Rithvik Raja at Raga Sudha Hall

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shriram.krishnan72
Posts: 52
Joined: 14 May 2017, 13:28

Rithvik Raja at Raga Sudha Hall

Post by shriram.krishnan72 »

R Raghul - Violin
Kumbakonam Swaminathan - Mridangam
Anirudh Athreya - Ganjira
Raghu - Morsing

I left after Ramakrishnan Murthy finished singing Sadinchane at Arkay CC at 6.40 and made it here around 6.55 with a quick stop at Sukhanivas for Coffee and was delighted to hear the same Pancharathnam being continued almost like a link between the two. Wonderful coincidence.

Here is the review of that program - http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic ... 95#p319895

Highlights:

He finished the pancharathnam off with many rounds of swarams at Samayaniki which gave the concert nice momentum to build on. Interestingly he sang it the traditional way with Samayaniki after each charanam and not Sadinchane like Ramakrishnan. Seethapati was the second song with crisp neraval and swarams at Premajoochi. Following this was a lovely Anandabhairavi which was sedate while having many new phrases. The navavarnam was sung from the Anupallavi and was rounded off with only slow speed swarams at Kamalamba which was reminiscent of Semmangudi.

After singing a krithi in Kalgada of Shyama Shastri with all the three charanams he sang a short but delightful ragam of Kapinarayani. Sarasa Sama Dana was the best piece of the day with ample inspiration drawn from MMI looks like.

Darbar was the main ragam of the day which was explored exhaustively. Mundu Venuka with neraval and swarams at O Gajarakshaka was handled superbly by both Rithvik and Raghul. The long winding Neraval and Swarams had many lovely moments. The thani was energetic and given the function was for a laya artist maybe a 25 min percussion solo was justified? I felt it could have been shorter.

Positives:

Loved the fact that he focussed also on presentation and the selection was great. His stage presence was surprisingly restrained and he shared a good rapport with other artists on stage.

His voice was rich and powerful. Moulded well to suit his music and sustained energy throughout the concert. A stark contrast to what it was 4-5 years ago.

First time I am hearing Raghul with Rithvik and the combination worked. Anirudh on the Kanjira is always pleasant and he was up to the task today. He gelled well along with Kumbakonam Swaminathan who is a student of Poongulam Subramaniam and a product of the laya school which hosted this function.

Negatives:

The violin was scratchy at times but the music was always good so maybe that can be looked past as a technical flaw and not a musical one. Might add to the listening pleasure if that could be corrected.

Though the thani was long a better proportion of post thani items might make the concert complete.

The morsing was barely heard and came alive during the thani avarthanam. Thankfully did not hinder the listening of the concert. I personally do not prefer this as an accompaniment instrument.

Observation
The hall was full and it was lovely to see that there are ample listeners to fill two auditoriums of two fairly established musicians a few hundred metres away from each other. A welcome sight. However I wonder where these listeners go when a good quality concert by a not-so-popular artist is being presented and is the only concert in the city at a given day hosted by Naada Inbam for which there are maybe 30 people. Trying to understand the psyche behind this.

A lot of SSI MMI DKJ evident in his music along with his guru TMK (who was in the audience). He has taken from all and created a unique approach for himself without imitating. Ramakrishnan has been successful in doing this too where many shades of KVN and Ramnad Krishnan are highly evident in his singing. Another of TMK's students Ravikiran has also managed to achieve this but in his own different way by adopting a lot of Dikshithar SSP style into his music. This is very important for someone who learns from a leading musician who is still performing widely IMHO to remain fresh and relevant.

I would peg him and Aishwarya Vidhya Raghunath closely behind Ramakrishna Murthy and Amrita Murali as the next gen stars. High level of maturity for his age. I was surprised to learn that he is only 28. He may surely reach the top in the next few years with the same focus.

Special Mention
This concert was held as part of Mridangam Vidwan Poongulam Sabesha Iyer Celebrations. Unlike most events the presentations and previous events stuck to their time due to which this concert slated at 6.45 started on time after a short introduction to all the artists on stage. Other events that have never ending speeches must take cue!

- SK72

sureshvv
Posts: 5523
Joined: 05 Jul 2007, 18:17

Re: Rithvik Raja at Raga Sudha Hall

Post by sureshvv »

Please indicate date of concert reviewed

vijay.siddharth
Posts: 358
Joined: 14 May 2017, 13:08

Re: Rithvik Raja at Raga Sudha Hall

Post by vijay.siddharth »

I'm curious - did you, at any point, feel like anna's concert was like a rollercoaster? I listened to him in NGS last season and he took my breath away in a fashion only battlestar galactica has been able to till now!

shriram.krishnan72
Posts: 52
Joined: 14 May 2017, 13:28

Re: Rithvik Raja at Raga Sudha Hall

Post by shriram.krishnan72 »

@sureshvv - That is something I keep forgetting will do it hence forth. Thanks for mentioning it

@vijay.siddharth - It was a lovely concert. There is a lot of modulation and he uses his voice differently for different compositions so there is a lot of contrast between songs which can be a good experience. But your comparison to Battlestar Galactica and a rollercoaster is an interesting analogy for a carnatic musician.

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