SRIRAM PARASURAM IN RAGASUDHA HALL- 15/10/17

CRama · Post by **CRama** » 17 Oct 2017, 16:27

ACCOMPANISTS
R.RAGHUL-VIOLIN
SHERTALLAI ANANTHAKRISHNAN-MRIDANGAM
NERKUNRAM SANKAR-GANJIRA.

List of songs
• Brochevarevare- Sreeranjini-T (S)
• Sobillu-Jaganmohini- T (S)
• Eti janmamidiha-Varali- T (R)
• Sanatana Paramapavana-Phalamanjari- T (R,S)
• Venkatasailavihara-Hameerkalyani- Subbaraya Sastry (R,N,S)
• Kanugonu sowkhyamu-Nayaki- T
• RTP-Bhairavi- Tamarasadaletri Tyagarajuni mitri

I had listened to the Lecture Demonstrations of Sri Sriram Parasuram many a times and have been floored by his profound knowledge, communication skills, and clarity in thoughts. He is a rare vidwan who is equally versatile in Carnatic, Hindustani and Western classical music. I had been longing to listen to his classical music vocal concert. As a part of the Ramnad Krishnan Centenary Celebrations, the vocal concert of Sriram Parasuram was held in Ragasudha Hall on 15 Oct and the enjoyment doubled as he shared his admiration and appreciation of the music of one of his favourite masters- Ramnad Krishnan, who with his highly sensitive and aesthetic approach to music had been the margadarsi for the current generation of young musicians. Before each song, Sreeram mentioned about specific nuances while presenting the same song by RK.

Sreeram commenced the concert with the famous kriti of Brochevarevare in Sreeranjani, a reminiscent of one of the famous concerts of RK. The manodharmam and intelligently crafted swara prastarams definitely reminded the music of a bygone area.The swaras were in sarvalaghu pattern devoid of vyavaharam, as RK did not indulge in kanakku vazhakku in his music. Sreeram mentioned about the energy level of RK. RK singing was mostly in madhyamakalam and maintained the same energy level from start to end. The next song Sobillu illustrated this aspect amply.

Varali was taken up for a detailed presentation. Varali was one ragam explored by RK to its minute details and he had handled many kritis in this ragam. Sreeram’s alapana was very soulful and the gandharam and madhyamam- very tricky in nature for this ragam was presented with precision. The unique characteristic of the Dhanammal school to which RK owed his lineage, was the treatment of gamakams in exact measure- nothing less or more. This was presented most appropriately. Next Sreeram mentioned about the brief alapanas of rare ragams by RK. Sreeram’s exploration of a rare ragam Phalamanjari for the Tyagaraja kriti Sanatana Paramapavana with its vakra sancharams pointed to the hard work he has done to master alapanas for such rare ragams- never repeating any phrase and strictly remaining within the grammer of the ragam. The swaras for this rare ragam were icing on the cake.

Hameerkalyani was a favourite of RK as he would present elaborate alapana, ragamalika swaram, or ragamalika virutham. Sreeram mentioned that RK had the innate ability to give purely Carnatic flavour to any Hindustani ragam. Having learned from T.Brinda, he would infuse the appropriate Kalyani gamakams at the chosen junctures which enriched his alapana of Hameerkalyani. The alapana, neraval and swaram were most authentic.

Before presenting Kanugonu sowkhyamu, another trade mark kriti of RK, Sreeram demonstrated the complicated sangatis that RK used to sing in this ragam and mentioned about the hard work he has invested in so many compositions. Then Sreeram presented the Bhairavi RTP made popular by RK. Sreeram’s alapana mostly centred around Medium and Fast tempo. He presented Tanam as a ragamalika including Sahana, Poorvikalyani and Kannada. Sreeram told that RK did not present very complicated pallavis. His pallavis were seemingly simple, but only when you present, you will know the difficulty. I left mid pallavi.

Raghul on the violin played very admirably. His raga essays portrayed the raga bhavam very beautifully and returns most appropriate. Sreeram, himself a violinist, was all praise for Raghul in many places. Shertallai Ananthakrishnan, played with good understanding and anticipation. His sensitive strokes embellished the concert throughout. Nerkunram Sankar jelled admirably with the team and the tani was enjoyed by the discerning rasikas who reciprocated with repeated cheers.

A concert that will remain in the memory for a long time.

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 17 Oct 2017, 17:05

Was the violinist R Raghul?

CRama · Post by **CRama** » 17 Oct 2017, 19:16

srikant1987, Yes. It was R.Raghul. Initial I have put wrongly. Now I have corrected.

CRama · Post by **CRama** » 17 Oct 2017, 20:04

Forgot to mention. Sreeram Parasuram's facial gestures and body language very much bring to mind Hindustani vocalists.

