Prasanna Venkatraman in Bangalore on 20th December.

sirsub11 · Post by **sirsub11** » 21 Dec 2009, 11:48

In the thick of the Chennai music season, Prasanna Venkatraman stole an evening to perform in Bangalore yesterday under the auspices of Nadasurabhi in Koramangala, Bangalore. He was supported on the violin by C.N. Chandrasekhar, with V. Krishna on the mridangam and M.A. Krishnamurthy on the ghatam.

I am not a regular reviewer in these columns, nor is this meant to be a review. And those who like song lists, forgive me. I am not a song list person either. This is meant to be more in the nature of an impressionistic sketch of a young artist who has much to commend him. We've been hearing quite a bit about Prasanna Venkatraman this past couple of years. His musical lineage is interesting - T.K. Govinda Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyan represent prominent, if very different schools, he has been guided by.

Everything about Prasanna is compact. He is small made, and his cherubic countenance hides a sound musical intellect. He seems to have an inbuilt sense of proportion, and above all, he has good taste. His renditions of Purvikalyani (Satru vilagi irum), Kedaragaowlai ( Saragunapalimpa) and Gowrimanohari (RTP) were all notable for a fine exhibition of interpretative skills in raga, neraval and swara delineation. A song only rendition of Purandara Dasa's "Taalabeku thakka melabeku" in Bhairavi was an appealing first time hearing for this writer. His appreciation of raga bhavam was further enhanced by his viruttham rendition in ragamalika.

He exudes a quiet confidence, has imbibed the best aspects of his gurus without falling prey to becoming imitative. Lest we get carried away, he is not completely without blemish. If he is to move into the higher echelons, he needs to add a bit more muscle power to the concert. There is a tendency to fade away as the concert progresses. His pleasant, somewhat nasal (Nedanuri-ish) voice would work very well in a chamber concert scenario, but there's not enough 'carry' for a much larger audience.

Clearly, Prasanna is one to pencil in for the future.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 21 Dec 2009, 11:51

Beautiful Sirsub...

rajaglan · Post by **rajaglan** » 21 Dec 2009, 12:23

Sirsub,

Though the list is not there, you mentioned the most important items, main , submain, RTP.
The raga list, purvikalyani, kedaragowlai,gowrimanohari looks very interesting to me. This is a
good album list.

Purist · Post by **Purist** » 21 Dec 2009, 14:42

A very refreshing review, I should say.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 21 Dec 2009, 14:48

sirsub11
I dont know if you had a chance to download the rasikas concert that we had it few years back. His voice was very strong to me in that occassion and in few occassions that I have heard.
May be just may be, he travelling to bangalore in this margazhi cold prone weather may have fatigued him a bit and possibly because of that you may have felt that fading effect. Give one more try . Meanwhile when I hear him next time I will watch out your fade out comment , may be you are right too

kssr · Post by **kssr** » 23 Dec 2009, 22:40

I was given to understand that his grandmother who accompanied him, emphasised the contribtion of his primary guru of 12 years Smt.TR Balamani, in Bombay. Unfortunately I could not attend the concert as I was in Chennai attending concerts!!