Prashant Prasad - Nada Inbam - 28th Dec 2010

[bilahari]

Prashant Prasad – Vocal
Bombay Anand – Violin
R. Ramkumar – Mrudangam

Approximate Songlist:

01. guru brahma (slOkam) followed by ErA nApai (varNam) – tODi – Adi
02. nAtADi guruguhO (R, N @ mAdurya gAnAmruta, S) – mAyAmALavagowLa – Adi
03. paritAna micitE – bilahari – khaNDa cApu
04. kAru bAru (R) – mukhAri – Adi
05. paralOka (S @ pallavi) – mandAri – Adi
06. slOkam from subramanya bhujAngam, and then srI subramanyAya namastE (R, N, S, T) – kAmbOji – tiSra Eka
07. eru mayil eri - tiruppugazh - ananda bhairavi - khanda chapu
08. patiki harati – suruTTi – Adi

Prashant started his concert with a clean rendition of the tODi varNam. I particularly love this varNam for its panchamam-less phrases – it has a very unique flavour. It was nice to hear a fairly elaborate mAyAmALavagowLa Alapanai, but I was particularly pleased to hear the rare and beautiful MD composition. A thorough neraval was performed in two speeds and had a very nice flow. I liked the use of daTTu patterns in the kalpanaswaras, especially. I was surprised to hear paritAna micitE as a filler, because it usually comes with all the decorations of ragam, neraval, and swaras. I thought the krithi worked nicely as a filler, actually.

I thought the concert really picked up with the mukhAri ragam. Prashant’s mukhAri was filled with sowkhyam and his kArvai at the tAra shadjam and phrases about the shadjam were really beautiful and moving. I thought kAru bAru would follow based on the sangathis in the alapanai, and sure enough, it came along. The krithi was sung very nicely in a slower madhyama kalam and I enjoyed the entire mukhAri very much. After a rare mandAri with kalpanaswaras, Prashant sang an elaborate kAmbOji. His kAmbOji was exceedingly good. Just like in the mukhAri, it had a wonderful fluency and the sangathis came in cascades. In particular, I loved his use of the piDi PDNPD, and the phrases around it, and the MGS oriented phrases in the tAra stAyi. Additionally, the alapanai again correctly leaned towards subramanyAya namastE. Unfortunately, I had to leave as Prashant was midway through the krithi.

I was very impressed with Prashant’s singing. His voice has nice azhuttam and his shruti shuddam is very good. In particular, I like his piDi-oriented singing. His use of rare and imaginative piDis like the PDNPD, in kAmbOji and his building of phrases around these piDis are both highly aesthetic. This is a recurring feature in his singing – I remember a wonderful recording of sahAna I have that also features a rather unique piDi, though I can’t remember its constitution now. Additionally, Prashant’s raga development has very good flow – he has a sense of direction when he sings, and he has a very good sense of kAlapramANam when singing alapanais. With the latter trait, he is able to bring a certain intensity to the raga as he takes it into the upper reaches, giving it an organic, aesthetic climax. He is also judicious in his combination of gamakas and brighas, and as a result, his music has the same sparseness I admired earlier in his guru, and there are ample flashes of Nedunuri’s crispness as well. His song choices were nice – a good combination of the frequently heard and the rarely heard. Prashant’s diction is also very good, and in neravals, I like his command over kAlapramANam. Even in second speed, he maintains good control and his singing is relaxed and not rushed and violent, as it is for many singers.

Prashant does need to work on acquiring more resonance and audibility in the mandra stAyi. While he did attempt mandra stAyi sangathis, and his voice did reach the swaras accurately, he definitely lost some volume. With practice, this should definitely improve.

Bombay Anand was fair on the violin. I have heard him accompany Prashant beautifully and was surprised to see him not really latch on to Prashant’s piDis, but perhaps the feedback was slightly off or it was just one of those days. In any event, he was competent. He should not hesitate to use the entire bow when accompanying – I think a little boldness would go a long way for him. He has fluid fingering. A bit more mandra stAyi would help as well in krithis. I thought his mukhAri was nice.

Our Ram was good on the mrudangam. His playing has the trademark UKS sowkhyam, and he plays with nice clarity too. He was embellishing the kAmbOji krithi very nicely when I left. I’m sorry I couldn’t stick around for the thani.

It was a concert with ample measures of manOdharma and sowkhyam.

[rajeshnat]

Prashanth,
Great choice of krithis especially mmgowlai as a submain and expressive kAmbOdhi as main.You have included a thamizh no too, which was my partial crib last time when I wrote a review of yours in rathnagireeshwarar temple. The timing of your concert was not suitable for me to come on a working day.Sorry to you and rams for not coming to your concert.

Bilahari
While he may have few touches like nedanuri crispness, I generally associate his singing as something that is quite in the zone of vijaysiva .

[srikant1987]

I was surprised to hear paritAna micitE as a filler, because it usually comes with all the decorations of ragam, neraval, and swaras. I thought the krithi worked nicely as a filler, actually.

Indeed, this paridAnamiccite always seemed exceedingly popular and a little over-rated for me. What with songs beautiful songs like dorakunA iTuvaNTi sEva and smarasadA and Ekadantam -- or even the much smaller but no less beautiful and elegant intAkannAnandamEmi, I feel paridAnamiccite is indeed better suited for "bilahari as filler".

[bilahari]

You missed mentioning the brilliant nA jIvadAra. How could you? Also, srI cAmuNDESwari and bAlasubramanyAya.

[arasi]

Prashant,
It was a very good concert. Your mAyA mAlava gowLai was impressive. That bilahari and mukhAri too.
Your voice sounds deeper and you sound like you have been a very good student of Vedavalli and Nedunuri. Vijay Siva too, perhaps? Was glad to meet your parents and your sweet wife again this year.
Anand on the violin was good too.Our Ram played very well. I had to leave before the end of the concert and missed meeting his wife and father but was happy to see his mother before the concert.
On a side note: Ram, it was great to run into you at breakfast in my hotel this morning in august company

[ram]

bilahari, arasi madam,

Thank you for the kind words.

arasi madam,

It was a pleasure to meet you today.