Palghat Ramprasad@Vanimahal On March 16th,2020

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 16 Mar 2020, 18:31

Tamil Isai Series. Sitting with CRama - so you can be sure of non SMS style review.

1. Sri vatapi ganapathiye, Sahana. No swaras.

2.Ambaramey thanneerey, kalyani, K.chapu,

Couple of nice kaarvais.

n @ semborkkazhaladi

Varadarajan, Neyveli Narayanan & Anirudh Atreya forming the strong support team.

Nice energetic neraval applauded by audience & on to swaras. Exactly one week from my previous intense neraval for same song at same line!

Danyasi alapana.

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 16 Mar 2020, 19:11

Kanaka sabhapathi darisanam

4. Hanumaney swamikku indha, malayamarutham, rupakam, Arunachala kavi

S @ amrutha jeevanam

Did not sing the unadhu thambi enadhu thambi charanam.

Doing a great job enunciating the lyrics. Swaras with phenomenal breath control & reproduced with same vigor on violin.

5. Kaanaamal veenile neram kazhithomey, neelambari

One avartanam swaras @ pallavi

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 16 Mar 2020, 19:38

Are we ready for the main or what?

A few proud grandparents & their well decked up unruly grandkids in the house! Summer vacation or Corona?

Sivaramakrishnan · Post by **Sivaramakrishnan** » 17 Mar 2020, 07:00

Nice 'live' coverage, suresh!
waiting for the full compliment.

CRama · Post by **CRama** » 17 Mar 2020, 13:00

The concert of Palghat Ramprasad was super. The masculine voice and sruti aligned and energetic style of exposition added to his manodharmam, sticker to tradition, authentic patantharam all contribute to the excellence in his concerts. The second song Tiruppavai in Kalyani received a very elaborate treatment. The energetic neraval and swaras for the second song itself brought a weight to the concert.

The swaras for Malayamarutam and the cracker swaras for the Neelambari song (surprising) maintained the tempo of the concert. It was not simple speed. The swaras had very interesting patterns in them.

The main song was Muruga Muruga of Periaswamy Tooran- the very popular song. I was longing for Kamakshi Gowri or Muruga muzhu mathi pazhikkum. But it was not. But I found that the varnamettu of the Muruga Muruga sung by Ramprasad was different from what we have heard from many others like M S Subbalakshmi. He did neraval on the pallavi lines and did lot of laya oriented kalpana swarams.

After the tani, Dikku teriyada kattil and Mangalam.

The pakkavadyamas had a great role in embellishing the concert. S. Varadarajan with his characteristic bowing and intelligence presented lovely alapanas and appropriate swara replies. Neyveli Narayanan, with his long experience, sunaadam, no aggression mode, had dexterity and clarity in his strokes. Anirudh Athreya partnered well with Narayanan in the percussion and supported with fervour.

Sitting with Suresh added ṭo the enjoyment of the concert.

Corono scare and absence of other venues for outing brought house full audience to the concert- albeit with lot of children.

sureshvv · Post by **sureshvv** » 17 Mar 2020, 14:05

CRama wrote: ↑17 Mar 2020, 13:00 But I found that the varnamettu of the Muruga Muruga sung by Ramprasad was different from what we have heard from many others like M S Subbalakshmi.

This impression may be because of the non-standard sangatis that he started the song with. He did feature some of the standard ones later but it was a bit "too little too late". Not sure if it was a different patantharam or on the fly.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 19 Mar 2020, 15:50

Palghat Ramprasad@Vanimahal On March 16th,2020
------------------------------------------------
usual housekeeping

Varadarajan, Neyveli Narayanan & Anirudh Atreya forming the strong support team.

Concert Type : Nirvana - No concert to follow , Free concet
Day/Duration : Monday / 2 hours and 20 + minutes
sabha/Hall : Thyagabrahma gana sabha / Obul reddy hall
Theme : Thamizh isai series

1.Sri vatapi ganapathiye, Sahana. No swaras.

2.Ambaramey thanneerey(RS,N,S), kalyani,Andal thirruppavai
brief alapana sketch
neraval for 10 mins in sembhor kayaladi
swaras for 7 mins

3.Kanaka sabhapathi darisanam (R) - dhanyasi - GKB
7 mins alapana and 5 mins return

4.Hanumaney swamikku indha, malayamarutham, rupakam, Arunachala kavi
brief alapana and brief neraval dodge
swaras for 7 mins

5.Kaanaamal veenile neram kazhithomey - neelambari - muttutandavar
4 mins swaras

6A. Muruga Muruga(R N S T) - Saveri - PT
12 mins alapana and 7 mins violin return
10 mins neraval in muruga muruga enrAl pallavi line
swaras for ?? mins

6B. 17 mins tani

7. thikku theriyatha kattinil - ragamaliga - bharathiyar

8. shrI rAmacandranukku - madhyamAvati - AK

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 19 Mar 2020, 16:03

Palghat Ramprasad is what he is preferring to be called as per few posts here is not Palakkad Ramaprasad, Let us help him to be consistenly indexed in the web. As i went out of the previous concert from vanimahal on a sunday, i looked at the vinyl board in front of vanimahal , that said 4 names , ramprasad and amrutha venkatesh were slated on Monday and Tuesday. I wanted to surely come on Tuesday but on Monday i was keeping it 50 50. Thanks to the scare i came nearly on time.

As i came in Ramprasad was ending the sahana opener and just got started with a brief sketch of melakartha 65. To hear on Sunday and Monday , two consecutive days from suryaprakash and ramprasad - kalyani as a submain has its own personal challenges . Kalyani is a beautiful raga depending on the krithi that you take. I certainly liked ramprasad handling the neraval and it was detailed with a definite repetition .Repetition can be avoided but it is good to reinforce aesthetics . The swaras in kalyani were done well but had a share of hindustani like ucharippu.

