maharAjapuram rAmachandran@NGS on Jan 30th,2010

[rajeshnat]

maharAjapuram rAmachandran@NGS on Jan 30th,2010
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Vocal : maharAjapuram rAmachandran
Violin : kumbakonam mr gopinath
Mrudangam : srimushnam raja rao
ghatam : EM Subramaniam

Concert duration/Day : 2 hours and 10 mins/ Sunday
Occassion : Thyagaraja day

On sunday last , i was apprehensive to look at the papers as I thought all 6800 musicians had gone to the congregation of Sri Sri ravishankar at perungalathur , but there was still 2 sets of musicians one performing in NGS and the other in Ashtika samAjam(lalgudi siblings). Glad that "Come what may , there is atleast one concert a day in mylapore -alwarpet - mambalam belt. The carnatic flame is still on" atleast till the summer season where it goes totally off .

ramachandran's tAtha famously remarked all compositions of Sadguru Thyagaraja are great krithis , rest of the composers were pokkiris in jest . Being a thyagaraja day the grand son rAmachandran came out on his own style , the baritoned voice with extra ganam (power) sangeetham that tends to get lost in pancha ratna gOsthi gAnam during the same week.

maha ramachandran started with a very famous opener ,raga hamsadhwani with a nice alap and went just on the same tested sangathis like his dad in the krithi ragunAyaka with the same punch of swaras that you hear recurrently ,the NGS sound was bit unsound I guess this is a feature of NGS with that regular sound technician , hamsadhwani got lost with each of the musicians requesting dil mange more in mike volume.

If #1 misfires , #2 is just a perfect trajectory to the aesthetic neurons of a rasika like me. What a pantuvarAli and what a neraval by MSR that too with his style very much overlapping not only to his maharajapuram school , but significant touches to a popular semmangudi mama's pantuvarAli (that 1972 sarasAsha where jambhavan's semmangudi - LGJ - UKS perform in MA 1972).

The #3 pariyAchakama was really superb , I guess the vanaspathi truly to its name has a great stickiness quotient , quite a lot of pleading sangathis with pariyachakama and then so many swirls of music in rAmA, lovely krithi just few lines of pallavi is just just enough , thyagaraja's bhavam is unmatched .

MSR sings atleast two ragas exceptionally well ,one is lalita and the other Arabi . The Arabi #4 was touching more of his tAthA kind of brighas in plenty with lot of vocal power and speed , loved that a lot , though ilalo neraval could have been bit longer, swaras were bit the same like hamsadhwani well tested one .

The filler darbAr #5 was bit meek , kind of darbAr that got lost in too much of continued aesthetics in pantuvarali, arAbi and the sowkhyam of vanaspathi.

1. ragunAyakA (RS,S) - hamsadhwani
2. sAramEgAni (N) - paNtuvarAli
neraval in "sAma gAna lOludai?.." for 7 mins
3. pariyAchakama(S) - vanaspathi
3 mins swaras

4. tsAla kallaLadu (R N S) - Arabi
7 mins raga alApanai 5 mins violin return
4 mins neraval in "ilalO sari mAtalO??" for 4 mins
4 mins swaras

5. rAmAbhi rAmA (rAGA skethch) - darbAr

[rajeshnat]

When suddamadhyama ragas get exhausted the likely prathi that comes as main is kalyAni. kalyAni for few sangathis for the first few minutes was sponsored by benadryl cough syrup and then he pepped up well, to an extent MSR exhausts lot of power in the early half , he finds bit gasping for breath in main was very much evident . endukO manasu was not to my manasu's like , kalyAni the rAga is one of the most difficult rAgas to impress you as mediocrity bug bites many musicians.

In the tukkada loved his seethAkalyAna vaibOGame infact incidentally after working long hours in the last two weeks till today,I found so much of calming of my senses then with that gorgeous start in pavanaja stuti pAthra pAvana charitra. The other two just paled, one in yamunA kalyAni is very very semi carnatic number and the other madhyamavati was rushed .

6A. enduku nee manasu (R S T) - kalyAni
11 mins alapana and 7 mins violin return
9 mins swaras
6B. tani for 12 mins

7. seetha kalyAna vaibhOgame - shankarabharanam
8. haridAsulu vedalE - yamunA kalyANi
9. vinayAkuni - madhyamAvati
10. nee nAma rupamulaku - sowrAshtram

Kumbakonam MRG was very good , though he took little longer time to provide a very commendable support.Srimushnam rAja rao , when he gets going he is one of the finest mridangist , he certainly did not bang at all , his roll was really mindboggling what a touch everywhere and what fills that went with every song especially in gaps between pallavi and anupallavi and charanam.For a ganam MSR opener ,smash him raja rAo was just too good . I did ask rajA rao sir and told perhaps EMS could have played bit more for which he told me EMS is playing manamadurai ghatam , that pains a lot , so it is just normal to play with restraint . I asked if there is one type of mAnamadurai ghatam ,what is other he told the other is madras ghatam where one can play bit longer as it does not pain as much as mAnamadurai.

As rasikas walked out(just about 150 to 200) after congratulating the artists, I heard MSR telling NGS seceratary shri krishnaswamy "avalavu nalla auditorium avalavu nalla sound setting -pAdinDe iRUkkalam pOlirrukku", well I guess that second half statement is one of the most hypocratic statements of all carnatic musicians . The concert ended in 2 hours and 10 mins , a prime sunday evening slot in a prime sabha with a prime team and the prime #1 vaggayekkArA.

pariyA chakama rAma 2 hour concert nyayamA rAmA ... Overall a very good concert