Veenavaadhini Chamber Concert

[veenajj]

Veenavaadhini Chamber Concerts on Sunday, August 7, 2011

4 pm: Guhan Venkatraman - Veena
5 pm - 7 pm: Sri KV Ramanujam - Flute, Smt Meera Sivaramakrishnan - Violin
Sri Umayalpuram Mali is the mridangam artist for both concerts.

Venue: Shanti Enclave, 25/12 Venkatakrishna Road, Mandaveli, Chennai-28

Rasikas are welcome.

Jeyaraaj and Jaysri

[rshankar]

Best wishes! Hope rasikas will get to attend and review (Rajani...are you listening?)!

[Nick H]

It looks as if you will have to make do with a short, subjective response from me :$

It was a really wonderful afternoon evening. Guhan Venkatraman is a young man who gave a beautiful performance. He (and his audiences) have a great future ahead. Would that more youngsters would follow his example of learning this instrument.

Sri KV Ramanujam's recital was stunning. I have doubts that I have ever heard such beauty in the sound of a flute. There were moments, especially in alapana, that I thought that a bird was singing!

Sri Mali's varied accompaniment was a lesson to any mridangam student present. It was a great lesson to see how he varied his weight and style of playing as appropriate to the two instruments and the two main artists. It was also obvious that he knew every line of every song and played accordingly.

A great concert.

[rshankar]

Nick! Thanks. If anyone claims that what they write is nothing but their subjective opinion, they are just not being as honest as you! Is the young man a student of J&J's?

[Nick H]

No, he is from USA. My ears/brain cells were not up to reporting his guru's name.

(others are able to inform of song lists, ragas, etc. The technical stuff. That is what I call being at least a little less subjective )

I can add that he played a ragam/thanum/Kriti all of which was beautifully executed.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Ravi,

Google search shows Guhan is a disciple of Smt.Karaikdi Ranganayaki Rajagopalan

There are some clips on YouTube also.

[rajeshnat]

Sri KV Ramanujam's recital was stunning. I have doubts that I have ever heard such beauty in the sound of a flute. There were moments, especially in alapana, that I thought that a bird was singing!

Nick
Glad to hear that , I have heard him just once and reviewed some time back, a wonderful flautist , very good sowkhyam , hardly ever seen in concert circles. KVR must have used a flute with a golden cap.

[srikant1987]

I have heard him just once and reviewed some time back, a wonderful flautist , very good sowkhyam ,

Yes, I've heard him just once (too) -- September 2009 at IIT Madras Music Club. He played nI cittamu in dhanyAsi and a pallavi in varALi, among other things. Very good sowkhyam: in particular, he didn't use an overdose of kaNakku (which I think is a little common for flautists).

a wonderful flautist , very good sowkhyam , hardly ever seen in concert circles.

Which flautist is?!

KVR must have used a flute with a golden cap.

Yeah, shaped like a peacock's face.

[Nick H]

Shaped, indeed, like a whole peacock, with the flute for its tail.

[rajeshnat]

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/10/24/stor ... 120200.htm , shows the peacock faced cap

Shrikant,

Even though you are right that in general there are fewer concerts of flute , but this flautist is quite an aged man , till I attended his concert at shanmughapriya sabha , I did not know about this vidwan. I guess for many many years from mid 70's till mid 2000 , if there is a flute concert there was flute ramani , kind of only ramani ruled for many decades . Now to an extent we can hear shruthi sagar, vijayagopal etc..., ofcourse shashank is quite popular. KSG not performing in chennai is indeed our loss.

KV Ramanujam has also composed few krithis, IIRC he played one in sumanesaranjani when I heard him once.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/10/24/stor ... 120200.htm , shows the peacock faced cap

Shrikant,

Even though you are right that in general there are fewer concerts of flute , but this flautist is quite an aged man , till I attended his concert at shanmughapriya sabha , I did not know about this vidwan. I guess for many many years from mid 70's till mid 2000 , if there is a flute concert there was flute ramani , kind of only ramani ruled for many decades . Now to an extent we can hear shruthi sagar, vijayagopal etc..., ofcourse shashank is quite popular. KSG not performing in chennai is indeed our loss.

KV Ramanujam has also composed few krithis, IIRC he played one in sumanesaranjani when I heard him once.

In Bangalore, Father & Son duo B K Anantha Ram and Amith Nadig are good performers

http://www.karnaticflute.com/

Sarvotham is another good vidvAn that I have heard in Bangalore.

I am sure there are many other good performers - V K Raman, Rajkamal are two names that come to my mind immediately.

[rshankar]

Ravi,Google search shows Guhan is a disciple of Smt.Karaikdi Ranganayaki Rajagopalan

Thanks, Sreeni!

[Nick H]

... but this flautist is quite an aged man , till I attended his concert at shanmughapriya sabha , I did not know about this vidwan.

I don't think that KV Ramanujam can be called aged! His face is quite young.

He has some disability in one leg. Sufficiently severe that each step seems to require considerable effort, and yet when he sits down to play, you would think his world was quite perfect and full of nothing but joy. It is amazing and humbling to see.

[srikant1987]

Even though you are right that in general there are fewer concerts of flute , but this flautist is quite an aged man , till I attended his concert at shanmughapriya sabha , I did not know about this vidwan. I guess for many many years from mid 70's till mid 2000 , if there is a flute concert there was flute ramani , kind of only ramani ruled for many decades . Now to an extent we can hear shruthi sagar, vijayagopal etc..., ofcourse shashank is quite popular.

Iirc KVR has also been recognised well by the radio, though. Indeed many good artistes have been recognized better by radio than by sabhas.

[Rajani]

Ravi , unfortunately I was out of town and missed this concert. Nick, your report only makes me wish I hadn't.