the first time, a full classical piece- an aalaapana, krithi and kalpana swaram in Raagam Simhendramadhyamam- one of my favourites; dedicated first to my guru due to whom this was possible; and to all those who have helped me shape my Classical music skills over the years- my family and all my other gurus so far- Smt. Bhagyalakshmi, Smt. Ranganayaki Sridharan, Smt. Lakshmi Raghavan. I owe it all to them and I still have miles to go!

Song: Ninne Nammithi
Composer: Mysore Vasudevachar
Ragam: Simhendramadhyamam
Thalam: Mishra Chaapu



Download here.

Do drop in your comments on this one. The discerning ear will find some off notes, pitching lapses and so on- but I hope those are excusable in the larger picture :P

Its quite hard to believe that Octaves has nearly completed two years. Seems like I started blogging yesterday! It could be a while before I blog again and I sincerely thank the ones who pushed me to start a blog (Pradipji/Meera/Murali), and everyone who's kept this blog going so far- fellow bloggers, friends, well-wishers and visitors for the constant encouragement and support. I've totally enjoyed and learned a whole lot of things from the blogging experience! Hope to be back in sometime with more music!


15 comments:

Jo said...

Bon voyage. I hope you get back to music blogging once you settle in there. :-)

Jo said...

And hey, congrats on the second year of Octaves! :-) You are an amazing singer and observer. Keep up the good work.

.:: ROSH ::. said...

now thats what i call a 'musical treat'!! thanks so much for the download link too.
congrats to Octaves for completing two magical musical years, keep up the good work. Good luck with studies, have a wonderful journey. and hey if you are coming to the US, here is a "warm welcome" from this part of the globe.

Rashmi Nair said...

Very pleasent rendition Sindhu. enjoyed it a lot!! Hope we will keep up getting updates from you inspite if your trip to the US. Keep the songs coming, otherwise we will miss u :)

Srividya Kasturi said...

Congratulations to Octaves for completing two years...! Good luck with ur studies. Hope to continue listening to ur voice in future.
Coming to the rendition, could listen to it only till anupallavi..:( Alaapana was very nice..Keep it up:)

Best wishes,
Vidya

SUMI said...

I am reading Michelangelo's biography in which he romantices marble. It's supposedly the most superior kind of stone that can be molded. Reading it I imagine him sculpting coarse and fine details of his 'David' statue- the chips and dust flying off the stone, while he is mesmerised by the rhythm of the beating and the weight of his hammer and chisel. This is exactly what I imagine has happened to you with Ms Lalgudi. She has literally fine sculpted the talent, meticlously chipping off parts and polishing others! I am very glad you chose to go to her. And yes, all your teachers need to be acknowledged at this point; it's the right thought. :)

I hope you have time for singing forever, regardless of changes in the lifestyle/place of living, or even audioblogging! Sing your way through life! :) Good Luck!

About this piece- beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

Sowmya said...

Felt like...was there in a sabha, for the december music season ! Awesome sindhuja :)

Sindhuja Bhakthavatsalam said...

Thanks so much to each of u!

Murali Venkatraman said...

kalakkal rendition !

Anonymous said...

Excellent work. I am not trained formally to find mistakes in your singing. It sounds as good as any other Simhendramadhyamam I have heard, except around 3:15, where you transcended into the high pitches and there was a lapse of laya. But the alapanas in the high pitches were awesome.

Please check out my post on Simhendramadhyamam and Keeravani (I am a hobbyist beginner amateur carnatic guitarist):

http://philramble.wordpress.com/2008/08/21/simhendramadhyamam-and-keeravani/

Anonymous said...

blog-hopped my way here. I am listening to the alapana part as I type this. Superb! Congrats!

Arun

Vasupradha said...

wonderful job :) I closed my eyes and felt like i was in a classical music concert. U have superb talent. All d best.

Anonymous said...

This is my second time listening to your rendition. The portion just before 8:32 (Pannagendra shayana) was awesome! You went a whole octave further than I've heard it sung.

Also, the charanam is sung differently in Maharajapuram Santhanam's version (which I hope you have listened to his rendition - its on his tape called "Mysore Vasudevacharya Kritis"... and I don't have the MP3 version unfortunately.

Ramya said...

Loved it sindhu! claps claps!!! waiting to catch u ovr chat:)

Karthik Nagarajan said...

Loved your aalapanai...especially at 4:17..I however expected that you wouldve sustained longer at the highest "Pa" that you hit at 4:28...Fabulous kalpana swaram and brilliant sangathi of "Neeraja"
at 13.36.. really awesome..I need to frequent your carnatic posts more often get educated :)