Tracing the vaggeyakkara skills of Suryaprakash from years 2004 to 2020
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# First time in years 2004 to 2006 i knew he composed few thillanas . I think i heard his hamsanandi , suddha sarang and vasantha and one more raga which i am forgetting now. Atleast at that point of time i felt vasantha was really superb and unique ,I only came to know that there is another vasantha thillana by Amachatram kannuswami pillai . The vasanta tillana that RSP composed was on Lord Muruga ,the suddasarang was on Goddess ambal , the hamsanandi on Lord Perumal. Very recently last year i heard him sing a sumanesaranjani thillana . Logically if you see especially Lalgudi Jayaraman or BMK they have all composed in ragas that donot have thilllanas. TO an extent
Suryaprakash has had a BMK-LGJ typecast there in thillana .
# IN krithis he sang few of them, i am atleast recollecting one in hameerkalyani (forgot the lines)and the other in bhavapriya. He sang this bhavapriya krithi - sadA nin pada margam in our rasikas concert in manakkal rangarajan house . Lot of swaraksharam . Last year in 2019 he sang a lovely varnam
" neeyE sakala bhuvanam pOTrum" in ragam brindavani . It is lovely and i dont think there is any varnam in brindavani. I atleast see
TRS typecast with suryaprakash in varnam
# I think in his lifetime his 30 raga composition with adequate touchpoints of popular krithis or ragas , starting with hamsanadam will be likely his main flagship krithi. THe krithi is
devargal aRUl seidha ragangale starting in hamsanaadam ending with madhyamavati with 30 ragas in total . THis is well received
# Last year in 2019 apart from brindavani varnam, when he went to us tour he also got a sangeetha sowbhagyamE in ragamaliga . That
sangeetha sowbhAgnyamE is more a contemporary words, bit of parody on present social media etc. See my previous post
# So many RTPS. I can say he is a RTP factory with 4 raga hamsa pallavi being the best. Some ragas like dwi madhyama scale SKR typecast ragas like
sooryashri, miyan ki malhar and srothaswini all pretty long as nattaikurinji RTP , no musicians have attempted yet.
#. He has retuned with few contemporary composers like ARasi, one or two US based composers, few more indian composers i have forgotten their names. That particular
aRindeNE in ahiri is what i recollect the most with Arasi pairing wiht suryaprakash. Last year some number in gopriya , a dream scale where he put a video link in ladakh where he composed that number. A nice number in varunapriya praying for rains - forgotten the lines now was well conceived.
# Cittaswaras for the famous MLV popularized krthi
parkadal alai melE where he added superb cittaswaras for 6 ragas just when he recorded that as a cd in 2004 to 2006 circa.
#. I think all the above will not be as musicallly great as the swarajathi in reetigowlai that he sang in ratnagirieeswarar temple on Feb 15,2020 . He sang in dec 2019 in some sabha which i did not attend . But this one is quite spectacular for following reasons
##. THe theme and the swarajathi is on Lord Muruga ,nothing spectacular there . But the start in a very meditative
kandA eNDrum nee Endan sinthaiyIL where he repeatedly resting with every phrase "kandA eNDrum" just like kamakshee of Shyama sastri gives so much of reeetigowlai sowkhyam . Reetigowlai is a lovely raga so very rich in emote and muse and I particularly like he selecting this raga . This is nice attempt to take up freshly unbrewed swarajathi in ragam reetigowlai, instead of again falling in say bhairavi or a todi lanes.
##. I did not got everything in one go this swarajathi when i heard it yesterday. But i noticed he gradually steps from keezh kala sa to mEL kala sA , i think he touches ma and ga for sure and 1 or two more notes . Every swara starts with that note and ends with that note , like sa to sa , ma to ma and finally SA to SA.
##. The words were lovely , i just wrote in jiffy few phrases mAnini suthanE saamagana lolanE .... gunasheelanE and prior to sahitya he started swaraksharam typecast of ma ni ni and ends with ma . IN mel SA there was another lovely swaraksharam like SAgaramAna isaiyil karai kandu.... ilamayil mudhamayil.... If i have recollected it right i think there was 5 or max of 6 sets of swara and sahitya .,
I am assuming GNB,TRS TMT, SUgunaPUrushottaman,TNS ,SKR,Santhanam have not composed swarajathi. I am making it 50 50 that possibly BMK and LGJ may have not composed swarajathis. I donot know if chitraveeena ravikiran has composed swarajathis , he is a genius he may have done it . I just read yesterday that there was a mention that Dr Baby sreeram has composed a swarajathi.As such it is a life time of vidwat and learning to get the words and swaras absolutely right , that too starting and ending with the same note in a progressing ascending scale of reetigowlai, perhaps this is one of a kind swarajathi, that only suryaprakash has done it first.
ShyamaSastri (Swarajathi in Bhairavi, Todi and YadukulakAmbodhi)
---->>>>>> Mayuram Vishwanatha Sastri and Tanjore Ponniah Pillai (their todi and bhairavi swarajati)
------>>>> Suryaprakash (swarajathi in Reetigowlai)
I would love to hear from any of you if you have heard any swarajathis by any contemporary vagayekkaras(they could be vidwans and vidushis) in the last 75 years in a concert, other than ponniah pillai, mayuram vishwanatha sastry and ofcourse shyama sastri.
I recollect once semmangudi mama said in a doordarshan recording that he sang neraval for bhairavi swarajathi and he said I sang that because i could get so much of bhairavi . Few eyerbrows were raised as then few felt that after swarajathi why should ssi follow it up with neraval and swaraas . Suryaprakash should go for a grand R N S in his reetigowlai and sing a neraval with swaras in this reetigowlai and make it as a grand main in future , That way he will do more justice to his less marketed paramaguru semmangudi . Bhairavi swarajathi encapsulates many known bhairavi krithis in one capsule, let the same happen for this reetigowlai swarajathi.
Bravo This
reetigowlai swarajathi - kandA eNrum nee endan sinthaiyiL ezhundarula veNdum will have a longest shelf life . I also wish more future vidwans and vidushis take up this swarajathi in reetigowlai in their concerts. This will be as muscially as impactul as chinna kannan azhaikiran or thalaiyai kuniyum thamariyE of illayaraja's reetigowlai staple. Stating better this swarajati may get the status of janani ninnuvina which is enjoyed by both layman and connoisseurs.
p.s : Written this post as an offshoot of concert review of Feb 2020
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