Concert of Ranjith Varier on 18-12-08

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 19 Dec 2008, 01:05

Vocal: Ranjith Varier
Violin: Ananthakrishnan
Mrudangam: Erode Nagaraj
(at Raga Sudha - 4-00pm on 18-12-08.)

1. dhEva dhEva - mAyAmALava gowLa - rUpaka chApu - Swathi
Thirunal
2. ee vasudhA - sahAna - Adhi - Thyagaraja
3. rAga rathna mAlikachE - rIthigowLa - rUpaka chApu - Thayagaraja
4. marivEra - shaNmukapriyA - Adhi - Pattanam Subhramanya Iyer
5. hiraNmyIm - lalithA - rUpaka chApu - Dhikshithar
6. manasu svAdhInamaina - shankarAbharaNam - misra chApu -
Thyagaraja
7. paNi mathi mUkhi bAlE -padham - Ahiri - misra chApu - Swathi
Thirunal
8. thillAnA - senjurutti - Adhi - Vennai Seshanna

Singing in sruthi C, Ranjith Warier, a disciple of Mavelikkara Shri Prabhakara Varma and a recipient of "Promising Artist Award - 2007 from ITC - Sangeeth Research Centre exhibited his majestic voice and manodharma in his portrayal of raga and krithi renditions.

He commenced the concert with dheva dheva and did the niraval at dhithijALi viLadhana and typical Semmangudi Mama way of singing the swaras. Unlike the usual jAtha rUpa, this one seemed a fitting phrase for niraval.

(na-rival with others who do jAtha rUpa!)

After a few lines of AlapanA in sahAna, he sang ee vasudhA with remarkable modulations in the chitta swaram.

The third concert that I be part of rIthi gowLa, yet, not tired of it as creativity (not a witty-kriyA) is the secret of survival. Both ranjith and Ananthakrishnan presented it skillfully with a brief AlApanA.

He took marivEra for sub main. An AlApanA well knit with sangathis and sanchArams, it was. Niraval was in sannuthAnga shrI venkatEsa with electrifying sarvalagu swarAs in madhyama kAlam.

After hiraNmayIm, a moving rendition in viLamba kAlam, shankarAbharaNam was taken up for main.

Gana rAgAs are always gana rAgAs. He sang it with nidhAnam and long kArvais in thAra sthAyi gAndhAram. He found it comfortable to stay there and scored well in madhyama kAla sanchArAs till he reached panchamam of the higher octave.

Ananthakrishnan played a neat and fine AlApana where at one point, he played the charaNam line nIrajAkshi nI pai of shankarAbharanAm varNam interstingly!

Manasu svAdhInamaina added more weight to the concert and the niraval in Ajanmamu dhurvishaya rahithuniki niraval (2 after samam) and the keezh kAla swarAs contained tranquility. He sang sarvalgu kuraippus for samam in madhyama kAla swarAs. Really it was a good and noteworthy presentation of shankarAbharaNam in all forms (ANS).

And this is the third misra chApu for me in this season. I played chathusra and thisra gathis and a mOra and kOrvai of UKS Sir.

I liked the Ahiri padham very much and the concert ended with the thillAna in senjurutti.

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 16 Jul 2009, 10:06

Charsur has released this concert recording:

http://www.charsur.com/charsur/index.ph ... ts_id=2987

Update: The singer is certainly impressive, and so is erode14's pleasant, vigorous, and controlled mridangam.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 16 Jul 2009, 11:09

i had attended some parts of this concert and found this vocalist to be very good. I think i walked in during the main. hadnt noticed this thread earlier

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 17 Jul 2009, 23:52

thank you gn.sn42..

a concert of gayathri venkatraghavan is available too...

http://www.charsur.com/charsur-india/in ... ts_id=2984

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 18 Jul 2009, 04:13

Thanks for the pointer, erode14. It was your review that motivated me to obtain the recording, and indeed your reviews add greatly to my enjoyment of the music. I look forward to the GV concert recording.

By the way, thank you for your efforts to educate us on this forum and elsewhere, and especially for your work in improving sabha accessibility.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 18 Jul 2009, 10:06

gn.sn,
And his writing! Have you read his blog?

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 18 Jul 2009, 11:42

arasi, now I have - thanks! I should add "entertain" to "educate" to describe erode14's writing (now I'm imagining erode14's riff on "Ran-jith Warrior"

).

