SuryaprakAsh@rathnagireeshwarar temple on Feb 04th,2010

[rajeshnat]

SuryaprakAsh@rathnagireeshwarar temple on Feb 04th,2010
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Vocal : SuryaprakAsh
Violin : nAgai Sriram
Mrudangam : Tiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam
Ghatam : EMS Subramaniam
Concert duration : 2 hour 45 minutes inclusive of 5 minutes of speech

1A. slOkham "vakrathuNda mahAkAya" - hamsadhwani
1B. vinAyaka ninnuvinA(S)- hamsadhwani -EV ramakrishna bhAgavathar
5 mins swaras
2. ananda natana prakAsham (rAga sketch) - kEdAram- MD

3. O rAma nI nAmamEmi rucirA (R N S) - poorvikalyANi - BR
9 mins alAPanai , 5 mins violin
9 mins neraval in "tumburu nAradulu Dambu mIraga"
5 mins swaras
4. mA ramanan (R) - hindOlam - psivan
4 mins alAPanai and 3 mins violin
5. kA vA vA (S) - varAli - psivan
9 mins swaras

6A.tiruvaDi sharaNam (R N S T) - kAmbOdhi - GKB
16 mins alApanai and 7 mins violin return
6 mins neraval in "aDuttu vanda ennai taLLalAgAdu ara-harAvenru shonnAlum pOdAdO"
10 mins swaras
6B.tani for 16 mins , with korvai of EMS
Speech break for 5 mins

7.sudhAmayi - amrithavarshini - HMB
8.ayyE metha kaDinam - punnagavarAli + kAmbOdhi - GKB

9A. viruththam "Kunram eRindhadum"- kApi + sindhubhairavi + rAgeshri- thirumurugAtrupadai
9B. ninaikAda neramillai -rAgeshri- madurai somu
10. karpagamE - madhyamAvati - Psivan
11. mangalam

SuryaprakAsh had a great team to present the concert and it turned out to be one of the finest concerts that I attended in the last few months. The temple being a shivan temple so to an extent he must have planned lot of compositions on Lord shiva with few sprinkle on the ubiquitous ramA(in particular O ramA) .

The start was a very fine hamsadhwani with a lovely slokham , the school is known to sing this vinayakA exceptionally well and it came out well, the swaras of hamsadhwani were in the usual andhakAlathu 1940 to 1960's vidwan's speed and I liked it a lot. The contrast of MD's kEdAram was significantly away from his school as I have neither heard mmi or tvs singing ananda natana prakAsham.He sang an exceptionally vilamba kAlam kEdaram ,what a composer is MD he just enforces speed control in many of his krithis and this kedaram sparkled.

The next was a rare poorvikalyAni, a number that I have heard in some kora kora recording of madurai somu .To me this was the pick of the day and loved every sangathi of it. THe alApana had the right karuna rasa , this krithi has so many rama pointers and his pleading bhavam came out well. The neraval in tamburu nAradulu was more like semmangudish very assertive and the turns were quick and had both speeds and the percussion gelled beautifully, the swaras was more like TRS style where suryaprakash goes in one go and then nAgai sriram gave one long return

mA ramanan was well presented , his school gets hindOlam very well. The filler before main was varAli. This long cycle of 9 mins fast swaras was exceptionally great , it was superb had a very very nAdaswara piDI kalpana swara kalpana maNOdharmam at its best. Suryaprakash pre main filler with a swarakalpAna downpour is really top class

KAmbOdhi alAPanai was very very detailed and well presented ,the expected tiruvadi came out well,more than the neraval I liked the swaras. Roughly 2 hours was gone and had a tani and he wrapped up in the last 30 minutes + with a medlay of amrithavarshini , a charged ayyE metha kadinam. The viruththam was well done with the kApi and sindhubhairavi both very detailed , with a finish of madurai somu popularized krithi gelled well . karpagamE in madhyamavati was always evergreen as usual.

[rajeshnat]

ABout nAgai sriram:
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His play was exceptionally well done , his returns are so fast and so sharp.That too varAli long return and the poorvikalyAni was superb.He enjoyed so much and especially his face smiling a bit when bhakthavatsalam joined in his return was very noticable.

ABout bhakthavatsalam and EMS:
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The usual crib of bhakthavatsalam is that he is very loud , but I did not find it that way in this concert.His play had a lot of great strokes ,but at few places in mel sthAyi neraval I found there was little excess strokes .He had lots of round of long applauses and it was nice of him to acknowledge at the second round of tani that the korvai he played was composed by the ghatam artist EMS

Few shortcomings:
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1. A little more detailed neraval and swaras in this big kAmBodhi could have made my day.This is a big XL krithi not a big krithi.
2. The start was late it was 15 minutes late , bhakthavatsalam waited for EMS to come who came late.

Overall an excellent to outstanding concert for 2 hours and 45 minutes. The entire team excelled.

[arasi]

Good to hear at last about a Suryaprakash concert. Are we parched for reviews!
Thanks Rajesh for your getting back into the stream. Hope others follow.
I haven't heard that pUrvi kalyANi either.'That school' sings a very good pUrvi kalyANi too. TVS sings iniyAgilum ninai manamE inakula tilakanai by Ambujam Krishna. Wonder if Surya sings it too.
I haven't heard Nagai Sriram in a while. I really like his playing. Bhakthavatsalam is a livley player (except when he opts for big volume!) and he suits Suryaprakash in his exuberance.
Rajesh, is he related to Vaidyanathan (not JV)?

[rajeshnat]

Are we parched for reviews!
...
I haven't heard Nagai Sriram in a while. I really like his playing. Bhakthavatsalam is a livley player (except when he opts for big volume!) and he suits Suryaprakash in his exuberance.
Rajesh, is he related to Vaidyanathan (not JV)?

We are parched for reviews yes, the other day one of the forumites whom I talked said with the migration to an extent that forumite addiction is controlled, will improve for sure..

Arasi if you are you asking if Tvt bhakthavatasalam is related to vaidyanathan (other than JV), I dont know .

[mahavishnu]

they are not related. they are also from very different musical lineages and styles of playing. although the one thing they have in common is volume

[mahavishnu]

btw, rajesh.. I am still waiting for your vijay siva review from the same venue.

[arasi]

Thanks Mahavishnu!
Yes, Rajesh, please bring us the reviews.

[bilahari]

Beautiful review, Rajesh. Thanks to reviews like these, I am slowly recovering my rasikas.org spirit! Hope to contribute by the end of the month when San Diego has its festival.

[arasi]

Bilahari,
Please do...