Pantula Dr. Rama - San Diego - 28th Mar 2010

[bilahari]

Pantula Dr. Rama - Vocal
M.S. Narasimha Murthy - Violin
Trichur Mohan - Mrudangam
Cleveland Balu - Khanjira

Duration: ~ 2h

Approximate Songlist:

01. varNam - srI - Adi
02. gajavadanamASrayE (S @ pallavi) - kEdAram - Adi
03. SrIpArvatIparamESvarau (Sketch, S @ pallavi) - bowLi - Adi
04. banTurIti kOlu (R, S @ pallavi) - hamsanAdam - Adi
05. pArvati ninnu nE - kalgaDa - Adi (tiSra gati)
06. chakkani rAja (R, T) - kharaharapriya - Adi (2)
07. RTP - Arabhi - tisra rUpakam (khaNDa naDai) (eDuppu: first beat of drutham)
Pallavi: girirAjasutA tanayA satayA lambOdara
Ragamaliga swaras in malayamArutam, bangala, and ranjani.
08. tambUri mITiDava - sindhu bhairavi - Adi
09. palukE bangAramAyena - Ananda bhairavi - Adi
10. thillAna - brindAvana sAranga (?) - Adi

Dr. Rama started her concert with one of my favourite varnams and moved on to sing a composition in kEdAram I have not heard before. She delivered the kEdAram well but the swara prastharam was rather short to make an impact. Dr. Rama's bowLi raga sketch was very well done and the ease with which she produced brighas was - yes, I know it's going to sound cliche - reminiscent of MLV. The SD phrases were dealt with very well, with the oscillations around the dhaivatam handled forcefully and effectively. She sang fairly elaborate swaras in two speeds in bowLi with a particularly nice R(tara),,, SDPGRS with beautiful gamakas descending to the shadjam.

The subsequent hamsanAdam was not my cup of tea (not a fan of this raga), but Dr. Rama sang an interesting raga alapanai that was not merely a permutation exercise of the scale. Her swaras were noteworthy for a N(mandra)-N(madhya) swoop and all the phrases ending with the nishadam were handled beautifully. For the second festival in a row, the audience was treated to the lilting kalgaDa krithi, which was done full justice by Dr. Rama. Next, an elaborate alapanai in kharaharapriya was rendered with the nishadam beautifully decorated in DND-centered phrases. Dr. Rama also effortlessly sang brighas running down the scale on the order of SNDPMGRS- RSNDPMGRS - GRSNDPMGRS. Chakkani rAja was sung, but I somehow did not get the usual satisfaction from this krithi (maybe because I would've preferred another composition, but somehow, the majesty of the composition just didn't awe me as it usually does). I was disappointed that neraval and swaras were not sung for the krithi, and thani was played immediately after the krithi. It was rather anti-climactic.

I suspected that Dr. Rama had cut her kharaharapriya short to sing an RTP, and sure enough, she announced a short RTP in Arabhi. The 3-4 minute raga sketch was noteworthy for brighas around the madhya shadjam, and the thanam (also of 3-4 minutes) was concise but none of it was substantial enough to make an impression. The pallavi had a very nice structure and was sung well by Dr. Rama, who also sang it in three speeds. I didn't find anything particularly appealing about the kalpanaswaras.

PalukE bangAramAyena provided a very beautiful finish to the concert.

M.S. Narasimha Murthy was again adequate on the violin. His technique is sometimes scratchy - his bowing is sometimes rather harsh and his fast brigha responses sometimes rather muffled. I think a Parur school violinist like Dr. Narmada would provide excellent accompaniment to Dr. Rama, given the emphasis on brighas in her music. Trichur Mohan and Cleveland Balu were also fine and played a short thani for chakkani rAja.

Pantula Dr. Rama has a very appealing deep voice and can sing brighas with consummate ease. She had some shruti problems at the upper registers this afternoon but she was apparently running a very high fever during the concert. Nevertheless, she impressed not only with her voice but with her music. She does not go overboard with brighas and sings with a remarkable sense of proportion. Her raga alapanais were not long but sufficiently conveyed the bhAvam of the ragas chosen (especially in bowLi). I am disappointed she did not sing an elaborate neraval in this concert, and I also have misgivings about the planning of the concert. I feel that she could have: (1) rendered an elaborate chakkani rAja and skipped the RTP, (2) sung a pacy, smaller krithi like appan avadarIta and added swaras before the pallavi, or (3) skipped the kh'priya and sung an elaborate Arabhi RTP (the pallavi definitely had plenty of scope for exploration, as does the ragam, of course). Her decision to stick to chakkani rAja and not sing any neraval or swaras for the piece was very disappointing, and the severely abbreviated pallavi of 20 minutes that followed was not satisfying either.

This was a fairly good concert.

[cmvenkat]

Pallavi:
girirAjasutA tanaya sadaya

The 2nd rAga was bangala, which is the raga in which tyAgarAjA's composition with those starting words are set.

[cmvenkat]

bangala was the 3rd raga.
the 2nd was malayamArutam
4th was ranjani

[bilahari]

Thank you, Dr. CMV.

[Jigyaasa]

03. srI pArvati paramESwaram (Sketch, S @ pallavi) - bowLi - Adi

Nitpicking here, but FYI, it's shrIpArvatIparameshvarau... the entire composition refers to the Lord and his consort together.

[rajeshnat]

02. gajavadanamASrayE (S @ pallavi) - kEdAram - Adi is by N Ch krishnamAchAryulu

[bilahari]

Jigyaasa, thanks for the correction. Rajesh, thanks for the info. That kEdAra krithi was very nice.