Superb dhanyasi alapana that showed a significant shade of KVN in him was well done . I was assuming balakrishna padamalar but i got kanaka sabhapathi darisanam . The krithi was short but with preceded detailed alapana I did have a fairly wholesome feeling of hearing dhanyasi .

The malayamarutham alapana did not have a shade of valaci and i only heard malayamarutham all the way . I have heard this AK krithi Hanumaney , but i refreshed with him again . His cute swaras with lovely synergy from percussion was very aesthetic.

The pick of the day was indeed the Kaanaamal veenile krithi. What a words by GKB, even a person like me when i heard for the first time when sikkil gurucharan sang i asked for words in rasikas.org and may be meaning too in this forum . That happened I think some time in 2005 to 2010 . Then i also heard once vijaysiva singing beautifully this lovely song . Neelambari flowed beautifully with he singing the phrase thillai chidambaram and without a pause going to ri ga ma was superb start for lovely neelambari swaras . Neelambari is a game changing raga in a concert at near half time , it actually wakes you up.

Saveri and kalyani are avoidable combos when chosen as main and submain. Alapana was well done, konjam he came out of his comfort zone and I liked his fiesty brigas of saveri that had a share of semmangudi typecast saveri sangathis . This krithi Muruga Muruga is a lovely PT krithi. In every word you can bring saveri . I have heard Suryaprakash and I think bharath sundar singing neraval in anupallavi or charnam and i was breaking my head .Now i just found that I have heard once srimushnam raja rao son Raghavendra now known as Sean Rolden has also sung pallavi line neraval when i heard him once where raghavendra took this thooran saveri krithi as main . Closure Clock worried ramprasad and the saveri raga devata for sure took a marginal beating.

Possibly little longer tani made him rush his thikku theriyatha kattil , he could not give that impressive rendition . The last mangalam is a ariyakudi arunachala kavi madhyamavati closure ..I can appreciate the value of Ariyakudi with the help of Arunachala kavi challenging the usual nee nama roopamulaku only as a magalam replacement tick. i still feel in general musicians can sing non standard mangalam krithis bit more like the previous krithis- that comment is for all musicians.

Neyveli Narayanan style is to have more density of strokes and a slightly higher pace for all songs . He brings his charm where despite speed there is no overbang- kind of neyveli lignite restrained power . At lot of places i heard UKS like chaapu and definitely his primaary guru Tanjore Upendran - PMI school was also showcased. Anirudh Athreya was a smiling good vidwan who did give space for the primary percussionist . Their tani was more better in second half.

S Varadarajan is the phenom. I like his play for atleast two things 1. giving adequate spacing during the vocalist rendition 2. Exactly carbon copying the vocalist sangathis and sancharas . His returns were consistently carnatakam and had high shruthi suddham.

I remember about 10 years back some poster wrote in this forum that some one came in to Palghat Ramprasad concert and asked that poster if the singer is Palakkad Raghu grandson. When the answer was No the rasika left . But as of now Palghat Mani iyer grandson is preparing very well at home , his share of onspot manOdharmam is not that high but lot of preperation like for eg neelambari krithi and close swaras made my day.

Like Grand Father - Like Grand son are making a mark. I also saw Rajaraman the father and guru of Ramprasad seated in the first row, sincerely thank him for preserving the finest musical legacy .

Thanks to vanimahal for giving this concert another 10 to 15 mins grace time , i surely had neraval and/or swaras in saaveri and may be even that cute little neelambari was only because of that grace period.

Overall an excellent concert for 2 hours and 20+ mins

kvchellappa · Post by **kvchellappa** » 19 Mar 2020, 17:43

Some mix up here - "The dhanyasi alapana did not have a shade of valaci and i only heard malayamarutham all the way ."?
You meant MM alapana, I guess.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 19 Mar 2020, 17:48

kvchellappa wrote: ↑19 Mar 2020, 17:43 Some mix up here - "The dhanyasi alapana did not have a shade of valaci and i only heard malayamarutham all the way ."?
You meant MM alapana, I guess.

Tx kvc I corrected it sir. I did make few more corrections in my subjective review part

Sivaramakrishnan · Post by **Sivaramakrishnan** » 19 Mar 2020, 20:59

Another instance of selecting Pallavi for Niraval! (Saveri-Muruga Muruga).
This recent trend has caught up like anything especially among youngsters.
This is a marked deviation from tradition. Pallavi is most often sangati laden and choosing it for niraval does not give the singer any specific advantage. It is jokingly said that a Pallavi is called a pallavi because it is repated several times!

You may not come across this option in concerts of yore. Nothing wrong in selecting 'time tested' niraval passages like Badarivana in Akshayalingavibho or Neelaneerdasareera in Balagopala. If there are no suitable passages for niraval in anupallavi/charanam, just render swaras at Pallavi or any other suitable point.
I can't just welcome niraval at pallavi of Rama nee samaanamevaru or Sreekantimathim.

The height of this was recently when a young vidwan did niraval at the pallavi of Bhagayanayya (Chandrajyothi)!!

***
When the significance of Niraval singing came up in the Open Forum of Music Academy's annual conference 2018, I raised this point and the experts opined that it may be due to lack of meaningful passages in the anupallavi or charanam segments. However my suggestion of avoiding niraval at Pallavi was well taken by the experts committee.

Unfortunately young musicians seldom attend the open forum and Academy does not bother to document what transpires in the valuable open forums!