Suryaprakash@Carnatica Online Digital Grand Pallavi Darbar - April 2020

[rajeshnat]

Suryaprakash@Carnatica Online Digital Grand Pallavi Darbar -April 2020
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Vocal : Suryaprakash
Only Support : Tambura Support
Accompanist : None
Duration : 1 hr and 30 mins inclusive of 8 minutes speech
Occasion: Grand Pallavi concert

This year due to Covid scare , the famous Pallavi Darbar hosted jointly by Carnatica with Parthasarathy Sabha was held online. This concert was their inaugral concert of 2020

Mnemonic Themed SrothavAha yati RTP by Suryaprakash
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"MummoorthigaLum Naan maraigaLum Pancha bhoothangalum pOtrum ArumuganE - EzhisaiyAl unnai Navavida Bhakthiyudan pAda arulvAy "

#1# This pallavi in Shanmukhapriya has 3,4,5,6,7 and 9 spacing in between the beats. Suryaprakash asssociates Trimurthis(3), Four Vedas(4), Pancha Boothas (5), Lord of six faces Aarumugam (6), Seven Notes (7) and navavidha bhakthi (9). The words of the pallavi is crafted excellently with these mnemonics. The pallavi stays connected and is meaningful. Just hear the first few mins where he explains all of this prior to he rendering pallavi

#2# This is srothavaha yati as it progresses from tisram (3) to sankeernam (9). This is jAti varga bEdha pallavi set in chatushra jati ata talam and then there is talamaliga.THe pallavi is in shanmughapriya and he sings the whole RTP for 1 hour 20 mins without accompaniment.

#3# The ragamaliga swaras was very creative with the following ragas anchored with shanmughapriya swaras in the beginning and end. THey are ragas with sarvashri(3 note raga created by DR BMK),lavangi (4 note raga created by Dr BMK), chandrakauns(5 note raga),shriranjani(6 note raga) , shadvidhamaargini (7 note sampoorna raga ), kapi and behag(2 anya swaras for a sampoorna ragas, so alluding to 9)

#4# RTP was for 1 hour 30 mins inclusive of 8 mins of speech ,
Raagam for 25 mins and Taanam for 13 mins with absolutely zero violin return
Pallavi neraval for 13 mins and Swara ragamaliga for 33 mins

#5# Which musician can take this kind of risk where one sings only with tambura. I have said many times before many vocalist are in the camouflage of quality accompanists. But to sing all alone is one of a kind.

#6# This pallavi has all the intricacies but very musically appealing to even uninitiated to intermediate RTP listener. Brilliant Suryaprakash , hope to hear this with accompanists some time. This is pallavi of all pallavis, that too singing without accompanist is absolutely stunning .Hope all musicians take this, this is a musicians musician RTP.

#7# Singing the raga like this, just solo, in two stages, tanam and pallavi speed variations, swaras without any loss of energy or lung power is a one of a kind display of vidwat and virtuosity, including a clear octave spanning transition in alapana stage 2 (3??? octaves).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHbQdHLxTfc

If you are hard pressed for time hear the first few mins explanation and then hear from start from pallavi till swara ragamaliga.

https://youtu.be/SHbQdHLxTfc?t=2690

[Ranganayaki]

#2# This is srothavaha yati as it progresses from tisram (3) to sankeernam (9). This is jAti varga bEdha pallavi set in chatushra jati ata talam and then there is talamaliga.

I think you forgot to explain the taalamaalika..

Suryaprakash explains at the outset that he will perform the pallavi in taalamaalika, first in Chaturasra jaati ata taalam (2x4 + 2x2 = 12 beats) and will then change the Taalam to khanda jaati Dhruva Taalam in Chatusra nadai ( 5+2+5+5=17 beats with four counts each for the nadai ). He says that The Taalam change to the new taalam “also” involves 68 total counts. Then there is a return to the original taala.

(I haven’t yet listened to the pallavi, so right now I get 17 (beats) x4 (Nadai)= 68 count Taala cycle, but I fail to see how he uses the word “also” after describing an initial 12 beat Cycle which doesn’t result in the same total count in any Nadai. I hope I get it when I listen to the pallavi).

Another thing that is not mentioned here : he says that for ragamalika swaras, he will choose ragas which have the swaras in the same numbers as the numbers referred to in the pallavi. I’m guessing for a raga with only 3 or 4 swaras, he would use ragas invented by the elder Balamuralikrishna, and then an audava raga (5), a shaadava raga (6), a sampoorna raga (7)(he says).. and to represent the number 9, he says that he will use a bhashanga raga with 2 anyaswaras. So it will probably be a raga with all the swaras plus 2 anyaswaras..

[Ranganayaki]

I just saw the start of the pallavi, and as I vaguely guessed, there is a constant nadai change throughout the Ata Taalam of chaturasra jaati. (I had missed the 6 in trying to figure it out and didn’t check to try and fix it - a little mental laziness!!)

So while singing of the mummoorthigal, the nadai is 3, while singing of the 4 Vedas it is Chatusra nadai, while singing of the pancha bhootas, it is khanda nadai and so on till sankeerna nadai. Each nadai gets two beats of the taala cycle. I think he didn’t mention the nadai changes in the ata Taalam explanation. I find it interesting and engaging.

So the count is 2x3 + 2x4 + 2x5 + 2x6 + 2x7 + 2x9 =. 68 all in one avartana.

