suryaprakAsh@STVsamAjam-mylapore on April 24th,2010

[rajeshnat]

suryaprakAsh@Sree ThyagarAja sangeetha vidwath samAjam-mylapore on April 24th,2010
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Vocal : suryaprakash
Violin : K J Dilip - sishya of MSG
Mrudangam : B Sivaraman
Ghatam : pudukottai rAmachandran
Sabha : Sree ThyagarAja sangeetha vidwath samAjam
Concert duration : 2 hours 30 minutes with additional 8 minutes of speech by Shri Ms AnantharAman and another office bearer

The samajam started by many stalwarts like Tiger,HMB , TL venkatarama Iyer and Parur Sundaram IYer etal,established way back in 1929 ,a very nice sabha with a bronze idol of sadguru thyagraja and a portrait of the bard just behind the stage as a background of the artist ensembled. I have heard quite a few artists, the place has a strong musical vibe perhaps more felt as the artists generally sing only the bard's numbers.

The place though in the north side of mylapore has also anthakAlathu 1929 access which I think one cannot blame because of urbanization (nightmare to even walk in that road that cuts behind sanskrit college) , but can blame some one when one talks about the sound system it always plays cat and mouse with atleast 5 persons trying to adjust the sound , I guess this place only needs a very sound sound system(some patron can help there).

I was late as it was a nightmare to hit the place and as I walked 15 minutes late , there was a sitA... pa.... thE , the khamas was delivered quite well , but the sound system had a bit of mute and sound , it settled well with 'prema juchi' juicy neraval and a lovely spread of swaras(commas in sound gave way to kamAs from neraval onwards).

A short alApana for 2 minutes had the shreeranjani ragabhavam right there and there was quite a lot of kanakku orientation especially the vocalist passing the baton to his right flank for a dose of mridanga thAlamu ,theermanams and laya patterns in plenty with the lines mrudanga thAlamu bit repeated to emphasise dose of kanakku.The swaras of shreeranjani were a bit of TNS'ish lots of kanakku and both the percussionists seemed to enjoy a lot , I liked it a lot especially the sequence of kamas sarvalaghu and shree ranjani kanakku(thank god it was not overdone) gives a good contrast .

A detailed 14 minutes alApana in a RAga that is bit of snake and ladder for all vocalists. The vidwan rolled out the dice in all combinations and from the end of 2nd minute or so he only hit the ladder carefully not stepping in any of the snake which was bit there in the first 2 minutes . The main was in kalyAni, with a very kalyAni defining krithi of E tAvunarA , suryaprakash showed his class with one of the finest neravals in "shrIkaruDagu tyAgarAja karArcita " spread with a lot of core carnatic classical pidis and the swaras were superb pattern he weaved it beautifully without sagging a bit and kalyAni had a lot of nishAdam centric patterns lovely , not a repetition to any of his or his paramaguru patterns they just came in torrents.ThyagarAja swamy has created a masterpiece krithi in brindAvana Saranga and with a brief alapana sketch in a raga that he always masters , he sang this beautiful kamAlapta kula.

1. ...
2. sitApathE na manasunA (?, N ,S)- khamAs - T
neraval in "prEma jUci nApai pedda manasu jEsi " for 6 mins
swaras for 6 mins
3. sogasuga mrudanga (R,S) -shreeranjani - T
2 mins alApanai with no violin return , 7 mins swaras

4A. E tAvunarA nilakaDa (R N S T)- kalyAni - T
14 mins alApanai, 6 mins violin return
neraval in "shrIkaruDagu tyAgarAja karArcita " for 13 mins
12 mins swaras
4B. tani for 12 mins.
5. kamalApta kula (rAga sketch) -brindAvana sArangA - T

[rajeshnat]

I did not anticipate a pallavi here in this sabha . With his voice reaching that sweet spot where there is sustained pitch , exceptional clarity and a high shruthi adherence , RTP in KAnadA was brilliant . The RAga alApana was concise for about 8 minutes with lot of gAna naya (thick and thin)patterns of kAnadA. TAnam had both non metered and metered with mridangam patterns and was really well done . Pallavi was a pracheena pallavi line that his parama guru has taken , mmi has taken it in grand tOdi, but the same pallavi line was taken for KAnadA.

Pallavi was quite detailed with trikAlam for about 4 minutes and he jumped in cloudburst swarapatterns , KanadA was very much carnatic in swara patterns , the next was in candrakowns (i was thinking it was malkauns cleverly mixed with kalyAna vasantham), he brought in lot of HM'ish alApana phrases and swara patterns were long for about 4 minutes with another 2 minutes violin return, candrakauns followed with behAg for about 4 minutes and was exceptional and very manodharmic with no repetitions of any of the behAg that i have heard before. He came back for about 3 minutes in reverse from behAg to candrakauns and back to kAnadA and it was lovely. Overall it appeared as though everything from pallavi to swara rAgamAliga were all on spot decisions, that speaks a lot about his manodharmam in general.

2 tukkadas of T came out quite well, one in nAdupai in madhyamavati which I think he slightly goofed up a bit in the anupallavi and did not have a clean finish , but the last one in shadvidhamargini was very well done .

