The 23rd Pongal music festival, conducted by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Coimbatore Kendra, featured a series of concerts by eminent musicians. Gayathri Venkataraghavan’s vocal recital on the final day was vibrant yet soothing. She began with Avvaiyar’s ‘Vaakkundaam’ and moved on to ‘Ganapathi Thaalai Karuthinil Vaippom’ (Bharatiyar’s song, tuned by Rajkumar[…]
Gayathri Venkataraghavan portrayed with ease the inherent beauty of Subhapantuvarali for the kriti ‘Sree Sathyanarayanam bhaje’ and Sankarabharanam for ‘Swararagasudha’ to bring out the spirit of the sahityas. The RTP in Hindolam ‘Deva Devam’ in khandatriputa traversed through the octaves with plain karvais in the shadjam and bhava-rich pidis. ‘SrimanNarayana’[…]
Azhutham when judiciously proportioned in a vocal concert enables the rasikas to enjoy the aesthetics of refined music. Sukham in Carnatic music calls for a superior quality of perception in an artist and the listener…read more in the press
The concept of vocal aesthetics hasn’t always been synonymous with Carnatic music. And yet, it’s the job of a performer to engage the audience. What role does the vocal aesthetic really play in our music?…read more in the press
I was seeing them after almost a fortnight. I would usually meet them during my early morning walk. So I stopped to enquire why they were not to be seen. “I was away at Latvia for a music festival,” said Carnatic vocalist GayathriVenkatraghavan as I looked quizzically at her husband…read[…]
Chennai-based vocalist Gayathri Venkataraghavan on a career that came about by chance but is maintained by effort Like many children, Gayathri Venkataraghavan too took to music at a young age, rather by force of her parents. Her parents were very serious in imparting Carnatic music to the child and even[…]
Lalitha Kala Vedika had organised a concert on Annamacharya kritis. Gayathri Venkataraghavan’s concert for Lalitha Kala Vedika was based on the compositions of 15th century composer Annamacharya, an ardent devotee of the Lord of Seven Hills. His compositions, made popular by musicians, have pallavi with several charanams without anupallavi. …read[…]
High energy marked the eighth day’s concert at the annual music festival of Sri Sathguru Sangeetha Samajam here on Monday, as Gayathri Venkatraghavan launched into ‘Sadhinchane,’ the gana raga Pancharatna Kriti by Thyagaraja, in Arabhi. She picked another gana raga, Goulai, and dedicated it to the Vinayakar in Muthuswami Dikshitar’s[…]
Where all others strive to make a mark, Gayatri Venkataraghavan comes out in flying colours, and the arena of her expertise is manodharma, swarakalpana to be precise. Throughout the concert as part of the Indiranagar Sangeet Sabha music festival, it was evident that kalpana swara was her forte, not just[…]
A nonagenarian sang and the audience was left awestruck. That was the power of R.K. Srikantan’s voice and his strong hold on sruti. His ability to remember kritis and the confidence with which he poured out the swaras moved most rasikas at Bharat Sangeet Utsav, held in Coimbatore. Srikantan’s son[…]