SuryaprakAsh@RA Puram bhaktha samAjam on July 25th,2010

[rajeshnat]

SuryaprakAsh@RA Puram bhaktha samAjam on July 25th,2010
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Vocal : suryaprakAsh
Violin : MA Sundareswaran
Mrudangam : Srimushnam rAjarAO
ghatam : EM Subramaniam
Concert duration : 2 hours and 20 minutes
Theme : GNB centenary

The concert had many pluses with its share of 2 bothering minuses.

2 Bothering Minuses
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This hall is part of sringeri temple,the hall used to have fairly high ceiling for few years, but very recently , it sports a look that is good visually but acoustically there is quite a lot of reverberation that got added.That too with fairly very expressive artists like smashhim rAjarao- mrudangam artist ,whose drum speaks bit louder than many, the voice of suryaprakAsh perhaps could have been little less open throated and MA sundareswaran whose aggression could have been little subdued , even EMS joined bit aggressively to go with raja rao sir. THe hall was a misfit to their carnatic aggression , sometimes I keep wondering if Palghat Mani Iyer was dead right in saying "why One needs mike for concerts?".

Musquitoes musquitoes musquitoes and with me going in a carnatic improper attire was a feast , O gosh how many i killed , perhaps could have taken the shawl that was given to TRS who was garlanded at the beginning to cover myself .

Concert had many pluses:
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# viruviruppu (sense of urgency) of GNB was in full swing as prof TRS told the artists. I particularly liked everything post hamsadhwani(did not hear all the 3 accompanists) and darbAr where the artists were slightly disappointing as there was no goddess saraswathi touch. But from the alApana of saraswathi and that lovely GNB krithi it was a concert worth attending.

# The pick for me was indeed the tOdi when he sang a rare rAmaswamy sivan composition "ananda natana" with a very fast GNBish styled alAp. Brighas with no sag in todi was excellent in the neraval line ethanaiyO kOti janmam with he repeating ethanaiyO I was thinking if he will sub consciously fall from todi to sankarAbharanam which has a popular neraval ethanaiyO in tookiya tiruvadi , swaras were well done with a nice grip .

# The sarasasama dhAna that came from GNB to MMI went back to GNB and I enjoyed the swaras a lot , it was bit slow not the usual mmi pace. The kAmbOdhi main was well done , the aggression was bit too reverberating with srimushnam roll for few sangathis and a fairly good swaras followed.

# The rare kAnada krithi "nee ILLAdhini" of GNB and the rest of GNB famous rAgamAligas were well done . The atAnA was strange drop but when he completed he announced it was rasikas wishlist. THe organizer asked for his hindOlam and he delivered karunAlaya nidhiyE which is almost 3 in a row in the last few months.

# MAS was really top notch and his play had intense grip over the prevailing kAlapramAnam. But for me the real top notch artist of the day was indeed srimushnam . He was slightly loud for few songs and the tani was very loud,certainly more to do with the hall . But the way he played with so much of gumkhi and patterns it was worth to go and hear him. His play especially in kApinArayani was so creative few pauses , then lot of left combination , than a flurry of patterns and for violin returns a quick mix and match rotations with the ghatam artist. Also suryaprakash gave a lot of pauses between pallavis and anupallavis and srimushnam grabbed and showed his class there.

# Shri TRS spoke wellfor about 25 minutes on GNB, all the anecdotes are already known to us . But one thing that was worth mentioning which I heard for the first time is as follows. GNB gave a concert in kolkata in a saturday night , the audience gave a standing ovation and all shouted in unison for him to give a concert on sunday. THe organizers said he had another concert lined up , but the audience wanted it and forced organizers to reschedule it and made GNB sing again on the same day at the same hall in calcutta. I am not sure such a thing will ever happen again to any one .

1. vinAyakA ninnuvinA(S) - hamsadhwani - EV ramakrishna bhAgavathar
4 mins swaras
2. rAmAbhi rAmA - darbAr - T
3. kavalaiyellAm kaLaindiDu (R) - saraswati - GNB
5 mins alaPanai and 3 mins violin return

4. ananda natEsa(R, N ,S) - tOdi - rAmaswami sivan
7 mins alApanai , 4 mins violin return
neraval in "ettanayO kOti janmam" for 5 mins
4 mins swaras
5. sarasa sAma dhAna (S) - kApi nArAyani - T
5 mins swaras

6A. marakatha vallim (R S T) - kAmbOdhi - MD
13 mins alApanai and 5 mins violin return
swaras for 7 mins
6B. tani for 17 mins

7. dhikku theriyAtha kAttil - behaAg + ? + sahana + kApi - mahakavi bharathiyAr
8. nee irangA yeNil- atAnA - papanAsam sivan
9. karunAlaya nidhiyE (R) - hindOlam - vedanAyagam pillai

10A. slokham vandE mAtaram - yamunAkalyANi+ nAdanAmakriyA + ? + kAnadA
10B. nee iLLAdhini yAr ennai - kAnadA - GNB
11. pavamAna

The concert started bit late after the speech got extended till 09:25 pm. Overall a very good concert.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
Reminds me of the MAllaDi concert we went to last season, Tiruchy Sankaran playing too and guess what--we had to walk out after thirty minutes. Even our not-so-harp ears were assaulted by the noise generated by a demon mike--such a waste of a fine mrudangist's playing. Mind you, the hall was fine.
I love to hear SrimushNam playing--but get scared if his mike is set high to produce noise. Cotton balls in the ears muffle the noise but take away the sukham and fine quality his playing possesses.
You were at the YGP concert too where SrimushNam played for Sanjay. His playing sang too. What intricacies and soft strokes!

3: kavalaiyellAm kaLaindiDu (remove)??