RK Shrikantan@Mudhra on Dec 28th,2010

[rajeshnat]

RK Shrikantan@Mudhra on Dec 28th,2010
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Vocal : RK Shrikantan
Vocal support : RS Ramakanth
Violin : RK Shriram kumar
Mrudangam : Trichy Sankaran
Kanjira: B Sundarkumar

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours and 15 Minutes/Tuesday
Sabha : Mudhra

1. sarasijanAbha (RS ) - nAttai - paramEshwara bhAgavathar
2. shree mahAganapathi ravatumA(S) - gowlai - MD
4 mins swaras
3. mama hridaya(R S) - reetigowlai - MV
3 mins alApanai and 2 mins violin return
and 4 mins swaras

4. Kshitija Ramanam Devagandhari(R) - devagAndhari - MD
4 mins alapanai and 3 mins violin return
5. paripAhimAm sadA paraDevatE(R) - suddhadhanyAsi - JC wodeyar
6 mins alapanai and 3 mins violin return

6. vara rAga laya - shenchukAmbOdhi - T
7A. rama nee samAnamevaru(R N S T) - kharaharapriyA - T
11 mins alapanai and 6 mins violin return
6 mins neraval "paluka palukulaku tEne"
7B. tani for 19 minues (semmu and vrv should write more)

8. kAyO karunAnidhE - hameerkalyAni - PD
9. ??????? - sindhubhairavi - ??
10. nAthru dheem dheem tanana dheem ...shree kalasuna??? - kApi(piloo)?? - ??

11A. mangalam kosalEndrAya - madhyamAvati
11B. mangalam(nee nAma)

Like the previous day concert of malladi with a dream team , this team of accompanist are also a great team. But I guess to an extent irrespective of the team the volume was so deafening ,that it was difficult to continously enjoy the concert .

RKS started with a very nice nAttai varnam and it was really good , the next gowlai of MD with a dash of swaras was well done ,the return of RKSK with a percussion rotation was very aesthetic. There is always a nice gambheera sareeram of this non ageing veteran and it was indeed right there from the beginning.

To an extent the sound was continually adjusted during first two numbers and i just felt only for the reetigowlai the sound was at its optimal best. I really loved his krithi rendition and sprinkle of swaras it had a lot of azhuttam and there was intense classicism there for reetigowlai , perhaps the right sound adjustment was the main reason.

The next 3 had a slowly and progressive deafening volume , the devagAndhari alapana was well done , some time in the anupallavi there was a bit of spike in volume and found it very high. The suddha dhanyAsi was well done though the volume was bit high , but I did enjoy this number.

The next one vara rAga laya was truly deafening in volume, i guess in general there is a chronic problem of poor adjustment that prevails with always the dual singers.When any one singer sings an alapana they adjust in the first few number , but for such high speed expressive full throttle songs like vararAgalaya ,there should be some kind of dynamic adjustment(The knob of master volume of singers could have been turned 90degrees anticlockwise). We four (I ,bilahari,vrv and semmu86)went to the last row in a hall which is one of the biggest in chennai, but still the volume was high

The main in kharaharapriya was well done , for the first few sangathis RKS had a alapana sangathi bordering on bhairavi . As the alApana picked up and when he sang sAmanEvaru ,with TS joining it was really well done. The neraval was very good in swaras I found the segments where the senior sang had more creative patterns , rs ramakanth sings bit flatly and his swaras of kharaharapriya was not that much aesthetic

In the tukkadas ,most of them were new, I did not get even a single line of a sindhubhairavi krithi (Bilahari did you get it , if yes please post those lines), I am not sure if the tillAna was in kApi , but in tukkadas I liked the purandaradAsar one in hameeer a lot

RKSK had always the right volume and almost every sangathi he played had so much of aesthetics , I liked his shruthi adherence and it was really superb support. The legendary Trichy Sankaran (the main reason for me to go to this concert)had a bit of high volume , I wish his left was bit reduced , but his tani was so majestic with allround fireworks and a really nice support by one of the finest kanjira vidwan youngsters of today B SundarkumAr

Overall the collective master volume of the dual vocalists was half the time jarring , but I did like the team performance , especially trichy sankaran sir and RKS's deep voice and also his penchant to always sing rare numbers. Also top class support from the junior most rudrapatnam in violin added a lot of aesthetics.Overall a very good concert.

[bilahari]

I was happy to hear the nATTai varNam again. And gowLai definitely seems to be "in" this season - more happiness! I liked the rItigowLa krithi. The highlight for me was RKS's dEvagAndAri ragam, which was pristine and delivered with immaculate shruti shuddam. The kharaharapriya was fair - Ramakanth handled a fair bit of it. I thought the neraval at paluku paluku lacked the punch with which I've heard it from MMI and SSI. I have no idea what that sindhu bhairavi was, either.

The volume was definitely too high for the better part of the concert and considerably marred the listening experience. Ramakanth was not as bad as I'd feared, but he has a strange approach to singing - he hums with his mouth half closed most of the time and there is little azhuttam. In addition, his tAra shadjam always seemed to be just slightly short of shadjam. For some reason, he felt the need to hum this slightly-short-of-shadjam shadjam whenever RKS was singing, as if providing him a tonic reference. RKS did not need any - his shruti was immaculate! One of our rasikas correctly labelled him the fifth wheel on stage. It is quite amazing that RKS is 90 and singing so beautifully. Pity about Ramakanth.

RKSK was great on the violin. His dEvagAndAri and kharaharapriya were excellent. Trichy Sankaran also accompanied beautifully - there was an array of talas covered (including khaNDa tripuTa and miSra jhampai), and he must have been motivated by this variety. Sundarkumar was also good, and the thani was nice. It was especially nice to have VRV and Arvind sitting next to me explaining the thani as it progressed - I definitely need more of such education from our rasikas to appreciate the nuances of layam better!

[srikant1987]

For some reason, he felt the need to hum this slightly-short-of-shadjam shadjam whenever RKS was singing, as if providing him a tonic reference. RKS did not need any - his shruti was immaculate!

Iirc, I've seen a disciple of Smt Jayalakshmi Santhanam (NO review of hers this season?! ) do this during the tArasthAyi too.

I believe it's because tArasthAyi kArvais maybe difficult to sustain for older vidwans, so the kArvai itself is done by the shishya, not as a "reference.

Trichy Sankaran also accompanied beautifully - there was an array of ragas covered (including khaNDa tripuTa and miSra jhampai), and he must have been motivated by this variety.

You must have meant tAlas.

[bilahari]

No, no, he was doing this for all S-centered phrases RKS was singing. It was definitely not a kArvai.

Yikes, thanks for pointing out the mixup about talas.

[semmu86]

I guess this was just one of the concerts which didn't "amanjify" and gave the impact, given the caliber of the performing team, even though mike problems were there. Sri.Mudhra Bhaskar was very courteous to come all the way back to us, getting feedback from us on the sound settings and to adjust it accordingly, as he told that they were without their usual mikeman on that particular day and the new one is not used to such stuff...... KUDOS to Such dedicated set of organizers !!!!!