Sivaramakrishnan · Post by **Sivaramakrishnan** » 19 Oct 2017, 07:50

A nice recap, CRama. As usual, for those who missed the event, it's a big relief.

IIRC at least some of the items rendered by SP (brochvarevare, Etijanama) are those popularized by RK thru a LP record of the eighties and it must have been great to hear SP explaining the nuances then and there. An excellent way of appreciating the Vidwan's chaste music for benefit of Rasikas.

Seems the youngsters of today who admire RK's music are able to adapt to it only in parts/patches. I don't however expect someone to sing 'like RK' but if one could evolve into his true style.

I remember the eighties when RK's songs were frequently aired by Vividhbharati, Trivandrum in their 'Sangitasudha' slot. His Poornachandrika, Sahana, Kannada etc had a great reach.

Hope the event was recorded.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 19 Oct 2017, 09:18

Mods
Change the title from Sreeram to Sriram, that way google permanently indexes it. Thank you crama for your review.

Ramasubramanian M.K · Post by **Ramasubramanian M.K** » 19 Oct 2017, 20:23

CRama: Nice review!! If I can do my own boast,Sreeram is from Bombay_Where would CM in Chennai be without the likes of Bombay Sisters,Bombay Jayashri,Rajee Gopalakrishnan Aruna Sairam,Ranjani Gayathri,Geetha Rajah and so on-- the list seems endless!!("Tongue-in-cheek" remarks ofcourse lest Rajesh and other Chennaites pounce on me!!!

By the way, my late father wrote a review of Sriram's performance in Bombay when Sriram was about 10 years old in the Times of India Bombay lauding his imagination and intellect and predicted he would truly shine.His versatility in both Carnatic and Hindusthani Music besides Western Music may have been the bane and it was difficult to "slot" him in any particular genre.
In the mid eighties he came as a scholar in Wesleyan University under Vishwa Sir(that's where he met his future wife Anuradha(what awesome talent she has!!).

His LEC-DEMS show his erudition and insights into. the styles of musicians of the erstwhile era!! He certainly deserves more recognition than he has been getting.

melam72 · Post by **melam72** » 19 Oct 2017, 20:58

Ramasubramanian M.K wrote: ↑19 Oct 2017, 20:23 Where would CM in Chennai be without the likes of Bombay Sisters,Bombay Jayashri Aruna Sairam

In a better place, obviously

.

I'd replace those three names with Prasanna Venkatraman, Vignesh Ishwar, and Alamelu Mani.

sreebeecane · Post by **sreebeecane** » 20 Oct 2017, 01:33

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YhKMKyTQ60

hnbhagavan · Post by **hnbhagavan** » 20 Oct 2017, 17:46

A concert full of Sowkyam and energy with wonderful accompaniments.His explanation and how Ramnad Krishnan treated each of the kritis presented was very informative.

ram1999 · Post by **ram1999** » 09 Nov 2017, 11:18

WHAT A BRILLIANT ARTIST HE IS ! His anecdotes and short speeches between the kritis were extremely informative. The hamir kalyani was top class with a lot of hindustani touches and apparently Ramnad was greatly influenced by the the styles of the Ustads Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Saheb and Amir Khan Saheb, (not at all surprising as many of the CM musicians such as Voleti, GNB, MLV, Kalyanaraman, Nedunuri and many others were true admirers of these 2 artists in particular). Another top class Bhairavi but this was a Pallavi. He also mentioned that the Dhannammal School did not give too much importance to complex / complicated pallavis and the school believed strongly in the aesthetics. A brisk sriranjini in the true Ramnad style and a fairly detailed varali, beautiful alapana and kriti rendition. Palamanjari raga exposition was too good, not many artists have handled this raga or the rare kritis in this raga. Voleti used to sing Palamanjari quite often (Sanatana and Sri Narasimha), Malladis sing very often and Nedunuri has rendered in quite a few concerts.

As an aside, in one of my visits to meet Nedunuri and the few days I stayed with him, he used to make me play the music of yesteryear musicians, some of them were Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ramnad Krishnan, Kalyanaraman and Voleti. He used to make me play the bhairavi of BGAK repeatedly and he quipped I am trying to sing like him but am able to do only about 5% or so

There is a lot to still learn. And he used to admire in particular the raga alapanas of Ramnad / Voleti and Kalyanaraman and used to say that the way they sing it is so brisk, and they have the ability to present the entire essence of the raga in a span of 4 to 5 mins which some musicians take 30 minutes. Sriram mentioned exactly the same of Ramnad raga delivery which was in similar lines.

A SPLENDID CONCERT OF OVER 2 1/2 HOURS. A MUST LISTEN. YT recording is available.

rasikas.org