Prashant's concert at Swamy's Hall

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 07 Jan 2009, 10:57

Prashant Prasad - C S Anuroop - R Ramkumar

Sriranjani Trust, Swamy's Hall
6 Jan 09. 4:30 pm

karuNimpa idi - sahAnA - Adi (RS)
danyuDevvaDo - malayamArutam - Adi - PSI (NS)
malariNai tuNaiyE - rItigauLa - rUpakam - PS (R)
maragata maNi varNa - varALi - Adi - T (RNS)
parama purusham - lalita panchamam - kaNDa cApu - ST
dakshiNAmUrtE - shankarAbaraNam - misra jhampa - MD (RST)
Ethirugananu - nAdanAmakriyA
shAradhA bhujangam - rAgamAlikA
patiki hArati rE - suruTTi - Adi - T

It was a great concert. The AlApanais of rItigauLa, varALi and shankarAbaraNam were all done with deep classicism. The kritis were rendered well. The neraval svarams were all very good also. The accompanists did a wonderful job in playing their parts very sensibly.

It was nice to see a lot of our members at the concert. vijay, cool, vainika, sam swaminathan, arasi (with her arasar), rengarajan where those i could identify. I had to leave right after ram's tani.

bharath

HarishankarK · Post by **HarishankarK** » 07 Jan 2009, 11:34

Is this guy a student of Sri Vijay Siva ??

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 07 Jan 2009, 12:14

Member HarishankarK

the word Guy sounds very harsh and need not be used for artistes. You could have asked "Is Mr.Prashant a disciple of Shri.Vijay Siva"

J.Balaji

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 07 Jan 2009, 12:53

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 07 Jan 2009, 13:05

Wow, looks like it was an impressive concert. Glad to hear it went it off well and of course, hoping as usual for a recording!

shankarabharanam · Post by **shankarabharanam** » 07 Jan 2009, 13:25

Any recordings prashant...looking forward to it...

HarishankarK · Post by **HarishankarK** » 07 Jan 2009, 13:42

mridhangam wrote:Member HarishankarK

the word Guy sounds very harsh and need not be used for artistes. You could have asked "Is Mr.Prashant a disciple of Shri.Vijay Siva"

J.Balaji

Sorry sorry !! i thought that he was a young guy so ... guy (no offense mean't at all).. anyways you are right. This Saradha Bhujangam in ragamalika is sung very often by Vijay Siva ji. So i wanted to know whether Prashant is his sishya.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 07 Jan 2009, 13:42

Prashant
Could not make it to concert as it was a 4 pm slot..Congrats But I did go to one concert yesterday, which I am pretty sure that you would have gone had it not been for your concert.

Rengarajan · Post by **Rengarajan** » 07 Jan 2009, 14:07

Very impressive and balanced concert. Hope to see him often in Chennai sabhas. Same with the violinist and RamThanks to Kulkarni who has invited me to listen to the concert.

vainika · Post by **vainika** » 07 Jan 2009, 14:56

Very nice concert, though I unfortunately missed the pre-varALi part of it.

s'ri dakShiNAmUrtE and the AlApanA in s'ankarAbharaNam were excellent, with the kalpanA svaras and Ram's tani in jhampa adding to the rendition's charm.

In response to a query Prashant conveyed that the s'AradA bhujangam of S'ankara has been set to tune by RK Shreeram Kumar. This probably explains its presence in Vijay Siva's concerts as well.

jananee · Post by **jananee** » 07 Jan 2009, 16:25

My mother attended your concert and said it was very nice. Esp the Ritigowlai . We hope to get ar ecording soon!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 Jan 2009, 16:31

Prashant and Ram,
We are proud of what you achieved yesterday. Goes to prove that good rasikAs make good artistes too when a lot of devotion goes into their art. Would be great to see you both develop into consummate performers.
Such a good selection of songs, Prashant. Hope you will include the songs of the 'house composers' too, in your forthcoming concerts! your nidAnam in dealing with the ragAs and kruti rendering was appealing. Very nice meeting your parents and sweet wife. Ram, yours too and your bro.
As for other forumites: Suryaprakash was very much there, so too his parents (the organizers) and his wife and daughter.
Of course, Sangeeta Kalanidhi Vedavalli stayed till the very end (another mAnasIka guru). Caught a glimpse of Prasanna
Venkataraman. Khanjira Purushottam was there as well.
Sam, I missed seeing you. Another forumite (malavi?), Punarvasu's sis-in-law was there.

