Trivandrum Venkataraman, Veena concert, Saraswathi Vaggeyakk

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 12 Sep 2008, 11:48

Trivandrum Sri R Venkataraman - Veenai
Trichur Sri C Narendran - Mrudangam
Pudukkottai Sri N Ramachandran - Ghatam

Saraswathi Vaggeyakkara Trust. NGS Mini Hall
11th September 2008. 6:30 pm

sarasIruhAsana priyE - nATTai - Adi - PDI (short sketch, S)
mAmava sadA varadE - nATTakuranji - rUpakam - ST (RNS)
mundu vEnugA - darbAr - Adi - T
bhajarE rE citta - kalyANi - misra cApu - MD (RNS)
rAma nIyaDa - kharaharapriyA - Adi - T (RTNS)
tani
rAgamAlika tAnam in aTANA, sAvEri, kAmbhOji, hamsAnandi, khamAs
marubAri - khamAs - Adi
sAramaina - bEhAg - rUpakam - ST (R)
visvEsvara - sindhubhairavi - rUpakam - ST (R)
nI nAma rUpamulaku - saurAshTram - Adi - T

What an amazing concert it was!

The concert began with a punchy rendition of the nATTai kriti with elaborate rounds of svarams with korappu as well. The AlApanai of nATTAikuranji included a lot of weighty phrases and made it a heavy beginning. The kriti was rendered effortlessly with detailed neraval and svarams at the caraNam line. The darbAr kriti was stunningly rendered.

The AlApanai of kalyANi was very classical and made one expect bhajarE rE citta, which eventually followed. The neraval and svarams were done very beautifully. The main AlApanai of kharaharapriyA was awesome. The tAnam was brilliant. The kriti was rendered with elaborate neraval svarams.

The post tani session had an elaborate rAga-tAna-mAlikA followed by the khamAs jAvaLi. The bEhAg and sindhubhairavi AlApanais were both done leisurely and kindling the right senses.

In all, Sri Venkataraman's Veena recital was one of its kind. The effortless way in which he handles this intricate instrument has never failed to amaze me. All his renditions were too good to be true. One only wishes he gets due recognitions, before it would be too late.

Sri Narendran on the mridangam played second veena, on his mridangam. His playing gelled so well to the main artist's playing that one realised the existance of percussion instruments only during the korappu parts and during the tani. Sri Ramachandran was enjoying the party as well. His playing was also well absorbed into the total nAdam that was being filled into the hall. The tani was elaborate and rendered very well.

A concert of great quality and one that filled the rasikas mind, heart and soul.

bharath

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 12 Sep 2008, 19:37

Bharath,
Thank you for the review. RasikAs need to know more about such able vidvAns who are not that visible in Chennai and in other cities.
Whom did he learn from? From what you say, he is not a young artiste, it seems...

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 12 Sep 2008, 20:36

He was part of the 'vENu, vINa, violin' team of yester years- along with Shri.N.Ramani and Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman. A truly great vidwan. I think he performed in Chennai during the Dec 07 season.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 12 Sep 2008, 22:03

he was part of VVV team. He should definitely be in his 70s

He is a disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi KS Narayanaswamy Iyer.

He lives in Kasturba Nagar. His disciples include the Iyer Brothers, Prince Rama Varma and many others.

http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/15/imag ... 500301.jpg
in this pic, he is the third from the left, with a green shawl.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 12 Sep 2008, 22:11

http://naadainbam.org/images/2005_Music ... G_0474.JPG

he is another picture of the same team performing elsewhere...

jagan · Post by **jagan** » 12 Sep 2008, 22:16

Arasi,
Sri Venkatraman is quite a well known and respected Vidwan .

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 13 Sep 2008, 02:02

Thank you, Jagan. We 'foreigners' have missed out on many a 'well known' vidvAn in the preceding decades. It is only with our frequent visits to India now and with the advent of web music that we are get ting to know the merits of dozens of performers who have been performing all these years.

greatkrishna · Post by **greatkrishna** » 13 Sep 2008, 11:22

Shri Venkatraman is a disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi K S Narayanasamy. I have seen his Lec-Dems as the Academy during season time. Truly they were a delight and eye-opeining experiences. He is well known as a master teacher and has many students abroad who invite him to run advanced classes etc. He regularly travels to Melbourne (Iyer Bros), Sydney, Perth, Paris, London and to the USA.

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 13 Sep 2008, 17:08

The beginning of the concert, which was done by nicely pulling two curtains apart, had me deeply impressed by Vidwan Venkataraman. So casually did he lift up the veenai and place it on his lap ... partly due to its size, perhaps I find the veenai particularly intimidating.

The nATTai piece was brilliantly rendered with the same supreme confidence. What with the usual kick-giving quality of nATTai (to me!), it had all markings of the beginning of a great concert.

nATTaikurinji was again rendered touchingly ("again" after Dr Ramani's nATTaikurinji), though it was briefer, of course.

mundu vENuga after the short sketch of darbAr ... there's some energy and sense of auspiciousness darbAr brings to me, and I experienced it fully from the darbAr in this concert.

During the kalyANi there was some electronic problem, and I was somehow too sensitive to it. Of course, it was put down in a second or so, but I was deeply disturbed. Did it have to happen during kalyANi, when it matters so much?

I will have to listen to a recording of the concert to really know about the kalyANi.

The kharaharapriya tAnam was fantastic. Indeed, tAnams were invented for the veenai, and Vidwan Venkataraman was there to demonstrate it! If I was left wondering why some other pre-main songs didn't get tAnams, it was answered with the superb tAnam session that followed the main piece. The thrill felt in the beginning of the concert was brought again. tAnams were just flowing from the vidwan. Yes, that's the word! neravals and svarams flowed too. The tani also flowed!

The behAg was elaborate and beautiful. I think Vidwans Venkataraman and LGJ share a special fondness for Behag. Of the violinâ€“veenaâ€“venu recordings of theirs I've heard, I find the Behag special.

The sindhubhairavi and mangalam brought a feeling of immense satisfaction with the concert. I'm looking forward to listening to another great vainika, Vidushi Kalpakam Swaminathan shortly. And of course, to seeing Vidwan Venkataraman again.

Ramnath Iyer · Post by **Ramnath Iyer** » 14 Sep 2008, 11:18

for the benefit of rasikas who have not heard the music of my Guru...

http://rapidshare.com/files/145101268/0 ... e.mp3.html

regards
Ramnath Iyer

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 14 Sep 2008, 12:23

An AIR recording from Sangeethapriya:
http://sangeethamshare.org/tvg/UPLOADS- ... MAN_VEENA/

kishan jeyendran · Post by **kishan jeyendran** » 14 Sep 2008, 18:55

Thank you for posting Venkatraman Mamaa's Nattaikurunji......surely nothing can equal it!!!!

Ramnath Iyer · Post by **Ramnath Iyer** » 29 Nov 2009, 02:00

Rasika911,
here it is...
http://www.mediafire.com/file/hbjmzz0hl ... varade.mp3

and a bonus too

http://www.mediafire.com/file/zw32y2td3 ... amaina.mp3

Ramnath

carnaticmusic2010 · Post by **carnaticmusic2010** » 06 Jan 2010, 23:56

Someone just posted some private recordings and videos of Veena R. Venkataraman on youtube. If you search his name, you can find it there.

MV · Post by MV » 08 Jan 2010, 07:53

I just heard that Shri Venkataraman and his daughter Jayashree were in volved in a car crash