6. RTP - kAnadA for 34 mins , tAlam tisra triputa
7 mins alApana and 5 mins violin return
tAnam for 5 mins without and with mridangam in equal proportion
pallavi was in the line "gAna lOla karunA ala vAla" with swara patterns for 17 mins in kAnada+ candrakowns + behAg with a mini few minutes of tani

7. nAdupai palikEru - madhyamAvati - T
8. pAhi ramadooTa - shadvidhamargiNi - T
9. pavamAna + mangalam kosalendrAya -sowrAshtram and madhyamAvati - T

The violinist was k J dilip I am seeing and hearing for the first time , the kalyAni play was hm'ish yaman and I thought may be he has some MSG connection and during the speech the organizer told that dilip was a disciple of MSG. His play was the best in RTP ,tAnam had the parur cut bowing and his returns of candrakowns and behAg was well done. He appeared bit tentative till before kalyAni,he is a young vidwan more resembling a fast bowler of the indian IPL team than a violin vidwan.

The mridangist B. sivarAman in my opinion has a strength and weakness, strength is that he faithfully follows the style like TK murthy sir and to an extent his play was very much vintage tk murthy, his weakness is perhaps he needs more power in his play (hope he builds a bit of muscle by going to gym), He played beautifully in the pallavi but till kalyAni it was just good .Tani was very good with nice patterns . Pudukottai rAmachandran gave an able support

All said and done , suryaprakAsh showed his class and his manodharmam is very very engaging and his creative spark in the pallavi and the kalyAni neraval and swaras was very noteworthy and unique.Overall an excellent concert for 2 and half hours

[rbharath]

was this a replacement concert or something?

i think the Friday review had mentioned somebody else's name but eventually RSP sang.


had half a mind to go, but eventually decided to go to the Samvada.

[Nick H]

When I first attended this venue, I asked at a tea-shop just North of Kutcheri Road, and a patron was kind enough to walk me there. Having found it once, it is not too hard on subsequent occasions, and there is usually a space for my car. Whilst the ambience is lovely, neither the acoustics nor the sound system are any good. I think they should try arranging the chairs close to the stage, and see what happens with less reliance on the speakers. Just an idea.

I regret that I haven't seen Suryaprakash all year, including the 09/10 season, although he is one of my favourites. It is interesting though, that when I last met him as a fellow audience member, he told me that he was including an RTP in all of his concerts.

[rajeshnat]

was this a replacement concert or something?

i think the Friday review had mentioned somebody else's name but eventually RSP sang.


had half a mind to go, but eventually decided to go to the Samvada.

bharath,
On saturday morning in the usual events column of the hindu , i saw only suryaprakash name. I am not aware of if it was a replacement concert. IIRC,looks like you have not heard this vidwan in the last 5 years or so, as i have not seen your review of him at all.

[rbharath]

rajesh, I did confirm that the Friday Review did not have the name of Sri Suryaprakash in the 'in the city' columns.

I have heard Sri Suryaprakash before.
I dont write on each concert I attend, many a times, i m much comfortable letting them pass.

[rajeshnat]

Forgot to ask , can some one help out with the meaning of this pallavi line"gAna lOla karunA ala vAla", especially is that ala vAla or Ala vAla. Is this telugu or sanskrit??

[sureshvv]

Forgot to ask , can some one help out with the meaning of this pallavi line"gAna lOla karunA ala vAla", especially is that ala vAla or Ala vAla. Is this telugu or sanskrit??

It may even be Tamil, since IIRC Sivan has used that phrase in "Senthil Andavan".

[rbharath]

Sri B Krishnamurthy once mentioned at a lec-dem on RTP at academy that the origin of this particular pallavi line is from a kriti of Sri Chinnaswami Dikshitar, brother of MD. It set to tODi and Adi (2 kaLai) and begins as 'gAnalOla karuNAlavAla'. This particular kriti is listed in the Pradarshini and it is mentioned that it is a composition on Narada Muni. The full pallavi line goes as 'gAna lOla karuNAlavAla bhAgavata seela mAm paripAlaya'

[rajeshnat]

The full pallavi line goes as 'gAna lOla karuNAlavAla bhAgavata seela mAm paripAlaya'

If there are any recordings of the full pallavi line as mentioned by bharath , please let me know. I have heard only the first half line rendered by different artists.

[keerthi]

Forgot to ask , can some one help out with the meaning of this pallavi line"gAna lOla karunA ala vAla", especially is that ala vAla or Ala vAla. Is this telugu or sanskrit??

AlavAla means a channel or stream(= kAlvAi or vAikAl in tamizh), or the basin made in the soil around the base of a tree/ plant, for irrigation. It is a sanskRt word

In this context, it can be taken as meaning stream or just another word for repository.

the word is commonly used in poetry, in conjunction with a word for compassion or mercy (equating it in meaning to karuNAnidhi or dayAnidhi! which too are pure sanskRt by the way )

tyAgarAja's kRpAlavAla in nAdavarAngini is another example of a usage for this word.

dayAlavAla and karuNAlavAla are very commonly seen.

Regarding chinnaswami dIkSitar's song gAnalOla karuNAlavAla, there are pitifully few pAthAntara-s that know, and fewer that sing this song.


http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2 ... 340700.htm

As mentioned by bharath, B.Krishnamurthy sings this one, as does Smt.Vedavalli, and it is up to the persuasive skills of chennai rasika-s to convince her an try and record a rendirtion of this magnificent song, which lists all the purAnic episodes involving NArada.

rbharath and rajeshnat please take note

[rbharath]

please let me know. I have heard only the first half line rendered by different artists.

I am having to clarify that the pallavi line i mentioned as 'gAnalOla karuNAlavAla bhAgavata seela mAma paripAlaya' is that of the kriti i was mentioning... not from any RTP

kritis do have a pallavi.





keerthi, i'll try asking Vedavalli mami sometime.