jeyaar · Post by **jeyaar** » 07 Jan 2009, 16:33

congrats Prashant- i missed it.

vijay · Post by **vijay** » 07 Jan 2009, 17:10

This was one of the concerts I was looking forward to most, this season and I was not disappointed. This is not only because 2 of the artistes happen to be my friends but because I know they both have a deep understanding of the aesthetics of carnatic music. It was no surprise therefore that yesterday's concert displayed a level of maturity that one is hard pressed to find even in concerts of senior vidwans.

There was such a sense of balance and proportion in Prashant's presentation that I am sure Vedavalli mami, who sat through the concert, must have returned utterly satisfied with the manner in which Prashant handled her hoary tradition. In addition to the restraint in his performance, perfect shruthi alignment was abundantly evident by a perfectly executed descent from the higher gandharam to the lower during the Shankarabharanam alaapana. Clear enunciation and astute concert planning were other handy weapons in Prashant's armory.

Anuroop on the violin was technically very competent and provided robust support, in particular, during responses to swara passages. He was also generally in sync with Prashant's refined sense of aesthetics except briefly during the Sankarabharanam alaapana during which there were some excessive gamakas on nishadam in NRG phrases - while this was undoubtedly pleasant, it seemed to quarrel with the restraint that marked the vocalist's manodharma.

I have heard Ram four times this season and every time he has impressed me with his sensitive accompaniment and pleasantness of tone. Be it moderation in volume or the provision of adequate pauses or attentiveness to melodic ideas, Ram's approach is fully geared towards realizing a syncretic musical vision - I suspect this will stand him in very good stead in the years to come. With his well executed korvais (2 korvais including the mohra korvais, of 2 avarthas each) in a relatively uncommon tala, Ram adequately proved that there is room for demonstrating rhythmic prowess without having to tread on the vocalist's toes...

I do not wish to sound overly effusive - needless to say, both Prashant and Ram are young men and have a long way to in their respective careers but if musical values are a touchstone for judging an artiste's potential, both of them can look forward to very rewarding years in the field of carnatic music. As I had mentioned sometime back in the context of Amrutha Venkatesh's concert, judging purely by the maturity on display, it was hard to believe that I was hearing an afternoon concert. I think we can all take pride in having such accomplished artistes in our midst!

I will upload photos shortly and look forward to the link!

mahesh_narayan · Post by **mahesh_narayan** » 07 Jan 2009, 19:01

arasi ma'am,
Vedavalli mami is not just a manasIka guru, she an actual guru to Prashant:). He learns from her on a regular basis (at least he used to till very recently). Must have been a great concert !!!.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 07 Jan 2009, 19:14

Prashant,

CONGRATULATIONS! Awesome list.

I am sorry I had to miss out on this, but hopefully, someday in the future, will get to hear you live!

Having heard Ram before, I am not surprised at Vijay's description! It is certainly 'effusive' (overly or otherwise)....

Jeeyar,

I am sure you will have a chance to catch Prashant's concert in Mumbai sooner than later

...

jeyaar · Post by **jeyaar** » 07 Jan 2009, 20:50

Shankar,
yes i will get lot of chances- looking forward to listening to him

jeyaar · Post by **jeyaar** » 07 Jan 2009, 20:53

Shankar,
yes i will get lot of chances- heard him twice last year-

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 07 Jan 2009, 22:19

Prashant,congratulations on your wonderful performance. Once again I missed it.
I am back in Mumbai but the cutcheri was in Chennai-

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 07 Jan 2009, 22:20

Very happy to read the above posts.

Prashant & Ram (& Anuroop too) , Well done

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 07 Jan 2009, 22:45

hope ram would soon upload the concert sooner....

happy to hear about misra jampai as main.....

