maharAjapuram rAmachandran@MFAC on Dec 14th,2010

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rajeshnat
Posts: 10121
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

maharAjapuram rAmachandran@MFAC on Dec 14th,2010

Post by rajeshnat »

maharAjapuram rAmachandran@MFAC on Dec 14th,2010
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Vocal : maharAjapuram rAmachandran
Violin : MA Sundaresan
Mrudangam : KR Ganesh
Ghatam : Trichy Murali
Concert Duration/Day : 3 hours and 5 minutes, Thursday

1A. rAga alApana of chArukEsi for 2 mins
1B. varnam "innam en Manam" - chArukEsi - LGJ
2. pranamAmyaham (S)- gowlai - MV
9 mins swaras

3. rAma nannu brovarA (R N S)- harikAmbOdhi - T
6 mins alApanai and 5 mins violin return
6 mins neraval "meppulakai kannatAvu-nappu baDaga "
5 mins swaras
4. bAlakrishnan pAdamalar (R) - dhanyAsi - psivan
7 mins alAapani and 4 mins violin return

5A. rA rA rajeeva lOchana (R S T) - mOhanam - MV
12 mins alapanai and 6 mins violin return
12 mins swaras
5B. tani for 13 mins
6. ranganAtUdhE - sowrAshtram - T

7. rAgam thAnam pallavi - shanmughapriyA
15 mins alApanai and 6 mins violin return
pallavi line was "bhavatara venkAta ramanA padmAvati ramanA" for 9 mins
9 mins swaras in shanmughapriya + nAttai + Arabi +varAli + sree

8A.viruththam "mazhai mukhiL vannA ...meigai marantha puLLum" - bhAgeshri - ??
8B. sAgara sayana vibhO - bhAgeshri - MDR
9. rAmam bhajam shyamAm manasA - durgA - Swami dayanAnda saraswati
10A. petra thanai thAi maraNdAlum - revati - rAmalinga aDigal
10B. nirguna parabrahma (bho SambhO) - revati - Swami dayanAnda saraswati

MFAC concerts are very special , they keep 3 hours fixed and ofcourse any musician who has 3 hours in a festival has atleast these attributes: being lucky, has a musical lineage , most importantly has right connections, capable etc. MSR is indeed capable and that is a key attribute, rest pale into insignificance.

sarEERam sarEERAm sarEERAm is certainly a pre requisite to hold rasikas to intensely get captivated in a concert and with MSR with a touch of his fully heard appA and a touch of his partially heard heroic thAthA was in full swing.

With a booming voice he started chArukEsi alApana, many would simply think it would be a repeat list . But to me I believe how you sing matters more than what you sing . The chArukEsi varnam of LGJ in his booming voice suppressed the accompanist as only accompanist , I guess even if the mike man keeps the volume high for accompanist it still cannot match the dominant voice of MSR.The no #2 in gowlai gives a charge and his swaras were well done a slight slip towards the end was noticable

harikAmbOdhi of T and psivans are a masterpiece and every krithi adds a unique dimension. This rAma Nannu Brova adds a touch of sedateness when compared to the usual HURRY kAmbodhi of say a dinamani vamsa .His submain of a less hurry calmbOdhi was settling beautifully in my ears with a nice sweep in swaras and to an extent a really good neraval preceded it. A lovely dhanyAsi with a little gripping rendition of balakrishnan added a kind of uniqueness as his appA and thatha have not sung this psivan no.

mOhanam as a main was a demonstration of how his tAtha sings with a torrent of manodharma and a touch of power sareeram quite close to the renditions of santhAnam available in market. MAS violin with his western symphony touch throughout added a lasting effect.

ranga nA tudE was bit wrongdrop no, but alAs I was happy that pallavi is coming. MSR is not a musician who tries to sing pallavi , kind of when not forced he is a kind of pallavi skipper. But when sareerAm settles and adds that much voice strength shanmughapriyA is the prati madhyama rAga that gives an extraordinary charm to concerts . What an alApana everything paled before and after the concert .Tanam was non metered kind , he used MAS equally who with his parur cut bowing mode excelled . Pallavi was a simple one definitely well done . He said he is dedicating to the sabhA secy MFAC VenkatarAman

In the tukkadas the bhAgeshri had a touch of so much of introspection with a lovely viruththam and the krithi took a swing Towards that perfect sarEERam pitch where he lands in that perfect zone. rAmAm bhAje is exactly a bhajan unsuccessfully imported to carnatic (just like what I mentioned in my previous review of suryaprakash), I just felt it was a bit dishti number perhaps can be sung in mylapore temple praharAm during bhajanai sampradaya day ,not mylapore fine arts sabha. The last revati was his personal premangalam and I dont complain the tutti fruity revati

MAS was superb may be sometime in HURRY KAmbOdhi his string had a bit of karakarappu , but in mOhanam and shanmughapriya he was lovely. KR Ganesh was bit loud for few sangathis but I guess he took an extra liberty of not callibrating as MSR is one of the musicians with a lot of sustained power. I liked trichy murali a lot more than KRGanesh as he played with more variations

Overall an excellent concert.
Last edited by rajeshnat on 17 Dec 2010, 11:45, edited 2 times in total.

kssr
Posts: 1596
Joined: 30 Nov 2009, 15:28

Re: maharAjapuram rAmachandran@MFAC on Dec 14th,2010

Post by kssr »

Thanks for the nice review. I have heard many of his concerts and he is always very good. I feel that he is a bit underrated in rasika circles- I do not know why. One may recall rounds of criticism of his US concert where he was reportedly affected by Pandit Ravi shankar's presence.

Very few can actually perform this well today- many depend on yesteryear's glory or lineage or shishya parampara. MSR consistently gives excellent concerts. I look out for his concerts, other than OST and Sowmya.

Is it Sundaresan or Sundareshwaran- I guess the former.

rajeshnat
Posts: 10121
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: maharAjapuram rAmachandran@MFAC on Dec 14th,2010

Post by rajeshnat »

kssr wrote:I feel that he is a bit underrated in rasika circles- I do not know why. ...
Very few can actually perform this well today- many depend on yesteryear's glory or lineage or shishya parampara. MSR consistently gives excellent concerts.

Is it Sundaresan or Sundareshwaran- I guess the former.
kssr,
Thanks for your corrections. He is indeed MA Sundaresan. Just forgot to add there were about 300 rasikas in MFAC and incidentally when the ticketing agent said 50 and 100 Rs is available .
I bought 300 Rs ticket for the first time in my life(beating a 200 Rs ticket that I paid few years back for TMK) , to an extent rasikas like me who were born in 70's are indebted a lot with maharAjapuram school (entry to CM was simply because of melliflous santhAnam )and certainly MFAC keeping a photo of fairminded sabha secy Venkataraman was another top notch reason to spend.

I agree with you that he is underrated , there is a long post I put up few years back in maharajapuram thread.

rajeshnat
Posts: 10121
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:04

Re: maharAjapuram rAmachandran@MFAC on Dec 14th,2010

Post by rajeshnat »

The hindu review of the same concert
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article967708.ece

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