108talas · Post by **108talas** » 18 Jul 2009, 15:08

erode14 - great review. (we can not erode(englsh word) ERODE views)

na-rival.. may be there but should not be a nari-vAl(fox tale)...

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 18 Jul 2009, 19:40

Dear gn.sn, I am improving, to make myself fit to accessibility to the sabhas and sabhAsh (from artistes, audience and organizers).

Sometimes, from reviewers too... Yes. Sometimes only.

Recently, I played for the concert held at ragasudha on 7.7.09 in memory of the great vidhwan Shri A.Sundaresan.

The Hindu, found it very difficult to even mention the accompanists, as if our names are too longer to fit the pages like"¦

"Amruthanandha Keerthimaya Anandhathandava Akkarai
Swarnalatha"

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 18 Jul 2009, 19:45

Dear 108talas (I like the name...),

nari-vAl was great...

Last week, a star singer told me, "nagaraj... I will ask my sishya to bring some mango for you... have some..."

turned inside and called.

"........... anga mAmbazham narikki vechirukkEn... eduththuNdu vandhu kudu..."

me: "illa.. vENdAm... narikki vechchadha, nAn eppadi sApdaradhu?!"

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 19 Jul 2009, 00:03

[quote="erode14"]
The Hindu, found it very difficult to even mention the accompanists, as if our names are too longer to fit the pages like"¦

"Amruthanandha Keerthimaya Anandhathandava Akkarai
Swarnalatha"

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 19 Jul 2009, 00:12

[quote="erode14"]
The Hindu, found it very difficult to even mention the accompanists, as if our names are too longer to fit the pages like"¦

"Amruthanandha Keerthimaya Anandhathandava Akkarai
Swarnalatha"

108talas · Post by **108talas** » 20 Jul 2009, 11:25

narikki vechchadha, nAn eppadi sApdaradhu?!"

ha ha haa. gud1 erode.

... the thread is all about nari... may be that is the reason singers use when doing alapani... nari na ri

mridhangam · Post by **mridhangam** » 20 Jul 2009, 12:21

Erode ... u r simply rocking on and off stage.

Reviewers generally become forgetful when it comes to the accompanists. Only very few write some good words about accompanying artistes.

We have to be philosophical about taking things in the right spirit. If they dont write about us it is not our loss it is their loss and tells highly about the quality of review, publication etc.

J.Balaji

erode14 · Post by **erode14** » 20 Jul 2009, 21:36

Dear Sri Balaji,

Yes, we should take it in the right spirit only and that is why I mentioned "Hilarity". I did have some good reviews too...

"Erode K. S. Nagarajan (mridangam) in association with Guruprasad
(ghatam) shared the excellence of the cutcheri with judicious percussive support containing manifold manipulation of patterns and korvais"

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 20 Jul 2009, 23:17

> judicious percussive support containing manifold manipulation of patterns
Wow - that sound pretty contrived and convoluted!. Either SVK is a natural at this or is using a tool similar to the Dilbert Online Mission Statement Generator

Arun

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 21 Jul 2009, 00:02

>Either SVK is a natural at this or is using a tool similar to the Dilbert Online Mission Statement Generator

It did sound like that.

I think the problem is the reviewers do not have a strong base in rhythm and laya. So they make a passing mention.
May be another percussionist should write a paragraph just on the rhythmical side. I do not have any hope that Hindu will do that
but we can definitely try here.

Initially, if not a critical analysis, just a description of the high points about the rhythm department, with the minimally required technical jargon, can be written about.

Are there publications that are dedicated to the art of CM percussion? If not, may be Sri. Balaji and Sri. Nagraj should start one. Initially it can be
on line. They can be the editors with contributions from others. It can cover concert reviews with a focus on percussion, techniques, terminology, aesthetics, stories, anecdotes, info about past masters etc.

It should be an active one with frequent updates. I personally do not like the blog format for these purposes, may be an online newsletter with audio and video features would be a better fit.

gn.sn42 · Post by **gn.sn42** » 21 Jul 2009, 03:13

vasanthakokilam wrote:Are there publications that are dedicated to the art of CM percussion? If not, may be Sri. Balaji and Sri. Nagraj should start one.

Hear, hear.

vasanthakokilam wrote:It should be an active one with frequent updates.

Hear, hear.

vasanthakokilam wrote:I personally do not like the blog format for these purposes, may be an online newsletter with audio and video features would be a better fit.

Hear, hear.