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 07 Jan 2009, 23:31

Vijay,
Your review adds to the beauty of the concert. You put in words what we felt about the quality and serenity of the performance by Prashant. While the intricacies of the techniques of tALams completely escape me for sure, I am drawn into the rhythm which delights with its gentle strokes, pauses, flow and torrents of exciting patterns sans noise--something which sings along with the human voice and adds to the momentum of the concert. Ram did all the above and it was great to see Prashant delighting in Ram's playing.

Nagaraj,
Meeting you a few days ago and to hear you play at K. Gayatri's concert made me happy. Of course, you are where Ram would like to be in his mastery over the mrudangam, in the coming years.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 08 Jan 2009, 08:26

Congratulations Prashant/Ram :
Our fellow members never exaggerate and by their accounts you guys gave an excellent performance. For us remotes the only way to participate will be through an audio (and thanks to vijay for the promised photos). Your song selections are indeed enticing. Do oblige!

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 08 Jan 2009, 09:17

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 08 Jan 2009, 09:19

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 08 Jan 2009, 09:33

Can you put these photos in the right thread please??
http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... -2009.html

malavi · Post by **malavi** » 08 Jan 2009, 11:19

I attended prashanths concert in swamys hall and it was a very good one.I especially liked his malayamarutam and reethigaulai very much.on the whole it was a very nice concert with excellnt accompaniments.I am glad i could meet Arasi also.I didnt know the other members of the forum.
Arasi madam i am also Jananis mother.both she and my sister janaki askd me to go to the concert.i am glad i attended it.

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 08 Jan 2009, 12:06

Thanks to all of you for the kind comments - whatever you liked during the concert is primarily the result of the sincerity, hard work and dedication that my first Guru Tiruvarur Sri N. S. Chandrasekharan and my current Guru Sangita Kalanidhi Smt. R. Vedavalli put into my continuing musical education. Please direct any bouquets their way and brickbats [unerringly and with precision!

] mine

Special thanks to those of you on this forum who found time to attend the concert - rbharath, vijay, arasi, Rengarajan, Sam Swaminathan, malavi, vainika, the supportive front-row denizen Vidvan Sri Suryaprakash, and of course Cool(est)karniji. It was really special to hear from at least a couple of you who delayed your trips back home just for this concert - your support and encouragement is really appreciated and is a great motivator to me to try and sing better. I had great support from Sri Anuroop and Ram who is doing his Guru Sangita Kalanidhi Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman proud. Hope to have a chance to sing with him again soon!

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 08 Jan 2009, 13:19

coolji with a pair of coolest karnas(ears)

Prashant your music must have been very cool to his ears.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 08 Jan 2009, 19:40

As I expected, I missed a feast. I was sort of pondering catching this that day as my flight was in the wee hours of next day morning, but a pestering cold (which has gotten worse during the flight

) made my think otherwise.

I think the highlight of the season for me is easily the times I socialized with my rasikas.org friends - every one of those chat sessions was excellent, perhaps because they were all so spur of the moment. Oops! I think I have the "mami syndrome" (where cm is just an excuse to socialize)

Arun

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 09 Jan 2009, 01:08

mama mia! mAmi syndrome, eh? Thank goodness, I belong to the granny class!
Hope you get rid of that cold pronto and get back in tune with your life.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 09 Jan 2009, 04:22

Arun
After a great seaSun it is natural to be seaSick

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 09 Jan 2009, 09:59

Part 1: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/640502902/10 ... 13cd03fd20
Part 2: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/640507182/68 ... 742db2d088

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 09 Jan 2009, 19:23

psitaram · Post by **psitaram** » 09 Jan 2009, 19:35

Any photographs to upload Prashant?

And I got to listen to the recording...wish I had been there...great job.

Pravin (Prashant's chittappa)

hariharans · Post by **hariharans** » 10 Jan 2009, 16:54

Prashant, extremely happy to see these reviews of your concert. Congratulations.

Keep me informed of your next concert in Mumbai. Maya aunty and I shall be happy to attend.

Wish you all the very best...Hari Uncle

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 18 Jan 2009, 08:33

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 18 Jan 2009, 08:35

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 18 Jan 2009, 08:38

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 18 Jan 2009, 10:06

J Balaji wrote:the word Guy sounds very harsh and need not be used for artistes. You could have asked "Is Mr.Prashant a disciple of Shri.Vijay Siva"

It doesn't sound harsh, actually ... to some people it's just natural. Nonetheless, it may set a bad precedent. One guy

, for instance looked at a picture of Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman on a CD case (he looks around 50 years old in that) and asked me, "Who's this dude?"