[Ranganayaki]

I don’t know how the rtp sounded live, but in the video, the alapana comes in fits and starts. Apart from a few moments where it seemed to flow well, it seemed to lack inspiration. This feeling was exacerbated not only by breaks in the alApaba from Sri SP, but also by periodic interruptions by the image of a flier, when the sound stopped and sri SP seemed to begin again.

Rajeshnat wrote:

Which musician can take this kind of risk where one sings only with tambura. I have said many times before many vocalist are in the camouflage of quality accompanists. But to sing all alone is one of a kind.

I don’t see why it should be considered ”a risk.” Of course, as Sri SP mentioned sincerely at the beginning of the video, he missed both the Rasikas who might inspire him, I guess, as well as the dialog and the shared enthusiasm with accompanists. But other than that, this should not be considered risky!

But I dare say Sri SP might have been a tad uncomfortable to perform in a setting that was so artificial, and this might explain why he did not reach his normal fluency. I guess it’s understandable. He did seem to be extra-aware of his surroundings..

display of vidwat and virtuosity, including a clear octave spanning transition in alapana stage 2 (3??? octaves).

This, I’m afraid was not virtuosity. It might have been three octaves, but when he went very low, I lost track of the swaras and didn’t know what exactly he was singing. I struggled, but just could not get my bearings. I think when you go and show your multi-octave ability, it should remain musical. I remember a concert where the artist went to the Ni below the full lower octave, and if you were just a casual listener you wouldn’t even know that anything extraordinary was done. The music continued to flow right up to the bottom note. But here, it wAs just about going down the avarohana all the way for one octAve and going back up to ati-Tara shadjam , which might be 3 octaves. The entire thing was unmusical, it seemed to be a work in progress and i feel it should be performed in a concert only if music can be incorporated without effort. It was just the scale, but reason I lost track of the notes was because every note had exactly the same gamaka, I lost my bearings and could not tell them apart, no matter how many times I rewound. I resorted to counting the notes and each time, I counted 16-17-18 notes. I don’t know.

I’ve attended several enjoyable concerts of Sri SP, and this really wasn’t like him.

The extremely intricate pallavi with the nadai changes amazed me, I don’t know how he stays on track. If he ever slipped, he recovered quite well. I don’t know if I described the counts correctly. The counting syllables go at the same speed in the lower nadai, as in the higher nadais. So whether he is in tisra nadai (beginning of the taala cycle, or sankeerna nadai (the end of the cycle), the syllables proceed at an even pace. So the taala expands in a Yati progression that is called Srotavahayati, which he mentions in the explanation)

The ragas in the ragamalika swaras were: Sarvasri (3), Lavangi (4), Chandrakauns (5), Sri Ranjani (6), Shadvidhamargini (7) Kapi (9) (+ G3, N3), Behag (9) (+M2, N2)

[rajeshnat]

Ranganayaki,
My two cents on your comments. First of all I am yet to hear and see any musician singing a whole RTP without violin and mrudangam support where only with tambura and boldly uploading what he/she sings . We have had prabhatha sangeetham typecasts where usually krithis are taken. We also have parts or modules of RTP uploaded .Show me one musician doing that and one upload in youtube that too singing such a long pallavi without accomapaniments.

That is Risk.

I didn't find any loss of flow or rakthi in shanmughapriya alapana. He literally exhausts the familiar pidis and at few places he goes with few outof the box phrases. Ofcourse without the violin, there is no dialogue and I agree with you wholeheartedly that the whole RTP will sound much better when there is violin and mrudangam . After all we need violin sharp cuts to give the continuity, dialogue and occasional camouflage of natural voice breath issues. More than that the beats of well tuned mrudu with great angams will have a magical effect.

The flyer breaks for a few seconds might have been hot water flask breaks, let us give that to this man singing solo

When I heard the rtp for the first time i heard in two parts due to preoccupation . I found the pallavi neraval bit tedious especially with trikalam as it is difficult to comprehend without violin and mrudangam . To concentrate that long without accompaniment requires more ambience and silence at house which is not available to me.

My best moments in the RTP:
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#1#. Taanam
#2#. Pallavi line neraval beginning with the aural discovery of words correlating from 3 to 9.
#3#. In the swara ragamaliga I particularly liked that lavangi . IT takes such mastery to sing just 3 notes and 4 notes and also as he progressed the shriranjani and shadvidhamargini. My kid did not allow me to hear in full the last 2 behag and kapi.

All said, RiskTaking or even the Audacity of this singer is so apparent to me, but hopefully we will soon hear this pallavi with pakkA pakkavadhyams.

[Ranganayaki]

We may disagree, Rajesh. I don’t think it should be a risk. I gave my honest views, I also did say that he was affected by the absence of the accompanists, and I appreciated the effect of absence of that dialog on the singing. Even the absence of audience feedback. But I really didn’t like his three octave thing, and the breaks. I have no idea how that occurred live. May be it was prerecorded and livestreamed. I don’t know if that is possible on fb live. I don’t use fb much.

I have heard superb alapanas from Sri SP. This was not quite there.

I wrote my impressions piecemeal. I only enumerated the ragas. Yes the swaras in Lavangi were very nice, all the swaras were enjoyable, except (for me) the Sarvasri, which is not his fault. It’s just great that these ragas were even available for him to put his interesting idea to work.

I thought the Pallavi was a big risk!!! But that’s also because I’m incapable of managing numbers like that - even simple ones, and to me it’s amazing. Quite a lot of what they do in the pallavi escapes me when it gets very scholarly and detailed. I was scared for him, that he would lose the whole structure with a moment of inattention.