I was totally shocked!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 18 Jan 2009, 16:06

So long as it isn't Nerd or geek, it's okay, guys!

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 18 Jan 2009, 16:07

Deleted the repeated post.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 18 Jan 2009, 17:56

Thanks for the picture Cool.

Prashant,

You, Anuroop and Ram look great in the picture

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 18 Jan 2009, 21:43

And Prashant is saying to Ram: come on, you are playing very well., loosen up!

kmrasika · Post by **kmrasika** » 24 Jan 2009, 11:15

prashant wrote:Part 1: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/640502902/10 ... 13cd03fd20
Part 2: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/640507182/68 ... 742db2d088

Could someone be kind to reupload these tracks, please? The link states that the file no longer exists on there.

rasaali · Post by **rasaali** » 25 Jan 2009, 18:17

prashant wrote:Thanks to all of you for the kind comments - whatever you liked during the concert is primarily the result of the sincerity, hard work and dedication that my first Guru Tiruvarur Sri N. S. Chandrasekharan and my current Guru Sangita Kalanidhi Smt. R. Vedavalli put into my continuing musical education. Please direct any bouquets their way and brickbats [unerringly and with precision! ] mine

Hi Prashant,

Could you tell us a bit more about your first Guru Sri Chandrashekharan? It will be great to know more about this great person who has moulded you well.

prashant · Post by **prashant** » 26 Jan 2009, 20:23

kmrasika wrote:
prashant wrote:Part 1: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/640502902/10 ... 13cd03fd20
Part 2: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/640507182/68 ... 742db2d088
Could someone be kind to reupload these tracks, please? The link states that the file no longer exists on there.

kmrasika - I have been away for a few days. Do you still need the files to be uploaded?

Edit: Here it is: http://www.sendspace.com/file/4tybis

kmrasika · Post by **kmrasika** » 27 Jan 2009, 12:58

prashant wrote:
kmrasika wrote:
prashant wrote:Part 1: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/640502902/10 ... 13cd03fd20
Part 2: https://rcpt.yousendit.com/640507182/68 ... 742db2d088
Could someone be kind to reupload these tracks, please? The link states that the file no longer exists on there.
kmrasika - I have been away for a few days. Do you still need the files to be uploaded?

Edit: Here it is: http://www.sendspace.com/file/4tybis

Thank you prashant! Neat renditions!

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 01 Feb 2009, 23:06

Prashant and Ram, finally managed to listen to your concert recording. It was a lovely concert. I especially enjoyed the neraval in the malayamArutham krithi, the rItigowLa ragam, the entire varALi rendition (very concise alapanai and lovely neraval), and dakshiNAmUrtE (one of my favourite compositions in shankarAbharaNam) was rendered excellently with a tranquil alapanai and i enjoyed the janta sequences in the kalpana swaras as well. Wished there had been a neraval in the main, though (especially because the other neravals in malayamArutham and varALi were so well done). Ethirugananu was an excellent choice after the main and was rendered exceptionally. As usual, Prashant, I thoroughly enjoyed your singing some rarer compositions, your very settled and easy kalapramanam (raga alapanais are very fluent), your shruti is great, and diction is perfect.

Ram, I loved your accompaniment through and through. The clarity of your strokes reminiscent of UKS, and you were very sensitive to the vocalist in your accompaniment. I completely agree with someone who had praised both you and Prashant for your heightened sense of aesthetics. It really showed in this concert. The thani was very crisp but I would've loved a little more of it! Really enjoyed the closing passages of the thani.

I don't know if the violinist reads this forum but I thought he did a very fine job as well. He reproduced sangathis very well, played very concise ragas, and his returns for neravals were especially noteworthy, especially with cut-bowing across both strings in varALi- excellent effect. He also used the mandra sthayi to complement the vocalist's phrases in shankarAbharaNam very well.

A great team effort. Thanks for the recording! I'm officially a fan.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 01 Feb 2009, 23:24

Bilahari,
Join the club!